Playing even is the way to go, if your goal in pool is self-improvement and to eventually be (one of) the best players, at least in your area.
However for a lot of players, that isn't the goal. For a lot of them, the goal is to just hit balls and have fun.
That's why handicapped leagues exist, and there's nothing wrong with them.
People who don't like it can join a non-handicapped league, or gamble, or just do something else entirely.
Nobody's got a gun to their head to play handicapped leagues.
Having another OPTION is never really bad for a player, at any skill level.
I do agree that the BCA system is silly in a lot of ways. It's definitely not an advantage to 'almost' run out in 8b, except at the very lowest levels (guys who never have run more than 3 balls). It also doesn't make sense to play a single game, anything can happen in a single game. If the guy breaks, makes one of each, and then runs out, by BCA logic he played ten times better than I did, with a score of 10-1. Except I didn't even make that 1 point, he made it for me.