CABA High Schol World Series in Euclid Ohio Illinois update Top Tier 17's already have two "L's" in jep of being sent home, Midwest Rangers look strong< Jeff Bolens team. They get no respect they are stronger than TT and the Ilinois Sparks. jeff is undefeated there where are the sparks?? oh and yes the sparks won some games in georgia from teams that were less than stellar. on high school fields with no scouts present isnt that right sparky? ole georgia wwba wasn't all it was cracked up to be. once we were pushed off the main stage it was dusty high school and little league fields with no scouts around...billy won't talk about that on here. only about what colleges he has apparently landed scholarships for his players at. because we know wherever and however they end up at a college it will appear on their web site like they had something to do with it.

Brooklyn Bergen Beach is 4and 0 and keeps flying in more players(isn't that illegal) and run ruled the colombus Cobras last years 16U winner. everyday they have two or three new players ?? Midwest Rangers will end up being the team to beat at CABA.

I hope your stay with us here will be nice and short.

Did that make you feel better? I bet you sleep well tonight.

It's bad when a 52 year old man has nothing to say except..LOL!

Not a very pleasant first post there lakebomber. Not a very accurate one either!

Anyway, best of luck to the Midwest Rangers. Who are some of the better players on that team? If they have more talent than Top Tier and Illinois Sparks they do deserve a lot of respect.

BTW, the Sparks beat the East Cobb Yankees to reach the final in Georgia. East Cobb Yankees are well known because of all the Connie Mack World Series they have won. They would be considered more than stellar!

quote:

Not a very pleasant first post there lakebomber. Not a very accurate one either!

lakebomber - those type of posts are not welcome. It is against the rules of the site to try and demean amateur ball players like that. No problem with letting us know how things are going at the CABA WS but please keep your derogatory commentary to yourself next time - if there is a next time.

Lakebummer

Just for your record we were at the University of Kentucky playing against a few others from other States. Been to CABA WS in Ohio a few yrs ago. Glad you are enjoying it.

As far as GA and the PG event. We played on East Cobb a couple times and some HS fileds as well. HS fields down there are better then most college surfaces up here. Not exactly sure what your comment about no scouts means.
They seemed to find darn near every game we played.
Wait, they did find us every game , you big knucklehead, your just trying to get me going! lol..

Since you did....

Had a 2011 kid with me down there, as I looked in the box with him up there, couldnt help but think to myself of the situation. Playing a real nice team from N Ohio. With all the hoopla about exposing this and that, and talk about teams doing this or that, frankly I am not a big fan. What I am a big fan of is ,the Ohio team brought in a kid 92-94 . He has been up to 96. I am looking at the Illinois player fouling the 1st two pitches straight back to the screen. Then a hard hit ground ball fielded up the middle for an out.
Say what you want about all this other stuff,
Game reps against the best. Been there done that attitude, confidence of knowing he has already seen it. It helps make players. I would not trade that experience for that kid with anything we did down there. People are beginning to miss the importance of playing the game.

Our 18's did have a great run down there. They should have. They can hit. There are also 4 drafts on the team. Not sure of anyones expectations but mine are the same every time we take the field. We will play hard, we will play clean and we have fun. The game is simple if you keep it that way.


Lakebummer,

more on where the Sparks were? We had 2 teams of 18's that won both their tournys in a rained shortened tourny at NIU. We had one of our 17's in Indy at a Tourny they won. I was like I said , at UK playing against A Green from Michigan, Indy Bulls and the Rawlings team from St Louis area.

No scouts there either... lol..

Good bye bummer, and thanks for the chat..
I just hope that you arent involved with any kids.
Not good for'em imo..

Sparky who was the 2011 with you as your roster doesn't show any, I think it did show a 2010. Who was the player from ohio topping at 96? Thanks

Well, lake, after that initial stink bomb of a post, we do hope you will come back to tell us more about the Midwest Rangers - who's on the roster? Where else have they played? You've piqued our interest.

My son played for Jeff Bohlen as a 15 yr old for the then Midwest Sports group. It was supposed to be affiliated with TT, but it wasn't. Jeff said they couldn't use the TT name because of parent misbehavior the previous year at that age group. I don't know what the real story was, just know the said TT and it wasn't.

Jeff is a nice guy. When he showed up, he did a good job. Problem was he wasn't there 50% of the time. Then it was coached by a parent, who shuffled the lineup for the benefit of his kid and his son's friends. Some good kids on the team. Steve DelPorto, Eads, Gonzalez from Wisc., a kid named Trace Kapp who was good then but I never heard of him again.

I hope Jeff is around the kids this year. I also would like to know who plays on the team. Mostly they were from out south (Iliana) and a couple from Wisc. I also don't know what the objective of the organization was. To get kids to college? The pros?

the objective of any team is to get kids games and put them in a position to get better and possibly get seen. Are you really questioning the purpose of a travel team? I see too many people making digs at other organizations, too many organizations stealing kids from other organizations and claiming they are the best. What happened to open competition and everyone being in it for the right reasons. There's a kid you mentioned that was on the Midwest Sports group team, then on TT, then on the Sparks. Why change teams every year like that, that's what causes the animosity. The parents and kids always thinking the grass is always greenier. I also don't know why you care what the name of the team is, whether it's TT or Sparks, if you have a good team on the field it shouldn't matter. Sounds like you were disappointed you didn't get your son to play on a team that had TT on the jersey. If the kids a player it shouldn't matter.

Some travel teams are run for the financial benefit of the manager. Some are run for more altruistic reasons. Some are to win tournaments, some are designed more to expose the kids. If you don't realize that there are different motives for different teams, what world are you living in? You think everone is in it for "the right reasons". Who decideds what the right reasons are? You? Each person might have a different "right reason".

My son did want to play for TT at the time. He and I felt mislead. If you have a problem with it, tough.

Kids switch teams because they are looking for the right situation for them. Maybe some kids want better competition, some better coaching, some more exposure. My son is in his second year with the Norwood Blues. Top coaching, with and against top competition (most weeks), not as much exposure as I would like. It is a trade off.

Is there a perfect team. I don't know. Maybe there is but the cost are too high. There are tons of reasons why people do what they do. This board helps people determine what programs are good for what. Some have different strengths.

The Sparks were attacked here. From everything I hear, they offer good coaching, top competition, good exposure. Yet they were attacked. Get a life Nails.

And by the way, my kids IS a player, he is being contacted. I feel he could be in higher profile tournaments. But, he likes the coach, his teammates and it is his decision.

Not sure why there is so much invective in some of these threads. No need to call people out by name. If someone wants to find out about an organization/coach/manager and you have something negative to say, then send that person a pm. None of us have any idea who some of these people are yet they may be having their names/organizations improperly smeared here on the message boards. I really question if some of this stuff would be said if these people were standing face-to-face with you.

Anybody have anything to say about how their team is doing in the CABA tournament? FWIW - that is where my son was discovered by his college. There are many scouts at that tournament.

People get upset about programs because they spend time, effort and money. team initial costs, travel expenses, time and as your child gets older, time is the most precious commodity.

When your son joins a team, it is a major commitment. There is a lot of emotion and energy involved.

glad it's working out for your son. I just don't understand the animosity of all the travel ball stuff and why different organizations go get other organizations players. The Blues do a great job, he always has a big roster and they play alot of games. I think that's a good thing. I'll stick by what I said and say that there are a ton of people that always think the grass is greenier on the other side, then switch and realize it isn't.

Nails

Sounds like you have some issues for whatever reason. Maybe you can enlighten us ? BBall dad told it excactly like it is. We as parents of these ballplayers dont have to answer to anyone about why our kids decide to play for one team or another , even if its a different team every year. So what ..who cares ?? The only thing we are concerned about is that they are on the field playing and enjoying themselves ..not some moron like you who decides to take a kid to task on a message board because he switched teams . To be honest with you ..its really none of your freakin business . Who empowered you to question a player and his family ?? The player you are referring to in your last post --Steve Dalporto --is absolutely flourishing with the Sparks and receiving lots and lots of interest from schools around the country . I hardly think these college guys give a rats *** what team he played on last year and the year before that..its irrelevant . Point is..he made a great move that suited him best and couldnt be happier . If you must know since you continue to bring it up -this isnt the first time --not only is the grass greener ..its beautiful green sod ..like the grass at wrigley ..compared to last years brown burnt out crab grass .

Those of you that are wondering about the Midwest Rangers they are comprised of many players from Illiana ---Eads , rudinga , Lasowski, Mussman to name a few and the catcher Gonzalez from Wisconsin and Burg from Carmel . Check out diamond sports website and find a tourney they were in and you can view their roster . I know they played in a couple of those tourneys. Havent seen them in any of the tourneys the sparks have been in. Jeff is a good guy and im sure his team is good ..not so sure he would want to tangle with our sparks team though .

Lakebomber

your post is hilarious . There were 150 some odd teams in Georgia. The east cobb complex has only four fields i believe. Obviuously a lot of teams have to play some of their games at the high schools ..everybody understands that ..except you i guess . Sparks also beat Team Georgia down there . One of the best teams around next to the east cobb braves . "OL" Bill Copp does a great job ..one of the best i have been around ...and i have been around my share of baseball people the last 25-30 years . Your post makes you look like an ----fill in the blank .

ClevelandDad,

Couldn't agree with you more. All this chest thumping by player's parents. Why use the PM feature when you can bloviate anonomously? Oooh, you don't want to play us. We're tough! Truly laughable.

Sulltiger,
I don't have any issues, i stated they all do a good job. I just wonder why a kid moves from team to team every year. I sure there are a ton of reasons for it, some are good, some are selfish, some nobody can explain. I'm not here to debate what travel team is better, I could care less. I was also talking about the kids that play on 2 different teams throughout the summer or go team to team over the summer. Sounds like your kid is on the Sparks and they do a great job of getting kids placed. Maybe you have some insight as to why they didn't have to play anyone and got a free pass to the Regional while everyone else had to play in the state qualifier. That's all I was asking about, nobody seems to know why this happens?

I am happy to hear there are a lot of the same players on the Midwest Rangers. A lot of good players and families. I also think Jeff is a good guy and wish him well.

Rosy, I knew we could count on you to defend TT and take a jab at Sully. I assure you, he is man enough to take it.