[CQ-Contest] Meaningful Insights [was: OK, I'm ... tired of ..."level playing field"]

[Radiosporting Fan]

--- Eric Hilding <dx35 at hilding.com> wrote:

> S56A wrote:
> 
>  >>> With all the respect, aiming for an equal setup
> is not only a pie in
>  >>> the sky but also off the ham spirit.
> 
> K0HB wrote:
> 
>  >> Go to
> http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/hb.html ---
> read the story.
>  >> Then shut up about "level playing field".
> 
> Ev ("SWL"? - No Callsign) wrote:
> 
>  > BRAVO!
> 
> Shall we assume that petitions have now been filed

Assume only that this is an email list on the
Internet, where everyone has an opinion to share and
only a small handfull of folks will take the time to
make a real-world difference.  Such is the world of
"blogging". :)

My opinion is the following, and is based on the
principles of sport-event management:

Categories exist to offer multiple people the
opportunity to be honored for something.  Without
them, you would have simply 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd
place in the Boston Marathon.  The 70 year old who
completed the event would place 6,243rd overall.  With
them, that same 70 year old can bask in the glory of
being #2 in the "Senior Category".  They are an
attempt to "spread the accolades" (something that
happens *after* playing on the field).  They are *not*
designed to level the playing field itself.  They do
*not* equalize anything, because they are not intended
to.

Statistical handicapping is an attempt to normalize
the outcome and requires quite a bit of insight and
skill.  Ask a golfer.  Even then it is an inexact
art...not a science and it is *still* not a
normalizing of the playing field (the same golf course
is played by everyone).

Physical handicapping is an *attempt* at equalizing as
many variables, leaving skill as the remaining major
contributer to outcome, but it too can be a very
difficult thing to accomplish.  NASCAR takes this
approach...albeit imperfectly.

It is my opinion that it is time to take a blended
approach to Radiosports.  No "Radiosporting
Commission" can come up with an event that legislates
all of the points above without leaving someone's
special interests unaddressed.  This is an
*opportunity*, though.

The "trick" is to require each participant to supply
enough information about their stations, geography,
skill level, etc to allow others to create their own
category of self identified peers and compete against
them.  The "Dashboard" is one very good way to
accomplish this.

To be clear, I am suggesting that the most successful
21st Century Radiosport should offer: [1] a real-time
Dashboard (setup your competition peer-group and have
at it)  [2] rules with *no* handicapping (QRP is
likely to have lower scores than HP...get used to
it...and when your QRP beats some HP's...celebrate
even more!).

Said another way...lump all scores together and let me
decide what my category (and real competition) is
based on things that I believe make us similar.  Go
ahead and allow 1st, 2nd, 3rd place awards for top
score and give people the motiviation that it takes to
move from 5,725th to 2,492nd with the sight of next
year moving to the "higher than 2,000 club".  Such a
structure would change the dynamic of radiosports to
parallel those of today's physical sports.

Want to be part of such a movement?  Got skills that
can help to graduate radiosports into the 21st
Century?  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Radiosporting/
 Maybe nothing will ever come of it...but maybe it
will. :)

Ev



		
__________________________________ 
Do you Yahoo!? 
Dress up your holiday email, Hollywood style. Learn more. 
http://celebrity.mail.yahoo.com