[mklingbeil]

Sweetka,
I was referring to a newbie, not someone who has never played in the tournament. Sure Greg and Norbert won, but they have been playing the game for many years, as has most of the Miggle tourney winners. What I was saying was the tourney is being set up so the person walking in and seeing electric football can compete with guys like Norbert and Greg...and that is just insane. No matter if you allowed the newbie to have MUCH better bases let alone equal than those guys, Norbert and Greg would STILL kill them!

Second, Proline bases are STILL being made. However, as Miggle admits, the new product is nowhere near as good as the first-run...probably because someone who knows what they were doing picked the first-run plastic. My issue is, the first-run of all the convention bases are better than their second runs, yet they are not illegal. Why would you make a superior product, then not allow people to use it in YOUR tournament? If the answer is the new plastic is not as good...Heck make it better! You have six months to get it right, are they afraid they will not get it done even in that amount of time?

The last point is this...all those other tournaments attempt to make the game look as good as possible. They may approach it a different way, with different rules and styles, but they all want the public to see EF in the best possible light. Every tournament has to limit things such as bases and figures, but by limiting the equipment as much as the Miggle tourney, the game does not look as good as it possibly can. Miggle wants two things from these conventions, high attendance and good media coverage. It seems to me these limitations serve only to limit both of these possible outcomes. If you want proof, look at the popularity of this chatboard compared with Miggle's since they limited what you can say on their's.

Fellowship is great, but so is good competition!
Mark