NXL teams don't do so hot at 7-man because X-Ball penalties discourage cheating and 7-man format encourages it.
Food for thought:
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So NXL teams have a major handicap when playing 7-man because they don't get to practice cheating enough?
I definitely agree that the X Ball format gives most cheating its just deserts, especially with the new 90-second rule whereas in 7-man you might as well play on because the possible rewards are way out of proportion to the risks. Many times I've had players who I pulled penalties on say after the game, "It was worth it, wasn't it? We won."
I suggested about three years ago that 7-man rules ought to specify that any player who is penalized three times in a single tournament should be suspended with the team playing short thereafter (three strikes you're out). It would require some organization but is doable.
Concerning NXL teams and their "handicap" you can see how a former NXL team re-learned to cheat properly on the 2004 Toulouse DVD. I won't name names (hint: preliminary round) but if you find the game I'm talking about try counting how many times the team in question played on. (It's kinda embarrassing because in one case another judge and I got confused about who was going to take a penalty and it never got taken.)
Not quite as provocative (although along similar lines) but would anyone argue against the following...
It is far more probable that the winner of an X-ball game is truly superior than their opponent compared with the winner of a 7 man game and their respective opponent.
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It is far more probable that the winner of an X-ball game is truly superior than their opponent compared with the winner of a 7 man game and their respective opponent.
?
That's a good way to change a negative statement into a positive one. I wouldn't say it is "far" more probable however. Maybe something like this:
It is more probable that the winners of an X Ball game performed better than their opponents compared with the winners of a 7-man game with its current set of rules because the penalties in X Ball tend to be much more proportional to the violation thus providing a real deterent effect as well as quick in-game justice.
I said NXL because I meant NXL. I don't think it's just a format issue, I think it's a reffing issue as well. NXL has tight reffing. I've seen more than one X-Ball team cheat their way through a match in Divisional X-Ball because the reffing just couldn't contain it.
Agreed. I would still say that if you compare the two formats with all things being equal, that is with top-quality reffing for both, my interpretation of your statement holds true.
Even agreeing with you in that the different rules have an impact in the fairness of the result, I think the main difference between XBall and 7man is that luck is less of a factor.
Example: at Barcelona Open a novice team won Shockwave. Shock's guns were not working and they had bad luck during that game. In a XBall match they would have had 10 or 15 more points to recover, in 7man (it was 5, but I think my point is still valid ;D) they couldn't.
That said, it's true that in 7man the rules and the reffing sometimes let the cheating team get an advantage. A clear case is the classic "I'm hit so I'm running" where cleaning up the mess is next to impossible. You can apply a 2-4-1 to the runner (I've never seen this applied, btw) and reinstate as many players of the other team as you think, but there will always be someone (probably clean) running up the other tape, taking advantage of the fuss... how do you fix that with the current set of rules? You can't. Finally, the cheater team got an advantage and probably the game.
Example: at Barcelona Open a novice team won Shockwave. Shock's guns were not working and they had bad luck during that game. In a XBall match they would have had 10 or 15 more points to recover, in 7man (it was 5, but I think my point is still valid ;D) they couldn't.
That said, it's true that in 7man the rules and the reffing sometimes let the cheating team get an advantage. A clear case is the classic "I'm hit so I'm running" where cleaning up the mess is next to impossible. You can apply a 2-4-1 to the runner (I've never seen this applied, btw) and reinstate as many players of the other team as you think, but there will always be someone (probably clean) running up the other tape, taking advantage of the fuss... how do you fix that with the current set of rules? You can't. Finally, the cheater team got an advantage and probably the game.