[archiver]

Posted by Jerry Eckert.

Engineer from Looking for a team in Raleigh, NC sponsored by .

Posted on 1/10/2000 10:57 PM MST


In Reply to: I love rejections, but it doesn't make sence this year! posted by Daniel on 1/10/2000 9:12 PM MST:



I'm another person who disagreed with the no-rejection rule last year - and I still do.

Unlike Daniel, my objections have nothing to do with the accuracy of the seedings.

Drawing an analogy to the real world, I don't think a team's ranking should give it absolute control over another team any more than a company's size gives it absolute control over another company. In both cases, the better team/bigger company may be the most attractive partner for many, but there are some who would rather team up with another team/company for reasons of their own. I feel they should be allowed to do so.

One objection raised last year was that if rejections are allowed a team might throw matches in order to drop their seeding so they could be picked as a partner by a higher ranked team. That is not a factor this year because a seeded team can be selected as a partner by a higher ranked team. While there are still some situations where a team might benefit by throwing a match to hurt their alliance partner, these situations are not eliminated by a 'no reject' rule. And I honestly don't believe there are many, if any teams, who would do this.

For those who can't get past the conspiracy theories, try this one out:

Team 12 and team 4 desire to be alliance partners in the elimination rounds (the team numbers used here are the seeding ranks). Team 12 notifies teams 1-3 that it does not wish to be in an alliance with them prior to the selection process.

Team 2 ignores team 12's objection and chooses them as a partner. Team 12, irate over their slection by team 2, decides to accept the invitation. They also decide to teach team 2 a lesson by throwing their matches...

Jerry