Dallas WC Provokes Fear in Some....

Fear is an emotion that is designed to help us become more alert and more aware during threatening situations that could harm us physically, emotionally and/or socially.  It is a natural survival instinct that we all possess, but how each of us responds to fear varies from one end of the spectrum to the other. 

If there is a universal truth regarding competition it is fear: fear of failure, fear of embarrassment, fear of the unexpected, fear of poor judgment. For teams it is fear of tough teams unwilling to yield to their reputation, weaker teams with momentum in elimination games, fear of no longer being considered the best by your respective peers. It is the fear of playing against certain teams with a history against you in a do or die situation or not performing up to your expectations in front of your peers on the big stage.

For organizations, it is the fear of losing the equity in their tournaments, inability to adapt or adjust to disruptive innovations changing the industry, incompetent judgment, superficial game planning, sharing or losing teams, no longer being viewed as “the” national organization and the fear of being out maneuvered in a market that was long dominated by them. 

Now with teams, excuses of their possible short-comings have become emotional supporting factors used to soften the blow of failure before the first whistle is ever blown in Dallas – bad referees, unfair scheduling or the Union’s evil plot to get their team ousted early for reasons unknown, even to the Union.  This all leads to demands and attempts to justify tournament schedule manipulation to assist in increasing their success rate. 

Why?  Because should they lose to the opposing top team of the opposite conference on the first day not only will their confidence be shattered, but their status among their peers would be in jeopardy before the tournament even warms up. By playing inferior teams early, teams can establish confidence and build momentum heading into Sunday, along with positioning themselves to save-face by not losing until late in such a competitive tournament – its all very simple and understandable.

However, due to the fact that some of the countries top teams will be seeded low because of either their lack of tournament participation with the Union or struggles with familiar teams in local and regional tournaments, accompanied by this tournament being the one chance at redemption for less-popular teams seeking to make a name; avoiding familiar names can be costly for teams looking for a soft pool.  Contrary to popular belief, every team in this tournament can possibly go 0-2 on Saturday or subject to lose to a 0-2 team early Sunday. 

Now for national organizations, their response to the fear of the Dallas World Championships and what it can bring is much different.  They are simply lashing out at the Union with their normal tactics and in recent cases, even impersonating Union directors on message boards to deliver false messages in a weak attempt to confuse teams as to what is actually happening. 

The Dallas World Championships is bringing more excitement, creating new national rivalries and assisting in promoting the game nationally.  However it is also beginning to bring forth some fears by both teams and national organizations whose current reputations are at risk depending upon the outcome of this event, producing some uncharacteristic and desperate responses. 

What once separated teams and organizations is no longer an issue; the barriers will be knocked down and the security of “Internet Gloating” and “Self Proclaimed” dominance being untested or unchallenged will soon pass – teams and organization’s cards are about to be pulled and several are afraid of having to redefine and reestablish themselves after years of not having to do so. 

One team will win big in Dallas and be considered the premier team in 2006 by thier peers nationwide, and not being that team or the organization that produced that team is more than some can handle.