The event has finally come and gone. After months of preparations with the good folks at CBC Baseball (Darren, Jeff, Amanda, Wendy and Jake) we held the event in front of a sold out audience. When it was all said and done, I felt like I had gone 4-5 with 3 RBI;s and a couple of stolen bases. The event was very rewarding to bring together so many baseball and softball folks for a night of fun. We kicked off our fundraising drive for The Miracle League and laid the groundwork for what should become one of the top nights of baseball for many years.
If you missed the event this year, make sure you are among the first to get tickets next fall when the 2nd Annual Greater Charlotte Area Hot Stove League Dinner tickets go on sale.
A special congratulations to all 8 of the player award finalists; Constance Orr, Kalie Lang, Tyler Pilkington, Richie Shaffer, Chase Arnold, Brett Austin, Erin Kayton and Alexis Davis.
For more information, please visit www.hotstovedinner.com
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Snow and sports
Snow can be fun, but not on Saturdays in January and February. Luckily we were able to get our game in today as the league did a nice job of not overreacting to the condititions. Nothing stinks quite like having a game canceled only to see the snow melt before it hits the ground. Good job Kevin and Johnathan.
We won as well, so thats always good!
Now if I can just keep the snow away from my Hot Stove League Dinnner next Saturday night!
We won as well, so thats always good!
Now if I can just keep the snow away from my Hot Stove League Dinnner next Saturday night!
Saturday, January 12, 2008
14 Days and Counting
Just 14 days from today, we will hold the 1st Annual Greater Charlotte Hot Stove League banquet to celebrate the growth of youth baseball and softball in the area. We have plenty left to do, but man am I excited! I have wanted to hold one of these for over 20 years and now this is the chance. I have to admit, my first thought of how to hold the event is nowhere near what the event has turned into. I was thinking small and my friend Jeff Shaeffer of Carolinas Baseball Center helped me to think BIG... Jeff has a way of seeing things a little bigger than most and I am very thankful of his ideas.
This event is going to be super, we have Grady Little and a whole host of current and former major league players coming to town. We have 5 great awards we are going to give out that evening to some very deserving youth players. The auction is set up to be one heck of an auction and we are going to kick off fundraising for The Miracle League, an organization designed to build a baseball field for physically and mentally challenged kids.
I hope you can join us for this special evening and help me to make this dream come true.
This event is going to be super, we have Grady Little and a whole host of current and former major league players coming to town. We have 5 great awards we are going to give out that evening to some very deserving youth players. The auction is set up to be one heck of an auction and we are going to kick off fundraising for The Miracle League, an organization designed to build a baseball field for physically and mentally challenged kids.
I hope you can join us for this special evening and help me to make this dream come true.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Changes on the Way
Dr. Gorman announced this week that CMS will take a look at some positive changes on the eligibility issue. I commend him for standing up and realizing we must restore credibility to the product, in this case high school sports. Dr. Gorman has done a lot of good things since he arrived in town and we have no reason to beleive he will not get this corrected as well.
It's not going to be easy, we have way to many parents that don't think twice about cheating the system. Not sure what they are teaching their kids in doing this, but it can't be good.
CMS is a huge system, and folks come from all walks of life. The cheating isn't limited to one school, one area of town or one segment of the population. It will take a complete effort to rid the problem from CMS, but once we do, the questioning of certain schools and rumor mills can be erased. Thats a good thing for all of us.
It's not going to be easy, we have way to many parents that don't think twice about cheating the system. Not sure what they are teaching their kids in doing this, but it can't be good.
CMS is a huge system, and folks come from all walks of life. The cheating isn't limited to one school, one area of town or one segment of the population. It will take a complete effort to rid the problem from CMS, but once we do, the questioning of certain schools and rumor mills can be erased. Thats a good thing for all of us.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Talking out loud
Random thoughts for today:
Is there any place on earth better than Disneyworld? SPent time last week in the Magic Kingdom and was amazed at how perfect everything is. Disney is a well oiled machine where even the unhappiest person on the earth can find a way to smile. Our 4 year old had a blast from the time we parked the car until the park closed. As a friend of mine said Saturday Night "I always tell my clients to buy stock in Disney, you can't go and not have a good time and folks keep going back year after year."
I am very proud of the Charlotte Catholic football team. They Cougars gave their all and came up a few points short in the Championship game Saturday. The team showed heart, courage and class all season long. 4 Consecutive state championship games is a strong indicator that these boys know a little bit about football. Next season, a new group of kids will take over the leadership roles, but we expect continued success.
Hard to believe Christmas is only 2 weeks away and its 80 degrees outside. I hope we can take about 50 degrees from that total 2 weeks from today.
Now that the football season is over, will all the eligibility issues be swept under the rug? I hope not, its time for action, a mess was made over the last month, terrible decisions were made, its time to get this fixed, both on the academic and athletic side..... I do find it ironic that the kis that were crossing school lines to play for teams illegally are still in school at West Charlotte and Indy..... hard to understand that....
Have a great day
Is there any place on earth better than Disneyworld? SPent time last week in the Magic Kingdom and was amazed at how perfect everything is. Disney is a well oiled machine where even the unhappiest person on the earth can find a way to smile. Our 4 year old had a blast from the time we parked the car until the park closed. As a friend of mine said Saturday Night "I always tell my clients to buy stock in Disney, you can't go and not have a good time and folks keep going back year after year."
I am very proud of the Charlotte Catholic football team. They Cougars gave their all and came up a few points short in the Championship game Saturday. The team showed heart, courage and class all season long. 4 Consecutive state championship games is a strong indicator that these boys know a little bit about football. Next season, a new group of kids will take over the leadership roles, but we expect continued success.
Hard to believe Christmas is only 2 weeks away and its 80 degrees outside. I hope we can take about 50 degrees from that total 2 weeks from today.
Now that the football season is over, will all the eligibility issues be swept under the rug? I hope not, its time for action, a mess was made over the last month, terrible decisions were made, its time to get this fixed, both on the academic and athletic side..... I do find it ironic that the kis that were crossing school lines to play for teams illegally are still in school at West Charlotte and Indy..... hard to understand that....
Have a great day
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Charlotte Catholic : It just felt right
Faced with a choice of going to see the West Charlotte-Indy game or the Catholic -Robertson game last night,,, I didn't know what to do. You see, I like to be at "events" and I knew the Indy/WC game would be an event. But as the day wore on yesterday and I began to see more and more eligibility issues arise and then CMS held a press conference on the matter, my choice became an easy one to make.
CMS announced a couple of kids hadn't told the truth about where they live, so those players were suspended from the game, unlike at South Meck where innocent kids had their seasons yanked from them because the AD had made a mistake. To make matters worse, it appears the West Charlotte AD was in on the address issues and his relatives address had been used..... I wouldn't want to be the West Charlotte AD on Monday...... To be fair, Indy also lost a player for an eligibility issue on Friday.... But, once again, the show goes on and the teams get to play.
It must be killing some South Meck parents to sit back and watch this. From everything I can gather on the South Meck situation, the only fair punishment would have been for the AD to serve the penalty, not the kids that had followed the rules.
Back to Catholic and what's right about high school football. Catholic is a special place, filled with special families. These same kids and their families have all been together since middle school at Holy Trinity. They know each other and it's one big family from the players, to the band members, to the cheerleaders and dancers.
Sportsmanship reigns supreme on the field for Catholic. Every game starts with a prayer and warm welcome for the team across the field. The students are loud, very loud. They get a little crazy, but everyone is there to have a good time.
The football team is void of superstars or High Level Division 1 recruits, yet they still play like a top -ten team. They are small compared to most teams, but make up for it with heart and superb coaching. Four straight visits to the state title game doesn't happen by accident.
Let me also commend the Catholic band for what was the best halftime show I have seen this year. The kids delivered a very nice performance with temperatures hovering around 40 degrees.
With all the focus on the game downtown last night, a lot of people missed a great performance by The Cougars. These kids are champs in every sense of the word and we are very proud to have them here in South Charlotte.
Once the game ended and I began my ride home I knew I had picked the right game to go to.
CMS announced a couple of kids hadn't told the truth about where they live, so those players were suspended from the game, unlike at South Meck where innocent kids had their seasons yanked from them because the AD had made a mistake. To make matters worse, it appears the West Charlotte AD was in on the address issues and his relatives address had been used..... I wouldn't want to be the West Charlotte AD on Monday...... To be fair, Indy also lost a player for an eligibility issue on Friday.... But, once again, the show goes on and the teams get to play.
It must be killing some South Meck parents to sit back and watch this. From everything I can gather on the South Meck situation, the only fair punishment would have been for the AD to serve the penalty, not the kids that had followed the rules.
Back to Catholic and what's right about high school football. Catholic is a special place, filled with special families. These same kids and their families have all been together since middle school at Holy Trinity. They know each other and it's one big family from the players, to the band members, to the cheerleaders and dancers.
Sportsmanship reigns supreme on the field for Catholic. Every game starts with a prayer and warm welcome for the team across the field. The students are loud, very loud. They get a little crazy, but everyone is there to have a good time.
The football team is void of superstars or High Level Division 1 recruits, yet they still play like a top -ten team. They are small compared to most teams, but make up for it with heart and superb coaching. Four straight visits to the state title game doesn't happen by accident.
Let me also commend the Catholic band for what was the best halftime show I have seen this year. The kids delivered a very nice performance with temperatures hovering around 40 degrees.
With all the focus on the game downtown last night, a lot of people missed a great performance by The Cougars. These kids are champs in every sense of the word and we are very proud to have them here in South Charlotte.
Once the game ended and I began my ride home I knew I had picked the right game to go to.
Friday, November 30, 2007
More Eligibility Issues
Just hours before the big game with Indy and West Charlotte in football, we find out that two more players have been found to not be telling the truth about where they live. The two players were removed from tonight's game, but the teams will not be punished. (quiet..don't tell the South Meck kids)
You see South Meck's football team was thrown out of the playoffs when it was revealed the school had missed a form in their situation. The kid in question had been up front, no one was playing a trick or lying for that matter.. yet the entire team had their season yanked away from them...
One could reason that the best policy is to lie and hope you don't get caught as that will only result in losing a player, not the season. We don't suggest anyone lie about anything, but it sure worked out better for West Charlotte and Indy than it did for South Meck.
The best punishment is removal of the kid from the team as well as from the school. We have a hard time finding a reason to punish an entire team that followed rules but was let down by a mistake from someone else.
I don't think this is an issue that is going away anytime soon. In all reality there are many other kids crossing school boundaries. Some legally, some not so legally. Dr. Gorman is going to have to step up and fix the system instead of simply responding everytime the Observer uncovers an issue. It's not fair to the kids or the school and it certainly hasn't been fair to the South Meck football team to sit back and watch the light punishments handed out for kids and parents struggling to tell the truth.
As we guessed, the big game will go on tonight, no way a decision was going to be made to cancel either one of the teams seasons..... that would be wrong..... right?
PS Sending out a wish of Good Luck to the Cougars tonight! Hold up the tradition of Cougar Football and move on the the state title!
You see South Meck's football team was thrown out of the playoffs when it was revealed the school had missed a form in their situation. The kid in question had been up front, no one was playing a trick or lying for that matter.. yet the entire team had their season yanked away from them...
One could reason that the best policy is to lie and hope you don't get caught as that will only result in losing a player, not the season. We don't suggest anyone lie about anything, but it sure worked out better for West Charlotte and Indy than it did for South Meck.
The best punishment is removal of the kid from the team as well as from the school. We have a hard time finding a reason to punish an entire team that followed rules but was let down by a mistake from someone else.
I don't think this is an issue that is going away anytime soon. In all reality there are many other kids crossing school boundaries. Some legally, some not so legally. Dr. Gorman is going to have to step up and fix the system instead of simply responding everytime the Observer uncovers an issue. It's not fair to the kids or the school and it certainly hasn't been fair to the South Meck football team to sit back and watch the light punishments handed out for kids and parents struggling to tell the truth.
As we guessed, the big game will go on tonight, no way a decision was going to be made to cancel either one of the teams seasons..... that would be wrong..... right?
PS Sending out a wish of Good Luck to the Cougars tonight! Hold up the tradition of Cougar Football and move on the the state title!
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