Subject: [ISSUE] Look What Long has Started Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 16:04:14 -0400 From: "Patrick Griffin" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com [Before I start, I want to correct the statement made that we've never impeached a President. We have, Andrew Johnson, I think. Impeachment is the trial, not the actual booting out of office] "You've stirred up a bloody hornet's nest now." - John Little, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. I've kept up with this topic pretty well. I read the first Post-Nationals submission to the Dojo, and I was sure what was going to happen. Another fiasco. This one seems to be bigger than the one Eric Tam and Nate Clarke started. We have posts from businessmen, new players, tournament organizers, someone from Wirards themselves, and just about everyone in between. Mostly, we're all saying the same thing, but there is a need to get all of these similar posts out, to get action taken. It's quite clear to anyone reading these that as players, we don't care what get's done, as long as something gets done. The majority of these posts are very well written, and most of them have very valid points. I believe Chad Ellis may written my favorite. Chess, though, is not Magic, and I'll attempt to share why.  Chess is complex at the beginning, easy when you can keep the rules straight, but then, when you start playing more skilled players, it gets hard, and never stops becoming more difficult. Chess, unlike Magic, is very formal because most of the young kids that go to tournaments have been formally taught. I say young kids, because it is usually kids who don't have high personal standards. A 12 year old Chess player know the proper way to act, because he has been taught. It's like playing golf with my friends. I learned from my dad and grandfather how to play golf. In me was instilled the etiquette of golf. You are not loud, you don't yell, trash talk, or make fun of your partners. It just isn't part of the game, or shouldn't be, anyway. So, after Tiger Woods wins a couple of tournaments, my friends are all excited about how they're going to be the ones on the PGA Tour some day, etc. I ask them if they want to go play, and they agree. The four of us go to the local course, and while I'm there I can't count how many times I had to correct the behavior of my friends. Not only because it was wrong, but because it made me look bad. On of my friends finally learned the lesson the hard way. If you have ever played golf, you know the exorbinate cost of green fees. Well, my friend misses a putt and is so mad, the only course of action to relieve this tension is to take the putter (mine, by the way), and imbed it into the soft turf of the green. The people watching had just about enough. They sent out one of the people in the Pro Shop, and my friend had to pay thirty bucks for being stupud. Ever since then, my friend will act stupid, but draws the line where he knows it will hurt him, he doesn't damage the course or do anything that could get the people at the course after him again. He's sure if he does anything like that, he will be seen, so he doesn't risk it. This brings me to my next movie quote: "A foul is only a foul if the referee blows his whistle." - Penny Hardaway's Mom, Blue Chips As far as Magic players are concerned Mike Long has only cheated as many times as he's been caught and prosecuted for it. I don't know of an episode other than this once where he has been punished, and I'm guessing it may have happened before. Why, then, does he have the long history (forgive the pun) of cheating??? Because the referee doesn't blow the whistle enough. A ton of people out there have attested to the popular belief that Mike Long is a cheater. I'm not going to say "Since I can't prove it...", or even apologize to Mike Long for thinking it (why would anyone?), I am going to say this: I am a sheep. I hear it enough times, it becomes the truth. Mike Long cheats, Impulse is the best card in Magic, If the gloves don't fit you must acquit, and it was all a vast Right Wing conspiracy. Not all of these are true, some of them may be (I am only sure that one is, though), but if so many people think somethink, there must be a reason. The DCI does need to wake up and start to issue penalties for being caught doin what may be cheating. Reasonable doubt has been brought up, as well as the intent issue. Allow me to make an analogy, if you will. Mike Long had a Cad Bloom in his lap, whether he intended to or not. I kill someone, whether I intended to or not, there is still a dead body, and I should expect some serious stuff coming my way. "That's all well and good, but when the fit hit the shan, someone's going to have to stay after school..." - CIA Agent, Wag the Dog. There are going to be some innocent people hung for witchcrft in the beginning, but in the end, there will be far fewer people cheating and considering cheating as a viable means to further their tournament career. I just want something to be done. Let me share an episode that is somewhat related: I started playing two and a half years ago. I waited 'til one year ago to play in my first tournament. I show up, and people are watching me like a hawk, keeping track of my life as well as theirs, shuffling my deck. This was all new to me. I had no idea why anyone would do this. So, I ask my last round opponent about it all. He explains it. No one knew me. I could have been trying to cheat them. I certainly didn't have the best shuffling technique, and my manner during play was quite suspect, so they figured that an odd duck like myself may be trying to pull the wool over their eyes. The players know people cheat, and proabably have a good idea of who cheats. They also know that no one is going to do jack about it, so they try to prevent it from happening. However, what is a player going to do when everyone comes to the tournaments with an extra Cad Bloom hidden in their lap? Instead of being pissed that it did happen, and yelling about how unfair it is, try this: What would happen if it hadn't? Probably nothing. Patrick Griffin "What the American public doesn't know is what make them the American public." - Dan Akroyd, Tommy Boy