<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2>In a message dated 2/2/02 6:09:56 PM Eastern Standard Time, hillth@navair.navy.mil writes:
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<BR><BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">I for example, have
<BR>no chance of winning, and entering as a single combatant would serve no
<BR>useful purpose, except to allow me dubious bragging rights. </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"></BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BR> I've got to disagree with this perspective. Crown Tourney is set up so that anyone can win on any given day. In single combat, aided by the love of your Lady, fighting for the opportunity to make her Queen, I believe that no opponent is unbeatable.
<BR> I have never fought Crown for the simple reason that I have no desire to be King, and more importantly, my Ladywife has no wish to be Queen. From my experience over the years, one of the toughest of all service jobs to the kingdom is to wear the Crowns. Time after time I have watched good people "take a couple of months off" after stepping down. I'm burnt out enough as it is. Unless you truly wish to wear the Crowns you won't have the intensity and focus that is needed to compete at that level.
<BR> The people whom everyone fears as unbeatable aren't. Cuan is great because he has worked at it, spending hours on the pell and going to as many practices as humanly possible. Logan began fighting as an above average athlete but he wasn't always a demigod on the field. He worked at it. He practices harder than anyone I know to stay at that level. Anton has turned fighting into a thinking game. What he lacks in physical gifts he more than makes up by analyzing every fight and every fighter to find new ways to victory. You want to beat them? All it takes is desire and hard work. Apply yourself. Go to practice. What separates the Dukes from the scrubs is less about natural ability than it is about the desire to be the absolute best they can be.
<BR> Under the present structure anyone can be King. More importantly, any Lady can be Queen.
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<BR>Hrothgar</FONT></HTML>