The latest edition of the BATS and BALLS podcast was recorded Thursday night and is up at www.MyCentralJersey.com.
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About Me
- Simeon Pincus
- Simeon Pincus began covering softball at the Courier News in 1999, and, after a two-year absence starting in 2004, is back on the beat. He is also the Courier News' girls soccer and ice hockey beat writer for the Courier News and the Home News Tribune. I can be reached via email at CourierSoftball@aol.com
36 comments:
Looks like your poll is rigged! Jenna C & Laura F.'s #'s went up consistantly until 11:00 last night, then started again 6:00 this morning. This poll should be removed from the site.
I agree, watching this little polularity contect you see that some are increasing as you would expect, while others are going up every 3 to 5 minutes. Seems a bit suspect to me.
Hey, I thought the same thing yesterday - came back today and checked to see if it was happening again, and guess what! You parents crack me up! Atleast it gave me a chuckle on such a hot and miserable day. I am going to keep checking today when I have time to see how out of control this gets. Thanx for the laughs!
Its a poll relax. These polls make sites like this one fun to watch.
I like it. By the way I do not know any of these named girls personally. I did vote once though.
My pick was based on articles I have read in the courier & star ledger. And team accomplishments this year.
Rigged, now thats funny.
This is funny! All these people actually wasting time on this nonsense!
What is going on here??? PARENTS ARE PATHETIC - this started as a simple poll based on the girls INDIVIDUAL stats for the year. It now seems like some parents (get a life!) don't think their kids can win based on stats alone so are resorting to alternate measures. Nice going -- great values to teach. Funny thing is, do you think the players care who wins? no! They've gotten on with their lives looking forward to summer. To bad the parents can't do the same. I agree with the first comment --- take the site down and be done!
Obviously there are people connected with Hunterdon Central and Bridgewater-Raritan that feel passionately about their players being rewarded for the fine season they've had.
Nothing wrong with that.
I agree with Anonymous #4. It's a fun poll. Nothing to freak out about. There is nobody listed that isn't deserving of consideration.
But I assure you: Ultimately, the decision on these two awards will be based on merit, not Web hits.
All I can say is that Pincus has been sweating out these two decisions for over a week now. Never seen him so torn.
Why should anyone care if you get
1 vote or 1000.
This is a honor just to be mentioned.
There are a lot of great players in are area.
Congrats. to all!
come on simeon you and bill clinton most be related , you had fitz picked for this before the season even started.
That one went totally over my head.
I don't get it.
1. What does Bill Clinton have to do with Fitzsimmons?
2. How and why would I have picked anyone before the season??
This joke of a poll can end now - the Player of the Year was announced last evening at the Bridgewater softball banquet and if anyone had a doubt that it was not going to be Lauren Fitzsimmons, then you obviously do not keep up with Mr. Pincus and his one sided sports coverage throughout the softball season. As the last poll writer stated, she was picked before the season even started.
I would love to know your criteria for Player of the Year when:
- 4 of the girls listed on this poll beat her in regular competition.
- 1 beat her by scoring 8 runs against her - I do not believe any of the other pitchers had that many runs scored against them in a game let alone having 6 runs scored against her in 1 inning to tie the score and eventually beat her in a state game. I do not believe any other pitcher had this happen to them in any game this season.
- 1 struck her out 5 times in the 2 times they faced each other. That one striking out 21 players in 1 game! and beating her both times they faced each other
- 1 that won the Skylands Conference
- 1 that won the Warren County tournament and the Warren conference
- 1 that broke the record for home runs hit.
- of all the pitchers, Lauren had a higher loss record
- of all the pitchers listed here that she faced in games, she lost to every one of them.
So explain to everyone how you are not bias, how this was not pre-determined, how her stats were better than all the others? Oh and by the way, if anyone believes stats can not be fudged to make someone look better - think again. There is no way her stats are better than some of the people she was up against.
Is she the best all around player with both pitching and hitting? How many home runs did she hit this season? Yes, she won the Somerset County tournament. On the other hand, Jenna Carmon not only won her county tournament, she also won her conference. Megan McInaw won the Skylands Conference. How many games do you play to win the County Title, 2 maybe 3? How many games does it take to win your conference - I believe substantially more than that.
Everyone has an opinion about these things, but the above facts can not be denied by anybody! You have taken something that all of these girls work very hard to accomplish, and have turned it into a farce.
Mr. Carino stated that you struggled with this decision, was this because someone else truly deserved this award more, yet that is not who you wanted to give it to and you were struggling to justify your decision?
So the cat is no out of the bag, I can not wait to see the other comments that people write about your decision. Nobody will ever agree, there will always be someone who thinks someone else deserves an award like this, but the facts speak for themselves, and you will be hard pressed to convince me and alot of other people out there that the winner of this season's award was actually 'The PLAYER of the Year'.
I've heard Pincus called many names over the past 10 years, but Bill Clinton is a new one.
Rudy, is that you?
Let the games begin!
To the previous anonymous poster:
I m not quite sure where you're getting some of your facts, but many of them are VERY wrong, including the part about the Player of the Year award being announced at Bridgewater's banquet.
Normally, I would immediately address this point by point, but I don't think it would be appropriate until after the All-Area teams are published.
At that time, you can return here and I look forward to addressing this issue.
The travel softball world is a very small place - and a lot of these high school girls play on lots of different travel teams, or have friends who do. Some feel it is an honor to be named Player of the Year, and as such, shared the news.
Why don't you check with Coach Sandy herself, she said she knew you would be pissed but made the big announced to the attendee's herself anyway!
So please tell me which of my facts is incorrect. You can always check the Star Ledger for the line scores youself, they do a very nice job of documenting all of that information - if anyone is interested, you can calculate stats yourself.
everyone knows that she was gonna win it before season. Mr. Pincus has always loved her and we all knew that was not going to change. And as for looking at the stats that he sure did not do because he would see all that he missed. He did not pick this award on stats. but as he would say he did not but its weird Mr. Pincus that everyone else can see it but urself. tell me how does that work?
It is disheartening that people harbor such anger towards this blog, Simeon and the kids. I feel awful for any of the players that are reading this, especially the player of the parent that is so angry. What kind of lesson is such anger sending to your daughter? Putting down other players (remember, they are KIDS...), talking about fudging stats, accusing of having decisions made before the season? Wow. It is a shame that people have such difficulty coping with things that don't go their way. I celebrate all the players for their hard work and commitment and congratulate those that receive honors/awards. You all deserve to be supported, not ripped apart by a disgruntled parent. And Simeon, isn't The Inner Circle supposed to be a positive way to discuss high school softball? Shame on the people (and anonymously, no less) that abuse it as a way to purge their anger. Sad.
Well said, Kelly.
The Inner Circle is absolutely meant to be a positive place to cover varsity softball and give praise to the fine student-athletes who work their tails off for the good of their school and their sport.
And this thread is the perfect example of everything that is wrong with high school sports. Adults behaving like children making wild accusations and launching ridiculous personal attacks because their opinion isn't shared by everyone else on the planet.
I will be more than happy to explain my decisions on all these awards once the All-Area issue is published next Friday, decisions that were made completely objective and purely on merit.
Until then, if you want to rip me, please bring something of substance to the table, not wild ramblings and comparisons to former presidents that make no sense.
Oh, and for the record, and, really, it doesn't make a bit of difference one way or the other, I did check with Coach Baranowski, (among others) and I am confident there was no announcement made about anyone winning Player of the Year at the Bridgewater banquet, which, by the way, was held Wednesday night and not Thursday as the poster here stated.
If there's some grand conspiracy to lie to me, fine. So be it. In any case, I now consider this matter closed.
In the interest of full disclosure, I can tell you Lauren Fitzsimmons was informed Thursday night via a phone call from me that she had won the award. Perhaps it was then that her travel ball friends got the news. And there's nothing wrong with that.
By Thursday night and Friday afternoon, I had already made my choice public. I spoke to Hillsborough coach Cheryl Iaione on Thursday night and told her I had decided to go with Fitzsimmons, and have told a few other coaches and members of the softball community who have inquired, as well. So the decision isn't exactly a state secret.
I also spoke with Megan McInaw on Friday and congratulated her on a phenomenal season and a great career and told her I'd decided to go with Fitzsimmons, too.
the connection between you and bill is you can look somebody right in the eye and lye that you didn't have her picked from the beginning. If she deserved it fine but her stats don't show it period.
The bottom line is that lauren's stats did not show her to be the best this season but she was still picked. You have always been on Bridgewater's side and that will not change as long as u are at the paper. These girls should have a fair chance to be awarded for what they are done and this just shows that, thats not the way it goes. And if u say the facts are wrong then please tell us what the real facts are on the stats because from what i have read they are very much true. it seems to me you are just trying to cover up for the choice you made. As for it being told at the banquet it very much was. And we will really see if this is all a joke if the coach from Bridgewater gets coach of the year as well. there is something wrong with how you pick the girls to be awarded because the girls are not getting the credit they should be getting.
Friday, June 20. All-Area will be out in the Courier News.
Thanks for reading.
hey simeon tell me how to loop a video of the banquet to you're sight and you can see who is lying.
Send it to me at CourierSoftball@aol.com
no tell me how to loop it!!
I don't know how. And even if I could figure it out, the only way to do it would be to put it on the main site, not the comments page, which would require a user name and password.
I think it's great that you all have this forum to discuss Players of the Year....I'm sure all of the candidates have valid reasons to select each as a player of the year.
Few journalists in this state work as tirelessly as Simeon, and his decision is completely justified. You can defend any girl for the award, and unless Mr. Pincus goes on "The Moment of Truth", there's no way you can validate the statements that he had made this selection prior to the season.
What you need to do is get your own newspaper or a website and list your own player of the year and all will be happy.
Regardless of who wins it, all of these girls showed that they are great softball players and will likely go far, athletically and academically, in whatever career path they pursue.
In every sport I have been involved in someone from the WINNING team has always been voted the MVP - until now. This is the first time someone from the LOSING team was given that honor. This is absolutely amazing!
I think what the last Blogger said is something we should all do - we should all get our own papers, decided on a Player of the Year based on whatever criteria we decide and give as much creditability to that award as is attached to this years Courier News Softball Player of the Year! ENJOY!
1. This award is not MVP. It's Player of the Year. There's a difference.
2. Bridgewater-Raritan was the WINNING TEAM in the Somerset County Tournament.
But, like I keep saying, I will be more than happy to expand on all of this once All-Area is published.
Once that happens, I have no problem answering any questions about the pick and explaining exactly why I made the choice I did and didn't go with one of the other finalists.
It's worth noting that Simeon had the decency to call the runners-up for Player of the Year and explain his reasoning (a vast majority of writers don't do that).
The girls all handled the news in a very mature manner, unlike the infantile, anonymous adult(s) who are posting on this blog.
It takes a real gutless worm to spout off anonymously like this ... hope you are proud of yourself and the embarrassment you are bringing to Hillsborough.
By the way, you are going to be REAL disappointed when you read the Star-Ledger's all-county package. Hopefully they will be spared your infantile rantings.
she did not deserve it bottom line
You want some cheese with that whine?
its not whining its facts and if u were ever there to see it u would know what i mean. Everyone could see this from the start and its not fair to all the other girls on the list. now everyone has their opinion but when the facts shows that the right person did not get the credit then there is something wrong with it.
Jerry:
When is the Ledger All-County being published?
Simeon:
I really enjoy your reporting during the season. Keep up the good work!
I think any one of the players could have won the award, but only one wins. Congrats to all the players.All had a great year in high school. By the way--Jerry ' THE WORM' whats makes you think Hillsborough are all the anonymous people. I am From HC and thought Jenna Carmon should have won the award.Jenna was county and conference champ. Plus HC beat BR. Everyone is entitled to a opinion. Simeon does a good job reporting on all the teams in the area. I thank him for all his efforts. He has a tough job reporting on all these players and picking awards. If any one can do better, please apply at the Courier News. Thanks and have a good summer.
It's not the opinions that drive me nuts. I love the blog feedback ... it's the insinuation that Pincus was hell-bent on giving it to a particularly player from the get-go. I know that's not the case.
I think the Ledger stuff comes out this weekend, either Saturday or Sunday. They do it by zone, so Jenna Carmon will be in the "West Jersey" category, not mixed with Somerset County.
She is justly deserving of high recognition.
Hey, don't give Hillsborough all the credit here - I am not from Hillsborough and posted my displeasure on your little blog. Look at the numbers on your poll - the Hillsborough girl is running a distant 3rd - that tells me more people from the other towns Voted and possibly commented on this stuff.
I am glad to hear all the girls took the news well - that is a credit to their parents for raising mature individuals who take this kind of stuff with a grain of salt. The bottom line is - NONE OF YOUR PICKS AND POLLS AND NONE OF THE STAR LEDGER PICKS AND POLLS MEANS ANYTHING!
To all of the girls listed as candidates for Player of the Year and to the girls not even mentioned - all that matters is that YOU know you played this game to the best of your ability, and win or lose - you are all PLAYERS OF THE YEAR!
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