State Championships?

[bradharris]

Yes there is. You just aren't paying attention.

What does the PDGA have to do with state champions? I must have missed the dictionary entry that restricts state champions to ones that are recognized by the PDGA.

And, of course, none of this is really pertinent nor universal either. There are state championships and state champions. My state has been doing it for years.

The title of "Champion" only has meaning to those that recognize the championship. If your state has a championship, good for them. The winner probably takes a great deal of pride in the title, and people around your state may hold that person in some esteem, but outside that community of players, it's meaningless. That's why I mention the PDGA, that's the governing body that most of us recognize as the authority in the sport. If they formally sanctioned and recognized state champions, it would hold much more value.

If TimG decided to set up a DGCR members only tournament called The DGCR Championship that would officially crown a DGCR champion, would anyone outside of this site really care?

Except when it IS about identifying the best player specifically from a state/country.

There is—or at least used to be—at least one European national championship (Swiss, if memory serves) that awards/ed the title of national champion to the highest-finishing citizen/legal resident player, even if a non-citizen/non-resident wins the tournament. That is, anyone can compete for the event title, but only citizens/residents are eligible to win the championship title. (For an analogy, see the Braid Tailor Memorial Award, awarded at the British Open by the PGA of Great Britain & Ireland to the highest finishing PGA GB&I member born in, or with at least one parent born in, UK or Ireland.)

And, according Smigles, France and Germany restrict—or used to restrict—their championships to citizens/nationals.

That's fine if someone wants to create a state championship for only members of that state. But again, the title of Champion really only matters to those who actually consider that event a championship.

 

[DavidSauls]

The title of "Champion" only has meaning to those that recognize the championship. If your state has a championship, good for them. The winner probably takes a great deal of pride in the title, and people around your state may hold that person in some esteem, but outside that community of players, it's meaningless..

I generally agree. If it were meaningful, it would be so for the winners, and also for those who aspire to winning. For that, it would have to be a good enough tournament to draw players, to be able to limit players to that state and still have a good draw, and perhaps have a qualifying system for top contenders. So that's it's not just another tournament.

It would be pretty tough to get something like that rolling, at least in most places.

South Carolina had a points system over a series of events, which Filobedo mentioned, which is probably a better way to have a state champion than a single tournament, anyway.

 

[Hampstead]

That's a shame. If they're going to use that impressive of a name, it should mean something.

If the PDGA is going to sanction events with impressive names that are actually completely meaningless then I should run a C tier in the fall called something outlandish like The Milky Way Galaxy Championship.

As far as I know, the Miss Universe pageant has yet to have a contestant from Epsilon Boötis.

 

[Doofenshmirtz]

Isn't the fact that Louisiana has been doing it for years, and the disc golf nation at large doesn't know about it, more damning for your argument than his?

Now you are talking about something else aren't you. Whether there is a state championship is a different question than what regard such an important person as yourself places on it.

Stating that there is no such thing as a state championship because the PDGA doesn't recognize it is like saying the that Gateway Ninjas don't exist because they aren't approved by the PDGA. Whether anyone likes it or not, there are state champions and state championships. And, apparently, some people don't like it enough as to simply attempt to deny that they exist. I'm not arguing their importance, I'm simply pointing out that they do, in fact, exist.

I can't name a single state champion from any state, in any year, I can tell you Major winners though for the last couple of seasons off the top of my head.

See how that sounds? "It's not important to me, so it's not really true."

The title of "Champion" only has meaning to those that recognize the championship. If your state has a championship, good for them. The winner probably takes a great deal of pride in the title, and people around your state may hold that person in some esteem, but outside that community of players, it's meaningless. That's why I mention the PDGA, that's the governing body that most of us recognize as the authority in the sport. If they formally sanctioned and recognized state champions, it would hold much more value.

Oh, sorry, I see you are also too important of a person to acknowledge that states have state championships.

Look, lots of people like to downgrade anything that they don't want to acknowledge as legitimate. It's not enough to simply ignore it. You feel you have to actively work to make sure everyone knows that it just isn't as important as you and the things you place importance on, even to the point of denying its existence.

If TimG decided to set up a DGCR members only tournament called The DGCR Championship that would officially crown a DGCR champion, would anyone outside of this site really care?

That's an interesting attempt at a rhetorical question. Let's examine that.

If the tournament required people to become paid members of DGCR to be in the tournament, would the tournament generate new paid members?

Probably so. PDGA tournaments do this all the time.

Would new people come to the site to learn about the tournament?

Probably so. Tournaments frequently cause people to visit the websites and social media pages promoting the tournaments.

So the question could probably be answered with a completely genuine yes.

On the other hand, as an analogous argument, does anyone outside of the PDGA really care who wins it's major tournaments?

Maybe?

Does anyone who doesn't have a kid in the local tee ball league really care what team wins?

Make sure you ask your kids that next time they win a game.

That's fine if someone wants to create a state championship for only members of that state. But again, the title of Champion really only matters to those who actually consider that event a championship.

Right. Right. And you're not one of those people. We get it. Thanks for helping to grow the sport.

 

[bradharris]

Now you are talking about something else aren't you. Whether there is a state championship is a different question than what regard such an important person as yourself places on it.

Stating that there is no such thing as a state championship because the PDGA doesn't recognize it is like saying the that Gateway Ninjas don't exist because they aren't approved by the PDGA. Whether anyone likes it or not, there are state champions and state championships. And, apparently, some people don't like it enough as to simply attempt to deny that they exist. I'm not arguing their importance, I'm simply pointing out that they do, in fact, exist.



See how that sounds? "It's not important to me, so it's not really true."



Oh, sorry, I see you are also too important of a person to acknowledge that states have state championships.

Look, lots of people like to downgrade anything that they don't want to acknowledge as legitimate. It's not enough to simply ignore it. You feel you have to actively work to make sure everyone knows that it just isn't as important as you and the things you place importance on, even to the point of denying its existence.



That's an interesting attempt at a rhetorical question. Let's examine that.

If the tournament required people to become paid members of DGCR to be in the tournament, would the tournament generate new paid members?

Probably so. PDGA tournaments do this all the time.

Would new people come to the site to learn about the tournament?

Probably so. Tournaments frequently cause people to visit the websites and social media pages promoting the tournaments.

So the question could probably be answered with a completely genuine yes.

On the other hand, as an analogous argument, does anyone outside of the PDGA really care who wins it's major tournaments?

Maybe?

Does anyone who doesn't have a kid in the local tee ball league really care what team wins?

Make sure you ask your kids that next time they win a game.



Right. Right. And you're not one of those people. We get it. Thanks for helping to grow the sport.

You're totally missing the point.

Championships matter to the community who is crowning a champion. Whether that's a local teeball league or a worldwide sanctioning body only changes the scope of who the championship matters to.

If a tournament calls itself a championship, then it really only matters to those in attendance. If there is a qualification criteria to get to that event, then the scope broadens to a wider audience.

The fact that the PDGA doesn't recognize state champions means that the title doesn't matter at all to the worldwide disc golf audience. It only matters to those in the state, and really, only the subset that actively participate in competing for the championship title.

 

[Doofenshmirtz]

You're totally missing the point. . . blah blah blah

The OP asked about restricting state championships to in-state residents and was met with "there is no such thing as state championships" and "I'm too important for state championships to matter to me."

I think you are missing your own point: not the one that you are trying to make, but the one that you are actually making.

 

[araytx]

That's a shame. If they're going to use that impressive of a name, it should mean something.

If the PDGA is going to sanction events with impressive names that are actually completely meaningless then I should run a C tier in the fall called something outlandish like The Milky Way Galaxy Championship.

In most cases of events like the one you are referring to, the event itself (ask the TD) is not intended to be a "championship event for this state", rather it is intended to be "a championship-caliber event held in this state, usually the only one of it's type." But one could call the event the "Texas State Championships" whichever case you intended. The words just have different meanings, so let's not get into arguing when people don't mean the same thing. It is very analogous to ball golf -- the US Open Championship and the British Open Championship is welcoming of pro golfers (open players) from any country not just the host country. But it is called that because it is their "championship event".

The OP asked about restricting state championships to in-state residents and was met with "there is no such thing as state championships" and "I'm too important for state championships to matter to me."

I think you are missing your own point: not the one that you are trying to make, but the one that you are actually making.

I am assuming the "there is no such thing as a state championship" comment was in reply to the fact that most states have a "state championship event", not an "event to crown a state-wide champion". So yes, they are right in that the reality of what's actually occurring is there's no such thing as state championships (crowning a champion of our state). AND you are right in that of course if a state wanted to crown their own state champion they certainly could choose to have an event or series to do exactly that.

 

[JTacoma03]

Now you are talking about something else aren't you. Whether there is a state championship is a different question than what regard such an important person as yourself places on it.

Stating that there is no such thing as a state championship because the PDGA doesn't recognize it is like saying the that Gateway Ninjas don't exist because they aren't approved by the PDGA. Whether anyone likes it or not, there are state champions and state championships. And, apparently, some people don't like it enough as to simply attempt to deny that they exist. I'm not arguing their importance, I'm simply pointing out that they do, in fact, exist.



See how that sounds? "It's not important to me, so it's not really true."



Oh, sorry, I see you are also too important of a person to acknowledge that states have state championships.

Wow, way to get personal with it. That's not my stance at all, and I think that's pretty obvious without me getting into a troll argument, lol.

I do like that you keep proving my point in your continued arguing though.