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BGonline.org Forums
How I wish I had more time to rant in general
Posted By: phil simborg In Response To: How I wish I had more time to rant in general (Stick)
Date: Sunday, 5 December 2010, at 3:38 p.m.
Let me first say that I agree with everything Stick says here, but I want to add a couple of points.
First, as much as I disagree with Bill on many points, I do want to say that in his later years Bill has "mellowed" and become much more tolerant of people with opinions that are different from his. He doesn't like the rolling tube, but he doesn't ban it's use from his tournaments. He doesn't like using computers for live play, but he allows me, and others, who really do like playing on the computer, to play our live matches on the computer. He has even played me a live match on the computer at his tournament. So while disagrees with me, and with others, he is very reasonable and tolerant--10 or 20 years ago I don't think anyone ever used those words in connection with Bill!
As for clocks at the club tournaments, I can testify that not using clocks at Bill's tournaments has been, in my opinion, a major detraction. We have 4 or 5 players that we consistently have to wait for that hold up the tournament almost every week, and MOST OF THE TIME the finals are split, rather than played, because they have to start too late. It is not unusual for me to get home after midnight on Tuesday night if I actually do play the finals match rather than split. If only these slow players had clocks, or if everyone did, we would probably all be out of there by 10 PM and would have gotten to play all our matches. I know that several of us will forfeit our consolation matches rather than wait around if we know one of those slow players is still alive in the tournament...it's just not worth the wait.
And of course, the other factor about clocks that I think is most important is that backgammon is simply a better game if played at a reasonable speed. It is more fun to play and watch, but also, part of the skill of the game should be the ability to make good decisions in a reasonable amount of time. And how to allocate your use of time is also a skill that is added to the game which makes it more interesting and fun to play.
I think a bigger issue here is that MOST people who have been involved in anything for a long time resist change...any change, and for any reason. Change for the sake of change is bad...there are traditions and there are reasons we love backgammon the way it is. But that is often confused with change that improves thing. The doubling cube is a good example of such a change that greatly improved the game. To me, the clock is the next change that is equally as important and good for the game.
Look what happened to baseball when they added the designated hitter. Some of the greatest hitters in the game got another 3-5 years of play and it improved the value of many pictures that can't even swing a bat. What about going to playoffs---tremendous resistance, but look what it did for the excitement and attendance. Look how much better it is to watch a tennis match now that they have tie-breaker games instead of matches that used to take 5 hours or more all the time.
Change is not always a bad thing, and to most "old-timers" it always is.
If there ever was a game that needs some changes, it's backgammon. We need clocks. We need shorter matches. We need to do things to attract more young people and families. We need to make the game more fun for spectators and more attractive for television. We need to make tournaments more economical for more people to attend. We need to have a point system that rewards attendance as well as performance (or separate systems for each.) We need things, like rolling tubes and baffle boxes that both deter cheating and make people feel like they are getting "fairer" and more random rolls.
All of these changes, in my opinion, are good for the game and should be encouraged and embraced.
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