Sweet Grab

Check out this nice grab by Jamie Francis of Crofton Wiffleball. His team is currently in 2nd with a 5-5 record (only a half a game back from the leader). They only have 3 teams right now but are looking to expand to 5 or more. So if you live on Vancouver Island, contact Jamie.

Wiffle Discussed On Independent Radio Show in London, England

Chad Huff, of SAHD Wiffle, answered some questions on the Justin Wayne Show yesterday. The interview lasted about 15 minutes and you can listen to it HERE, just be sure to skip but around the 36 minute mark. Huff was kind enough to give some other wiffle projects a shout out while on the air such as Golden Stick, Palisades WBL, and Wiffler's Digest. Thanks Chad, we truly appreciate it. What's more is that this broadcast is hosted in London, England - a country that hasn't generated a lot of traffic on this site (or any other wiffle site, I presume). Maybe our friends on the other side of the Atlantic may finally give wiffleball a go.

Wiffler's Digest Mentioned In New WSEM Podcast

Carl Coffee and Brandon Corbett step behind the microphone once again but sans John Hill for another WSEM Podcast. Belgian Wiffles captain, David Buhr, sat in and chimed in when possible. This particular podcast, the 10th so far, almost did not happen. Corbett announced on the podcast's Facebook page that technical difficulties with their computer had wiped up the majority of what they had recorded. But somehow they recovered the recording but the quality was affected, giving it a "lo-fi kiss sound." They continue to touch on the national scene by discussing leagues playing their seasons already such as Crofton Wiffleball League and Tampa Bay Wiffle Ball League. At about 25 minutes into the program they begin to discuss the cover story for the new issue of Wiffler's Digest - the top 15 recreational league pitchers in the country. Two of their league's pitchers (Cliff Comstock and Dennis Pearson) made the cut and they indirectly mention a few others that are on the list. This serves as a teaser until the issue comes out - which will be soon. It was sent off to our publisher about a week ago and should be out VERY soon. But until then, give the new episode of the WSEM Podcast a listen.

5 Things: Non-U.S. Countries Who Frequent Wiffler's Digest

This website has been operational for a little over a year now and as the hits have been racking up there have been more and more people visiting the site that live outside the United States. Surprisingly few of these foreign visitors are from this hemisphere. Seriously Mexico, what's the deal? Here are the five countries that visit this site the most:

1. Canada - It is far too often Americans forget about our friends north of the border. While jokes and snide remarks toward Canadians seem never-ending -- Canada has just as much potential to host many wiffleball leagues as the United States. Their winters may be harsher than ours but they have an advantage that many other countries outside the U.S. does not have: open access to American products such as Wiffle Inc. 
I suspect that this website has been detecting significant traffic from Canada because of the Crofton Wiffleball League. But it's not out of the question to imagine that there's some guy in the Yukon, huddled in a cabin on a dial-up modem, that has developed a sudden interest in this sport.

2. Russia - Whereas Canada has been recently spiking our international audience tracker, Russia has always appeared among the various countries on the tracker. The reasons for interest in this sport in Russia are unknown. I can think of no realistic reason how a Russian would even know anything about wiffleball. Perhaps there is a U.S. citizen (possibly of Russian ancestry) studying or living abroad in Russia. But since there has been a steady number coming from that country for months there could be a few people there who are searching for interest and starting the very first Slavic wiffleball league. If that is the case I just hope they have some way of contacting us to let us know that such an event has taken place so that the league tracker can better reflect the growing international influence the game has.

3. Taiwan - Although they belong to the Republic of China, Taiwan seems to have developed it's own autonomy in a sense (it was it's own country for a while...loooong story) so much that people from Taiwan, not China, visit this website. To date, there has not been a single recorded person from mainland China to visit this website. I am not sure if Taiwan has more liberal internet censorship than mainland China. I don't see how this site would not make the cut for China. Must be all that anti-communist propaganda we spread? The most logical reason there is a Taiwanese presence in our audience is because there is a league in Taiwan. Unfortunately we do not know much about them since they do not know sufficient English to establish any dialogue. It seems only fair that since we import so much from Taiwan that we export something fun to them.

4. Japan - Ah yes, the land of the rising sun. Our friend, Tadashi Onizuka has been showing improvement with each pitching video he posts. He could become known as the Asian wiffleboy if the sport takes off in Japan. Japan is really the only non-U.S. country I could see wiffleball really taking off. They have built a thriving baseball community and seem to really be interested in bat and ball sports. Wiffleball seems like a perfect match for urban youths crowded into cramped areas of Tokyo and various other large metropolitan cities.

5. Germany - The only thing more shocking than Germany being among the top 5 non-U.S. countries to visit the site is the fact that they visit more than the United Kingdom and France. Interest in baseball is higher in Germany than it is in France but it's not much. Germany has Baseball-Bundesliga, a 15-team "elite" (professional?) baseball league but the interest in bat and ball sports there is pitiful when compared to sports such as football (or what we call "soccer"). I am skeptical that Germany has enough interest in wiffleball to develop any leagues or tournaments. But then again - you never can be too sure about these things.



*Here is a brief list of other countries that are visiting the site nearly as often as the five countries previously mentioned: Brazil, India, France, United Kingdom, Ukraine, and Australia.

Footage Finally Surfaces From Little Fenway's Winter Classic

Finally, someone posted some footage from the Winter Classic they had at Little Fenway! I mean, it did happen over a month ago... Anyway, this short video (which must have been shot with a GoPro Hero or something) gives us a rare glimpse of the recently finished Little Wrigley field. The vines haven't grown over the wall yet but it's still looking good.

Scranton Wiffle League Enjoys Spring Training

Scranton Wiffleball League has been around since 2008 but has only recently popped up on the national radar. Right now they are in Spring Training and they have yet to list a date for opening day. This league is another rarity in the sense that they play on pavement. Judging by their picture albums they have played on parking lots and behind retail buildings for quite some time. It seems that they only recently acquired the sweet venue that is featured in the video. Best of luck to this growing league out of Pennsylvania.

League Lineup Tutorial

There are a lot of you out there. And by you, I mean league lineup users. Nothing wrong with that. I'm not about to go on a diatribe about how aesthetically unappealing those sites can be...so fear not. But there is one obvious plus to using league lineup and that is the statistics feature. You can calculate just about anything with league lineup and too many sites are not utilizing it correctly. Enter Brandon Corbett and his latest article in his Your Junk My Happy Zone column: League Lineup Tutorial. If you run a league lineup site - read this article. Still not convinced? Here's the opening line: "League Lineup is not the prettiest thing out there. It is, however, really convenient for keeping stats. And stats, while essentially nothing more than ego driven fellatio, are an important part of the league dynamic." Ego driven fellatio? Yeah, you read right.

GSWL Open 2011 DVD Out SOON!

For $24.99 you can get a copy of the 2011 GSWL Open (National Championship) DVD. You can pre-order it from the GSWL website. Just thought some of you might want to know. I've seen the 2010 dvd and it's pretty impressive. So if you're wanting to know more about that organization, this dvd would be a great place to start.

Weekly Wiffle Cartoon Strip Series Begins

Today the NWLA unveiled a new feature to their homepage - a weekly "wiffle" themed cartoon strip will be posted on the site. We're unsure of who the author of the cartoon is at the moment, all we know is it's by a person known as "wrobberts."