[Hook'em Horns]

Mr. Burgess, although I value your opinions as I do all fellow efl members, I must say that I totally disagree with your assessment that the game was in jeopardy of going away. This hobby has progressed in so many ways with the new wave figures, face masks & chin straps, decals for more realistic looking teams allowing you to enter into a new era of the hobby as a painter of your own squads. How many eflers were painting their own squads before decal sheets were available? The hobby was actually growing! Pass placement was a setback! All it has done was give the efl community something else to argue about. It has crippled the the players who once thought about working hard to become better passers and has stunted their growth. Now if they wanted to attend a tournament where pass placement is not allowed then they forfeit the opportunity because they no longer feel competitive without the crutches of the sticks!

Pass placement from my experience has acted as a crutch for eflers whom fail to utilize or fail to be successful at utilizing the tools from the game meant for passing. Simulating a throw by placing sticks on the field does not simulate the talents of true passing QB. Pass placement allows everyone to be as equally talented as a QB when in reality the harder worker QB's are the players that prosper on the field. Anyone can use the TTQB if they just work at it. I'm a living witness. I grew up in the DC area where we used to use a balled up piece of aluminum foil as we passed from behind the QB tossing it with our hands. When I joined the DFWEFL league a little more than 10 years ago I stunk to high heaven but EFL became my getaway from the outside world. I practiced and eventually my hard work turned into several championships not just in my home league but in various tournaments across the country. I'm not saying that learning how to toss with the TTQB will make you a champion but it will be a huge accomplishment as you progress your way through the hobby. It's like playing madden on the playstation and going from the Varsity mode to the Heisman mode! You can now play with almost any coach in the country and match his skill set, it now becomes a matter of out coaching him/her!

As for implementing the sticks as a way to pass with the board on...The truth of the matter is that it still has to stop to place the sticks on the field!

You make the choice! Pass Placement or TTQB. If you can feel a sense of accomplishment by using the sticks as a means to pass the football the so be it! Imagine watching a game on t.v. and there is a QB in the pocket and he pretends to throw the ball and all of a sudden a ball just appears up the field and whomever races to it first gets the catch. How much talent is truly involved in that? It becomes more of a race on who's figures are faster than it does schemes and talent.

I'm a do it yourself kind of guy and if you challenge me then I'm up to it! It took me a long time to become a good passer and I feel a sense of accomplishment. I'm great with the sticks! I've tried it but it's not exciting to me. The element and excitement of completing a huge pass wasn't there for me.

Just my opinion! Good luck with whatever method you decide to play with!