"sand bagging" Yes or No ?

No, what prompted this conversation and got my wheels turning was the abuse of this judgement authority... This just prompted my brain to start turning.

As I mentioned, for the most part I am rather passive about the whole issue. BUt recently Ive noticed that this autority granted to what I might consider unqualified or at worst paranoid & bias opposing scorekeepers...

Here's the last couple things that got my wheels turning...

Recently I played another highly ranked player. Prior to this match, I had been playing well. Shot making was very sharp. In this match, I entered with a confident & aggresive mindset. Runout throttle pinned to the floor. I can 100% honestly tell you at no time was I thinking in a defensive mindset. This is a little unusual as I do tend to examine the table for all of the possible shots/scenario's. But, as I said, I was hot. Runout blinders on.

Ok, so during this match I do recall thinking defensively and taking exactly 2 defensive shots. Where my highest priority was not leaving my opponent a shot or hooking him. I remember this distinctively. I was not going to "duck" and was shooting well enough that I felt I could make anything. (save for when I was hooked, or I was kicking at a ball because of a safe he played against me. Which was maybe 2x). So, I can tell you absolutely 100% that I "switched" into "think defensive" exactly 2 times. No reason to bring this up here if not true.

So anyway, I put on a runout clinic of sorts. I made shots all over the table. Heavy english 3 rail leaves, breakout cuts, full table draws for shape, etc, etc.. I was on. Anyway, I crushed him. 18-2 or something... So after the match I check the scoresheet, my scorekeeper has me marked for 3 defensive shots. Ok, fine. So he gave me credit for one other shot. WHatever, I got credit for being better than I was trying to be. lol. SO anyway, I sign the other scoresheet at the end of the night and notice the team captain over there had me marked for 8 defensive shots!!!! 8!! I was like, WTF?! I don't even remember missing 8 shots the entire match much less 8 defensive shots!. I actually sorta laughed. I asked, I said "where did you get 8 from??". She gets all defensive with me and says "our scoresheets don't have to match!" your too good to be a SL___. "I saw 8". So, needless to say, I got pretty irritated by this.

Another situation with a completely different team/scorekeeper... As a general rule obviously with some exceptions... I don't mark many/any defensive shots when SL1-2's play.. They are awful, lol. Lucky if they hit a ball or even get within a foot of the pocket in some cases. So, signing a scoresheet I looking down to see that someone had marked my SL2 (was a SL1, who just became a 2 a week earlier) and just took up pool a few months ago) for 5 defensive shots, LOL. I mean really. Im not kidding, unless a ball is literally in the pocket she can't make it... But, she will absolutely try. She honestly does not know what a safety is, really. If I said, "Play a safety" she would ask what I meant. lol. Anyway, I didn't have her marked for any (obviously). I asked (very friendly), "how did you come up with 5 ?" the person responds with "she could have made a couple of the shots she missed". My response.. "lol" "that's why she's a SL2, she might not hit the broad side of a barn even if you painted a target on it and gave her a nucular bomb. lol".

So anyway, Those are a couple situations which for one reason or another have been coming up more and more often... It's a little frustrating.

My original 2 questions were spawned by the first instance I noted. Where, maybe I played a two way shot that I really don't even think I was contiously aware of.. maybe that what was seen??? I thought through the whole thing, I just cant figure out where that came from. The other possibilty was maybe because I was a little "in the zone" and shooting what may be considered "cowboy" without even considering what happens if I miss? Really only thinking "where do I leave this ball for my next shot when I make it"... and maybe (though I dont remember it) I missed and got a decent defensive leave??? and for that, this person is giving the authority to decide what my intentions were???

Either way, I had to question what my understanding was. "intent" was the paradigm of judgement and in all the cases above I can tell you with 100% absolute certainty my SL2 intended to try to make those shots and 100% absolute certainty I absolutely intended on making those shots & running out.
 
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"lol" "that's why she's a SL2, she might not hit the broad side of a barn even if you painted a target on it and gave her a nucular bomb. lol".

No, not another 8 years of that! No... No... NO!!!

-Sean <-- doesn't like to see prez's -- past, present, or future -- going nuclear (noo-klee-ar) :D
 
No, not another 8 years of that! No... No... NO!!!

-Sean <-- doesn't like to see prez's -- past, present, or future -- going nuclear (noo-klee-ar) :D

lol, if it tickles ur fancy u could prolly find lots of spellin errors in my posts if you wanna audit them all. :wink:
 
lol, if it tickles ur fancy u could prolly find lots of spellin errors in my posts if you wanna audit them all. :wink:

No, not at all Dawg -- "I ain't like that" to do that silly nit-picking of spelling or grammar errors we so commonly see here on these boards. I just read that spelling, and it reminded me of a hilarious comic I once saw during the [methinks] 2004 primaries or some such, of Howard Dean correcting Bush on air about the proper pronunciation of the word, and after Bush (intentionally, to piss off Dean) repeated the word with that "nucular" pronunciation, Dean literally lost his head -- it exploded. I think it was a take on a Saturday Night Live skit, or something.

I just took the opportunity to poke fun at that situation (not you, of course).

I still crack up recalling that comic!
-Sean
 
I think there are a lot of over rated player in apa..everybody seems to be in a hurry to have a six, seven..ect..ect asigned to their name..as if this makes them a player. You know trying to run before you can walk streight...and I think this is where all the sandbagging name calling comes from...egos an pride gets stepped on or hurt..I realize this isn't the case all the time..but let's face it..there just isn't that many people sandbagging..I can only think of a few that I know..an trust me I've spoken with my lo about them..an when ever a new team starts..they are watched. But the big city leagues where everybody doesn't know everyone,I can see where there could be some issues.
But what do I know..I've hung around for 10 years in this league..an I've enjoyed my time, even been to vegas a couple times..I am no player..I've been a 5 in booth nine an eight for the last five years...maybe I'm a sandbagger to..lol. personally I play as hard an smart as I can..no one gets a free pass from me..I probably bank better then most sevens,but then again,I don't bank during league unless its do or die..well..balh balh..right..sandbaggers,I love playing them.really I do..its like saying..warrior come out an play.

Peace...out.
 
Sandbagging

Who in the hell cares. If you win the game, that is the object. People that sandbag too much end up with it biting them in the butt too.

Noone has even mentioned that you have to know when to sandbag, and just how much you can sandbag, and still be able to win the game.

And in league playoff tournaments, end of session tournaments, and state tournaments, you will not see any sandbagging, will you?

Richardson gave the best advice, Play the VNEA (better)_ or BCA (best) which have much better handicapping systems, and lend themselves towards much less sandbagging than the APA.

The more levels of handicaps, the better it is - it is more discrete, and reduces the opportunity for sandbagging,
 
Dawg, you just had a bad experience with one sore loser (the guy keeping score who gave you 8 defensive shots, that's all). He's the one trying to manipulate the stats, and by making you feel like you need to defend yourself... he's distracting you from the real bad guy.

I guess being at the table isn't necessary to illegally help your team stats.

You're mad because he's marking tough shots or 2-ways as "safeties". I 100% agree that's unfair. It sounds like even if he sincerely thought you were trying to make the ball, he was willing to lie and claim you weren't.

If you went in with "runout blinders" and failed to run out, and kept taking flyers and kept losing games... the other team could make a good case that you were stalling to keep your handicap down by not taking safety opportunities. But you were getting out, and those flyers hit the back of the pocket. And you kept using a winning strategy that worked game after game after game. Therefore you weren't stalling. You can't crush the other guy 18-2 and then be labelled a sandbagger who is playing to drag the game out.

On that particular day, your calculator said "you're in dead punch, the best play here is to take that hard shot. Forget ducking". Maybe next week you'll go cold and the calculator spits out "you better duck". If the opposing scorekeeper is an honest person, he will understand that concept.
 
Dawg, you just had a bad experience with one sore loser.

No, this is kind of what started my wheels turning...

I've been playing APA (9ball) for years (5+?) and it seems to be getting out of whack completely....

I never noticed it much (or cared) about any of it... As I said, Im reasonably passive and I don't genrally spend much time thinking about other people... there are always poor sports, bad losers, you name it, there are and have always been isolated bullspit to deal with... No big deal really.

BUt recently its gotta out of control, I never noticed "bagging" or anything really being a problem... more a parnoia of the unwashed and weak minded masses looking for an excuse to explain not playing well, or not being able to just say they got outplayed that night than anything...

But aside from the fact that at the last 3-4 session ending meetings its been brought up ad-nausium and I see flyers and crap in scoresheet packs all the time now... and again, none of those things really bother me. Frankly, I lol, sigh, or blow most of it off...

BUt, way too much recently all this (mostly) mentally fabricated bullspit has trickled into the scorekeeping... I don't know if this added pressure from the outside about this issue is a result of pressure from the APA to indirectly increase recruiting by nudging skill levels up?, or to mend what they think is a contributing factor to loss of membership?... or what, but either way... It doesn't smell or taste right... and if it's enough to catch my attention, that really is saying alot. Because, really... I usually just don't care. I play, I have a decent time, I love the game, I enjoy my friends.

I only gave a few examples above of situations that were enough to irritate me, but this is far from isolated.
 
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Is it bothering you enough to make you consider quitting? Maybe have a talk with the LO when it comes up again. I don't think this falsified scoring is the result of anti-sandbagging pressure from APA or some scheme to bump up numbers. That sounds too 'conspiracy theory'. I still think the simplest explanation is best: A handful of bad apples are so worried about it that they're willing to manipulate the score sheets to give the appearance of 'cracking down on sandbagging'.

Or they just know it screws their opponent over and they're willing to cheat a little to hurt the opposing team.

As long as you're still having a good time, maybe the only thing to do is shrug it off. Worst case, it means you get an unfairly high rating. There are worse things.
 
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