Bussing players to road games. Is it worth the cost?

[Oglethorp]

On a couple of other threads suggestions have been made that having the team travel together to road games is an unneeded cost. The players should be able to drive themselves to the game or get their parents or billets to drive them to away games depending on distance. While this may look like a simple cost cutting measure I see a few snags.

1 If the player drives to a game incurs a blow to the head and may or may not be concussed. Is he still ok to drive him self home?
2 Bad weather, obviously we have road condition issues this time of year so teams need to be keep in mind the safety of their players. A full size bus piloted by an experienced driver is far less likely to have issues/accidents than a bunch of 17 year olds driving around in aged vehicles in an ice storm
3 Accounting question. This is where a team weighs out if their players are an investment (found on the assests side of the balance sheet) or an expense (Liabilities side)
4 The team that travels as a team plays as a team. True or false.

I am not seeing a lot of benefit to the idea of failing to provide transportation. I understand this is something that Strathroy thinks is a good idea because of the large number of London residents on their roster. The distance is closer from home to London St. Thomas and St Marys. That said some teams like St Thomas make stops along the way to pick up their players.

Speaking of cost cutting measures in Strathroy, I understand the parents are now doing the radio broadcasts for the road games.

Wonder what is next

[RecKing]

As to using a bus for travel - most Jr. B teams use the comfort of a coach bus to travel to long distance games; when teams are fairly close to each other, it only makes sense to save by having the players drive themselves or get rides to the location.

As for Strathroy's radio broadcasts - a couple of parents have done the colour commentary on recent games while the play-by-play man Chris Soares remains the same. Former colour man, David Honsberger, did the broadcasts without pay while Soares is a MyFM employee. The recent broadcasts have suffered greatly without the insight to players backgrounds and historical data used by Honsberger. Mike Balasin who did the first one was far too technical and except for a few tidbits of insight offered by Soares, himself, it did not have the same quality as previous broadcasts. Too bad for the fans and the sponsors. But that is an entirely different topic.

Jr. B teams will save time and many worries if travel is done by bus - the Chatham, Leamington, Sarnia, and LaSalle people know about the perils of having players drive themselves. Quite often American players in the past would get stuck crossing the border. Many years ago some players killed themselves in car accidents - that is the primary factor as to why buses are needed for travel. Jr. B teams have been fortunate that there have been few serious accidents by bus or by car in recent memory.

[RocketGirl]

As for Strathroy's radio broadcasts - a couple of parents have done the colour commentary on recent games while the play-by-play man Chris Soares remains the same. Former colour man, David Honsberger, did the broadcasts without pay while Soares is a MyFM employee. The recent broadcasts have suffered greatly without the insight to players backgrounds and historical data used by Honsberger. Mike Balasin who did the first one was far too technical and except for a few tidbits of insight offered by Soares, himself, it did not have the same quality as previous broadcasts. Too bad for the fans and the sponsors. But that is an entirely different topic.

First, I don't listen to the games on the radio very often, I honestly have a hard time following what's happening in the game and I prefer to be there. Tonight, I decided not to go to Forest so I could work on my articles, so I'm listening to the game online, same as I did on Wednesday. Wed's game, the colour guy was Kent Coleman, who is GM of MyFM in Strathroy. When the game started, I felt like Kent wasn't comfortable being on the radio, but he got better as the game progressed.

Tonight is Balasin again, who is the father of Rocket Turner Balasin. I don't think he's doing that bad of a job. Yes, he does not have the same insights or historical data that David did, but I don't think it's taken away from the broadcast, like you have suggested.

[Port hockey1]

At least he stepped up to the plate. Very generous of him.(Balasin)

[Marcie]

Mike sounded a lot more comfortable tonight. It is a scary and intimidating thing to do. He is starting to develop a rhythm with Chris. He'll do just fine.