London Wiffleball Tournament Date Announced

The long awaited date for the 14th annual London Wiffleball Tournament was finally released a couple of days ago - July 14 (Saturday). Brian Wheeler, the tournament's organizer, emailed us with the date and his hopes for it this year. Some leading commissioners of leagues in the NWLA that went to the tournament last year plan on getting more leagues involved. The plan is to get as many NWLA teams together the following Sunday to play each other. The event could also serve as a meet and greet that would otherwise never take place. Wheeler said in his email that he will cooperate with the NWLA in their efforts to play on July 15. Leagues with teams that plan on attending include, Wiffle in SouthEast Michigan, Potomac Wiffleball League, Kalamazoo Wiffleball League, HRL: Twin Cities, Ontario County Wiffle Association, National Wiffleball League, and Suburban Chicago Wiffleball League. If this occurred, it would be the largest known summit for independent wiffleball leagues to ever take place - a truly historic event. More details on this event as the tournament date comes nearer.

"The Boss. He's Back!"

Commissioner Dee of the HRL Twin Cities posted an update on November 9th entitled 'Life, the Universe, and Everything'. The big news message within Dee's message has rocked the wiffleball world with excitement: Pat "Truck" Moriarty is coming back. And by coming back, I mean reclaiming his role as commissioner of the HRL. In 2010 he stepped down as commish and turned the league over to Craig "Dee" Deelsnyder. While Dee has done a great job running the league, it is undeniable that the HRL lost it's social flair (with the exception of the Blue Jays, of course) that it had when Truck was at the captain's wheel. I was not the only person who shared the position that the HRL had become reclusive under Dee's watch. The HRL was once very involved in the NWLA messageboard but suddenly dropped out of the national spotlight in 2010. Their league board was quite alive and well, however, leading some to believe that they no longer were concerned with what everyone else was doing or maintaining their reputation as the nation's top recreational wiffleball league. With the sudden downturn of the HRL, the Kalamazoo Wiffleball League and Palisades WBL muscled away the spotlight and the HRL - a distant memory. KWL commissioner, Brian Meyers, wrote an article about his disappointment in the HRL and called them out as his league (KWL) had won the 2010 Wiffy Awards for Website of the Year and Commissioner of the year, which the HRL previously had a dynasty on. But I've got to ask, is Dee the one who should shoulder all the blame for the HRL's fall from grace? I don't think so. It takes more than one guy to get the word out about a league and a commissioner can only do so much. Dee cited that he had a lot of things going on in his personal life and that he could no longer "put the time and effort needed to run the HRL" and that "life was catching up" to him and that, as a result, he was stepping down as league commissioner. It is unfortunate that such an able commissioner is stepping down from one of the nation's top leagues but we can all take great comfort in the fact that the league is still in good and familiar hands as the league enters it's second era under Pat "Truck" Moriarty's reign.

HRL Twin Cities release vol. 1 of "Lost Tapes"

Truck of the HRL: Twin Cities posts part of volume 1 of their "lost tapes." This one in particular is about a bar/restaurant that had constructed a wiffle ball field in the back. The field is pretty nice but what really sets it apart is that it has light-up foul lines...awesome! Anyway it's an HRL video, always worth your time. So check it out.

Oh...and I forgot to mention that today is opening day for them!

HRL playing very soon

HRL : Twin Cities kicks off their 2011 season the week-after-next on Monday, April 25th. Yes, they still have 20 teams. And yes, they're still doing the Wifflin' 4 Wishes tournament. Although I'm not sure if they'll keep the "Wifflin'" part with the latest fiasco with Michael Herman of Wicked Cow Entertainment. We'll see how that goes.

When does your season start?