This is a little article I worked up to vent.  That's all.  By now, you've
probably quit reading anyway, so I guess it was a waste of time anyway.  But
it let me get some anger out, and in the end I suppose that's all that
matters.  If you're still paying attention, here it goes:

Tourneys suck.  (Well, half the computers on the net just clicked their back
button without reading on.  Everyone still reading this is probably just
screaming at me things like "What do you mean, tourneys suck?" and "They're
the reason we play with these d*** cards!" and "I bet this guy just lost in
the first round a a big DCI event."  Well, I haven't lost at a single DCI
event.  There's a reason for that... I have no experience in tournamnets.
There, I said it.  Do you know why I have no experience in tournaments
(other than the fact that I live in the single least conductive area for the
Pokemon hobby)?  Because I'm 18.)  If you like the Pokemon TCG, being a
young adult is the kiss of death.  Of the two tournaments held within 20
miles of my house in the 5 months I've been collecting and playing the
Pokemon TCG, neither has allowed anyone over age 12.  AGE 12!!!!!!  Why
won't the tourney circuit allow teens/young adults?  I think there are four
main myths behind this logic:

1.  Let's face it--the older players are the only ones with the money to get
enough cards to build the good decks, so we'd cremate the kids who's parents
don't spoil them.

2.  We'd make the little kids cry.

3.  The young kids wouldn't be able to compete fairly with the older players
because of the maturity difference--the older players have more developed
intellects and could plan better than an eight-year-old.

4.  The parents wouldn't think it was fair that their "precious little baby"
got waxed by some "punk teenager."

Let's take a look at the truth behind these myths, shall we?

1.  I've seen many 10-year-olds (this is a true story--just come to AJ's on
a Monday in Aiken) buy 8 and 9 boosters at a time, so don't go telling me
that they don't have the money to get enough cards to build a good deck.
They probably have WAY more cards than me.

2.  OK, there are a few teenagers with the attitude to make a kid cry, but
if the kid is that much of a crybaby, he's not really cut out for any kind
of competition where there's a chance he might not win anyway.

3.  Let's be honest--there are some really smart little kids and some really
dumb deck-building teens and young adults out there.  I mean, someone had to
be watching "America's Funniest Home Videos" for 8 seasons...  And I've seen
some of the decks these 10- and 12-year-olds build--they'd make ME cry if I
had to face one.

4.  Ok, this one's not a myth.  There are a lot of VERY overprotective
parents who think that any time someone (especially a teen/young adult) gets
in the way of what their child wants, that person is automatically the devil
incarnate and must be destroyed for the good of humanity.  I've encoutered
many parents in my card-buying experiences who thought it unfair (and didn't
hesitiate to tell me this in the store) that I was buying the last two
Jungle boosters when little Johny had been saving his tooth-fairy money for
them.  Let's face it--I got the cards and PAID before they even got in the
door.  I've had parents all but demand that I not buy cards until their
son/daughter gets his because I might buy them all.  I'm not rich.  I pay
for my collection by selling off any holos (except my Chancey, Vaporeon,
Clefairy, and Venusaur) that I get.  So it's not like I'm just rolling in
money here and have 1400 cards (ok, I've got 400, but most are duplicates
like my 7 Jiggypuffs and 9 Meowths).  It would be nice of me to let them go
first, and sometimes I do, but if there are two pack of cards left in the
store and I got there first, they're mine.

So we see that the FEW tourneys in and around Aiken, SC, (and most of the
nationals, like the Summer Mall Tour) have been taken over by parents (and
WOTC/Nintendo's "target age group" idea) to please these little kids.
That's why I said tourneys suck--they're all designed to exclude me and my
friends (the whole two that play Pokemon).  I can only battle the same two
decks a few times before I get bored.  I have three active decks and
sometimes play them against one another, but that still doesn't get me the
experience or satisfaction that would come from a tournament.  I don't know
if my decks are good (and the mechanincs at the Pojo won't review any of
them and I've submitted several) and probably never will.  Until I move to a
larger city (not happening--my college is in a smaller town than this one
:-(   ) or the tournaments decide that non-kids have a right to play too,
I'll have to just be happy tweaking my three decks.

If anyone knows of any teen tourneys in South Carolina, or wants to see my
decks (I play one red-blue Eevee I call "Big Fire-Water," a psy-elec I just
threw together to use Electabuzz and Jynx, and (my favorite) a
grass-fighting I call "Groundlings"),  feel free to email me a
ericj@csranet.com.

This has been the angry rambling of Eric Williamson, which no one will ever
read because I have a feeling the Pojo just deleted this message.  Oh, well.
Have a nice day and all that. (Unless you're one of those parents I had to
fight off at K*Mart for the last basic boosters, because then I hope you
don't have a nice day).