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Is Tyler a great SPORTS town?


cheaptrick77

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The main reason for lack of baseball/softball tournaments in Tyler has to do with the City's lease with the 2 local little leagues. I think I am correct in saying that any tournaments at Faulkner or Golden Road must go through the 2 leagues. That is "their" field until the season is through and maybe even longer. People who have tried tournaments there in the past have met HUGE resistance with the LL people. They WILL be there to run and profit from concessions if you pay them enough $$ to let you hold a tournament there. I think people have pretty much quit trying to do it. Besides that, the wonderful City only built 2 of their 5 (12u) fields to the proper specifications. (actually they built all 5 wrong, but have only fixed 2) 3 of the 5 are 150 down the lines. You basically have 3 fields built perfectly for t-ball.

 

As for softball, I believe the Tyler Fastpitch Association has tried every way possible to get softball going in Tyler. I think the only fields offered to them is Fun Forest. (same story as above) Unfortunately, this hurts participation from the south side of town. If a Tyler girl wants to play youth softball, they go to Bullard, Whitehouse or Chapel Hill.

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Originally posted by CNOrtega

everything I've heard about Tyler's city government leads me to believe that they're a bunch of nincompoops .......... Get it out of their hands, and I think that a minor league team...has a great chance of succeeding .......... Build a nice, privately owned facility...and a hockey team can work as well.

My goodness, my ol' buddy CNOrtega is FINALLY coming around !! :thumbsup:

 

:D

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Tyler is not a sports town, a music town, or a shopping town. If anything, it's a medical, retirement, and backwoods town.

 

With a population of almost 100,000 in a 15 mile radius of Tyler, there is not one reason that we can't have a minor league baseball team, a minor league hockey team, and Arena 2 football team.

 

I don't care for high school sports, the only time I'll watch softball is if I'm playing, and I certainly don't go to LL games. I would go to some minor league games, if 1. It was an affiliate of a MLB franchise. 2. Beer was served. 3. The game wasn't played on a High School baseball field.

 

I'm sorry, Mike Carter is an okay field, but the ET fairgrounds and Rose Stadium need to be revamped. If Tyler could do like Frisco, and have a nice stadium, a convention center that would accomodate hockey, arena football, basketball, and concerts, then surround it with a mid to upscale shopping district, it would be perfect.

 

The BSM, is almost like 6 Flags Mall was in the early 90's. Gander Mountain is like a Gibson's version of Bass Pro Shops.

 

I moved away in 1997, and I haven't seen any improvements, upon my return. What's there to do in Tyler, besides go drink in a bar and get pulled over by cops casing the bar, go bowling, or to the movie.

 

This is for cheaptrick, Tyler reminds me of an old Kim Mitchell song "Go For A Soda".

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Tyler has the potential to be a great sports town but since alcohol can't be served at the events, it's not. It's pretty sad that they can serve alcohol at restaurants that are considered to family places but a sports complex is also considered a family outing. We all know that Smith County is the wettest dry county but all it takes it the Bud, Miller, and Coors signs to be posted and they could be up and jumping.

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Tyler bites hiney when it comes to sports. Several football teams have tried to use the Rose but its to expensive and the city wants gate and concession. The teams cant make money. Sometimes its about exposure. Showing other leagues and teams that you will do what it takes to assure your local teams succeed. There are over 1000 kids that play youth football in Tyler yet they will not build fields for them. Pathetic!

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One of my sons pitched last summer for the Staunton Braves of the Valley League in Virginia. Their games are consistently sold out, the players have families in the towns bidding against each other to house and feed them, they have their own baseball cards and are treated like celebrities.

 

I bet there are not a dozen people in Tyler that could name ONE Wildcatters player other than Sean Collins. People in Tyler just don't care about minor league sports.

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Originally posted by Fivehead

I bet there are not a dozen people in Tyler that could name ONE Wildcatters player other than Sean Collins.

Maybe not on smoaky.com, but I guarantee you I can find more than 12 Tylerites who can name another WildCatter besides Sean.

 

I just thought of 17 people while typing this !!

 

... plus, there was a core group of about 50 who attended every WildCatters home game & they would know, too !! :D

People in [iNSERT CITY] just don't care about minor league sports

^ The opening line to every great Minor League success story . . . :whistle:

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Guest CNOrtega

Unfortunately, it's also the opening line to a lot of failure stories, too. Like I said, it can't work now, but it can work later.

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^ I AGREE that the ideal situation would be a brand new state-of-the-freakin-art stadium + Major League affiliation.

 

HOWEVER, after spending last Friday @ Mike Carter Field, I could not find one fatally flawed aspect of the facility. Compared to how it looked in the mid-1980s, it is a SHRINE.

 

I still think that a franchise in the American Association COULD work. It is developing into a national Independent league & I think playing teams like the St. Paul Saints, Fort Worth Cats and Shreveport Sports would garner attention. I would love to be a part of that league !! :D

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The Shreveport Sports are probably going to tank as well. Ever since the Captains left, it just hasn't been the same in 'Port City.

 

I'm in the Nacogdoches area, roughly the same distance from Tyler and Shreveport. In Shreveport, I can go watch the game, have a beer, go to a top of the line restaurant, go to Bass Pro Shops and the Riverwalk, and it's all within a 5 minute drive (I left out the casinos because that's just not fair.)

 

In Tyler, I can go watch the game, and go to a mediocre restaurant, and I have to drive all over Tyler just to do it which is a task in and of itself.

 

Now which do you think I'd choose? Don't get me wrong, I'd love for a team to be in Tyler, it'd give me something to do when I'm there seeing friends, but if I were a businessman, I don't think I'd sink much of my money into it.

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  • 4 years later...

^ at least Texarkana had professional Baseball within the past five years... :)

 

The key word is had

 

We had one of the best Junior A hockey teams in the nation and lost to St. Louis, which won three national titles in a row

We had professional golf for nearly 20 years and lost because there were no sponsors

We had professional bowling, lost no sponsors

Texarkana is building two civic centers with no sports facility

Texarkana's junior college baseball program in jeopardy because of poor facility

The high schools are great, but considing Texarkana's growth, the leadership of the city has flunked in supporting other sports

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