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BGonline.org Forums
the big picture?
Posted By: Chuck Bower In Response To: How I wish I had more time to rant in general (phil simborg)
Date: Sunday, 5 December 2010, at 5:36 p.m.
I could dig through the archives here (as could anyone else) but I'd rather write. It was just 2-3 years ago that clocks were the anomaly in the ABT Open division and now it's just the opposite. I mostly credit this site and (of course) the regular posters here for that progress -- no quotes because, IMO, it's not even close. There are others who deserve credit, too, but if it weren't for the outcry here, none of this would have happened. And time will tell the final story, as always. But in just a couple years look at how things have progressed.
Just this AM I was thinking about tournament poker vs. cash-game poker. I came to the conclusion (which should have been obvious :) that I'll likely never again play a large field poker tournament. (I've only played in one, BTW -- Deep Stack tournament in LV with ~1000 entrants.) The reason is simple: I don't have the stamina. There are a lot of reasons why tournament poker is dominated by young people, and stamina just plays further to their advantage. So I find it ironic that the "old guard" in backgammon, a game whose tournaments are made up of people who have already spent more than half their time in existence, are often opposed to clock usage.
I, like some of you, was present for the heyday of backgammon -- the late 70's. I loved it. Would I like to go back (impossible) or see those days return? Well, yes and no. Yes for the atmosphere, the acceptance (by the masses) and tolerance (by the badge). But not everything was rosy -- there were more cheats (not that many, but not that few, either), bad equipment (dice and dicecups in particular), and too many a-holes (again, not a lot, but way fewer than today). Regardless, no matter how bad anyone wants the 70's to replay, it can't happen.
The other big plus in the US (that I see), and it's even more novel than clock usage, is the advent of the USBGF. Here we have people with positive attitudes wanting to go forward, not look backward. And they are putting their time (and money) where their mouths are. That is the kind of action that is going to save the game, not reminiscing for the good-old-days.
IMO, the big picture is looking rosier. We're weathering the downturn in attendance just at the right time.
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