In regards to the OP and just to clarify a few things in this thread, I'm the guy Russ played.
First off, this tournament series if you want to call it that is called Stay In Stroke (SIS) and has apparently been around for a while. They usually have a tourney a month or every couple and it's typically a $40 entry with a calcutta as well. You play enough events and then you get qualified for a big end of the year event (I got a few rolls and won it last year without the MR....) I've been around the area for a year and a half (so fairly new). I play 1 day a week and sometimes 2 if I'm really lucky or if I'm playing a tournament and really look forward to it. I love the game, but just don't get to play as much as I would like. I asked Richard (guy who owned and ran SIS tourneys) maybe a year ago, if magic racks are allowed in his events and he said absolutely, but you must give your opponent the option of using it if you bring your own. At MHB which is the main place Russ and I play, it's the same way in regards to just having to offer it to your opponent for their tourneys big or small. Occasionally, they'll announce some info regarding the MR prior to their 9ball tourneys. They have a couple MR's at their venue, but I've always brought my own for their tourneys as well because I don't like to rely on others for equipment. I've played in several of their events now and have brought my own magic rack to a couple of them (some events are 8ball, 9ball, or mixed with both) and never previously had an issue. I've always mentioned it to my opponent before hand and typically they use it as well, just like in this tourney and just like how Russ used it too.
Richard recently retired and passed SIS on to a woman we'll call Suzie and she has only run a couple of their events now. When Russ objected I mentioned that offering the MR to your opponent was their previous rule and said lets ask Suzie. Suzie was not familiar one way or the other and said she would make a couple calls. She said she would go by what BCA has or something like that. To be honest, I really didn't know if it was offer it to your opponent or both have to agree (according to BCA or whomever she was going to call) and figured I would play by whatever her decision was. Was this right or wrong, idk? 15 minutes later she came back and said it's offer it to your opponent as Russ stated. I can understand how Russ may not be thrilled about the MR, since he clearly is against it and there was nothing said about it in their rule sheet or prior to the tourney to the best of my knowledge. I think a potential solution in the future for SIS tourneys if they choose to allow MR's, would be to stipulate at the start or prior to the tourney the rules and stipulations under which MR's are allowed. They also pass out a printed rule sheet prior to the tourney with the bulk of their rules and what not. I don't believe anything is mentioned about the rack on there. If they allow MR's to be used in the future as they have been in the past, they may want to state that on their printed rule sheet as well.
To be honest, I really didn't think it was that big of a deal. I can completely understand people being for or against the magic rack. The wing ball is wired 98% of the time as others have said. I can especially see how others really dislike it when people super soft break with it and pattern rack, giving themselves cosmo layouts. Even with this being said, I like to use it because it's quick and easy to get the balls tight and I don't have to monkey with the rack for a minute to make sure everything is tight. I'm very capable of using the wooden rack on Diamond tables with simonis and making the wing ball 70 plus percent of the time (and the 1 in the side occasionally), but would rather use a template if given the choice. I really never thought of myself having a big advantage over my opponent (with MR) because I don't think it's that difficult for anyone that's used one before to make a ball and avoid scratching, even without practicing with it. With an alternating break format, unless the first breaker runs out every time I don't really see a problem with it. This is just my opinion.
In regards to our match and how the MR affected it, I was a little rattled to with the pre match controversy so to speak, but just tried to focus and thought I played well. I guess I really didn't notice the 2 stroke give up stroke until end, but I wasn't really paying attention to you, I was focused on the table. I spotted you the break and you broke well making a ball and controlling whitey. You failed to get out, I ran out and then Broke and Ran and think I had a somewhat easy layout. You fail to get out again and I run out and break and run again. The second Break and Run, I back cut long rail banked the 1 in with shape jacked up from the short rail so it wasn't like I had a cosmo....From there being up 4-0 in the race to 6, I know we each made a mistake in the 5th rack and eventually I ran out. In the last game, I didn't have a shot on the 1 and had to push out. Eventually you missed a makeable cut on the 6 or 7 and said "oh look I missed, loudly and jokingly" and I figured you didn't give that one your best effort. To be honest though, I really didn't think the MR affected our match that much in regards to what people typically complain about with the MR. For starters, I'm not saying I hit the break hard, but I don't baby it either like some do. I also don't pattern rack, just like I told Russ prior to our match. I throw the 1 in the front and 9 in the middle and let her rip. I had maybe 1 cosmo layout and pretty much made everything I shot at, including 3 or 4 banks (yes my shape sucks...) and at least made a good hit in the safety exchanges. We also didn't have any early combos and I don't believe I ever had even close to the same layout every time. My 3 breaks: 1. I had a shot on the 1, 2. I had to bank the 1, 3. I had to push....What does the results of this match mean, not a whole lot really. Would the results of our match been different if we would have used a wooden rack, who knows. I won and it's going to happen sometimes. I've played Jose and ATM with the MR in a winner break format and got crushed too, it happens....I've also beat good players with and without the MR and that will happen too. I'm sure we'll play plenty of times in the tourneys around here, since we typically play in the same divisions. I've never told anyone or think that I'm a better player than you. I respect your game and know you have passion for it. Apparently, you don't respect my game that much and that's fine, but if you think I'm not going to beat you in tourneys sometimes no matter what rack we're using, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.
Summary:
I'm not sure if myself or the TD made a bad call in this situation, but just thought I would put a little bit more information out there, since I felt like some people were throwing the tourney director under the bus.
Marcus Lynch
