Another APA rant

J

jongreve

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The league in our town is fairly new and the players have very little past league experience.

EVERYONE knows that the APA has a sandbagging issue, you either accept it or do something else.

A bigger problem IMO is those that cry wolf and have zero idea about what they are talking about. This guy thinks he is pretty good, very well believes he should be a 5 maybe 6. He can't beat me on my bad days and starts complaining that I am a sandbagger and should be a 7 or at least a 6 (I'm a 5). It is a new league and I would like to see it stay around so I kindly help his team out by warning them about the 23 rule and kindly advising them about where their skill levels ought to be for them to be competitive.

WOW! that was a mistake.

He exclaimes that I'm wrong, he's better than that, I'm better than what I say, blah, blah, whine, blah, blah.


The guy in question could very well attain a SL5 in our league and still win roughly 1/2 of his matches. He isn't quite as good as the stronger 4's that you would run into in Vegas (excluding the sandbaggers).

I'm around the mid-high level of SL5's (excluding sandbaggers) that you would run into in Vegas. I realize that weekly league play doesn't really mean squat, it's just a social hour (or three) to get myself out of the house. I don't intentionally loose games or miss balls, I just see it as a social thing and therefore am rarely in the right mindset to perform at my highest possible ability. When I do go to Regionals or Nationals it is a different story, I prepare properly, and play much better than I do during weekly play. I have been to Vegas 3 of the last 5 years (5th in '04) and will be trying to make it again next week @ Regionals.

If my doing this classifies me as a sandbagger than so be it.

Anywho, this has happened many times over in my time with the league; and I STRONGLY feel that these types of people put forth at least as bad of an image for the APA as do the sandbaggers.

I guess I'm just getting tired of the ignorance of the bangers that think they are near the best that pool has to offer.

END RANT.

THANKS. (<--LOL, stole this from another thread)
 
As has been stated in many other threads, the use of "sandbagger" is an overloaded term, and very often used wrong.

You seem to have the right idea, and good attitude about it.

I agree, you are right, the sore sports spoil it for all. For example, that guy says he's better, but other than his "opinion" how does he know? What facts does he have to back it up?

Overall, it's very difficult to determine that in pool, one way or the other, except on some limited basis.
 
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Screw it and screw them, damn cry babies. As the previous poster said, you have the right mind set.

Don't listen to their whining. Just shoot and have fun. If they are pissed because they lose, it just means they think they are better than they are and looking for an excuse for why they lost.

Personally, if I hear someone ***** about my SL, it just makes me bear down and want to shoot better and really give them something to complain about or shoot some safeties when not necessary just to **** with them.
 
Here is the reason APAers talk about sandbagging so much IMO:

They need an excuse as to why they lose. They certainly would never lose a match due to the fact that someone outplayed them that day. It had to be because their opponent is a sandbagger and if they were playing with a true rating then the excuse maker would have had a chance.
 
Luxury said:
They need an excuse as to why they lose. They certainly would never lose a match due to the fact that someone outplayed them that day.
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Although I think sandbagging becomes a crutch for people when they lose in APA, there is something to the seemingly unfair handicaps at time.

Nothing worse than giving a guy 2 games on the wire and then watching him hit you with a 3-pack.

It happens and it sucks.

But, I still think APA has the right idea for handicapping in general.

Sandbagging exists, but not nearly as much as people would have you believe.
 
Hard To Understand

Never have really figured out why a person would get pissy about not being ranked higher.

If you're a sl4, be happy about it and not pisssy cause you "THINK" you're good enough to be a 5 or 6. Damn sure know that I wish I was a 4 again.

And, as most everyone else knows, alot of people think they are better than they actually are. ESPECIALLY SL 4's
 
I agree.

McKinneyMiner said:
Although I think sandbagging becomes a crutch for people when they lose in APA, there is something to the seemingly unfair handicaps at time.

Nothing worse than giving a guy 2 games on the wire and then watching him hit you with a 3-pack.

It happens and it sucks.

But, I still think APA has the right idea for handicapping in general.

Sandbagging exists, but not nearly as much as people would have you believe.
Click to expand...


Yes, I agree sandbagging exists, but it is not as prevelant as alot of people believe. Do people realize how hard it is to sandbag? IMO, its very difficult. So, if you are a SL5(med. skill), are you good enough to sandbag
every week??? I dont think so. It takes a very high skill to sandbag and make it look realistic. So with that said, I just dont think there is a much sandbagging as players believe. Just my opinion.
 
I agree.

McKinneyMiner said:
Although I think sandbagging becomes a crutch for people when they lose in APA, there is something to the seemingly unfair handicaps at time.

Nothing worse than giving a guy 2 games on the wire and then watching him hit you with a 3-pack.

It happens and it sucks.

But, I still think APA has the right idea for handicapping in general.

Sandbagging exists, but not nearly as much as people would have you believe.
Click to expand...


Yes, I agree sandbagging exists, but it is not as prevelant as alot of people believe. Do people realize how hard it is to sandbag? IMO, its very difficult. So, if you are a SL5(med. skill), are you good enough to sandbag
every week??? I dont think so. It takes a very high skill to sandbag and make it look realistic. So with that said, I just dont think there is a much sandbagging as players believe. Just my opinion.
Sorry, this is a duplicate. My puter messed up
 
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I Quit APA 3 Years Ago

I'm around the mid-high level of SL5's (excluding sandbaggers) that you would run into in Vegas. I realize that weekly league play doesn't really mean squat, it's just a social hour (or three) to get myself out of the house. I don't intentionally loose games or miss balls, I just see it as a social thing and therefore am rarely in the right mindset to perform at my highest possible ability. When I do go to Regionals or Nationals it is a different story, I prepare properly, and play much better than I do during weekly play. I have been to Vegas 3 of the last 5 years (5th in '04) and will be trying to make it again next week @ Regionals.

If my doing this classifies me as a sandbagger than so be it.
Click to expand...

In my mind, a Sand Bagger is someone that purposley plays below their abililty with the sole purpose to keep a low rating until a match (Read: regionals or nationals) requires them to play to their true ability.

I hate them, lower than whale dung...IMO
 
s'portplayer said:
.

And, as most everyone else knows, alot of people think they are better than they actually are. ESPECIALLY SL 4's
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This is so true....

SL 4= I'm the best in the world and no one should beat me unless they sandbag.

SL 5= A humbling experience

SL 6 = You've learned a lot from the humbling experience.

SL 7 = You realize that no matter how good you shoot, you have to lose sometime and that makes you train harder and run more drills than you ever have in your life. Waxing the floor and painting the fence finally pays off.

Yours truly,
Myagi
 
There are two people like what I had mentioned in our league.

They keep accusing me of being a cheater because they also try to play in some of the local tourneys that I play in. They have seen plenty from me that tells them that I play better than they do.

Within the last month each of these two gentlemen have actually threatened to call the league OP to complain about my skill level.

This is a new league. They have never played league before. They aren't very well informed as to where the "breaks" between skill levels lie.

I kinda lost it last night after our match when one was on his soap box.

I replied to him,"Go ahead and call, you're not going to get anywhere, I've got 6 years of paperwork to back up my skill level." He was not nearly as amused as I was.

Even if I ever was a sandbagger, after 6 years, 9 or so trips to regionals, and 3 trips to Vegas, its not like I really have anything left to hide.
:rolleyes:
 
jongreve said:
I just see it as a social thing and therefore am rarely in the right mindset to perform at my highest possible ability. When I do go to Regionals or Nationals it is a different story, I prepare properly, and play much better than I do during weekly play. I have been to Vegas 3 of the last 5 years (5th in '04) and will be trying to make it again next week @ Regionals.

If my doing this classifies me as a sandbagger than so be it.
Click to expand...


I think the exact same way. This august will be my 3rd Vegas trip in my first full year of CPA. (APA) Teams, singles, teams. (doubles, won a qualifier, might end up for full teams as well, we'll see in the next two weeks)

The players you want on your team are the players that win when it counts, not the guys that win 90% of the matches during league against drunk players. The guys who win when its win or go home.

Good post.

(sandbagger! :P )
 
jongreve said:
There are two people like what I had mentioned in our league.

They keep accusing me of being a cheater because they also try to play in some of the local tourneys that I play in. They have seen plenty from me that tells them that I play better than they do.

Within the last month each of these two gentlemen have actually threatened to call the league OP to complain about my skill level.

This is a new league. They have never played league before. They aren't very well informed as to where the "breaks" between skill levels lie.

I kinda lost it last night after our match when one was on his soap box.

I replied to him,"Go ahead and call, you're not going to get anywhere, I've got 6 years of paperwork to back up my skill level." He was not nearly as amused as I was.

Even if I ever was a sandbagger, after 6 years, 9 or so trips to regionals, and 3 trips to Vegas, its not like I really have anything left to hide.
:rolleyes:
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Right, like what are you waiting for? Like your holding out at regional and national tournaments so that you can show up and blast someone on a regular league night. :confused:
 
I hear "You're only a 4!?" all the time. I had a rough session last session and only won 60% of my matches. Never been to Vegas, made the playoffs a few times. Most male players in the league are SL4 (around 69%) I am one of those who want to be an SL5 and am working towards that goal.
I don't think there is that much sandbagging. I have seen guys fall apart on the table and then uses the excuse "I didn't want to get my handicap raised, I'm getting close to going up". If I can win 85% of my matches the session before last and 60% last session and not get moved up, these guys see play every week aren't going up either. Instead of owning it and saying they were outplayed or didn't play their best pool (off night) they use the handicap excuse. People hear it, believe it and low and behold you're labeled a sandbagger.
I will say that if you are capable of a break and run in 8 ball, you shouldn't be an SL3.

Banger
 
forget sandbagging.......

what I hate most is the fact that a player can have that once in a lifetime match and suddenly gets moved up a level. then gets waxed my another of the same skill level, say 2 to 0, but the other player who just whipped you like a red-headed step-child isn't moved up.

I was beaten twice last session by a SL1 in 9 ball...I was a '3'....she has not moved up. I beat a SL4 who was having an off night and was immediately moved up............I give up ! :mad:
 
The first thing I would recommend is that every player on the team (s) read the official rule book from the APA. Second make certain that only a experienced person keeps score, and be doubly sure to mark all safeties. The third thing is that the LO establish a handicap reveiw process where players are able to be written up once per session if it is felt that they are not rated properly if they don't already have this in place. Only through proper score keeping will anyone be truely rated. Everyone has the ability to stop sandbagging, but so few are willing to put in the work to make it happen. I happen to know the Formula and believe me it's not worth the trouble to even try and beat the system.

Black Cat :cool:
 
i dont think ppl understand the true meaning of sandbagger. ive been in different counties and even different states. used different names ect. thats a sandbagger. i won 45 matches in a row in my hometown apa (obv a 7). yet our 2 won 3 out of 5 matches after loosing about 7 out of 10 and goes up. they have no clue. then the tap league came around. we had 6 apa 7's on one team and a girl that was an apa 5. all 4's and 5's. we robbed every year event of that year. now thats sandbagging. not proud i was young then (not even 21 yet)

on another note it really depends on where you play. in my area we have south jersey some of pa and deleware in our cities for vegas. they had to change the format bc we had 3 teams going to vegas every year and no teams from pa and de. we were a number or two higher then the other areas. much stronger. so now only 1 team from our division can play for vegas. thats seems like sandbaggin but reall it isnt. some areas are just way stronger then others
 
If you went to Vegas 3 times and didn't get raised there....you don't need to be. I am also from a fairly strong area, and it seems whatever teams (3 8ball - 3 9ball) go to nationals out of our leagues they get SLs raised like CRAZY (in as much as after a few matches they can't field a 5 player team with a total of 23 or lower). You wanna see players with SLs lower than they should be....watch the first couple of days of minis at nationals. :) LOL. Yes, I did well in them the first time I went (last year).
 
I got accused of being a sandbager at a local tourney. I beat a 6 twice in 2 frames. I had a really good couple of games. Just didn't mess up much.
Now the guy that was a 6 made lots of mistakes and was just not on his game. I got moved up a level for the next match. Played a level 5 and lost all games. We ended on the 8 each, but could not pull a win. I was not shooting as well as I did earlier in the day. Just kept missing and making silly mistakes.But you have runs when you just shoot well and when you go off, it is just one of those things, until you practice allot and can stay in the rhythm.
 
The thing is the APA has a big problem with the handicap system and 23 rule and does not care because they are still making money hand over fist.
What a joke. The APA is a crime against pool.
 
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