A Live Chat With USA Ultimate About The Triple Crown Tour

Shi-Min,

I think that’s the point. They’re trying to move to a system more like other sports – the Celtics don’t play against local rec league teams, even if it’d be fun for the rec teams. USAU would like there to be stable, year-to-year elite teams, while maintaining some minimal ability to transition between the tiers.

If I am correct in my reading of these responses, a team that “opts out” of their specified flight can’t play through the series and get to Nationals. That is a complete joke. Anything that USAU says about “flexibility” in this plan is thereby complete bunkum.

Also, lower level teams get completely screwed out of opportunities to get better by playing top quality teams in the plan. No top quality team ever willingly plays lower level teams. Lower level teams get so much better by even getting a single rep against a nationals team in the summer, and while this plan doesn’t completely eliminate that possibility in most cases, it largely does.

A huge problem in Ultimate as a sport is that “the rich get richer.” Teams that are higher level attract the best players, and play against the best competition, and keep getting better and better. It’s already hard enough for lower level teams to build programs and rise through the ranks, and this plan makes it even more difficult.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, this new structure is un-American in that regard. In a country built on the opportunity to “pull yourself up by your bootstraps,” with the Triple Crown plan, USA Ultimate is creating barriers to such progress. For everyone that likes the political rhetoric from Al Gore, Barack Obama, or whomever the Democratic candidate of the day is, about the “wealthiest 1% of Americans,” Tom Crawford is the Ultimate community’s Mitt Romney.

This just in: Mixed teams now reserving 7 roster spots for traveling skeleton crew

So if a team has to miss one of the summer tourneys in their flight they will not be able to compete in the series? Am i understanding this correctly. As many teams are made up of people who are close friends with each other…what happens if a teammate’s wedding falls on one of these weekends and the majority of the team decides to go to the wedding? Will pro/elite teams need to turn in rosters at a much earlier time that sectionals? If not, do you can the pro/elite teams take anyone they want to tourneys if travel becomes too much of burden?