57 players too many to honor

An absolute joke.

It's the only way you can describe this year's all-Sierra League baseball squad. Fifty-seven players, and that's not a misprint folks, were selected first team, second team or honorable mention. Way too many people in an area which isn't exactly bubbling over in talent.

Let's do the math. There are six teams in the Sierra League and you have nine starters on each team. That equals 54. So that means if you were a starter, you made all-league. How ridiculous is that?

What gets into the heads of the coaches? They make tough decisions many times, so why can't they make a tough decision when it comes to all-league? It should be an honor, not a given, to be selected to the all-league team. Coaches have turned it into one big joke.

The format for the this year's first and second team included four infielders, six outfielders , a catcher, six pitchers, a utility player and a designated hitter. That's 19 players on each of the first and second teams. Sixteen players were selected honorable mention.

I like to see kids get recognized, but they should have to do something for that recognition. I can't speak for the other four schools, but I can name at least four Carson players and two from Douglas that truly didn't deserve to be on the team.

I could understand this amount of players if you were talking about 20 or 30 schools being considered, but not this many when they're coming from only six schools.

Heck, I just looked at the all-league lists for the Sunrise and Sunset leagues in Las Vegas, and they both picked 10 first-team players plus a top coach, top player and top pitcher. They did the same thing for the second team.

Try this format on for size for the first and second teams. Five infielders, a catcher, utility/designated hitter, four outfielders and three pitchers. For honorable mention, you pick one pitcher, a catcher, an infielder, an outfielder and a utility/designated hitter.

I've been part of a group that picks all-area teams for a much bigger region than Northern Nevada, and we had much tougher parameters. Just being nominated didn't get you on the team. You actually had to receive votes in the first round otherwise your name was taken off the list. In the Sierra league format, I think coaches nominate kids just to make sure they get on there somewhere, and that's wrong.

Let's make all-league worth making. Let's make the tough decisions, and the right decisions.

n If you like water sports, you want to be at the Sparks Marina June 4-6 for the MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour event.

It's the third stop on this year's tour, but the first time the event has been in Northern Nevada. It's an important event because qualifying for the X Games leads off the weekend (June 4). The top men and women wakeboarders will be battling for coveted spots in the X Games, which is being held Aug. 6-7 in Los Angeles.

Parks Bonifay, Darin Shapiro and Danny Harf are the big names on the men's side. Harf was the 2003 X Games and national champion. Defending X games and national women's champion Dallas Friday is expected to compete.

Wakeboarding has soared in popularity over the past 10 years, making it the fastest-growing water sport in the world. Athletes do twists, turns and inverts behind a special boat which creates huge wakes because of its weightiness in back.

Competition starts at 8:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Sunday's competition kicks off at 10:30 a.m.

Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1281.