March 12, 2014 by Charlie Eisenhood in Livewire
Seattle Sockeye’s Sam Harkness left this comment on Jack Marsh’s op-ed from Monday:
[quote]I think a lot of USAU members who competed in the 2012 championship series will agree that 2012 was the most competitive season played in the last decade.[/quote]
[quote]This was due to the bloodbath themed change in bid allocation, making the regular season very meaningful. I would say that the triple crown was a step backwards from that, which would also mean me saying that USAU is not reaching their current ceiling for the highest competition. I appreciate their innovation however, and I do believe that they were trying to push that ceiling even higher, and perhaps still will a few years down the line.
I only have 1 MLU season under my belt so far, and it’s hard for me to say what aspects about the rules, format, and presentation should and shouldn’t be cut from the sport. I also don’t actually have a vision of what the BEST ultimate looks like, but I’m willing to participate in a test of everyone else’s vision of the best ultimate. I can tell you about pieces that I love:
– Observers (USAU)
– Full line changes in timouts (pro Leagues)
– Movement during calls (pro leagues)
– Coaches time outs affecting turn overs depending on the timing (pro leagues)
– Smaller field (USAU [I play defense, smaller field is easier to defend])
– 1 game a week (pro league)
Some of these I’m starting to realize just make me look lazy…
But yeah, I think the risk we are taking by hurting the competitive landscape now will either pay off in a few years, or we all come back to where we were a year ago, which isn’t that bad, just a small waste of time. I don’t imagine the pro leagues crumble and all of the sudden USAU can’t get the talent back to play with them.
Also anon below me, I did exactly that. I’m commited to USAU and Sockeye this season, but am also playing in the pro leagues until they conflict, at which point I choose Sockeye.[/quote]
