Tombstone - What If?

What if Rodeo Romeo does not draw Troublemaker in the first round? He would have been seeded # 1 and probably would have won Tombstone.  What if he had shot consistently in the shoot offs, he probably would have won the event from the 8th seed.  What if Pork Rind would not have drawn Rodeo, he would have been seeded 3rd and not had to face Rodeo again in the shoot offs. Lots of "What ifs."  What if Alleluia shooters had not drawn other Alleluia shooters?

If you take a look at the top seven shooters, there is a common attribute among all of them.  They are all consistent shooters.  They do not beat themselves.  If you are going to win against these shooters you have to out quick them.  Among these top gunfighters generally they get sorted according to their quickness.  Shoot offs are contests of speed, not lotteries.

The Arizona Bracket Shoot rewards consistency.  The mentally tough gunfighters will come to the top in an Arizona Bracket shoot where they are sorted by quickness and mental toughness.  The Tombstone event was well run.  The only knock is that there was only one range for 80 shooters.  We only got 4 seeding rounds in.  Even with just four rounds, there was the opportunity to recover from a tough draw as Rodeo almost did from the 8th seed.  It was his event to win, all he had to do was shoot "average."

It was not a fluke that the two top shooters were Alleluia shooters. Shady Mike used just 20 shots to win 5 matches. The second place Alleluia shooter shot just average using 26 for 6 matches. (80% is just average.) Other Alleluia shooters did not fare as well, but as one told me, "it is hard to transfer the system from the practice range to competition."  It is not easy to stay focused for the entire event.

Sunday I went back to the venue to search for a lost name tag. The Old Publeo Gunfighters had the venue cleaned up better than it ever had looked in the past.  They did a great job running this event.  It is a great venue.  I had the opportunity to again measure the venue.  The Loess Hills Paladins range will fit easily on the east end of the venue.  It was designed to fit on the west end and still will fit there but a section of the fence would have to be moved.

Well it is back to the drawing board for me.  I got a can of marbles to get.  I never forget a lose. Back to the bucket.