{"id":1028,"date":"2015-04-28T17:22:19","date_gmt":"2015-04-28T21:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/?p=1028"},"modified":"2015-04-28T22:38:26","modified_gmt":"2015-04-29T02:38:26","slug":"fallout-from-the-ncbl-kick-off-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/28\/fallout-from-the-ncbl-kick-off-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Fallout from the NCBL Kick-off Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Since I joined the SweatSox in 1998, there have been approximately 60 NCBL meetings.&nbsp; I\u2019ve been to none of them.&nbsp; That\u2019s never stopped me from quickly figuring out what happened at these meetings though, especially now that I have dozens of sources throughout the league.&nbsp; The 2015 Kick-off meeting was this past Sunday morning, and while traditionally it\u2019s the least exciting of the 3 annual meetings (where the final i\u2019s are dotted and the t\u2019s are crossed for the upcoming season), I\u2019m hearing there was definitely some drama.&nbsp; Specifically, several teams let their internal issues leak out into the open, which I of course will now expose.<\/p>\n<p>If I\u2019m going to spill the secrets of prominent NCBL teams, I might as well start with the most esteemed organization of them all: the mighty SweatSox&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SweatSox?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SweatSox<\/a> who&#39;s the decision maker of your esteemed organization?<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Panthers (@PMA_Panthers) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PMA_Panthers\/status\/590997414267453440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 22, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>SweatSox<\/strong>: While there\u2019s always been a certain amount of in fighting amongst SweatSox, I couldn\u2019t be more disappointed in both Craig Cornell and Cory Bond for their actions, or lack thereof, during the kick-off meeting.&nbsp; They both knew how much I wanted to be NCBL Secretary, and yet when the Commissioner asked if anyone wanted to step up and be nominated, they said nothing on my behalf.&nbsp; As far as I\u2019m concerned, they\u2019re both now dead to me.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Moosehead&#8217;s Acadians<\/strong>: The Acadians were the only team missing from the kick-off meeting, but that\u2019s not too surprising from a team with just one representative on the NCBL contact list. &nbsp;If a team isn&#8217;t organized enough to send someone to the meeting where fees are paid, there are obvious leadership issues. &nbsp;I believe Moosehead vouchers for the league would be a good start at reparations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kanata Athletics<\/strong>: On the other hand, you don\u2019t want too many hands in the cookie jar.&nbsp; The Athletics lead the way with 5 team contacts, well, actually 4 now that it was announced that Graeme Nichols has been pushed off the Athletics and forced into retiring from the NCBL. The 6th Sen will be interning for Don Brennan (Knights) at the Ottawa Sun for a few months before moving to Cornwall to open up a brand new pulp &amp; paper mill. &nbsp;Good luck G.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Braves<\/strong>: I\u2019m hearing the jealousy amongst the Braves is at an all-time high, so much so that the Tier 2 President nearly ruined relations between the NCBL and Baseball Canada during the meeting.&nbsp; Upset that one of his teammates (likely Martin Masson) got a free hat at the Baseball Canada sale last week and he didn\u2019t despite spending twice as much, Brian Samuel demanded restitution otherwise the Braves were done with the league.&nbsp; I\u2019m still waiting confirmation on whether or not he got the free $5 hat.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Winchester Sox<\/strong>: The SweatSox are like a family, always looking out or taking care of each other whenever possible.&nbsp; For example: if someone on our team needs emergency surgery, a paternity test, hospital supplies, specialty burgers, bar food, anything from Brockville, your taxes done, transportation anywhere in Canada, non-sequential unmarked bills, access to the Canada Post servers, a drawing, a power generator, a supply of children, or a sit-down with the Prime Minister, someone on the team can hook it up no questions asked.&nbsp; FYI- if someone on the SweatSox needs premature access to City of Ottawa fields, we do <em><strong>not<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;have a contact for that.&nbsp; At the kick-off meeting, it was revealed that Winchester doesn\u2019t necessarily have that same kind of arrangement with each&nbsp;another.&nbsp; You guys should take a good, hard, one hundred and eighty degree look at your priorities. Baseball &gt; Business.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PMA Panthers<\/strong>: Sporting a stylishly fabulous black &amp; blue suit, the award for best dressed at the kick-off meeting goes to NCBL All-Stars manager Panther Tim.&nbsp; By all accounts, Gautam appeared calm, cool, and collected, but behind the scenes we now know that the Panthers are falling apart; so much so that they are open to recruiting SweatSox!?!<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\" data-conversation=\"none\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SweatSox\">@SweatSox<\/a> btw we are short on position players this yr so if any of your guys make a good impression friday, we may try to poach them<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 PMA Panthers (@PMA_Panthers) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PMA_Panthers\/status\/592789565439631360\">April 27, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t get me wrong, some SweatSox may indeed have a shot at getting called up to the big leagues, assuming the Panthers only scout us off, not on the field.&nbsp; See you guys Friday.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nepean\u2019s Brewers<\/strong>: One Brewer, who may have been a Hurricane if not for them folding, was asking around what the deal was with the &#8220;<em>No Brewers Club&#8221;<\/em>.&nbsp; It\u2019s simple: any one Brewer can attend the SweatSox-Panthers practices, just not multiple Brewers. We know how much mischief those Brewers get into when they\u2019re paired together.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dukes<\/strong>: No team in NCBL history has ever been more dysfunctional than the 2015 Dukes.&nbsp; When Lawrence Pawelek stepped down as Dukes manager to focus more on procreation, he thought he left the team in good hands with Stef Leclair, Mike Pignat and Curtis Brown\u2019s brother Steve; perhaps not.&nbsp; The 2014 Dukes\u2019 claim to fame was an \u201cUndefeated Hyjinx\u201d; but after they announced at the kick-off meeting they were bailing (<em><strong>forfeiting<\/strong><\/em>) on our exhibition game next Wednesday, I\u2019m not sure anyone will take them seriously ever again.&nbsp; In fact, they\u2019re not even worthy of using the word \u201cHyjinx\u201d, either out loud or in print, any more.&nbsp; Call us when Lawrence is back in charge. #lostthehyjinx #wonthetomfoolery?<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Not only did the Dukes lose the ball game tonight but apparently we lost the hyjinx too # remtatch2014 <a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/JqacoJfgVE\">pic.twitter.com\/JqacoJfgVE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; dukesbaseball (@Dukesbaseball) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Dukesbaseball\/status\/331597135176937472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 7, 2013<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the updated SweatSox practice schedule that reflects the Dukes surrender:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>1<\/strong>. Friday, May 1st \u2013 Kinsmen \u2013 6:00pm-7:40pm<br \/>\n<strong>2<\/strong>. Monday, May 4th \u2013 Southgate \u2013 8:30pm-11:00pm<br \/>\n<strong>3<\/strong>. Friday, May 8th \u2013 Trillium \u2013 6:00pm-7:40pm<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Please stay off sports fields &amp; ball diamonds for the next little while <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ottcity?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ottcity<\/a>. Wet fields can be easily damaged. <a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/cYRUxRBhqc\">http:\/\/t.co\/cYRUxRBhqc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; City of Ottawa (@ottawacity) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ottawacity\/status\/590626069931253761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 21, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Next up for the SweatSox is our &#8220;first&#8221; practice on Friday, May 1st, conveniently right here in Kanata.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since I joined the SweatSox in 1998, there have been approximately 60 NCBL meetings.&nbsp; I\u2019ve been to none of them.&nbsp; That\u2019s never stopped me from quickly figuring out what happened at these meetings though, especially now that I have dozens of sources throughout the league.&nbsp; The 2015 Kick-off meeting was this past Sunday morning, and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1031,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,9,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ncbl","category-recap","category-schedule"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/2015exposed.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p41pWP-gA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1028"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1039,"href":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions\/1039"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sweatsoxbaseball.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}