This weekend, three teams did not show up. In one case, a school that
had said--and intended--to bring two teams had some last-minute
cancellations. Another team had the same issue, but they were an ad-
hoc team added at the last minute.
The third team, however, was registered well in advance. That team
never showed up, nor did they even bother to send an e-mail to that
effect. This particularly galls me because, if they knew they weren't
coming more than a week ago, Boston College might have been able to
come. The only reason I knew before we started playing that said team
wasn't here was because someone informed me of it second-hand.
And while this may not be the end of the world for a tournament like
Penn Bowl, a no-show can have a huge impact on your average
invitational: if a school has a few days' warning, they might be able
to get together a house team, or readjust the schedule to give
everyone either more matches or fewer byes, or both. To not do so is
disrespectful not only to the staff of an event, but also--perhaps
*more* so--to the teams competing.
--STI