Interview with Detroit Syndicate's manager Jerry Swinea

For the 2nd Big Hoss interview, I decided to interview the manager of Detroit Syndicate, Jerry Swinea. We have seen a lot of post on the mush board about Syndicate for the past month, so I wanted to hear his side of it and if he wanted to clear anything up with the softball community.

Big Hoss: How many years have you been playing tournament ball?

Jerry Swinea: the last10 or so years mostly canton tournaments and local tournaments until about 5 years ago, when i started to get a little more serious and played with a few teams on the west side
BH: I know you have a very young team, what is the average age of the players on your team?

JS: I think we only have 4 guys over the age of 25 and 3 guys under 21,the rest of them fall between. our avg age is 25
BH: What made you switch from being Bailey's last year to Syndicate this year? How many of the core players did you keep from the Bailey's team? And how did you guys come up with the name Syndicate?

JS: Baileys was also a league sponsor and it was hard to get guys to support our sponsor on the weekends, so we let the league team have the full sponsor.
we brought back 7 guys from last year and we picked up guys to fit what we were trying to build.i was actually searching the internet bored 1 day and came across a band called sonic syndicate, i thought the name and the font was cool so i brought it up to the guys and everybody liked it.
Big Hoss: What do you find the most rewarding thing about running a tournament team? And what do you find to be the toughest thing about getting a young tournament team running and competing every week?

Jerry Swinea:  i think the most rewarding thing is seeing all of our hard work pay off. we got this group of guys together and seeing the progress we've made and continue to make is rewarding. i've also become friends with some guys i don't think i would have ever met had it not been for this team.

the toughest thing is the losses and trying to get them back up and in the game after a loss.

BH: You are another player/coach, what do you think are some of the benefits of being a player/coach and what do you think are some of the negative aspects of doing both?

 

JS: I don't know if there are any benefits of being a player/coach in all honesty. It is hard to do both and keep a level head and I don't think i would recommend it. I did it full time last year and I knew i would need help this year. i got joe flis and donnie phillips involved to help. it is hard to play the game, think ahead, try to get somone into pinch hit and then you forget, it is hard to be so involved in the game and remember to make moves when someone is struggling. 
BH: Last year's as Bailey's for most of the year you guys were .500 or below, but for Worlds you guys finished 3-2. What did that type of finish to the year do for confidence and expectations going into this year?

 

JS: for the most part of the year we were building the team. we added some pieces and made some key moves. we were hoping a strong finish in worlds would attract some better players for this year. we knew 4 or 5 guys were not coming back this year and wanted to build on the core group to make us better.
BH: Do you, your team or anyone on your team have any weird superstitions that you guys do before a big tournament or game?

 

JS: I don't know of any superstitions... I know a lot of us listen to music to get us pumped up for games.
BH: Your logo and jerseys came out very nice, who came up with the logo and what made you guys decide to go with purple?

 

JS: the logo was primarily my idea. i talked it over with some guys and came up with different things to add and paid shirts and logos to tighten our ideas up. 5 or 6 of us met up and looked over some color schemes. we wanted a color no one else had and we didn't know Trust/Wicked was going to steal our idea and have purple too, lol. our first choice was pink but it had been used too much, so we decided on purple white and black.

Big Hoss: After a good start to the year competing in most of your games and beating Trust/Wicked Sports you guys went 0-2 this past weekend, everyone has tournaments like this, but as a coach how do you go about keep your team up, especially since it is a young team and making them have a short memory?

 

Jerry Swinea: i left it in joeflis's hands and he just explain to them it is only april and we play until at least september. we have to keep our heads up and put the losses behind us. i also tell my guys after a weekend like the 0-2 to stay off the Mush Board because there will be alot of talk and there are so many people out there that hate us and want us to fail, we can't listen to them.

Big Hoss: Speaking of Trust/Wicked Sports, the two teams have played each other twice now, with a lot of chirping going on from both sides, I know their is a lot of Syndicate post on the Mush Board. Is there anything you would like to clear up to the east siders and other who don't know you guys and just believe what they are reading on an open message board?

 

Jerry Swinea: first of all we like playing Trust/Wicked because we get up for them, they are supposed to be the best team in E and if we're going to get better, we want to play against the better teams. There are alot of posts about us right now and from my understanding it started after we beat Trust/Wicked. people were trying to get under Trust/Wicked's skin posting as us trying to start stuff about how good we were and how we beat Trust/Wicked. other people reading that of course are going to think it is us so now we get a reputation as this shit talking cocky team. no matter what we do we are under a microscope. if we win we're running our mouths, if we lose we're over-rated. to be honest with you, beating Trust/Wicked turned out to be bad, lol... because now everyone knows us. we liked it better when we could fly under the radar and just show up to tourneys and play without being ridiculed. i wish people hated us for the right reasons instead of hating us for what is being posted by someone pretending to be us on the Mush Board. the guys on our team are not allowed to post on the board and there has only been a few guys that has ever posted, but it was never negative. alot of these guys are young ball players and didn't even know what the Mush Board was until all of the negativity started.

Thanks for your time!!

Big Hoss: Thanks Jerry for taking time and doing the interview, I hope you got a chance to clear the air a bit for you and your team.

 

Playing Syndicate twice this year, the only games that matched intensity wise so far for me personally was the Repo games and couple of weeks back. There was a lot of talking in both Syndicate games, but the one thing I respect about that very young team is that they are not intimidated by a "name" or some chatter, they give it right back. They are fun to play and I hope the get things straight soon and start winning so we can play them again. There is definitely respect between the two teams and their coaches as well. I know I talk to Jerry a few times a week, every time there is a post on the board, he gives me a call reassuring me and my guys that it is not them talking on the mush board like that. Good Luck to Jerry and Syndicate the rest of the year.

Big Hoss