In defense of my 'fake' tournament

cancelbowl <*cancelbowl_at_cancelbowl.yahoo.invalid*> · Tue, 21 Mar 2006 18:00:09 -0000

Wow, I didn't realize what a heartless bastard I am. I'll make sure 
to don my hairshirt after I post.

When I originally posted the date for Cancel Bowl, there was nothing 
on this group indicating a conflict. This is the the only group I 
read, and seeing nothing in the way I posted my announcement.

(I know that my failure to read every single QB-related group, 
message board, and string-with-Dixie Cup network makes me hopelessly 
incompetent in the eyes of some. They're welcome to their opinion.)

Word got to me a little later that there was a conflict with the 
tournament at Brown. I contacted all of my teams, noted the conflict, 
and asked what teams wanted to do.  In response, I had one team 
express an interest in the tournament (one other team wasn't sure, 
and wound up not going to either).  I had several state that they had 
no interest in the other tournament. This isn't surprising, given 
that the bulk of Cancel Bowl's field is made up of regulars.

It didn't make much sense to move Cancel Bowl, inconveniencing the 
vast majority of the field and the folks at BU (who'd taken care of 
all the logisitical stuff) for one team.  I wrote all the teams back, 
noted that we were going to stand pat, and said that if teams wanted 
to play at Brown rather than Cancel Bowl, that was fine.  I've got no 
problem letting teams vote with their buzzers, so to speak.

So the idea that Cancel Bowl somehow cut off Brown's tournament at 
the knees - and thus presaged the fall of Western civilization, 
apparently - is a little off, I think.  Had Brown's tournament been 
the only thing happening last weekend, based on the responses I got 
all but one of the Cancel Bowl teams would have taken the weekend to 
catch up on other things.

Bottom line, I think both tournaments could have run on the same day. 
They were drawing from different groups of people, and the one team 
with a choice was welcome to opt for whichever one they most prefered.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to find my scourge and plan a sports-
only tournament that I'll hold in my basement which will cripple ACF 
Nationals.

Mark