AllenGould wrote: ↑Wed Sep 15, 2021 2:39 pm
LORE wrote: ↑Wed Sep 15, 2021 1:51 pm
Armus wrote: ↑Wed Sep 15, 2021 1:25 pmI'd hate to see the ostensibly premiere event of the year fall into the same bucket of indistinguishibility.
As Jason said, these are unprecedented times. We are making the most of the hand the pandemic has dealt us. Do I wish we had a half dozen Europeans coming? Absolutely. Do I wish Ken could come down from Canada to compete? Of course. But we should not condone the World Championship before it is even played simply because of who is not there. Given the line up I see and knowing who is coming that is not pre-reg'd, on both sides of the fence it looks to be a super competitive field.
Frankly, if we're going to throw shade at "Worlds", I'd throw it on the grounds that a lot of the world can't legally attend. But that's not the fault of organizers or the CC. If there's fault, it's that Americans like calling their local events things like "World Series" (where only one team isn't American).
It used to be two teams, but Quebec doesn't like fun...
I'm not entirely sure how me saying in effect "I hope Worlds remains special" is "throwing shade on Worlds"
My larger point is that, if we get to the point where Worlds ISN'T special, and a TD DOES have to come off the bench to get it sanctioned, then that would indeed be a sad day, pandemic or no. Nowhere did I say that's what I was expecting for this year's Worlds in Chicago. To the contrary, I'm pretty sure I said explicitly that based on the pre-reg list (and apparently some run-ins according to Kris), it *shouldn't* be an issue this year.
I know Maggie has spent a bunch of time and money ramping up for this gig, and I hope everybody going has a good time with a lot of high level competition. I'm just concerned based on what I'm seeing at what passes for Continentals (and apparently Nationals? Even though it's at Gencon?) that everything looks like a local these days, and I'd hate to see that same fate befall Worlds.