The need for a new Paradigm

[MarcusBrown]

My thoughts regarding recent events and chatter developing out of the Big Dawg controversy. Was biting my tongue, but got inspired to share something I'm having a hard time overlooking, after @horton highlighted the unwritten rule "always keep on skiing, the judges might have missed the call"

 

Its all connected, but this is a key building block in making a better sport, and a better people....in my opinion.

 

MB

 

http://marcusbrown.net/the-big-dawgbacle-part-2-the-end-of-a-sport

 

[MattP]

@MarcusBrown‌ I completely agree with what you wrote about. I'm behind moving forward to USAWS that changes the way we rely on officials calls if they are not accurate. Also Spend more on the kids not the old guys! The kids are our sports future!

[chris_logan]

@MarcusBrown I agree 100%. Our sport needs to teach the value of integrity to the younger generation, as well as some of our peers. The "take what is given to you" mentality just devalues the quality of the pass, especially if you KNOW you didn't actually run what you were scored.

[Chef23]

Nice article @MarcusBrown‌ good food for thought.

[ForrestGump]

Here, here! It makes too much damn sense, @marcusbrown . Love it though. For along time I had a PB that I knew was clearly incorrect, but there was nothing I could do about it at the tournament because there wasn't a process or ability to modify it in wstims without invalidating what the judges had already called. The chief judge and chief scorer ended up saying "Congrats!". And I went away knowing I had scored 1 full buoy less in reality.

[TylerR]

@MarcusBrown‌ you are 100% right. About everything. We need to focus on the future of our sport because without the kids we may be the only ones left.

[LeonL]

I can imagine some aggravation to scorers if they are made available to skiers to come up and say "change my score, I scored less than what the judges said." However I guess it wouldn't happen very often. Most of the discussion here seems to stem from skiers missing a gate or buoy and continuing, then saying "I wish there was a way for me to correct this". Just stop where you missed! No correction required. Now the one buoy

[Ilivetoski]

@marcusbrown love this.

@LeonL I can think of 1 instance in KY that this would have been effective. When Saylor had a score into 32 but actually skied into 28. Her dad wanted them to fix it and I told him that I was pretty sure there is no way to fix that.

[LeonL]

@Ilivetoski‌ , there was a way to fix it, and I was told that it was going to be fixed. The reason that it could be fixed in this instance was due to a scoring error, not a judging error. The mistake was made by the scorer, either due to a an erroneous starting speed or line length being entered. After it was brought to the attention of the scorer by the chief judge a corrected scorebook could/should have been submitted. After reading your post I checked and the scorebook still stands as originally submitted. The scorer obviously did not submit the correct scorebook. There is something flakey about her ranking list numbers, however. One of those erroneous 2@32 scores shows as 80 buoys and another shows 74.??? Still the one score of 80 improperly skews the ranking list, skewed the running order at regionals, and may have impacted some other skiers qualifications. In fact, it undoubtably pushed someone out of Level 9. So you see, a scoring error that could have been corrected may have kept that person out of Nationalls. I wasn't even at the tournament in question, but saw the score and commented to the CJ (who had been working with the skier) how well she skied and how she had improved from the previous week. He then informed me that she DID NOT achieve that score and he would have the scorer correct it.

[ALPJr]

I agree that sportsmanship and integrity in athletics can not be over emphasized. I also believe the officials call is the call. As a volleyball and basketball dad, and a basketball official I would not want players, coaches or fans making or correcting calls. Unless video review is an approved option, than the officials call on the court, the field, or on the pond, is the call.

[moosehead]

MB's paragraph starting with "We Don't Waterski to Win" is poetic, and perfect. Thanks for being such a forthright and positive steward of our sport. Cheers.