Why is it not the same?

[michaelmeador]

James is gone, Pete isn't promoting, people back out of commitments daily, novices won't travel more than 30 minutes unless a trophy is promised, people don't really travel in general anymore ... Tahoe doesn't exist .. people don't jump to help another ..

I have seen the downfall in the last five year's on countless BS and can only imagine what the people who have been around a while feel.


Is it the economy? The new breed?

Please answer because I'm stumped

[Jim Wagner]

To me, its the lack of respect now rampant. In 2004 I was new to this, and loved this board and all the info I could get at, and with a few exceptions everyone on it. I treated people with the respect they deserved who gave me advice, or I even respected their opinion if it was different.
Im just the last in a long line to say this. If any of you guys from that time read this let me say thank you one last time. I will always value learning from you guys and the help you gave a guy you didnt know.
Josh Handland is a good example of a guy who came into this and earned people's respect, not with his mouth, but with his arm and attitude and effort. He doesnt call people out, or act like the baddest man within 50 miles makes him a king....good-bye.

[Mike West]

^^^^ What Jim said

[John Wilson]

Agree with Jim.

The hype/callout factor got way out of control. Trash talking became the 'excitement' of the sport. Everyone began to think they were due a supermatch and that everyone else was supposed to care about it.

I'm not against any one of these things. But when they become the standard for everyone - all the time- it gets old fast.

Every sport goes through highs and lows. I think we're seeing a natural correction. The sport went way too far in one direction and now it seems slow because many people have stepped backwards from the hoopla. James and Pete got fed up, but if you look around most promotors are following the event model they came up with to some degree.

[Pete & Tim]

Tim B again well said!!!! Too many novice experts,expressing there opions in disrespectful ways!!!!

[Rob Vigeant Jr.]

I'm not do sure it's about the respect factor for me.... It's a message board and the inevitable nonsense from Internet drama was only a matter of time.
For me a big game changer was New England's major downsize in events.
The IAF had staple events and everyone within 6 hrs seemed to have a hard on for the same trophies... That brought a great talent pool to some pretty awesome venues almost on a monthly basis...
At that rate you start to feel like extended family and competition is only the precursor to a weekend getaway.
When you have regular events it keeps you hungry and stimulated... Gives you something to chase.
Now... Those events are gone and so are 90% of the pullers I knew.
Even the remaining events in NE are sometimes hard to get the gusto to jet off to because without that regular sense of competition to keep me in tune..6 months or a year goes by and you realize you haven't done a thing for six months... A year... Or more... That's what happened with me.

Then there is justifying to travel to an event after you have a hundred first place trophies stashed away...
You tend to look for the next step, the next level...
But those events are not regular type things and it's easy to fall into the same rut.

We aren't paid athletes, it's easy to fall out of sync with life as it happens... I mean as of it's current stance, besides my love for competing, AW takes a lot of time, a lot of money and sacrifice...it's like another job to be competitive... Who needs that... It's an all give no take relationship most of the time.
For me it has become a thing of free time and convenience... If the stars align I am all in... The rest of the time it stays tucked under my mattress like dads dirty magazines

[Tim Lewis]

I think it is a combination of the things already mentioned with

the increased price of gas (travel) (this is the number 2 factor in my opinion)
more people need to work weekends than before which made carpools difficult

But the number one factor is def the super matches taking away the pride of winning/placing in open classes. If people sense a lack of competition, the better guys won't come.

[jasonthomas]

I was treated very respectful I had more than a ar arm wrestlers come up and help m and invite me to thei and invite me to their homes and their practices I was shocked everyone was very nic and some of them went out of their th the fundamentals I was very impresse

[Jake Smith]

Can't control what other people do or say. This sport is what you make of it.

[Rick Laton]

I think the downfall is due to money and the fact that there is LITERALLY a tournament every weekend within 7-8 hours driving distance. Sometimes 2 or 3. Turnouts are smaller so the promoters are bringing in less money so they are less likely to risk spending a lot of money on nicer trophies like we used to have. Sculptured arms, embroidered bags, embroidered jackets, Iron Man trophies and Loggers were the norm for Get A Grip for the first 10 years or so. Add to this a $100 payout for each class winner. Then...... I lost $2,000 one year. That's a butt kicker. Work your tail off, make 10,000 phone calls, run yourself crazy on tournament day (Makes it tough to pull well by the way) and LOSE money. I love it as much as anybody but it's just not worth the work after 26 years in the sport. Add to that the fact that so many of the people are disrespectful and trash talk your tournament if ANY problem should arise. Refs/Brackets/Etc. My tournaments never were of the quality that James and Pete had but I gave it my all for 10 years. I can't speak for them but I simply burned out.

[michaelmeador]

Rob, Jake, I agree.

[Chris Gangi]

Jan 24, 2013 11:38:03 GMT -5 Rick Laton said:

I think the downfall is due to money and the fact that there is LITERALLY a tournament every weekend within 7-8 hours driving distance. Sometimes 2 or 3. Turnouts are smaller so the promoters are bringing in less money so they are less likely to risk spending a lot of money on nicer trophies like we used to have. Sculptured arms, embroidered bags, embroidered jackets, Iron Man trophies and Loggers were the norm for Get A Grip for the first 10 years or so. Add to this a $100 payout for each class winner. Then...... I lost $2,000 one year. That's a butt kicker. Work your tail off, make 10,000 phone calls, run yourself crazy on tournament day (Makes it tough to pull well by the way) and LOSE money. I love it as much as anybody but it's just not worth the work after 26 years in the sport. Add to that the fact that so many of the people are disrespectful and trash talk your tournament if ANY problem should arise. Refs/Brackets/Etc. My tournaments never were of the quality that James and Pete had but I gave it my all for 10 years. I can't speak for them but I simply burned out.

EXACTLY!!!!!

[Bill Cox]

Rick hit it right off, the biggest decline is due to MONEY. Prices have gone way up and salaries haven't, gas prices and cost of rooms to travel to an event are out of site. I have been running events in the Northeast since 1980. In those days tournaments were far and few in between, I was running Fairs in NJ & PA. Also Bikers Event in NH for 10 yrs and White MT Championships in Loon MT. I was running monthly events then as I was working and could afford to spend the cash. I ran the Can-Am Championship for 20yrs, first the regulations changed at Canadain border and attendance dropped off then gas prices climbed and my Sponsor decided to cut back on their help. The Hotel was slow so they raised room rates along with charging me $1,500.00 a day for the Ballroom. Today there are only about 15 events a year in the Northeast. Mostly due to people having to work on Saturdays and the cost of gas.

[Tim Lewis]

Jan 24, 2013 13:54:47 GMT -5 Chris Gangi said:

Jan 24, 2013 11:38:03 GMT -5 Rick Laton said:

I think the downfall is due to money and the fact that there is LITERALLY a tournament every weekend within 7-8 hours driving distance. Sometimes 2 or 3. Turnouts are smaller so the promoters are bringing in less money so they are less likely to risk spending a lot of money on nicer trophies like we used to have. Sculptured arms, embroidered bags, embroidered jackets, Iron Man trophies and Loggers were the norm for Get A Grip for the first 10 years or so. Add to this a $100 payout for each class winner. Then...... I lost $2,000 one year. That's a butt kicker. Work your tail off, make 10,000 phone calls, run yourself crazy on tournament day (Makes it tough to pull well by the way) and LOSE money. I love it as much as anybody but it's just not worth the work after 26 years in the sport. Add to that the fact that so many of the people are disrespectful and trash talk your tournament if ANY problem should arise. Refs/Brackets/Etc. My tournaments never were of the quality that James and Pete had but I gave it my all for 10 years. I can't speak for them but I simply burned out.

EXACTLY!!!!!

Yes! And Why is this ^^ happening...

in my opinion its because certain people decided that they weren't going to travel anymore to the major events b/c of travel costs ($$ etc), instead they could (in their mind) make $ by having their own little tournament close to where they live.

The problem is this started happening everywhere and way too often, some places even starting having a tournament and the same venue every month or 2 with same different chessy title expecting people to show up. The result after a few years is just a laundry list of uninteresting events with little to no good prizes instead of people talking about training for the big one.

now all most people really train for is supermatches.

There is too much risk now for people to show up at open classes because no one knows what kind of competition they are going to get. Anyone who was at Ohio state in 2004 or 2005 will know what I mean by that, those were the good old days, didn't have to worry about who would show back then, you just showed up to pull.

[TK]

I FIND THIS THREAD VERY INTERESTING.

THERE ARE FOLKS COMPLAINING ABOUT WHAT WAS AND WHAT SHOULD OR COULD BE?

ABOUT DIS RESPECT?

IT HAS NOT CHANGED FROM THE ANGLES I'M LOOKING AT.....HECK WHEN I FIRST JOINED? EVERYONE WAS BUSTING ON AMEDEO.....SOME DUDE NAMED PHIL BAUER?

IT NEVER CHANGED REALLY, PEOPLE JUST GOT COMPLACENT AND BORED.

THE SPORT WAS PEAKING WHEN TRAVIS & CHRISTIAN WERE ON ESPN.....

AND IT CONTINUED TO PEAK AFTER THAT WITH SEVERAL OTHER SHOWS....

HOW COULD WE TOP THIS?...IT WAS HARD BECAUSE TRAVIS AND CHRISTIAN WERE THE BEST AT THE TIME AND THIS DREW IN SOOO MANY NEWBIES (INCLUDING MYSELF AND MY TEAM)

IT'S BEEN BORING...OVERKILL....3 NATIONALS......NEW CHAMPIONS...EVERY 4 MONTHS....

THE SPORT IN A WHOLE IS SPLIT UP INTO US AGAINST YOU AND IT'S NOT UNIFIED.

I PERSONALLY DON'T CARE ABOUT TROPHIES....I VIDEO MY MATCHES AND THAT'S MY TROPHY.....

TROPHIES OR CASH PRIZES DOESN'T DECIDE WHAT EVENT I GO TO..IT'S ABOUT EXCITEMENT.....FACING THE THE PULLER YOU'VE BEEN HUNTING AND TRAINING FOR!

I DON'T SIT AROUND AND COMPLAIN ABOUT HOW THE SPORT'S NOT GROWING.....I'M THROWING MY HAT INTO THE MIX TO CHANGE THE DECLINE AND BRING BACK EXCITEMENT.....

SOOO INSTEAD OF ASKING WHAT'S WRONG?

ASK WHAT CAN "YOU" DO TO IMPROVE "YOU" AND THE SPORT.....

LET'S STOP COMPLAINING FOLKS......

START HELPING "OUR" SPORT.

THERE'S @$$HOLE'S EVERYWHERE.....DON'T LET IT RUN YOU OFF? IF IT DOES? YOUR HEART WAS NEVER REALLY IN IT TO WIN IT.....

JMO

T/K