SB Ponzi Schemes

In the early 20th century a con man/hustler named Charles Ponzi invented a scheme that paid returns to separate investors, not from any profit earned, but from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors. In other words, he circulated money by borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, all the while taking a cut for himself.

His con preyed on trust, family, friendship, and good old fashion human natured greed. He enticed new investors by offering abnormally high or unusually consistent returns that other investment houses could not guarantee/match. To keep everyone happy and the money flowing a Ponzi scheme requires an ever-increasing flow of money from investors to keep it going. Eventually the party ends as the system is destined to collapse because the earnings, if any, are less than the payments to investors, and by then the architect of the fraud has fled dodge or been discovered.

By now almost everyone has heard of the longest/largest Ponzi scheme ever

so no need to get into that complicated mess. But the Madoff/Met situation got me to thinking about whether Ponzi's scheme's exist in softball? The Answer is a resounding Yes!!!!! You bet they do!!!! As softball is an investment of not only time and money, but also of your heart, soul, passion, and love of/for the game.So be on the lookout for these

Top Ten Softball Ponzi Scheme Warnings Signs

10. "Individual Player Tryout Day to form a team" - I went to one of these once and it's idiotville. AVOID AVOID AVOID - CONSUMER ALERT!!! If a league asks you to bring a check and attend a try out to form a team on that very same day, then I got news for you, that's a hustle and your their sucker mark that's born every minute. They are preying on your love for the game. MAJOR RED FLAG -Think about it, the odds of 10-20 perfect strangers forming a cohesive team that shows up to play competitively on a consistent basis is so improbable.

9. "First Come First Serve" - any league that advertises itself as "First Come First Serve" is greedy and ghetto. They are basically saying give us your money we don't care if your an alien trying to invade earth.

8. "Softball Raffles" - c'mon this is so grammar school and little league. You might as well take your money and throw it out the window. Rip-off!

7. "Trophies and Jackets" - any league that solely gives trophies and jackets is full of shit. No party? No prize money? No trip? - You greedy bastards. Fuck You

6. "Package Plan Ponzi" - This is a team/player hustle. You want the stud player, but are forced to take their friend who isn't as good. This can work out well, if their friend (and that has been me many a time) is dedicated, decent, humble, and a team player. But when the package player is an asshole you are in a bad spot. Kind of like when you hate your in-laws but can't say anything.

5. "Player Paid"/"Paid for the Team" Ponzi- certain guys on a team pay their league fee, certain guys don't. When crunch time come you know some guys that paid are gonna bitch about playing time. Same idea for when a horrible player pays for the team and you can't say a word no matter how many errors they make. These are no win situations.

4. "Paying Players Ponzi" - let's just get this out of the way. Certain guys are paid. It's the Truth. Let the Buyer beware though b/c word gets around and those compensated players usually end up bringing other players who also want to get paid. A cost-benefit analysis is wise in this scenario as you may be getting in over your head.

3. "Commissioner has a team in the League Ponzi" - Common sense they ain't gonna do anything that hurts their chances to win are they? This might work, but you have to keep on eye on them - always

2. "No Documentation" - If a league has no website, no rules written down anywhere, no paper trail, then you better start asking yourself if this is 2011?

and the number one Softball Ponzi Scheme Warnings Signs

1. "Post Dated Check"/ "Split the Money"

If you win a championship August 1st are rewarded on that day with a post-dated Nov 15th, 2011 check something is wrong. Terribly Wrong!!! This is so unprofessional, greedy, ghetto, and flat our crooked. Also, any league that cannot come up with one clear Champion at the end of the season and "splits the money" has serious internal control issues.