So, as my previous entry states, I joined a league. Now, one of the many reasons I’ve avoided joining a league was the variety of stories involving sandbagging. Well, to make a really long [and familiar to anyone who’s ever played in a league] story short, this came up on my first night in a league.
Since I’m new to the league, I started at a “non-rated 4” – which means that each week my rating will go up and down based on my performance of the previous week. My team has two 7’s, a 6, and three 5’s – then me. They’re wanting me to stay around a 4. I should be a 5 for sure, based on watching the other 5’s play and how I played against them while waiting for my own matches.
Even if I was only a 4, I wouldn’t mind so much because I can still play – and play to win. Apparently, the majority of this season, I need to try and stay around a 4. That means losing more than winning. Now, if I’m playing other 7’s and whatnot, losing will probably come naturally; but in the case of last night – a bunch of 2’s – losing is hard to do.
I joined the league to play – and play well. Not play badly so that I/we can do well in the finals. What does it matter if we’re all high-ranked? okay, okay, so there’s a limit on the number of ‘good’ players you put out there for each round, but we have two 7’s, so just about any combination of players works for each round. I just fail to see how ‘staying under’ benefits anyone.
I made it clear, from the first time they talked to me that I wasn’t comfortable with dogging things on purpose – so being asked “do everything you can to lose” doesn’t sit real well with me. The guy said this was a very, very rare situation – having such a bad team of opponents. So… we’ll see how it goes.
I said I’d come back next week, but if I’m asked to play down every match, I’m walking.
Where’s a BCA league when ya need one? C’mon St. Louis isn’t that damn small, we need a real league here. The APA is riddled with the same bullshit.
And for the record, I won both of my matches last night. I even tried to leave easy runs, easy shots, hell I even found ways to foul – but you can’t depend on a 2 to make any shot. *sigh*