Why are BAR LEAGUES so popular? Would there be very many bowlers if just a few members of a community had to raise money, build, and maintain their own bowling alleys for a league? Probably not, but that's the dilemma we horseshoe pitchers are in. So along come the bar leagues. Where have most of these players pitched before? In their own back yard with a very crude set-up of two stakes driven in dirt, no back stops, and probably the stakes aren't 40 feet apart. When a bar says "We are forming a league, and will set-up and maintain the courts, and all you have to do is come and pitch," most pitchers jump at the invitation. They bring their friends, whom they've had a beer or two with on occasion, and join the league. They pay their league fee, pitch three games that only takes a little more than an hour, have a beer, get back in the car and go home. What a set-up! Just like a bowling alley. Bar leagues have sand pits, easy to maintain, they say. The courts are set up to regulations, but then comes the maintenance. My experience has been that after a few years, the pits are poorly maintained, the stakes begin to lean backwards and some get sunken to about eight inches high. So I guess they have backyard conditions at some of these bar leagues. But, does management care? No, they set up these leagues to enhance their business, a great idea! They have the players conditioned to coming in to have a good time. So these leagues are thriving in the Mount Clemens area. One league had 14 teams when I joined three years ago. There has been a two team increase for the past two years and now we have 18 teams. That means 36 pitchers coming in every Tuesday night, to pay their fee, have a beer, pitch, get in the car and go home. This bar put in eight new courts this spring. I gave the

construction company the NHPA court layout. All courts had to be level, stakes 40 feet apart and at the correct angle. Do you think they went by the specifications? Not at all. What a shoddy mess. But do the members of the league care? No! Membership in this league will increase next year, because we have guys already signed up and on the waiting list. I have talked with WSHPA members about recruiting bar leaguers into the WSHPA. Some get irritated and say, "Whadda we hafta do, serve beer at our tournaments?" And I say, "No, I can have fun pitching horseshoes without smoking or drinking." Bar leaguers also object to pitching in clay pits. When we have a benefit tournament at the SCSHC courts, they say, "It's messy. I don't like to get that stuff all over my hands. But it was OK after the guy turned over the clay." Not being able to pitch doubles, turning of the clay, and not being able to drink are the main gripes of bar leaguers. As WSHPA members we maintain a standard. The purpose of the WSHPA is to promote the great game of horseshoes in this way: "Since the sport of horseshoe pitching affords a healthy, scientific, pleasant and competitive sport suitable to all persons, at a cost comparable to other sports and with a desire to unify horseshoe adherents, standardize horseshoe pitching rules, authorize and conduct tournaments of local, state and national scope, promote the establishments of league and clubs, we, the horseshoe pitchers of Michigan, by convention establish the Michigan Division of the NHPA." Is there a chance that bar leagues could ever be sanctioned by the WSHPA? Let's talk more horseshoes in future Ringer Reports.