LLWS

There is only one person I've seen on the BB during any of the recent back and forth about LL vs Select who does nothing but bash LL and chest thump about select ball.

Unlike you, I've only been involved with travel ball for two years, but I'd say that your observation about cut throat is correct, at least from what I've seen. That attitude can be found at the team level and permeates the entire concept of travel ball.

Being one of those outside the fences kind of guys, I got to spend a heck of a lot of time talking to and listening to not just the parent of players on my son's teams, but being a talkative guy by nature(I know that surprises everyone), I'd often just sit and watch games between other teams and talk to other parents too.

Maybe you select guys inside the fence don't know or just don't care, but you have no idea how those people outside the fences really feel! Do you really think a parent is going to tell you to your face that he thinks you're an AH, or how he really feels about spending a bunch of money to get his kid to a tournament only to see him play a couple of innings?

But if you sit back there and open your ears, you'll find out that travel ball is no different than LL ball other than the feelings, both positive and negative, are much more intense and run much deeper.

For the most part, those parents are much more knowledgeable about the nuances of the game than rec parents and therefore much more judgmental. If their kid is a starter, they are much happier and satisfied, but if their kid is pine rider, they are much more vocal about how their kid should be playing, at least out of the coach's earshot. After all, their kid has already proved to be a far better than average player.

Its even worse, and far worse than anything you'll hear in rec ball, when a coach's kid is given the position of their kid who plays the same position. Y'all might think you have the perfect system, with the best players and the best parents, but you confuse the quality of play between the lines with the quality of the entire program and everything that goes with it!