Backpocket,
I brought up Jonathan's name because he is widely regarded as having more credibility than Frankie, and he was an impartial witness to everything. He saw the original draw, and then the doctored one. If Frankie were the only witness to anything, I might question it too. I get along with him but I have seen some ludicrous behavior from him, as I'm sure many have.
If I were there, the minute this all came out, I'd have demanded my money back unless this assistant was immediately and publicly fired. Not doing so is akin to Jose admitting he had a part in it. As a manager, there are certain things you can let slide with a private rebuking, and certain things that are so major you cannot. THIS IS A MAJOR ISSUE. If Jose had fired him immediately, there would have been no problem. If I were running a tournament and my assistant did this, holy christ, I might call the police on HIM!
Also, I am going to put this as tactfully as I can, but the pro that Frankie was originally slated to play is not known as one of the top players on the tour. He is a very good player to be sure but I would imagine he himself would tell you he is a serious underdog to Frankie. He is also not a "name" player in 9-ball. The assistant's excuse that he didn't want two pro players playing each other (in light of this) is nothing but complete and total crap. Had Frankie been slated to play Delicious in the first round, say, and then he changed it, at least his excuse would be plausible. Still an offense punishable by the loss of his job, but the excuse would at least make sense.
I do not like that I had to write the above, because I truly like the player in question and respect his game as well. He's pulled off some unbelievable wins against top, top players. But he's not the kind of player that the TD would have a vested interest in separating for the spectators.
So it's a bullshit excuse, and that leaves us with the question of why was it done, if not for the stated reason?
To clarify the exact situation for those that are still confused... Frankie was originally scheduled to play Player A (who I speak about above). He looked at his draw and felt positive he would make it at least to the final 4 players on the winner's side - he had a very easy bracket (his words, not mine). Next thing he knows, he's NOT playing this player and he's no longer in the weak bracket - he's playing Carmen Lombardo, and his next match after that (if he wins) would have been Mike Davis, one of the top tour players. Once he found out about Carmen, that's when the fixed draw was discovered and then corrected.
- Steve
. In your version, there is no relationship between the distributor and the "paying customers". This is not the case in the tournament. What the cashier did, in screwing the distributor, ALSO affects all the other people in the restaurant. I am not sure how your analogy could fit that in, but that is the main point as far as I see it.
The thing is that it had happened to me before and I let it disrupt my focus. However, I knew what to do the second time around. One thing is certain; it was no MISTAKE!
