I guess yal are right. I've never seen any 'timed' major league sport where the winning team will TRY to use the clock to their advantage.
If you get your signs out of a cracker jack box, it's hard not to pick up on them. So if my batters are trying to see the grip on the pitcher, is that cheating? If my FB runner sees the catcher set up outside for a pitch out, should she think twice about stealing, or is that cheating? If my SS knows every time the 3rd base coach claps his hands twice, the FB runner is stealing, should she break for the play early or is that cheating?
That's why you hide signs. That's why you have multiple indicators. That's why some really good teams use the 'addition' and 'subtraction' signals.
Ever watch football or basketball????
I can't believe I'm hearing coaches say that they wouldn't try to run some time off the clock at the end of the game to insure that their team wins the game...
And then I'm reading how it is "Bush" league, and low class and whatever else you want to say...
Biggest college coach I can think of who was NOT NOT NOT Bush League and one of the classiest guys around is Dean Smith from North Carolina, and he PERFECTED the "four corners" on offense in basketball....WHY???? Because just because you have the ball, doesn't mean you have to go in for a shot as fast as you can...that's why the shot clock is there...USE IT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE....
Every sport out there that plays ON A CLOCK knows how to kill time. Heck, watch the World Cup today, and you'll see the two best soccer teams in the world taking their sweet ole time to kill the clock....
BTW....GO NETHERLANDS!!!!!!
And one last comment about sign stealing. If it's bush league, why does your team even have signs to begin with? Why not just yell out what you want the batter, baserunner or pitcher to do - why hide it? It's ok for you to keep something secret, but not ok for the other team to try and figure out that secret? If it's all about team A vs. team B and who's better, just announce what you're going to do and really see who's better when everyone knows what's going on.