‘Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vivi’ – V for Vendetta

A little dramatic if I do say so myself.  And I’m pretty sure it wasn’t actually on the fifth of November that all this started, but close enough.  It all started when someone tried to change the rules retroactively.  Some of you may recall the introduction of Murray Langston to the blog with his inaugural post of Lord of The Ratings – The Return of The Kelly.  That first post wasn’t inspired by a relationship with He Who Shall Not Be Named, nor did it have anything to do with necessarily taking a side.  The issue was the memorable attempted coup of the NTRP system.  Regardless of whether the intentions were right or wrong, or whether the merits were right or wrong for that matter, it was just a reaction to an attempt to retroactively change the rules.

The DTA, USTA Texas and USTA National are making new rules every day and most of them are fine.  The biggest issue I see is when they try to address a unique issue with a rule that they didn’t fully understand.  And they don’t realize what the full effects will be.  Take last year’s move up/split up rule.  Worked for the one situation they were trying to address but had an adverse impact on a lot more situations that weren’t accounted for.  They had to immediately change it the very next season.  No one is immune to the issue. 

Another big idea in Texas is weighted lines.  You may remember the survey that came out from USTA on the issue.  USTA Texas thinks weighting lines will somehow provide a speed bump that will slow down the traditional power teams in Texas.  They’ve already implemented this in Houston’s fall play going on right now.  Maybe I don’t get it, but if I have the best team I probably have the best singles player – and maybe the best doubles team too – how would this slow me down?  Looks to me like this will just make it easier for the best teams to dominate.

I’ve also been curious about the level of disclosure we get.  There seems to be a fear of giving people too much of a straight answer.  With tri-level having recently finished in Dallas, here’s a question.  Do you know whether tri-level results counted in your rating?  They’re pretty clear that low tri didn’t count, but do you really know whether high tri did or not?  I don’t care if it counts or not but why is this is a secret?

It would seem pretty straight forward – change the rules when you need to; do it publicly; don’t make them retroactive.