[Farm93]

[quote author=Farm93 link=topic=6975.msg53175#msg53175 date=1353518572]I don't think anyone is subscribing to an Olympic Table Tennis style lose on purpose type effort.

Point of clarification--that was badminton, not table tennis :)  I don't remember any notable cases of table tennis match-throwing...
[/quote]

True enough, though it probably happens frequently in most Olympic & Round Robin formats.  That is why FIFA moved to have the final group games played at the same time because teams were doing odd things to avoid sitting on the same side of the elimination bracket as Germany, Brazil & Italy.  It happens in Olympic basketball and hockey, so I am sure it has happened in table tennis at some time or other.  Those fine folks were just better at covering it up.

A quick comment on the 100% motivation thing from a Stanford perspective, I think we have seen it in other sports.  The best example is Men's Hoops and the conference tournament.  More than a few very strong programs do almost everything possible to avoid playing in the finals.  I think most can recall Monty packing it in to keep people fresh for the more important contests.  This really is not that different.

In fact, we might be lucky enough to see Stanford play for the next weekend on Saturday.  If OSU beats Oregon the entire complexity of the game changes.  Then the game is really going to be played just for home field on Friday.  If Stanford is down by...pick a number....say 17 a few minutes into the fourth quarter, then would you really want to see Shaw push the limits just for that CHANCE of home field?  Rather than letting Hogan get blasted by DLs and our limited WRs group get drilled down field by DBs for 10 or 12 minutes, it might be sensible to run out the clock and keep people healthy for the real contest.

It does not really matter if it happens or not.  It is certainly plausible, and because it is plausible the Pac-12 administrators must dread that it could happen.  Big time scheduling mistake to not find a way to have Stanford play a Pac-12 North opponent to end the season.  Big, big, big mistake.  And since we had the fine Pac-12 scheduling team move Big Game into October, I am delighted that this motivational dilemma is in the picture.

[Farm93]

[quote author=Farm93 link=topic=6975.msg53175#msg53175 date=1353518572]I don't think anyone is subscribing to an Olympic Table Tennis style lose on purpose type effort.

Point of clarification--that was badminton, not table tennis :)  I don't remember any notable cases of table tennis match-throwing...
[/quote]

True enough, though it probably happens frequently in most Olympic & Round Robin formats.  That is why FIFA moved to have the final group games played at the same time because teams were doing odd things to avoid sitting on the same side of the elimination bracket as Germany, Brazil & Italy.  It happens in Olympic basketball and hockey, so I am sure it has happened in table tennis at some time or other.  Those fine folks were just better at covering it up.

A quick comment on the 100% motivation thing from a Stanford perspective, I think we have seen it in other sports.  The best example is Men's Hoops and the conference tournament.  More than a few very strong programs do almost everything possible to avoid playing in the finals.  I think most can recall Monty packing it in to keep people fresh for the more important contests.  This really is not that different.

In fact, we might be lucky enough to see Stanford play for the next weekend on Saturday.  If OSU beats Oregon the entire complexity of the game changes.  Then the game is really going to be played just for home field on Friday.  If Stanford is down by...pick a number....say 17 a few minutes into the fourth quarter, then would you really want to see Shaw push the limits just for that CHANCE of home field?  Rather than letting Hogan get blasted by DLs and our limited WRs group get drilled down field by DBs for 10 or 12 minutes, it might be sensible to run out the clock and keep people healthy for the real contest.

It does not really matter if it happens or not.  It is certainly plausible, and because it is plausible the Pac-12 administrators must dread that it could happen.  Big time scheduling mistake to not find a way to have Stanford play a Pac-12 North opponent to end the season.  Big, big, big mistake.  And since we had the fine Pac-12 scheduling team move Big Game into October, I am delighted that this motivational dilemma is in the picture.