Comments on: Week 2 Preview – by GM Robert Hess

By: lmartinez

lmartinez — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:56:06 +0000

Yah I completely agree with EJ here…I don’t see what is wrong with this article being an op-ed article!? That is the whole point of having a blog for one’s team. And like EJ said Shabalov wasn’t mentioned because Ehlvest is playing this week. That is why Robert commented about him

By: EJ

EJ — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:50:34 +0000

I think people are reading into GM Hess's article more than is there.

"The Tempo has been known to be the dregs of the league, but this year they have already notched their first win (in only one match!!)." (emphasis added by me)

has - implies past tense. Maybe at one time people looked at the 1.5 and 2.0 win seasons as being the dregs of the league. But I think that is no longer the case. Change "has been" to "are" and you have a completely different sentence, but that sentence wasn't what he wrote. but this year - (I think) clearly shows the time period he is now referring to. Instead of 2006 when their first win came in Week 9 and in 2007 when they didn't score a Win at all, the 2009 Tempo has "notched their first win (in only one match!!)". 2008 was clearly their best year and it looks as if 2009 aims to be even better for them. Yes. This is an op-ed piece. I would argue that ALL articles that attempt to predict the winners and score are op-ed pieces. I think Shabalov wasn't mentioned because he wasn't playing. There weren't any players from either team mentioned if they weren't playing. The posting of the article was not meant to insult anyone. It was meant to give our viewers "an outside" opinion of the match. Again, I think people are reading more into his comments than he meant.

By: Tim C

Tim C — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:26:21 +0000

I didn’t know the Scorpions posted mock media… this
is more an op-ed than a serious article. The fact that it wasn’t their first win makes the whole premise/opening invalid. Shabalov deserve mention?? It’s a sad state of affairs indeed–when just anyone gets links to the USCL page.

By: lmartinez

lmartinez — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:56:16 +0000

He meant first time Tennessee has won a 1st week match I think Brian

By: Todd Andrews

Todd Andrews — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:03:23 +0000

The Tempo have won three matches in a row… we will talk about all this once we have been stopped…

By: Brian McCarthy

Brian McCarthy — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:47:38 +0000

If I read your sentence to mean “1st win of this year”, instead of “1st win ever”, then your insult total goes down. Since you gave Ronald props, I will give you the benefit of the doubt on your “inaccuracy”. The Tempo also did some winning when I was not around, Baltimore and I think Miami.

Safe to predict more Tempo wins than all other yrs combined.

By: Brian McCarthy

Brian McCarthy — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:35:24 +0000

As they say, stick to chess!! Reporters are supposed to know their facts, particularly before insults. The Tempo beat the champs last year, when yours truly was bd 4! Last week was not the 1st win. Maybe your next column can be on losing to the Dregs of the League.

By: Mark Ginsburg

Mark Ginsburg — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:39:48 +0000

I will be in Denver, CO as it happens but will root for the Scorpions in absentia. The movie “District 9″ by the way had a pretty cool scorpion pay-per-view fight.

By: Michael Mulford

Michael Mulford — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:07:34 +0000

You might have noted that Ron Burnett played almost all of his games on board 1. You think he’s severely outrated in most of his matches on board 2, but that’s nothing compared to previous years. His performance rating in USCL is actually fairly close to his actual rating.

Todd Andrews has similarly played most of his matches on board 2. Both players were no doubt thrilled to have Ehlvest join the team last year. They will be competitive this year.

And before you ask, I don’t live in Tennessee, and my rooting interests lie with the Sluggers.