| |
BGonline.org Forums
Giants 2011 (Continued ...also long)
Posted By: Stick
Date: Tuesday, 24 January 2012, at 3:04 a.m.
So I duck out one day to play too much tennis and the kids can't play nice!
While trying to maintain this promise I still have a lot to say about what was said in the other thread. I should be working on my lessons, writing my article for GammonVillage or working on my upcoming blog on Zontik but instead I will attempt to tackle all things Giant. Good luck in making it through this entire post.
I've spent the last 45 minutes re-reading every last post that turns up using the forum search function and the word 'Giant'. Here is one of the first posts I made on the subject. I think this is important because last time when the voting came around I made a bunch of posts on the subject. My purpose was to inform people who may be voting about players I'd come to know both here in the US and internationally. Shortly after my post whoring spree I was accused by a few people of 'campaigning'. That was not even a thought in my mind. I, like Iancho is I believe, am just interested in the players. I also think some of the people who do submit their ballots are wildly uninformed on players outside their locale. I thought that people would be interested in any discussion of players and the backlash kind of put me off.
Iancho won't get accused of campaigning for himself because that fish won't make the list. Still, fingers were already pointed that he may be promoting his friends/those he would vote for. It didn't come off this way at all to me. To me it seems like the only people who in the public's eyes would be allowed to discuss the merits of other players are those who won't be voted on the list and who have no ties to the other players themselves...which is impossible. Before I forget:
- Iancho's first language is not English but there is nothing here he is not understanding nor is he not speaking exactly what he thinks. His grammar may need work but he understands everything without a doubt.
As I've said before, when I started attending ABT tourneys I was told Player A was good by Player B, Player C told me Player D was a great player and on down the line. Over time I figured out that the vast majority of the players I had been told were great players were decent but didn't live up to the hype put forth by other players. This is another reason I wanted to get more input from anyone out there who wanted to give their opinion on any player. There are examples of people have explicitly expressed their appreciation of these discussions such as David Rockwell, Richard Munitz, and Christian Munk-Christensen.
Leonardo Jerkovic had a point about listening to other player's subjective opinions. However, to pull from a real example that happened the last voting, I wasn't sure of the strength of Wachtel's game. I had heard his name tossed around everywhere but at the time had never seen him play and didn't really know him. Thanks to my posts and everyone under the sun saying he truly did belong in the top 32 I was able to vote for him. Maybe he wasn't in the right spot on my ballot but on my ballot is a hell of a lot better than not on it at all when it comes to such a player. One can also chose who they listen to of course. I know that if Falafel comes out and says someone is a player he's not doing it to be nice and he knows what he's talking about.
Trying to avoid saying anything this time round because not only of the accusatory campaigning bs but also the amount of time/work that goes in to it I will still link to my posts from 2009's voting.
There is also this post where I tried to whittle down the list of the best US players before moving on internationally. Overall I didn't feel like there was much actual campaigning going on last time except maybe for Falafelfish's post. Other than that, I thought most of it was just backgammon players being interested in other backgammon players. I remember when I first started going to tournaments and I would make sure to drag my ass out of bed for the calcutta so that I could put names with faces and get to know more players. Talking about the Giants is another form of this for some people. A first step in getting to know some good players they haven't had the opportunity to meet yet.
Let me briefly state my opinion and then I'll move on to the recent thread started by Iancho. I don't give one shit who you vote for. It's your vote and it will have no affect on my life. I really do enjoy the Giants list. It creates a backgammon buzz every couple of years, gives people something to talk about, has a way of making players aware of other players. Is it flawed? Definitely not. It is what it is and you should accept it as that. Is it flawed for what most people wish it was? Of course. And just like me bitching about the World Championships year end and year out I could do something about it just as if you want to do something about a ratings list get off your ass and do it. Until you do, you're just like me and that's the last person you want to be compared to. I, too, wish there was a definitive way of ranking players as almost all games/sports across the globe have a way of accurately defining who is the best at a certain moment in time. Because of the way backgammon rolls, this is not possible in the bg world.
Michael Petch asked if Bill Riles in the past ever questioned others motives or ethics or morality and he could find only one link. I wanted to point out this link which I think also qualifies.
*Facetiously* is one of the words in the English language that uses all vowels in order. (AEIOU and even Y) Your fun fact for the post.
"Voters are asked to rank players "considering the level of their involvement with backgammon and their tournament skills over the past two years."
This is one of the few things I wanted to comment on vis-à-vis Nack Ballard and Francois Tardieu. Nack's contribution to the forums is invaluable. Someone once told me on Gridgammon that, and I'm paraphrasing, "Anyone can do like he does and hide behind his posts online". To that I had a quick answer. "Actually, no, nobody can do what Nack does in that respect."
As for Francois I'm as sad as Iancho is that he hasn't played in any significant tournament in the past two years. I still remember one of the first times I played him. The match was online and it was a very complex match and he played it very well, a 2.X. Chiva's Paris tournament which was one of the best tournaments anywhere in the world was in Francois' back yard and he didn't make it.
To me the list is a list of best players. To be a player you have to play at some point. Even when Nack only made one tournament or so a year I happily voted for him because I'd like him to be on the list. Everyone defines what the list means and the voting requisites in a different way. I won't be voting for either of them this year but would be overjoyed if I could in 2013.
Victor asked "Who first called MCG a donkey?" I would like to take credit for this. Also, I will be the last person to call him a donkey as I'm towering over his coffin with a Beam and coke in one hand and a crisp 5 dollar bill in the other.
Sorry for the lack of rhythm and per usual in my long posts, I'm sure I forgot to mention something I wanted to bring up so if it feels like I didn't address anything just bring it to my attention.
Stick
| |
BGonline.org Forums is maintained by Stick with WebBBS 5.12.