The following email was sent to Skyd’s Jesse Kummer from Oakland captain Nick Kaczmarek. It addresses his team’s forfeit of its final game against Madcow at this past weekend’s Pitsburgh round robin.
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Our response is fairly straightforward and I’ve had the opportunity to discuss it with Madcow’s captain.
1. We had 15 players for the day (not 21 as noted, but we do not mean to start a war over details), 1 of whom left early for a wedding. 5 players were not competing in the last game due to injuries (1 of which was sustained on the last play of the Zebra Muscles game).
2. Our Oakland captains met and discussed whether or not we would forfeit if the game were to count in the rankings. We decided that based on our goals for the weekend, we would forfeit. We discussed all weekend that wins/losses did not matter and that the weekend was about making gains in morale, chemistry, and team systems. Playing that last game would have resulted in losses in those key areas.
3. We felt like we were letting down a team we respected and did not feel good about it. We debated the issue and made the decision we felt was best for our team. We do not take pride or joy in the fact that this decision let down another team.
4. For those interested, we may not make the 10 game minimum for the rankings. New York Invite was unsanctioned and Chesapeake could very well leave us with only 6 games. We knew of this when we made the decision to forfeit.
5. We completely understand Madcow’s frustration and anger. It is well founded. We apologize while realizing that this apology cannot replace the time they feel has been lost to them.
Overall, we attempt to hold ourselves to a high standard in terms of completing tournaments. We understand the value of every game and we take advantage of opportunities to improve ourselves. We simply felt that playing this game would have been detrimental to our goals as a team. Again, we apologize to Madcow for not giving them a game.
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