Home cooking...real or fake news?

[bmakj]

state championship tourney a couple of seasons ago, open, only 13 teams in our age bracket. TD is HC of one of those teams. because of 13, one team has to play 4 pool games on Sat . . . it was us. won all 4, his team won their 3 games, but somehow are the #1 seed for bracket, OK whatever..... but bracket play is split into top 3 and bottom 10 . 2 (us) plays 3, then plays 1 for title. 2v3 game goes to extra innings. they beat (and to be fair they would have 4 out of 5 on any given day), and during postgame plaque presentations, usual platitudes, good team, good game, but really got me was comment about how we had a tougher road to championship game, well duh, you designed it exactly that way!

 

[grcsftbll]

I've noticed a bias in game calling if the team playing is part of the org running the tournament. Also an easier pool schedule. The latter doesn't bother me. You sign up for a tournament and you know you might play any team there. Suck it up. Unfairly called games really irk me though.

 

[fuzzy2651]

If you're a Michigan team playing in Ohio, good luck! Lots of home cooking down there, especially if it's a local team or a team of the org running the tourney.

 

[Greatdaytobeawildcat]

Can't speak to the draw, but when it comes to perceived umpiring slights, a lot explained by human nature:

https://www.positivecoach.org/the-pca-blog/the-plight-of-the-referee-seven-reasons-we-yell/

 

[uncdrew]

Having been a TD for 3 years, I received a lot of complaints about draws, etc. I ran the same 5 B level tournaments every year. Out of the ~50 teams in every tournament across 3 age groups, I had ~30 of the same teams in every tournament. They are going to end up playing each other a lot in those tournaments. People refused to believe that every pool draw was done with random.org.

I have no doubt there are some TDs out there that influence draws, etc., but I am willing to bet there are more that are doing it with integrity. People see what they want to see most of the time.

I had to calm down our parents in a recent tournament. They were convinced other teams get treated better than we do. When they claim the "Dirt Diamonds" never get an early game, I hope to soon show them that they do.

 

[Lobster Birch]

Our organization is hosting a tournament soon. Darn right I'm trying to get some home cooking in the scheduling. Our rivals can get up early while we sleep in!