[chapman1]

I tend to favor any sport that deviates from the American football paradigm of hurt or be hurt, and I suspect that some of this year's detractors really don't like it for that reason: they like the physical contact.

After all, this year was more a game of wits, wasn't it? If an alliance didn't win the match, it wasn't so much that they were blocked, but more because they didn't score enough points.

At the elite level, "defense" might have taken the form of an alliance not having enough cans - but those teams who saw that coming were the ones who excelled... not the ones with better defense.

I too didn't like this game at the beginning, but as it unfolded, I came to understand its brilliance. If nothing else, it shook things up: most likely, to prepare us for the water game :-)