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Clemson *never* notified me. All I ever got from you Mike was "Mike, are you there?" on AOL INSTANT MESSANGER when I was AT WORK. Forgive me, but I don't consider that communication. I never recieved any other indication that Clemson would be there. A simple 2 minute phone call or e-mail (with response) would have avoided this whole fiasco altogether. Or hell- using the APPA website like we're all supposed to would have done the same. There was absolutely no excuse for this.

Second, all teams that showed up (except the team that never registered) knew that we (Tech) wouldn't be there and that the event would likely be canceled. We effectively canceled the event Friday night when not enough teams had registered and notified the field owner who in turn notified the other registered teams. The ball was in his court at that point. Tournaments get canceled all the time. We weren't going to drive 2 hours to a canceled tournament. The only team in the SACC that hadn't backed out or registered was Clemson, and assuming that the SACC director is part of the team I thought they would be the last to fail to Call the field, notify me, and use the APPA website. Like I said- 2 minutes out of your day and all of this would have been easily avoided.

> Clemson *DID* notify you. You asked me personally early in the week if we were planning to attend and I said "we will be there with one team not sure about Two".

I checked my logs and I don't have any record of any conversation going back two weeks prior to the event. If you talked to me, it was prior to that, and for all I know 9 of your guys suddenly got sick. Regardless of that fact, INSTANT MESSAGER is not how you register. You should know this better than anyone. You know how much I hate APPA but I know why it's there and, like everyone else, your captain needs to actually use it.

>no no one notified all the teams on the cancellation of the event

UGA and Citadel were both notified. They were the only teams that registered.

>if the event was canceled last minute Friday night there should have been no reason why GA Tech still couldn't get 5 guys there for the event after being called by the field owner and others

Mike I don't know if you understand this but time is extremely valuable to us and if an event is canceled and we don't plan on going to it, then we're going to plan OTHER THINGS. Believe it or not, there are other things in life besides paintball, and when we get spare time we're not going to waste it. Regardless of that fact, as soon as I got off the phone with George I called all 9 other guys. I was able to get a hold of 2.

I guess I didn't understand the fact that I had to nag every team like a second grade teacher to see if they were going. I've helped host/ref other tournaments outside of the NCPA and I've never experienced anything so ridiculous. Aside from the whole Tech/Clemson debate, none of this would have happened if 2 other teams hadn't dropped out at the last minute. We really need to push for penalties for both teams that drop out a week before the event as well as teams that expect to play without registering.

>An information packet be created and either e-mailed or faxed to the field, including rules, official check-in and reporting forms, and other pertinent information.

That's why Chris put all of that on this website. Just look for it and then click *print*. Field owners have been doing this for a while now, and thats why I refered you to the website.

>The host team taking a more active role in assisting the field owner and it should be mandatory that they show up to support the field, even if the tournament is called.

I still don't agree with forcing the hosting team to go to a canceled tournament. Say, for instance, if a Regulator's tournament was canceled, Clemson would be forced to drive all the way to Dalton for nothing. That's a ridiculous idea and it shouldn't be enacted. However, a penalizing rule against teams canceling a week in advance is in order, AND the 6 team 4 school rule should be more flexible when events like this occur.

As for taking a "more active role"... this isn't the first event we've hosted. Last spring, the Ultimate tournament ran without a hitch and I never had to hold Ted's hand in any of it, and this was his first NCPA event. Nor did I have to hunt down any of the teams. Everyone registered properly and notified not only me, but Ted. Who knows. Maybe I was just "spoiled" from that tournament. Fact is, I tried like hell to get the canceling teams to reconsider but failed. And teams not registering properly is completely out of my control.

But like Mike K. and Chris have said, there is blame all around on this one. Hopefully we can learn from what happened.