Thanks for the post Troy, I appreciate it. Especially the google map. That was a good finishing touch. Josh and I try to give back to the game and the players what we can, so more people get involved, and enjoy the game as much as we do. It's good to see that he's learned some spirit of giving that we as parents tried to instill. Of course no one is perfect, but we try our best, and it shows from all the great comments like these. We also have a bunch of good players, good sports and good people who frequent Gamer's Lair which keeps this all rolling. We couldn't do it without you.
The one thing that is kinda depressing is that from this side of the country, it costs less for a player to go to Worlds, than it does to attend our own Nationals. That's not to say that some won't attend anyway, but the financial realities of the situation makes it hard to predict the amount of people who will seriously consider going out. However, my impression is the amount would be small - even among those who will have won the stipend to attend Nationals this year. I hope that the good players who won at Provincials and Regionals at least consider going out to Nationals, but if it's a choice to attend one or the other of Nationals and World's, which one would you pick? My vote would be World's if I was a player with limited amounts of capital - even if I had to grind in. That's why I sympathize with players from the western part of the country for the past few years. Good luck everyone.