Soapbox #1 - Late Registrations
I was going to write a long drawn
out complaint but I'll try to keep it short and sweet.
There are now 4 teams begging to get
into the 2 open spots in Div #6.
Where were they 5 days ago when the registration deadline passed??
What happened to those phone messages that Laura, myself and Smitty left
on whatever phone numbers we had??
What happened to the registration forms that were mailed out and the
reminders that we kept leaving??
Who knows???
What I do know is that there are
two teams this season expecting to play that aren't going to be able
to. There are a couple of new teams this season that I wouldn't have
solicited to join the league if I had known these other two teams would be
left out. My apologies, but it's not my fault and now it's too late.
People seem to think that just because they played last season and have
been in the league for a number of years that we can automatically put
them in the next season. We can NOT do that. Teams do switch bars, disband
and reform and we're not always in the loop on what they're doing.
I have a program that I wrote
that makes up all of the schedules in less than a minute. Printing all of
the individual schedules takes about 20 minutes (I could cut that down
with a faster printer). If everyone that was going to register had done it
by the Wed deadline, I could have had the schedules to you by Friday. I
might even have been able to post a preliminary schedule to get your
feedback, complaints, etc. and made some changes before the final schedule
was posted (wouldn't that be a neat concept?). It would also give me more
time to make a schedule that's better for everyone.
How can we cure this??
How can you be sure that you're not one of those 2 teams that gets left
out next season??
Actually, it's pretty easy. E-mail me your contact information (e-mail,
home, cell, whatever). Any information that you give me will remain
confidential. And not just the captains, the players too (just in case
your captains PC is broke, on vacation, changed their e-mail, etc.). If
something comes up where I need to get in touch with you (or your team) at
least we'll have a way to do so.
If you're a player, captain or
bar owner participating in this league and I don't have your e-mail
address, please send it to me or Laura (click the link on the left).
Soapbox #2 will deal with teams
that don't call their scores in after a match. The league answering
machine answers after the 2nd ring. The message is short. Someone on your
team has to have a cell phone (and the call is free after 9:00).
I "CAN" get the team standings on this web site by Thursday
evening (if everyone calls in the scores).
P.S. Have a question, comment, complaint??? I answer all my e-mails. Feel
free.
Okay...so that wasn't as short as
I expected.
Mission Statement
My goal this year is to expand
the league and recruit more teams so that I can cut the travel distances
and give you more choices close to your home bar to compete against. I
know that not everyone was happy with the way some of the divisions turned
out but it's difficult to please everyone. There's also a lot going on
behind the scenes with teams that don't get along nicely with other teams,
players that are banned from certain bars, etc. (more on that in an
upcoming "Soapbox" item). Add to that the fact that I couldn't
finalize most of the schedule until the Sunday before the 1st match and
was still making changes until the night before (read the "SoapBox"
below)?!?!?! It was definitely a nightmare.
I'll do my best this season to have myself or Laura available when you
need help, especially on Wednesday evenings. I'm sure that a few people
that called in their scores were a little surprised to get a real person
on the phone (and quickly) when they called.
Times have changed since I ran the league 5 years ago. More and more
players have access to the internet and I can assure you that the most
up-to-date information can be found right here. Where possible, I'm going
to try to phase out the mailings (partly to save the expense but mostly
because what you'll get in the mail will have been available here a few
days earlier.
I'm looking forward to working with all of you on this league to make it
the best Wednesday night pool league on Long Island.
Still
missing a few scores for this week. Phone calls from
any cell phone are free after 9:00. Only takes 10 seconds
(maybe two rings at the most) to get to me, Laura or the
answering machine on pool night. Laura and I have been
debating whether it would be better to have everyone on
the league get cranial implants (we'll promise to only
read your mind on pool night) or install surveillance
cameras over each of the pool tables. Which do you think
would be better????
Another Soapbox (revisited) Calling- in
Scores
Again my thanks to all those that do call in their scores
but it still amazes me how many people don't. For some of you it seems
like you go out to play the match on Wed night and figure that I'll be
able to guess how you did that night. There are some that not only don't
call-in the scores but don't send the scoresheets in either. Some of these
same people can't understand why their scores don't get posted either?? Go
figure.
If I had enough scores to post, I would have had them here on the site by
Thu night. Now it's Fri night, I've collected all the scoresheets that
were mailed in and I'm still missing scores??
We already have enough rules in the league but I'm seriously considering
adding one next season. It would read as follows:
"If the winning team does not call-in the score to the league within
24 hours, they will lose 1 point off their total score for the match. If
the losing team called in the score and the winning team didn't, the
losing team will be awarded that point."