Allentown Big Blue Handball League

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Comment by Hector Diaz The Repoman 14 hours ago

Papo turns the big "50" today!!!! H.Bday OLD HEAD!!!! LOL!!!

Comment by Barbie 17 hours ago

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPO!!!!!!!!!

Hopefully, the older you get the weaker you will get too, so I don't have to worry about you pounding the ball to me. I won't sleep on you yet though.

HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY

Comment by Lewis Gonzalez 1 day ago

This is from Sammy:

I have planned a trip to go paintballing on Saturday November 21st. I have reserved a whole field with our own referees. The trip includes different scenarios including a castle, abandoned airport and others. Let me know if you're interested, i need deposits asap.
Sammy

Comment by Lewis Gonzalez 1 day ago

Steven, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. I hear you loud and clear. Let me explain how everything came about.

The tournament was first slated as a B/C tournament (using league rating). Here is what happened, some players expressed concern that this maybe the last nice weekend of the year. And the day was gorgeous!!! That being said, I did not want to leave anyone out. Also, believe me it had nothing to do with more money. Think about it, we were only charging $10 for both tournaments.

Using the point spread system has worked pretty good in the past, but I did not want to rely on that being the only way we run tournaments. Looking back, I should have opened up the doubles tournament, but left the singles as B/C.

I can assure you that we will address this issue as we prepare for 2010. We have started to meet on a monthly basis so that we can be more organized. In fact, one of the items that we brought up at our last meeting was coming up with a tournament schedule for the entire season. We will be running many different types of tournament: open, mixed, ladies, B, C, etc.

I take full responsibility. I apologize for the confusion but I promise we will continue to work on getting things, "RIGHT" We just need everyone to continue providing feedback just like you did.

Comment by Hector Diaz The Repoman 1 day ago

Let me clarify things abit... for everyone can understand.... now I have been directing tournaments at Jordan for about 10yrs now... and one thing that I always tried to do is bring the level of handball from NY and Philly to Allentown with the same rules and regulations and the style of play to Atwn so players here can get better... in years past we always have gotten guys together to go to either NY to play in tournament events (W4th St, Coney Island, Castlehill, Van Courtland etc.. and in Philly, Reading, Harrisburg as well!.. and Allentown always hosted big money tournaments like open $1000 doubles, singles, $500-$800 B doubles, C Doubles, Sportsfest Handball tournament which is equilavent to the City-Wide tournament in NY but without the cash payout!! but always got great turn outs with those events and to get the players exposure to that type of play, NY is the Mecca of Handball but go to W4th St and to coney Island, Castlehill in the Bronx and they tell u NY 1st, and Miami 2nd and Allentown, PA 2nd in tournament events along w Philly, but we do alot more tournaments then what Philly does! den there Reading, Harrisburg as well, thats why for the past 5 yrs I have had a Allentown Big Blue -Pennsylvania 1-Wall Handball Association Incorporated Ranking System in place... with all the players from jordan park, philly, new york, reading, players that played in any open, A Division, B division, C division tournaments ranked accordingly.....

Now this was the first time that we put together a handball league together, now we first came to che, joe and gary talked about starting a league beforehand a couple of years ago but nothing really articulated from it, then since Lou had some time on his hand and approached me in reference to starting a league, i told that im been trying for the past couple of years but that if he was serious about it and we can get it started full throttle that it was going to take 150% of our time to get it going... not actually knowing how big it would have gotten, STAY AWAKE STEVEN! IM GETTING TO MY POINT! juz wanna get everyone upto speed!! now Lou and I sat down with che, gary, joe and skinny, to express to them our idea of starting the league we chose them as captains and stated to them that we needed everyone's participation in starting the handball league... It was going to be fresh, innovative and nothing like anyone else had! some we put our heads together and structured it out! with the different divisions now we analyzed all the players that had signed up and ranked them accordingly! Now for League purposes and to balance out the Divisions A thru E, alot of the players we ranked in the League were bumped up fro actual "B" players, borderline "C+" players to "B" players like Dancing Dani, Chicken Wing, "C", Phi, Jon Moya, Caravello etc... and it worked out very good for the League... But NOW IN THE REAL WORLD WHEN WE HOST TOURNAMENT EVENTS WE CAN NOT USE THE LEAGUE RANKING BECAUSE OF THE DIFFERENT CALIBER OF PLAYERS THAT COME TO PLAY HERE IN ALLENTOWN FROM OUT OF TOWN FROM PHILLY, READING, HARRISBURG, NY! WE CANT DISCRIMMINANT AGAINST PLAYERS FROM OTHER CITIES THAT COME TO PLAY OR EVEN OUR OWN, ITS GOOD FROM TIME TO TIME TO HAVE HANDICAP TOURNAMENTS GIVING OUT POINTS ETC.. ITS HAS ITS PLUSES AND MINUSES... AND THE PAST TWO TOURNAMENTS WE SPOTTED POINTS.. but when we host a tournament event either an Open event which is open for everyone to join, an A, A/B, B, B/C, C or womens, or mixed doubles(a guy/girl) singles or doubles we have to stay with the actual rankings statistics which I have and post up at jordan earlier in the year then when we statred the league didnt want to confuse everyone when we started posting up the league info and rankings... AS FAR AS THE MONEY THING I DONT MAKE A DIME FROM TOURNAMENTS I ALWAYS GIVE OUT 100% OF WHATS COLLECTED, WHEN I SELL FOOD AND DRINKS ITS TO COVER ANY EXPENSES I INCUR WITH A TOURNAMENT, I TELL U THIS FOR SPORTSFEST I LOST MONEY FROM THE COSTS OF THE MEDAL AND TROPHIES/PLAQUES IT COMES OUT OF MY POCKET BUT I DONT COMPLAIN, LEW ALSO PUT UP AND LOST MONEY FOR THE BANQUET BUT IT WAS MONEY WELL SPENT AND WE ALL HAD A GREAT TIME.... I WE DO THINGS FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME AND TO ELEVATE THE NATURE OF THIS GREAT SPORT WE PLAY, THERE IS NO OTHER SPORT THAT COMES CLOSE TO IT! LIKE I STATED BEFORE I NEVER TAKE THINGS PERSONALLY IM ALWAYS BUSINES LIKE! MY PASSION IS JUZ TO TEACH AND MENTOR WHOEVER I CAN AT JORDAN AND HOPEFULLY THEY CAN LEARN SOMETHING FROM EITHER MYSELF, GARY, LEW, CHE, CHE ETC..

One of the main reasons why we started the League was to get the c&d players more involved in the game and getting them to have the confidence in playing with us... for you to elevate your game and have to play with better players on a consistent basis, that is everyday not once in a while or once a week, but everyday... STEVEN BY FAR YOU SHOWED ME THAT YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A A-B PLAYER YOU HAVE THE TOOLS AND THE FRAME OF MIND YOU JUST NEED TO DEDICATE YOURSELF MORE TO THE GAME, THE NAME OF THE GAME IS PRACTICE, PRACTICE PRACTICE... YOU PRACTICE ALL ASPECTS OF THE GAME NOT ONE DIMENSIONAL AND ONCE YOU CAN MASTER THAT YOU WILL BE A VERY GOOD PLAYER... TO BE A VERY GOOD AND CONSIST PLAYER YOU MUST BE ABLE TO HIT DOWN THE LINE SHOTS AT BOTH CORNERS, AN ANGLE SHOT ON BOTH SIDES, A LOB SHOT TO THE BACK CORNER LINES, A KILL SHOT, AND MOST IMPORTANT A SERVE! ONLY GAME TIME WILL ENABLE YOU TO DO THIS! PLUS BEING ABLE TO READ YOUR OPPONENT SHOT! KEEP ON YOUR TOES.. I first met Che and jon moya about 8yrs roughly and I use to white wash and spanked them all the time, Jon moya I thought was the better player of the two, but now Che blew up to be one of the best players at jordan and are "B" players not "A" players, then gary started coming down from the mountains and is another "B" player there are no official "A" Players here except for Bucky was an "A" about 5 yrs ago but with the weight and inactivity of not playing he's more of an "B" player. The only "A" Players around here are Edison is border line A, but to me he's more of a "B+" player, Wally and Sam from philly are bonafide "A" players and thats it skinny is a "B+" player as well... dont get frustrated, I think we should have more B/C events which are actual "B/C" tournament!

Comment by Steven aka Slinky 1 day ago

Joe, thanks for the recognition of my talent. I know Im good and I got a little better. But come on lets be real.

I understand what you are saying about the rating. Really only counts toward the league. But this is also a tournament. I feel it should apply to tournaments as well. Okay I'm talking about Jordan park only. If we are rating just the park. There would be A players. Such as yourself, Che, Gary, and much more that I know is better then most of us in that park. So when they say A player's I'm counting you guys because in reality you guys are the best players at home.

As for me, I enjoy just playing. lose or win. Its just the point of saying one thing then changing it at the last min.

Comment by JOOCASSY 1 day ago

Steven, i understand what your saying. However, in actuality there were no A players playing. To be honest no one that played was even close to an A player.

But your right, i was even confused about the whole ordeal, but the only time some people are even considered A players is when we are talking about League play. Cuz we all really just B and C players. Now we have done C only tournaments in the past that have worked out great. But anytime B is in the equation it opens the door to just about everyone in PA except two players and they from Philly.

When i started out, there never ever really any divisions, everything was open. And i played them all, and got scrapped daily. You got tons of talent, and these tournaments are only gonna make you stronger, and the exp. is vital. But i do agree with the C tourny thing. Gotta mix it up.

I played in several tournaments in NYC this past summer that i had no chance of winning. Just keep hoping for that one day that i upset some A player out there.

Comment by Hector Diaz The Repoman 1 day ago

the Yankees always had good clubs, im not denying the 27 world champioships they won from the "Sultan of Swat" Babe Ruth to the "Murderer's Row" Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrigs hit 158 home runs and scored 908 runs 339 runs batted in, 214 extra base hits, 397 runs scored, 867 total bases and a .769 slugging percentage in 155 games! those were statstics from out of this world!! the Yankees got the name the "Bronx Bombers" from all those bombs that they exploded by the batters with the pitching staffof Bob Shawkey, Urban Shocker, Waite Hoyt, Wiley Moore, Herb Pennock!! bet u alot of Yankee fans didnt know that!! even 1955 brookly dogers finally over came the hump of beating the Yankees with the "Duke of Flatbush" team... but the Great Tyranny in New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers came to play a vital role in its demise, Dodger owners wanted to build a newer baseball field to replace Ebbetts field due to their recent increase of fans but the city of New York fought hard with them not to work out an agreement to build a new park with tabloids throwing out rumors that the Yankees were behind them not getting a new stadium built!so the dodgers started looking else where and wind up moving to LA, why do you think the samething happen to the giants and they relocated to san fransisco, because of the monopoly in NY!! after much conterversy in NY of the 2 National League teams leaving New York thats how the new expansion team of the Mets were born! and then a new Shea Stadium was built in Flushing Meadows.....

Comment by Steven aka Slinky 1 day ago

congratulations to all the players that won yesterday's tournament.

I would like to state my opinion, and hope all understands. I got nothing but love for everyone at the handball court's. But to be honest I was very disappointed. Disappointed because when the tournament was brought up last min and all, it was clearly stated that NO A player's would be playing. (just for the record I have no problem with any of the A players.) I don't know how everyone feels but i know that I was happy that A players weren't going to be playing because it gives us young players and new players a chance to win something.

Now coming to find out that day. That A players were allowed to play. Was very disappointing. You know at least 1 A player would take it. and look there was more then one that took it. Then on top of that no point spreads. I'm mainly speaking about point spreads for the singles portion. You have young players such as myself going into single games with better opponents with the mind set like " damn I know I don't have a chance ". That shouldn't be like that. We should have more confidence, but how with no point spreads and single elimination.

Lew, Hec. All I'm saying is maybe. Just maybe it would be nice to give other players a shout to win. Me personally I think it was about the cash. A lot of people showed up then expected. So more money was involved so you guys said F it. everyone can play. If thats not the case and I'm wrong I apologize. I feel maybe an B/C tournament would be NICE. Give other players a chance.

Comment by Hector Diaz The Repoman 1 day ago

Benny; juz like to chop guys up and down juz part of the game the trash talking, its never personally, til people step over the line then I gotta come out my face!! LOL!! about thing NY thing its a cold hard fact, but I didnt state they can't like the Yankees, I said that true NY fans have a severe "Team Etiquete" back of the days of if you were a brooklyn dogers fan or a manhattan giants fan or a bronx yankees fan u were despised by your neighbors if u rooted for the other cities teams and considered a traitor! since there hasnt been any other teams came about everyone else jumps on the BANDWAGON! YO! I have an uncle that lives in Queens and is a big mets fan! and he states to me they literally hate the Yankees, and another uncle in law that lives in the Bronx and they hate the Mets!! I AM A TRUE PHILADELIPHIAN! I WAS BORN AND RAISED IN THE HARD STREETS OF PHILLY IN THE BARRIO OF 5TH & A!! THAT WHY I CAN SAY WHAT I SAY! STRAIGHT UP BOY!! but the difference from me and some of these so called fans or wannabe's is this, I always state yeah I was from Philly, but NOW I LIVE IN ATWN AND I REPRESENT ATWN TO THE FULLEST! NOT LIKE ALOT OF THESE ASSES THAT HAVE THEIR PROFILES UP ON MYSPACE AND FACEBOOK AND STATE KNOWING THAT THEY BEEN HERE IN ATWN FOR WHAT 10YRS OR MORE AND AND EVEN PROBABLY NEVER LIVED IN NY PROBABLY DRIVE BY THE STATE OF LIBERTY WHEN THEY CAME THRU ELLIS ISLAND!! HAVE THE FREAKING NERVE AND THE ORDACITY TO STATE OR POST UP ONLINE THAT THERE FROM NY!! N---GA PLEASE! WAKE UP SON!!

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