Quoted from Whysnow:I woudl propose that people elect an order of states and not a single state. For example, you select WI>IL>MN.
-Qualify for WI and you play WI.
-If you end up not making WI, but qualify for IL then play IL.
-Miss out on both WI and IL but make MN, then you play MN.
So now we're having people declare multiple choices with preferences, and I'm storing this information where? lol
Logistically this just isn't something I want to manage for the ~600 finalists and ~9000 players that competed in the SCS. Dealing with everyone ONE TIME within a one week time period during the registration process is far easier for us to manage with our limited staff and resources.
I also think Tom has a great point on why people would be declaring based off of information that isn't finalized. You can argue that 'much doesn't happen the last 2 months', and I'll agree to disagree.
Real World Example #1
My dad in Illinois after Expo was still on the outside looking in (right up against the end of August). By the time November 1st hits, people are still organizing new events in attempts at SCS point grabbing. I know . . . because it's what I did!
I had told my wife as a birthday present I wanted to run a tournament at my house if I felt like my dad wasn't in a good place qualifying wise for the IL SCS. When it turned out he wasn't, I decided on November 4th to set up an event on December 5th.
http://www.ifpapinball.com/view_tournament.php?t=11612#results
My dad finished 4th, and earned enough points to jump him into a solid IL SCS position.
I would expect that the last 2 months of activity is as valuable as any other 2 month period on the calendar (so roughly 16.67% of tournaments played?). Let's take a look!
18 of the 112 Wisconsin events were held in November/December (16%).
10 of the 54 Illinois events (god you guys killed us in event totals) were held in November/December (19%)
10 of the 33 Indiana events were held in Nov/Dec (30%)
14 of the 61 Minnesota events were held in Nov/Dec (23%)
There's meaningful play in these last two months, and I don't want a pre-season-end "declaration" to dictate what a player ends up doing.
If my dad declares Illinois, does crappy at my last December tournament, is it fair that because he "declared" Illinois, it's now worthless for him to drive out to Indiana for the Main Street Amusements Pin-Golf Open as a last chance qualification for that state?
Let's say he plays average at my house and decides to go to MSA's tournament in Indiana and KILLS IT. Ultimately he ends up as the 16th seed (slated to face Zach in round 1 in Illinois), and ends up as the 3 seed in Indiana. Because he "declared Illinois" on October 31st is that fair to him that he's now 'stuck' in Illinois. He would have been better off finishing 17th in Illinois, so giving him some sort of advantage for doing worse in Illinois by giving him an 'out clause' on his declaration makes no sense.
Let's take it a step further . . .
My dad ends up as the 7 seed for Illinois and Indiana. He finds out that Stern is hosting the IL SCS, but it's a Sternament on all of their new games. He finds out that Indiana is being hosted at MSA, and there's a nice mix of machines including 50% EM's (his preferential choice of equipment to play on). Somehow him not being allowed to play in Indiana because he 'pre-season-end declared' Illinois makes no sense to me. He hasn't had the chance to take in all the variables in making a decision that I personally feel he's earned the right to make.
When we created the SCS, the idea was that those players that played more/qualified in more states earned an advantage over everyone else, because it was based solely on their play and not any other external factors and/or restrictions.
The variables I see in deciding what state to play in:
- Distance from your house to the State Championship
- Game mix of the collection for the State Championship
- Strength of field (for those looking for an easier path for Nationals)
- Strength of your own seeding position
- Personal preference of simply wanting to visit another state as part of this process
- The opportunity to travel with a loved one (last year Lyman Sheats did this - he went to the Kentucky SCS because his girlfriend Penni ended up qualifying and he wanted to support her. There is no way Lyman would have declared Kentucky on 10/31, and would have stayed closer to home had Penni not made the cut)
These are advantages for people that actually have the choice of multiple options, and it's that way BY DESIGN. I want my dad motivated to show up to my house, and then to absolutely drive out to Indiana the next day, to give himself the best options on January 1st. Any locked in pre-declaration ultimately leads him to not being as motivated to play and I don't like not motivating people to play EVERYWHERE as often as they can. If he's locked into Illinois there's no reason for him to go to Indiana. If he's locked into Indiana because he 'guesses' that will be a better fit for him 2 months later, then he has no motivation to show up to my tournament.
The only people that gain by any early declaration are the people that don't really have options of multiple state choices anyway, so it's my opinion that we let the players that earned these advantages to make an educated decision based on all the data for whatever works best for their situation.