Merry Christmas From Wiffler's Digest

Mix it up with some Wiffle ornaments

Like it or not, Christmas is upon us. Decorations and lights line the houses on each block, Christmas music blasts over the speakers in each store you enter, and parking lots are so far that finding a spot should merit college credit. For some of us the season is a cheerful celebration, and for others a grueling time of year full of stress and annoyances. Nevertheless, we here at Wiffler's Digest would like to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas. If you find it hard to blend your love for wiffleball with Christmas, take a cue from Trevor Collie, aka Wiffle King. Trevor decided to get creative and paint some wiffleballs and sprinkle them with glitter. Are the chic? No, but it is a creative idea that gets people excited for the upcoming 2012 wiffleball seasons! This photo was taken from the December newsletter from Journey's Excursions to Health and if you haven't subscribed to that newsletter...make it a resolution for the New Year.

Season's Greetings,

Josh Smith
Wiffler's Digest

Black Top Wiffleball League's Winter Meetings

Black Top Wiffleball League, formerly known as Auburn Wiffleball League, in Massachusetts has recently had it's captain meetings to discuss the upcoming 2012 season. This small, 4-team league is making great strides to make 2012 their greatest season yet by making some admirable rule changes. The league plays in a wide open parking lot and as a result there are a few unique problems that many leagues would be unable to relate to. One of the new rules has to do with errors in attempting pegging of runners - in that situation base runners will automatically advance to the next base and no further. This rule is significantly similar to the 'one base over-throw' rule that the Garrett Drive Wiffleball League (GDWL) has used since 2002. The league is also looking to use different venues for the upcoming season such as a skate park and the Industrial Park. The most impressive proposal for the 2012 season is the decathlon the captains must perform to establish the draft order. Activities range from the athletic (field goal kicking) to the random (Yahtzee). Also, their highlights show, Non-Stop Black Top, will have new episodes every two weeks. This is good because, given the potential the show provided in 2011, Non-Stop Black Top has the potential to be one of the best ongoing wiffleball series online. If you don't believe me watch the four episodes they produced in 2011:

              

BWWBP League Play

Brian Trigg and his fantastic Bassett Woods Wiffle Ball Park are in their first season as a league and here is the most recent highlights footage. It's nice to see this beautiful field enjoying some league play. This video is pretty solid, decent commentary, great slow-motion, and good camera angles. These things are hard to find in league highlights videos. Hoping to see much more of this from our friend Trigg.

The Wait Is Over - GSWL Format Release Is Out

The 2012 Format for GSWL/GSTC has finally been released on the Golden Stick website. It's a 27 page magazine explaining in details of what the plan is for 2012. The new point system to determine national standings is pretty impressive. But what I admire most is Lou Levesque's honesty on some issues and admitting that there are still a few things that need to be worked out and is open to the opinions of the players.

If you want to see the magazine for yourself, click HERE and read through it.

Shamefully, my attention mostly went to the dilemma a man named Doug Winship faces on naming his team for 2012. He appears to have narrowed it down to two choices: Wiffzilla and Mustangs. I don't see how this is a hard decision. That Wiffzilla logo is amazing.

Wiffle Logos Resource

Brandon Corbett, of Wiffle in SE Michigan, has began constructing an interesting wiffle website. It's called Wifffle Logos Resource and he's been archiving the team logos of leagues and teams. So far he's only done a few leagues but I'm sure he'll have it all done by the end of next season. So why is he doing this? He explained on a thread on the NWLA messageboard, "Well, first off I love design and logos in general. Second, there are a ton of great (silly-great, and great-great) logos in use throughout NWLA, but usually don't get noticed outside of their own leagues. We already learn a bit about the cultural nuances, similarites, and differences of our leagues bumping shoulders on these forums; so, the WLR is a good way to extend that into seeing a bit more about a league through its creative side, as well." Noticed that teams from your league aren't featured yet? Try to help Brandon out by saving him a lot of legwork and drop him an email with the logos attached. So far he only appears interested in doing NWLA logos, once he gets that done he may or may not do GSWL and other non-NWLA organizations.

Would You Use A Stat App During Your Wiffleball Games?

One of the players from CoMo Wiffleball in Missouri has modified a baseball statistic app to fit the needs of wiffleball games. Below are pictures (click on them to enlarge) he posted on a thread on the NWLA messageboard. He wants to know if he further developed the app, would people be willing to pay for it. Take a look at the pictures and determine if you would be willing to use the app and pay or just stick with score sheets.

Brainless Threesome

Given the positions that the recipients took, I have my suspicions on what they did with the bats after the camera stopped rolling. I won't go into details but I think we all know what I'm hinting at.

Dedication - do you have it?

As someone who has played in the snow before, I doubt these kids ever do it again...but if they do they have a considerable amount of dedication. Snowy conditions simply aren't a productive atmosphere for wiffleball. The ball and bat, and everything else, gets wet. Freezing temperatures cause the joints to become stiff, and put players at greater risk for developing pneumonia or hypothermia. The costs outweigh the benefits but if you and your friends are careless enough to play some wiffleball in the snow this winter, be sure to send us a copy of the url of the video to us at wifflersdigest@gmail.com

Backyard League in PA is Thinking Big

Kevin Sickle of Wilkes-Barre, PA could possible receive a $10,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project. If Sickle gets the grant he will get a piece of land and build a wiffleball field that can host league games and charity tournaments. There's no reason NOT to believe that he'll do this as he's done charitable tournaments before for Sears' Heroes at Home and the Colleen Shea Foundation. Sickle has overseen 8 seasons for his league, Backyard Wiffle Ball League and would become a fixture in the sport in a hurry if he receives the honor of getting the grant. Sickle can't get this funding on his own. There's a voting system on the refresh project site and the top ideas get the money. Currently, Sickle's idea is in 12th place in the $10,000 tier - four places lower than a few days ago. Help this guy out by VOTING for his idea and watch another extraordinary wiffle event unfold.

WiffleATL Turning Over A New Leaf

Last spring I expressed how skeptical I was that WiffleATL would updated their website. They're notorious for having a sleek website with outdated information - which is a shame. 2011 saw more updates from them than I can recall in 2010. And for that, I think congratulations are in order. But I've noticed that the homepage of the website never featured the end of the playoffs or anything like that. So I prowled their messageboard and it didn't take long to find out that someone from the league has built a blogger website for the league and it appears that it could possibly replace the current website. Perhaps relieving the burden of working on the design of the site will be exactly what the league's webmaster needs to update the site more often. Leagues using blogger can have really nice sites too (such as Wiffle in Southeast Michigan) so it's not like WiffleATL is settling for less.

Golden Stick Experiences Website Woes

 

This comes as no surprise to Golden Stick followers, but the GSWL website has been hacked and Lou Levesque has temporarily shut down the site until the problem is resolved. Although the threat to visitors is gone, others may have not been so lucky as facebook information was required to get to the messageboard and eventually to view the site at all. Levesque does not know the origin of the problem. The site could take some time to bounce back, depending on the severity of the hack. But if there's any league that can bounce back quickly it's GSWL. This happens only days before the big announcement of a major format change that is expected some time this week.

Wiff Junkies Indoor Tournament In 9 Days

If you visit the Tournament Tracker page on this blog you'll quickly notice that there were nearly 100 tournaments this year and few stand out. You'll also notice that the frequency of tournaments dramatically drops after late August or early September. So when a promising winter tournament in New England appears I feel I must point it out. Scotty "Wiffs" Martell (from Golden Stick) emailed me about such a tournament. He's hosting a tournament in N. Smithfield, Rhode Island on December 17. It's not only an indoor tournament, which is rare, but it's a tournament that takes place during the middle of the night - the only tournament to do that this year (that I'm aware of). It starts at 10 p.m. and, depending on the amount of teams, will surely continue well past the time when the rooster crows.

I should also mention that Martell runs a site that some of you may have heard of, Wiff Junkies. The site is similar to this one, a blog that sports an online magazine. From what I can tell, all (or most) of the articles appear to have been written by Martell. Quite impressive if you ask me - that's quite a load. The things I have previously mentioned is where the similarities between Wiffler's Digest and Wiff Junkies end. Wiff Junkies has a primary focus on GSWL/GSTC whereas Wiffler's Digest focuses more on backyard/recreational leagues. There's nothing wrong with that and readers from both magazines could benefit from reading what the other end of the spectrum is talking about...see how the other half lives, if you will. But there is no animosity between the two projects as Martell appears to show respect to the Digest in the Editor's Note from the first issue. So if you want to know a little more about GSWL or just want some more wiffle reading material check them out.

The Digest Is Now Smartphone Friendly

 

I've been reading the site visitor statistics lately and noticed that 15% of our readers this past month visited the site using the Android network, iPhone, iPad, and various other wireless devices. When I visited this website using my smartphone I noticed that that it's troublesome to zoom in to tap any of the links and took away from any enjoyment the site could bring to potential visitors. The solution: now when you visit the digest on your smartphone you should see the mobile friendly version of the site (preview in the image above). Think of it as a Christmas gift from Wiffler's Digest. Enjoy.

Super Savvy Are Weird...I Like It

Witness what could very well be the weirdest wiffleball team in the country: the Super Savvy Psychos out of Georgia.

These Kids Have Seriously Never Heard of Wiffle?

Based on the comments on this video's Youtube page, I found out that it was a fake commercial made for a class project. Fine. What the kid doesn't understand is that the ball he held in his hand at the beginning of the commercial is not a "normal wiffle ball." The simpleton doesn't realize that the 'Zebra Ball' is nothing extraordinary, in fact a better version of it was created over 50 years ago...you know, the real Wiffle Ball. Kids have access to such a vast amount of information on the internet yet this dolt appears to believe he invented something. Unbelievable!

Two Dweebs Hit An Indestructible Camera With A Wiffle Bat

At first glance this video looks like a couple of weird guys wearing metrosexual hats and matching vests (cute, right?) trying to perform what they feel is a legitimate science experiment. Well...I guess the deductive first glance works for this video. These guys have managed to take a $300 dollar video camera (GoPro Hero 2) and beat it with something that costs 1% of the cost of the camera (a wiffle bat). The due runs a site called gizmoslip.com where you can watch more videos of them abusing technology. If you're interested they've also thrown the GoPro off a 6 story building and set a Kindle Fire on fire - how clever. Not really. Where these guys get the money to buy all these products is unknown. Why they do this is another fact that escapes me. I think the real question is why do these two grown men dress the way they do?

Who Are America's Best Pitchers?

Let's face it - writing articles can involve a lot of unnecessary legwork. One of the articles that's in the works for the upcoming (and very delayed) issue of the magazine is about the top pitchers in the country. We need YOUR input on who the best arms are in your league. The best way to do this is to email us at wifflersdigest@gmail.com and give us the name of the person, their 2011 stats (career stats would be nice too), a picture of them, and a little background information. This article will be featuring pitchers not only from backyard/recreational leagues in the NWLA but from Golden Stick and Palisades as well. The article will be covering what we feel are the top 20 pitchers in America. It's a difficult task that can be made easier if you cooperate and meet us halfway by sharing who the best pitcher(s) are in your league.

GSWL Announcement... On An Upcoming Announcement?

So it's barely the off-season, a time that most league commissioners or presidents are taking it easy and not thinking about what the next season will bring. But if you're like Lou Levesque and run the largest wiffleball organization in the country - you don't have the luxury of "taking it easy" for about 5 or 6 months like the rest of us. According to a brand new article posted on Golden Stick's website there will be some major changes happening to the GSWL/GSTC format next year. What are the changes? No one outside of the Golden Stick front office knows. What was the point of the article? I can't say for sure. I suppose it's a 'heads up' that some fecal matter could be hitting the metaphorical fan for some of it's players. With great changes comes great dispute. Levesque has the league on "stand by" and to not make any significant decisions about teams and so on because the new format will surely "rock the boat." The front office had "headed discussions" over the changes and it's up to the players to "perfect it" once the new format is released to the public.

However, Levesque says the changes are necessary and that he "won’t stop looking until we [golden stick] see that we’re truly perfect.” In sum, Levesque is striving for perfection in his latest overhaul of the league's format. I find this to be admirable but cannot help but worry that his vision, which has yet to be revealed to the public eye, may be too ambitious. The funny thing about ambition is few people have it and it can serve as a repellant to many. Levesque is a man who is no stranger to constantly 'reinventing the wheel' but it takes hard work and dedication to perform such a task. I guess the real question is can the players in Golden Stick support Levesque's vision? We'll soon find out.