I knew Saturday (3/15) was gonna be a tough day with some difficult decisions to make. But I had a plan. Incredibly, this year's debacle topped last year.
Let me briefly describe what happened last year. I was in the final 16 in the Seniors and Super Seniors. Both next rounds were scheduled at the same time. Given the choice, I had to forfeit one opportunity to move into the final 8. Yeah, the website has a disclaimer but that doesn’t ease the pain of paying and not playing to get deeper into the money. After all, while I have a passion for the game and competition, it’s nice to recoup some of those significant expenses to be able to support a tournament somewhere else. After the Wednesday Warm up, Seniors, Super Seniors, Second Chance and TAP entrance fees; hotel, gas, food/drink, show purchases, etc., one easily can approach several hundred dollars. Of course, the Open overlaps all of these.
The Expo and TAP advertise together as if it’s one big Kumbayah. Fact is one will have nothing to do with the other in terms of conflict support. In fact the SBE, unlike TAP, will not even resolve conflict within it’s own tournaments when it’s not the player’s fault. It seems like they (SBE) just want you to fork over a ton of entrance fees and when you run into your first conflict (and you will because the overlap is a fact) pick a forfeit option and move on. Some will say only play in one event. Well, the overall expenses remain the same and it’s a long way to go for just one event considering single elimination and short races.
This year’s debacle and the plan: On Saturday morning I had an 11:00am 1st round Super Senior, 1:00pm Super Senior (if victorious in first round), 3:00pm Senior MONEY ROUND, 6:00pm TAP singles (in final 8 and undefeated to this point). My priorities were to play the 3:00pm money round and the 6:00pm TAP singles(which would probably be running late as usual). I played and won my 11:00, turned in my score sheet and when to watch the table match my 1:00pm would be coming from. Because of a women’s match on their table, they were just starting game three of first set (and both played like molasses on a cold winter day). I went to the tournament desk and brought the delay to their attention. They know me by name over the years, but I won’t mention their’s here. They were aware of the delay and the fact that my 3:00pm Senior MONEY ROUND probably would be two or more hours late. They verbally assured my that I would be accommodated, to go to my assigned 1:00pm table and wait for my opponent. I waited two hours plus and finally started my 1:00pm SS match after 3:00pm. It went three sets and I won. Took the score sheet to the desk and you guessed it...I was informed I forfeited my 3:00pm Senior MONEY Round because I was not at my assigned table at the prescribed time.
The rest was pretty ugly while trying to control myself and get my head (which was about to explod) around how this could happen. Both officials I spoke with earlier said they couldn’t stop it. I was in that desk area often and saw and heard players paged to come to the desk immediately for different issues. They knew on what table I was playing, or could have paged me and given me an option. I asked them what do you think I would have done? Play a “meaningless” second round SS event or MONEY Round S event? Despite an attempt the “super director” female official to cite the website disclaimer regarding conflicts, no one could make me understand how this could have happened. That disclaimer did not apply here. When it does, the player is given the choice to make.
I spoke with Allen, accurately explained what had happened, said he would resolve it and didn’t. I felt bad having to throw his officials under the bus. He said something about "playing the match" and "refund." I always have had way more respect for Allen than he gave me with this token blow-off non-resolution. He listened, questioned, walked me to the desk, started to inquire with the officials as to what happened, and the next thing I know he talking to two guys next to me about a different matter and I wasn’t an issue any longer.
I asked for an entry refund for both events and was told by “super director” I couldn’t get that because I forfeited and was still in the SS event. I told her keep the money. How do you expect me to play with composure in the SS after this. Oh, yeah, I played my (late) TAP match and lost. My opponent played great, but my head just wasn’t ready for a match at that point. Stress aside, proud that I played my way back to losing a hill-hill match to get in the finals.
Bottom line, SBE offer all these events but make no attempt to resolve any conflicts, your fault or not. As important, how can you have officials doing the job when their word is meaningless. I've conducted a lot of business in my life on the basis of my word. I’m not a spring chicken with 30 or 40 more attempts at playing here. But this is it for me. I play to enjoy the game, not get stressed out over things out of my control.
Let me briefly describe what happened last year. I was in the final 16 in the Seniors and Super Seniors. Both next rounds were scheduled at the same time. Given the choice, I had to forfeit one opportunity to move into the final 8. Yeah, the website has a disclaimer but that doesn’t ease the pain of paying and not playing to get deeper into the money. After all, while I have a passion for the game and competition, it’s nice to recoup some of those significant expenses to be able to support a tournament somewhere else. After the Wednesday Warm up, Seniors, Super Seniors, Second Chance and TAP entrance fees; hotel, gas, food/drink, show purchases, etc., one easily can approach several hundred dollars. Of course, the Open overlaps all of these.
The Expo and TAP advertise together as if it’s one big Kumbayah. Fact is one will have nothing to do with the other in terms of conflict support. In fact the SBE, unlike TAP, will not even resolve conflict within it’s own tournaments when it’s not the player’s fault. It seems like they (SBE) just want you to fork over a ton of entrance fees and when you run into your first conflict (and you will because the overlap is a fact) pick a forfeit option and move on. Some will say only play in one event. Well, the overall expenses remain the same and it’s a long way to go for just one event considering single elimination and short races.
This year’s debacle and the plan: On Saturday morning I had an 11:00am 1st round Super Senior, 1:00pm Super Senior (if victorious in first round), 3:00pm Senior MONEY ROUND, 6:00pm TAP singles (in final 8 and undefeated to this point). My priorities were to play the 3:00pm money round and the 6:00pm TAP singles(which would probably be running late as usual). I played and won my 11:00, turned in my score sheet and when to watch the table match my 1:00pm would be coming from. Because of a women’s match on their table, they were just starting game three of first set (and both played like molasses on a cold winter day). I went to the tournament desk and brought the delay to their attention. They know me by name over the years, but I won’t mention their’s here. They were aware of the delay and the fact that my 3:00pm Senior MONEY ROUND probably would be two or more hours late. They verbally assured my that I would be accommodated, to go to my assigned 1:00pm table and wait for my opponent. I waited two hours plus and finally started my 1:00pm SS match after 3:00pm. It went three sets and I won. Took the score sheet to the desk and you guessed it...I was informed I forfeited my 3:00pm Senior MONEY Round because I was not at my assigned table at the prescribed time.
The rest was pretty ugly while trying to control myself and get my head (which was about to explod) around how this could happen. Both officials I spoke with earlier said they couldn’t stop it. I was in that desk area often and saw and heard players paged to come to the desk immediately for different issues. They knew on what table I was playing, or could have paged me and given me an option. I asked them what do you think I would have done? Play a “meaningless” second round SS event or MONEY Round S event? Despite an attempt the “super director” female official to cite the website disclaimer regarding conflicts, no one could make me understand how this could have happened. That disclaimer did not apply here. When it does, the player is given the choice to make.
I spoke with Allen, accurately explained what had happened, said he would resolve it and didn’t. I felt bad having to throw his officials under the bus. He said something about "playing the match" and "refund." I always have had way more respect for Allen than he gave me with this token blow-off non-resolution. He listened, questioned, walked me to the desk, started to inquire with the officials as to what happened, and the next thing I know he talking to two guys next to me about a different matter and I wasn’t an issue any longer.
I asked for an entry refund for both events and was told by “super director” I couldn’t get that because I forfeited and was still in the SS event. I told her keep the money. How do you expect me to play with composure in the SS after this. Oh, yeah, I played my (late) TAP match and lost. My opponent played great, but my head just wasn’t ready for a match at that point. Stress aside, proud that I played my way back to losing a hill-hill match to get in the finals.
Bottom line, SBE offer all these events but make no attempt to resolve any conflicts, your fault or not. As important, how can you have officials doing the job when their word is meaningless. I've conducted a lot of business in my life on the basis of my word. I’m not a spring chicken with 30 or 40 more attempts at playing here. But this is it for me. I play to enjoy the game, not get stressed out over things out of my control.
!
