I speak re:Yaphe as a player whose teams had legitimate championship aspirations for several years. My teams at Maryland and Michigan strove for and achieved a high level of play because we loved to win and hated to lose, probably more than most anybody else on the circuit. My teammates put a lot of time and effort into becoming the best, and we were good enough to beat just about everyone we played, though we never won a championship. We also found that serious competition and having fun weren't mutually exclusive - we had as much enjoyment playing as any other team. We just made winning a priority. Fundamentally, most of the arguments in these fora come down to a difference in mindset between the hobbyist or "weekend warrior" and "diehards" who care deeply about winning and have tried to really achieve greatness. I understand that this is the way things are. However, I am bothered by those who get upset when people who care more (and therefore put more time and effort into) get rewarded with success. Much of my philosophical opposition to things like CBI, VVB's, single-elim, overuse of general knowledge-pop-culture-current events, and other quality issues stem from the idea that Academic Competition is a serious endeavor where tangible rewards exist for hard work and concerted effort. If it was worth doing at all, it was worth doing well.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0: Sat 12 Feb 2022 12:30:44 AM EST EST