Can't always get what you want

Were I near-sighted, an RBI single to send the game into extra innings would be my lasting memory from this memorable Memorial Day weekend baseball extravaganza that wasn’t.

My 20-20 vision also witnessed the cardinal sin of striking out looking – twice!

But that was just the first game, and, it turns out, only game. 13-10 losers in a nine-inning game scheduled for seven that had reached the time limit after six.

That four-game guarantee isn’t worth the bytes of Web space it occupies, apparently. Neither is the since-erased refund policy.

We had booked rooms for Friday night in anticipation of an early Saturday start. With 300 teams from 10 states, we had little expectation of a favorable travel seed. Then we learned we didn’t play until 6 p.m. Saturday, so we canceled Friday’s lodging and began our adventure Saturday morning.

The spectators seemed to enjoy the game more than the scorekeeper, who counts six errors as the reason for our loss. Little did we know it was just the beginning of our adventure.

I’ll decline from tabulating the money spent since waiting for our second game.

Game one ended shortly after 9:15 p.m. – a three-hour affair – just in time for our 10 p.m. assignment. We held a 2-0 lead in the third inning when the game was curiously called due to lighting, which had been flashing all night long. The umps brought the teams back on the field in time for it to start raining, hard.

Eventually we were told to go home, in the driving rain, and check the Web site and rainout line for updates. By 3 a.m., there were no updates. After napping in between, we learned at 7 a.m. that our games scheduled for 10 and 12 were moved up 40 minutes or so.

We started game three shortly after 9 a.m. Scoreless through three innings when more rain came – hard rain. It lasted maybe a half hour as we learned, eventually, that it was a four-hour setback. “Check the Web site and the hotline for updates.”

The hotel has a poor excuse for in-room internet service, but that’s another rant, so I spent the afternoon in the lobby checking for updates. I finally got through to the “hotline” shortly before 1 p.m. to learn the tournament would resume at 3:40 and that today’s rain delays would be played out tomorrow. Presumably, the 8:40 p.m. conclusion of last night’s rainout was still on.

Meanwhile, I accompanied our coaches less than five miles up the road where the 14U AA World Series will be played. Care to guess what was going on? That’s right, a baseball tournament.

Under partly-cloudy skies with no hint of rain, our team arrived at the our complex to find it locked. A coach’s call interrupted my well-deserved nap and sent me back to the “hotline” and “Web site” for information. The “hotline,” updated at 6 p.m., announced the tournament’s cancellation. The “Web site” was silent on the issue, except the refund policy had curiously been removed.

I directed my first baseball tournament earlier this year, so I know what a thankless and hard job it is. Multiply that times 10, in this case, and I can’t even imagine. But the experience also allows me to offer some criticism. Here’s a top 10:

1. Don’t direct people to your Web site unless you’re prepared to update said Web site frequently.
2. Don’t direct people to your “hotline” unless you’re prepared to update said “hotline” frequently.
3. Don’t do business with facilities that don’t have a can-do attitude.
4. Don’t guarantee four games and remove your refund policy when it looks like you won’t be able to meet that expectation.
5. Don’t be overzealous when trying to accommodate the first game for traveling teams.
6. Do be overzealous when trying to get more than one game for traveling teams.
7. Don’t make people wait around for six hours, particularly the nicest six hours of the weekend, before announcing you’re canceling the tournament.
8. If you are canceling, make a splash!
9. Never cancel with one day remaining.
10. Service what you sell.

P.S. I lugged my bike 432 miles to get here and haven't ridden it yet. It seems a biker-friendly place, with share-the-road signs everywhere, but too hilly. And did I mention it rained?