Duane Hinton
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How on earth can this be poor sportsmanship? You need to explain this statement.
Would this be considered sandbagging?
- Thread starter TheNewSharkster
- Start date
How on earth can this be poor sportsmanship? You need to explain this statement.
Maybe those phantom 4s running racks were busy the year I went to Vegas, but I never ran into any under handicapped monster players. Maybe a few "that 4 could be a 5 for sure" situations, but I also saw some "that 5 is a 4 at best" players. Maybe I was just lucky.
Regarding gamesmanship, sportsmanship, rocket ship, and Viking ship... I would never apologize for operating within the rules to give myself the best chance at achieving my goals. In Vegas, our team was matched up with a team off all Arabic men from somewhere. All of them were decent guys except the captain, who was visibly and obviously offended that our captain was a woman. He put himself up to play first, so naturally she played him. She was 2-3 skill levels below him and won easily because he put himself on tilt.
Regarding gamesmanship, sportsmanship, rocket ship, and Viking ship... I would never apologize for operating within the rules to give myself the best chance at achieving my goals. In Vegas, our team was matched up with a team off all Arabic men from somewhere. All of them were decent guys except the captain, who was visibly and obviously offended that our captain was a woman. He put himself up to play first, so naturally she played him. She was 2-3 skill levels below him and won easily because he put himself on tilt.
To clarify. I meant that a lot of people don"t want to break up a good team. The 23 point rule make it tough to be a 7 and played on a team. If a team has 2 7s and 2 6s they are forced to find 2s. I'm not really stating it well but I think the rule has more to do with forcing you to create more teams (more business). I always wanted to go up in level, but once you are a 6, or a 7 a lot of teams don't want you (especially if they already have 1 or 2 of them)...
The New Sharkster: I play in the same region as you and have led two teams to the nationals (2010 in 8-ball, 2011 in 9-ball).
A) the LO won't change player skill levels
B) the paperwork you fill out at the end of LTC (assuming you won and make it to Nationals) is basically garbage. The first thing you will do as team captain at Rivera is sign in the team and get the registration packet. This will include... GASP..... Filling out the same paperwork you filled out at the end of LTC which asks you to certify your player skill levels.
C) Just fill out the paperwork at Rivera with the most recent skill levels of your players, IRRESPECTIVE of what they were ranked during LTC or a month prior.
D) If a player was a 4 the week prior to nationals, but a 3 at LTC you better put them down as a 4, because after the first match when they run the paperwork through the system all the ranks will be updated and that will have cost you one of your available three rank changes.
E) it's not really that big of a deal, just be honest. My teams have had a total of two rank changes combined in two years of nationals, including making it to 17th place in 9-ball, 2011. In the round of 34 (2011) we played against a team that had FOUR players on the watch list including a skill level 3 female player who signed up as skill level 1. She bumped to a 4 after our match (she was a solid 4, why they signed her up as a 1 is beyond me). There were five formal complaints made against that team (including the monetary deposit to make a formal complaint) and that team was disqualified after beating us by 1 point. Every player was banned and security escorted them out.
Long story short, don't worry about it, the LO won't do anything crazy, just play your players at their ranks and (yes) hold them back to get into LTC, but assume that it will make your first few rounds easy, but the last few rounds more difficult. *or* have them play and get used to being the higher rank and experience with the more difficult matches (my preference).
A) the LO won't change player skill levels
B) the paperwork you fill out at the end of LTC (assuming you won and make it to Nationals) is basically garbage. The first thing you will do as team captain at Rivera is sign in the team and get the registration packet. This will include... GASP..... Filling out the same paperwork you filled out at the end of LTC which asks you to certify your player skill levels.
C) Just fill out the paperwork at Rivera with the most recent skill levels of your players, IRRESPECTIVE of what they were ranked during LTC or a month prior.
D) If a player was a 4 the week prior to nationals, but a 3 at LTC you better put them down as a 4, because after the first match when they run the paperwork through the system all the ranks will be updated and that will have cost you one of your available three rank changes.
E) it's not really that big of a deal, just be honest. My teams have had a total of two rank changes combined in two years of nationals, including making it to 17th place in 9-ball, 2011. In the round of 34 (2011) we played against a team that had FOUR players on the watch list including a skill level 3 female player who signed up as skill level 1. She bumped to a 4 after our match (she was a solid 4, why they signed her up as a 1 is beyond me). There were five formal complaints made against that team (including the monetary deposit to make a formal complaint) and that team was disqualified after beating us by 1 point. Every player was banned and security escorted them out.
Long story short, don't worry about it, the LO won't do anything crazy, just play your players at their ranks and (yes) hold them back to get into LTC, but assume that it will make your first few rounds easy, but the last few rounds more difficult. *or* have them play and get used to being the higher rank and experience with the more difficult matches (my preference).
IMO sandbagging can only happen when you screw your cue together and play. Sitting them is captains choice and not something I would consider sandbagging.
It does make me smile widely though when I see this type stuff and it still doesn't matter.
I never called it "poor" gamesmanship. It's just gamesmanship. If your goal it to make the nationals, then job well done. But if your goal is to the best player you possibly can be, in part, by facing tough and fair competition...well now it gets a little grey. I would be much more proud of my accomplishment knowing that my "true" speed was accurately assessed, and I overcame my competition; rather than to know I was able to "slip under the bar" by shrewd use of gamesmanship. I understand that I am in the minority here, and thhe current mentality of many league players is "get to the nationals" and "get the trophy." That's fine; but if you don't push your limits, then mediocracy will be your end product. So enjoy the trophy.
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