Monday, June 23, 2008
As The World Series Turns
We begin this story with the first match. A match that turned out, in the end, to be a 4-1 Cue Keepers victory, filled with controversy that would set the tone for the remainder of the series. Poolfiction gained the early 1-0 lead. From accounts of the game it was as ugly a game as the whole series itself was. Kevin beat Ben in that game, picking up where the old Pool Outlaws/Quez Captain left off a half-dozen seasons before. From there it seemed to be an average match. Games progressing at a steady pace, all the while the tape from game 1 was pending. Finally, with Cue Keepers ahead 3-2 following a choke on my part, it came about that NEITHER player had a good cam tape. What resulted was a scenario where only 2 admins had a clue what was supposed to happen. Unfortunately, those 2 were myself and Kerry. Jesse who was at the meeting when it was determined the original winner will keep the win in that case, forgot. Pommy, argued up and down that it's a replay. Tony, was talking to Jesse like I had asked him to do, as I banked on him knowing the rule. So as it turned out, they replayed that particular game with two separate players, almost setting a dangerous precedent seeing as now you assume everyone has 8 players for a 7-game match. Cal beat Ogges in the 2nd Game 5 of the match, and that took a 3-2 Cue Keepers lead, and turned it into a 4-1 Cue Keepers win.
Onward to Match 2, following a lot of deliberation with still no real hope of a replay from 3-2 CKP, the match was in the Keepers home room, with a chance to send the dead league off with one final victory. It was almost fitting though that it be these 2 leagues in the World Series. No other combination of 2 leagues perfectly illustrated the contrast, pointed out earlier in the season, between the AL and the NL. The American League hardly had ANY active leagues, while the National League was basically FULL of them. It seemed to be a match going very smoothly. Cue Keepers had their chances and really, easily could've been up 3-1 by the time "it" happened. Cue Keepers had gotten the benefit of one controversial decision, and the YPool Gods decided one bad shake deserves another. With Matt firmly in the drivers seat, a pair of shots away from putting the Cue Keepers one win away from a World Series Title, time stopped. Actually, the whole room stopped. Mid-shot, no less. Matt's rail-runner along the right-hand cushion was stopped as the table froze, and nullified the shot. When everything was restored, his opponent Roger had the cue, and ball in hand no less. The shot had apparently been registered as a slip, despite everybody seeing the shot on its way. The initial decision? Have Roger tap back to Matt. Morally, and ethically... Makes sense. But then so does manually timing out a tape rather than DQ someone merely because the timestamp disappears after 16 and a half minutes. It's a lesson taught far before this season. One that will be taught again I'm sure. Poolfiction (primarily, me,) unhappy with that decision, argued that rules are rules. A glitch is a glitch. If Matt had been disconnected and it gave Roger the win, he'd have been able to take it. Jesse reluctantly changed his call, and left the match. An incident that now had the American League Champs riled up, and they made their opinions known. I also came under fire, being told that if it didn't benefit Poolfiction, I wouldn't have argued. That's correct. Just like if it benefitted Cue Keepers, THEY wouldn't have argued. When the tables turned, they DID argue. Roger would win that game, and following a terrible shot by Cal in Game 6, Luis would clinch it for Poolfiction, and force a previously-unlikely 3rd and decisive match.
That 3rd match went surprisingly without incident. Cue Keepers gained the early lead, but that was all. 4 straight Poolfiction wins, with James and Pommy playing their first game of the series in Game 5, led to a victory similar to the defeat PFN suffered at the hands of Cheap Shotz in Season 9. Ironically, the Season 9 World Series was the start of the controversy from match 1, when Jammy and Scott's tapes both failed to clear, and they had to replay. In between seasons, that's when the new rule about the original winner keeping their win came into effect. In the end, in PFN's 3rd consecutive World Series, they win their 2nd straight Championship. It wasn't pretty, and nobody said it had to be. There was far more controversy than there needed to be. But both sides got even, both sides feel they got screwed out of a match, and the decisive match was a fair one.
As always, someone says goodbye after one of these. On one side, Cue Keepers is in all likelihood gone. There's word of an attempt to keep the league alive, but we've heard it'll be active for the past 3 seasons, and each time it has died at the end. For Poolfiction, Andy is contemplating (another) retirement, and I, of course, AM done. It's ironic, because if Andy also stays away for good, that means basically... We started our stint in MLP in Lava Pool Lounge as teammates, and end it as teammates for repeat-Champion Poolfiction.
For me, I just hope one thing comes out of the controversy of this World Series. When everyone goes over the rules going into Season 12, I hope they are FAR more lenient with them. I hope they understand one very important thing - "who does this rule protect? Why is this rule there?" - Cam rules are not there to get easy DQs, or punish people for one bad setting. Cam is there to prevent cheating. If a tape CAN be manually timed out (ie: Making sure the minutes change over every 60 seconds on the system clock, even when the timestamp disappears,) I hope they learn to do that. Or at the very least, compare the tape to the loser's tape, to check for any timing discrepencies. After all, if Cam is being used to prevent CHEATING, the loser should be concerned about making sure they weren't CHEATED, not getting a free win they don't deserve. That's how it used to be, people would compare tape times, and times on shots, to make sure there were no pauses. There was absolutely no problem with that. If the loser can't supply a tape, then it makes no difference in the first place. I hope every rule is looked at, and I hope what rules are left, or added, are put in to make things fair and fun. And get rid of that rule about no DQs for ANY reason after the player's game ends, please. You're just opening the door for someone to be a total douchebag after they win.
Stay classy, MLP.
