Don't sweat it Dave, you might as well be debating a bot.
A bot that doesn't play disc golf apparently lol.
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Don't sweat it Dave, you might as well be debating a bot.
DGPT should be figuring out how to catch the slow players later in their turn instead of trying to change how players paying for a paycheck play their games. The only valid reason for any slow play rules is that a group is out of position on the course. if they are not out of position then who cares? i could care less if the video producers have a bit of down time while a player is giving it their all.
Also exceeding the time limit is not a violation in itself. It only becomes a violation after a specific series of events. Proper specific warning, position of group, difficulty level of a shot, outside distractions in play, order of play, all determine how fast a shot should be played. They did a study on the PGA Tour and the first player to tee off and the first player to hit an approach, all violated the time rule the majority of the time during the study. It took on average 15-20 seconds more for those shots to be hit, by fast and slow players alike. Most everyone here thinks this a vanilla and chocolate thing, "he was too slow so it is a penalty'. There are a whole host of other issues also in play other than just time. The ignorance towards these issues may have gone a long way towards having the situation develop like it did.
It's not about the 30 seconds. It's about the way Nikko reacted. The 30 seconds are meaningless
I've always pulled for Nikko...dude's got passion, pulls incredible **** on the course, and has always had a stick it to the man attitude in terms of sponsorships.
Definitely rethinking this now...just depends on his attitude going forward and how he addresses this situation.
dmoore's response is the best I've read on this. The officials aren't paid. If we were throwing travel expenses, salary, etc. at our officials - and they were getting paid to deal with the characters on tour, it'd be very different. Still unacceptable, but I think it'd play into what kind of a penalty we apply. The official being a paid PDGA/DGPT official vs a volunteer or someone just being barely compensated for their time at some level below professional is the difference between suspending Nikko for an event or two and suspending him for a year or more.I think there are a few key differences here. When you have a sport where you have professional officials who are getting paid...athletes tend to get away with a bit more. This is a situation where you do not have professional officials, and in fact are expecting other players to call these violations and then be on the receiving end of Nikko's outbursts.
I've always pulled for Nikko...dude's got passion, pulls incredible **** on the course, and has always had a stick it to the man attitude in terms of sponsorships.
Definitely rethinking this now...just depends on his attitude going forward and how he addresses this situation.
Nikko has demons. He has always had demons; his behavior when he was little was out-of-control and he didn't really have the stability at home to get under control. He was able to covert to being a disc golfer full-time right out of H.S., which allowed him to avoid figuring out how to operate in the real world. Being able to play disc golf has been a blessing for him in that it has allowed him to make a living. The curse is that it has allowed him to avoid dealing with his demons.
Disc golf accidentally got big and now his demons are on full display to a larger audience. The disc golf bubble that allowed him to avoid his demons got too big to allow him to hide any longer.
Maybe now he will be forced to deal with his demons. Or not, it might be too late. He's going to get a huge suspension for this. The bubble that protected him from his behavior is going to push him out. He has depended on disc golf for his entire adult life; what he does without it is anybody's guess.
What I find problematic in Nikko's behavior is not the passion and emotions he shows on the course -- I can relate well to them --, but that he showed no respect for the tournament official staff. This alone should be the reason for some kind of disciplinary action. Because we cannot tolerate, that players are disrespectful and rude to officials. It does not matter what happened before (even if they were wrong), you must never be disrespectful or rude to officials.
Nikko has demons.
This. I have run hundreds of events of all levels and seen a ton of bad behavior from players of all statures. The only times I have contacted a sponsor or complained to the PDGA about player behavior have been for abusing my volunteers/staff.
The first time I met Nikko was around 1998; as I walked off the course finishing my round I noticed a little skinny kid whacking the crapola out of the front bumper of my car with a stick. When I went over and yelled at him someone went "Oh, that's Dave's nephew."What kind of sheltered world do you live in where occasionally throwing a disc golf bag = having demons? You should see me when I stub my toe, you would recommend I seek therapy!
I have had more threatening encounters with business professionals in expensive suits negotiating business deals compared to Nikko stepping on that TD. Nikko was an idiot for doing what he did, but at the same time we have some extremely soft people in this thread.
As it should be.
In water polo, "to refuse obedience to or show disrespect for a referee or official" is grounds for for the player to be ejected for the duration of the game. This rule is strictly applied, and makes a potentially rough game much more polite.
Seems reasonable for people throwing Frisbees to be held to a similar standard.