It's a rainy day and since I am forced indoors, away from golf courses, lakes and rivers, I thought it would be a good time for me to provide you with more details on my earlier announcement re: changes to how league competition will be structured in 2008. Before I get to that, however, I want to let everyone know that this is the time of the year that I, along with other Board members and League Reps review our program experience from the just completed summer season to determine how we can make next season an even better experience for all league members. Last year we made many significant enhancements to the program, website and daily operations. I am sure we will make more again this year. If you have any ideas or suggestions for tweaking the system I encourage you to jot them down in an email and send them to me. I will follow up on every suggestion I receive. OK, now for installment #1 on what will change in 2008 (see bottom for what COMPETITION LEVEL your team was assigned to).***********************************************************************Expansion and Redefinition of ENYTB COMPETITION LEVELS for Summer 2008***********************************************************************BackgroundENYTB is very member focused. From our inception our Constitution was carefully crafted to protect the rights of existing members while maximizing the availability of organized league play to anyone willing to put in the necessary effort to own and manage their own traveling baseball team. That same Constitution granted players limited but quite extensive rights to move among member teams while safeguarding each member's ability to maintain a stable program from year-to-year.Throughout our 13 years of existence our #1 objective has been to continually expand and improve our program to better serve the comprehensive needs of the local and not so local baseball community. ENYTB has expanded vertically - to include all ages from 10 through adult. It has expanded horizontally - to increase the sanctioned tournament opportunities available to all ENYTB members. The latter, known as multi-sanctioning, resulted in more than 60 ENYTB teams earning more than 80 berths to more than 25 sanctioned tournaments under three different national sanctioning bodies: AABC, NABF and PONY. ENYTB has also expanded seasonally - introducing a full service ENYTB Fall Ball program several years ago. Multi-sanctioning helped spur growth in league membership which in turn allowed us to introduce the next major innovation and expand the program in yet another dimension - multi-level play. Simply put, multi-level leagues classify teams into multiple separate competitive playing levels, with each LEVEL separately competing for berths to the same end-of-season sanctioned tournaments. Multi-level play improves a member's league experience both by giving every team a realistic opportunity to participate in a sanctioned tournament and, by minimizing or eliminating altogether "uncompetitive" regular season match-ups.Up until now, ENYTB's multi-level structure has included three levels: GOLD, SILVER and BRONZE. ENYTB will expand to four levels of competitive play in 2008.As membership grew exponentially several years ago, so did the league's administrative and informational requirements. The league responded by acquiring access to a state-of-the-art website that significantly enhances each member's league experience while making a league this large and complex "manageable". To further help each club satisfy its league informational needs, ENYTB also added League Reps for each club member in 2007. The growth in the membership base also increased the desire for locally hosted tournaments. Four years ago, the league pledged to become a regional tournament host. At that time the league hosted two sanctioned tournaments: AABC 12U and 15U and a couple of league sponsored tournaments. Today ENYTB hosts 26 tournaments, including: six AABC tournaments; four NABF tournaments; five PONY tournaments; and eleven non-sanctioned tournaments. Hosting local tournaments greatly benefits our members by making it easier and more affordable for them to participate in tournament play - which has become known as ENYTB's 2nd season. Throughout all of this growth, ENYTB has also expanded geographically. from east to west and from north to south. ENYTB includes teams from as far east as Pittsfield, MA. to Syracuse in the west, Queensbury and Rutland, VT in the north and areas well to the south of Albany. ENYTB covers parts of three states and includes many major cities, suburbs and rural areas.---------------------------------------------------------I think it's safe to say that the ENYTB program has matured to the point where we are not anticipating any major new program dimensions but you never know. At this point, the following objectives have been identified for 2008:(1) Tweaking the ENYTB League Rep system to better balance my admin workload while better serving member needs.(2) Tweaking the ENYTB game postponement/cancellation system to avoid all the "he said/she said" disputes that currently go on.(3) Tweaking the ENYTB "multi-level play" system (subject of this announcement below)(4) Continue to upgrade the website used by ENYTB - to make for easier and more efficient administration, including tournament registration, as well to add and enhance user functionality.*******************************Multi-level Play Enhancements*******************************For any multi-level system to be effective, teams must be accurately classified. While it is somewhat understandable that a team new to the league might mis-classify itself in its first year of ENYTB participation, by the second season, it seems as though everyone should have a fairly good understanding where they fit. While this was our experience with the current system during its first few years, it has become much less so in the last two years. Teams are increasingly mis-ranking themselves in both directions. This is evidenced by the upsurge in uncompetitive games and teams with either with near perfect records or few if any wins. It is clear that some very good teams don't want to have to compete against the very best teams in the GOLD division. Thus we have a narrowing of the GOLD division and a bradening of the SILVER division. This greatly reduces the chances of middle-of-the-road SILVER teams of earning a tournament berth. There also are members who seem to purposely over-classify themselves, either to play "up" or to avoid what they view to be a stigma i.e., to be classified BRONZE. Again, this results in the further broadening of the SILVER division at the expense of narrowing another division. Now, when one of these "hi" SILVER teams plays a "lo" SILVER team, more often than not, the result is lop-sided. And still other teams seem guilty of the reverse problem, "sand-bagging" i.e., to purposely underclassify your team in order to increase the liklihood of winning a sanctioned tournament berth. NOTE: ENYTB's berth allocations and tie-breaking rules are designed to neutralize the incentive to sand-bag but members are either unaware of these practices or believe their chances are better playing against lower level teams even if it is for far fewer berths. Regardless of the reason why teams get misclassified, the result is the same - a proliferation of lop-sided league games and unfair competition for berths, which defeats the purpose of having a classified system of multi-level competition. Thus, to remedy this problem, ENYTB will be making two significant programmatic changes in 2008.(1) Henceforth, ENYTB League Officials will rank ALL teams by COMPETITION LEVEL instead of the individual team owner or manager.Teams that undergo significant roster changes from one year to the next will have the opportunity to petition the league for reassignment. NOTE: All such petitions must be made to the League no later than a team's age division meeting. (2) The number of PLAYING LEVELS will be increased from three to four.(a) GOLD will remain GOLD.(b) SILVER will divided into "hi" and "lo" SILVER.(c) BRONZE* is intended for the lowest level teams, including travel only as well as recreational level teams seeking supplemental travel play in a structured environment. * NOTE #1: Teams will be assigned to the BRONZE division by request only and will pay a lower base fee and will avoid all costs associated with eligibility for sanctioned tournaments. * NOTE #2: BRONZE level teams will be eligible for sanctioned tournament play in AABC only and even then, only if a minimum of four bronze teams elect this option. This will eliminate any incentive for mid or even lower level teams to sand-bag into the BRONZE division for "easy" berths to sanctioned tournaments. * NOTE: #3: Instead of sanctioned tournament play, with the possible exception of AABC sanctioning as just noted, ENYTB will offer the BRONZE division its own end-of-season for-fun tournament at about the same time that the sanctioned tournaments are being played (early to mid July).The number of sanctioned tournament berths will continue to be earmarked to each level of play with a disproportionate number earmarked to teams in the higher levels i.e., given the same number of teams in each level, the number of berths earmarked to each level will be greater than or equal to the level immediately below it.---------------------------------------------2008 ENYTB Fees - Level and StructureThere will continue to be a base registration fee and individual sanctioning choices will remain optional to each team. Sanctioned tournament hosting fees will however, be set in a somewhat different manner. Beginning in 2008, all teams will share equally in the costs for all sanctioned tournaments hosted by the league. My current projection is $150/team at 13U thru 18U (less at 12U and under and more at 22U and above)). This fee is the same regardless of how many sanctioning choices a team elects. This is different from previous years when teams paid a hosting fee for each sanctioned tournament it was eligible for. Thus, under the new system, teams registering for two sanctioned tournaments will pay slightly less, those registering for one sanctioned tournament will pay slightly more. Teams participating in the league for "games only" will be required to pay this fee as well. Exact fees have not yet been established for 2008 but it is expected the overall cost of league membership will remain about the same or increase slightly. Large member discounts introduced in 2007, totaling more $4,200, will be continued in 2008, albeit in modified fashion. --------------------------------------------Another Lesson Learned from 2007 Experience.....It proved to be too much for most teams to compete in three sanctioned tournaments in three consecutive weeks. By the time the 3rd tournament rolled around many teams were down to 9 or 10 players because of injuries and/or vacations and other factors. And the players that were there were worn out, especially the pitchers. Given the availability of ENYTB sponsored tournaments e.g., League Championship Series and Last Man Standing, it was obvious that two non-simultaneous sanctioned tournaments is enough for any age division (our new max 2 policy). It also seems that in those age divisions with back-to-back sanctioned tournaments, it would be better if we gave the the teams participating in the Championship Division of the LCS a week off in between the last sanctioned tournament and the LCS. The same was not true for the Silver Division teams because they were much fresher (less likely that they participated in either sanctioned tournament, let alone both. And even if they did, it is less likely they played as many tournament games.) SANCTIONED TOURNAMENT AVAILABILITY BY AGE DIVISION (MAX 2 Policy)AABC - Tournament eligibility will be offered at every individual age from 10 through 18, as well as Adult (Unlimited). As always, per AABC rule, ENYTB berths will be determined by team registrations (one per four plus host if applicable).NABF - Tournament eligibility will be offered at even year intervals only: 14U; 16U; 18U; and 22U, as well as Adult (Unlimited). ENYTB will have six berths in each of these NABF Regional tournaments except Adult (direct purchase only). NABF Regional tournament winners receive $2,000 from NABF to advance to their World Series.PONY - Tournament eligibility will be offered at all PONY age divisions, with a slight twist for some ages: 10U*, 12U*, 13U, 14U*, 15U, as well as 16U-18U* Combined.ENYTB will host a six team PONY Sectional tournament for each PONY age division above not marked with an asterisk. The winners of these tournaments will advance to a non-local PONY "Regional" tournament. The PONY age divisions with asterisks will compete in regular season play only for a single direct berth to a non-local PONY Regional tournament. Note that this berth will be awarded based on regular season play only and will not include any local tournament play. A special regular season GOLD/HI SILVER Only division will be constructed for this purpose.PONY contributes travel allowances for all Zone and World Series participants (Regional Winners advance to the Zone level and Zone winners advance to the WS). SUMMARY: Thus, each age division will have a local AABC tournament option and either a local NABF or PONY tournament option. In some cases where there is both a local AABC and NABF option, there will also be an option for a non-local PONY tournament, based on regular season play alone i.e., no local qualifying tournament. As always, the exact final divisional structure and allocation of berths will of necessity depend on the number of team registrations by age, sanctioning body and LEVEL of PLAY. ------------------------------------**************************************************Team Assignments by Competition Level - 2008**************************************************12U (based on team age in 2007)GOLD............HI SILVER................LO SILVER

As of September 1, we have about 30 teams registered for Fall Ball. The last two years we had about 50 teams. We assume there are other teams out there but we must hear from you this weekend.Don Rahn has volunteered to be our Fall Ball Commissioner. Please direct all inquires and registration information to Don at donrahn@nycap.rr.com. Don prefers ... read more

Game 1: Nisky Warriors 9 Stoney Point Mustings 7Game 2: Columbia Patriots 8 GBS DevilCats 3Game 3: Nisky Warriors 9 Monroe-Woodbury Saints 2Game 4: GBS DevilCats 13 Monroe-Woodbury Saints 5Game 5: Stoney Point Mustings 16 BP Patriots 3Game 6: Columbia Patriots 22 BP Patriots 6Game 7: Stoney Point Mustings 14 GBS DevilCats 10Game 8: Columbia... read more

Late yesterday we picked up two more teams that were a good fit for our Junior Division LMS. Thus, we are going with a 6 team pool format instead of four.Pool AMonroe-Woodbury SaintsStony Point MustangsColumbia PatriotsPool BNisky WarriorsBP PatriotsGBS DevilCatsFORMATTeams shall play across pools (not within) during rounds 1-3. Thus, each team in ... read more

**********************************LMS Senior Division (16/17)**********************************Round-Robin Play(NOTE: Flip for Home/Away in All Games)G1 FRI/6pm Albany Academy NYCD Knights v Capital City Athletics G2 FRI/6pm Kelts Field WFD Fordians v GBS DevilCats G3 SAT/11am Kelts Field WFD Fordians v Capital City Athletics G4 SAT/11am Castl... read more

Three teams have finished in a flat-footed tie for 1st place with 3-1 overall records in the 15U LCS Championship Division. The teams are:No. Colonie PadresNisky WarriorsBurnt Hills SpartansBased on the 3 way tie-breakers, we must determione the winner first, then go back to the beginning and determine 2nd place.Based on "Lowest total runs allowed ... read more

I only received two scores in this division but Rick Miller sent me the standings w/o scores so I will assume that is correct. If you provide me the scores I can fill out the tournament bracket, otherwise I can't.(1) NY Swing Away Starz 3-0(2) Bethlehem Eagles 2-1(3) Cap City Athletics 1-2(4) BSPA Bulldogs 0-3SUNDAY SCHEDULE(Flip for home)G1 12pm F... read more

I just received the last scores for this division. It is obvious that the 13U teams are struggling to be competitive with the 14U teams. When this division was put together, we had one 13U team, and they were in the same division with the Tri-Lake Stars who were a strong 14/15 team. When Tri-Lake dropped out, Sportsmaster took their place and that ... read more

(1) GBS DevilCats 3-0(2) Schuylerville Horses 2-1(3) Niskayuna Warriors 0-2-1(4) CC Athletics 0-2-1NOTE: Nisky won the tie-breaker based on fewest runs allowed vs higher finishing teams.SUNDAY SCHEDULE at FT Harty, Schuylerville, NY(Flip for home)G1 10AM GBS DevilCats v CC AthleticsG2 1PM Schuylerville Horses v Niskayuna WarriorsG3 4pm winner G1 v... read more

Play Begins Wed 7/25Responses re: field availability(1) RDAM Rangers 16 - Has field beginning Sunday.(2) BSPA Bombers 16 - Response = No Field(3) NYCD Knights 16 - Has field as needed for own games.(*) GBS DC 16DR17 - Otherwise Occupied - Goin' to the NABF World Series!Format: Double RR with a one game championship for top two teams.G1 Wed 6pm - Al... read more