A State Board Dream

I was always going to write about how ridiculous the new format for the Class C State Tournament is, but I never got around to it.  If you want to see how I felt about it, all you have to do is go back in the archives of the MBA webpage or to "Bill's Baseball Blog" and find the comments by Andy Johnson and Brent Schloe.  I agree with both of them.  Brett Kruschke also wrote an excellent letter stating why he thinks it is foolish to award extra (more) State Tournament spots to regions that draw more in attendance than regions that don't draw as well. 

Anyway, everything changed when I had this revealing dream a couple of nights ago.  The stage was a MBA meeting on a Friday night somewhere in St. Cloud.  All nine of the Board members were present, however, some were more present than others.  The conversation was being dominated by the usual two Board spokesmen. 

DH: I'm going to be perfectly honest with you--We just have to try something different. 

FR: Well how about splitting B into two divisions B plus and B.  It would make it three State Tournaments, but  what the Hey we could make it four weekends. 

R: Fred, we're talking about C now.  We all know that C makes all the money and if we don't raise the revenue pretty soon we won't be able to meet on Friday night and stay over for the  meetings on Saturday. 
 
MF: Well if we can't have Friday night get togethers with our little work sessions, I'm not going to say anything on Saturday.  Albertville is already pissed enough being B without them finding out I recommended they go to B. 

JK: Guys, we have to get back to what will make a difference--how we going to get more teams in the C State Tournament?  That is the only way to make more money. 

DH:  Hell, we can just pick them.  Set a number and we can assign teams to the tournament.  That way we can get the teams that draw big crowds and make sure that they are in the tournament.  

FR:  Man, even I couldn't smooth that over.  There could be a lot more people than Nelson pissed about that. You know he'll whine about it and blast us.  And we're paying the SOB.  We have to figure out a better way to get the teams with big followings in the tournament.  And how many should we have?  32, 36, 42, 48, what's the magic number? 

MB: Why do we need to add more.  Let's worry about quality and good baseball instead of quantity and making money.

MF: Hey, when you get the right color shirt on you can talk.  I'd like to see at least 48 teams.

JR: Well then do we have three teams from each of the 16 regions make the tourney? 

MF: No way!  We should make it so some regions have four teams, maybe even six, because I know that we'll have to beat out at least three tough teams in our region. 

DH: Well, maybe you should go back to B.

MF:  Then Belle Plaine should be B too. 

TR:  Let's get back on track. I can agree with 48 teams, but how do we select them?

FR: How about buying your way in.  My grandkids play ball and for $500 they can go to the State Tounament for their age group.  Think about that: 64 teams @ $500 bucks each and we almost have enough money to stay overnight every meeting. 

DH: Maybe make enough to have a couple of meetings in Fort Meyers.

JR:  OK, we have the number, now how do we do it. 

BZ: (seems to be just waking) What about the Board trailer?  Where do we put it.  And let's make sure we get the phone line for the fax in.  And keep those damn computers out of the trailer. 

DH: Anything else Bob?....How about we each pick five teams and Fred and I will pick the last three? 

FR:  I think we can rank them but I did an extensive study and I recommend we figure out a different way to select them.  Some of us don't know what we don't know.  You know? 

DB:  Hey guys, it's getting late and I have a long drive ahead of me.

DH:  Don't worry about that.  We're staying overnight. What about a guarantee?  Make every team in the state buy State Tournament tickets and the top 48 C teams  in sales get to play in the tournament.  Then the top 8 B teams can have their tourney too. 

FR: I like it.  But let's not get too over the top.  How about we figure out who sells the most beer in their region and making sure that they have a great chance to make the tournament. 

And so it went.  They finally came up with a plan that would sell to the teams with the best chance of making it.  And when the regions that got four teams saw it and praised it, the Board said "See, we were right all along."    

This was just a dream, but anything could have happened.  When tournament entrants aren't determined by play, things get off kilter.