This tournament was a lot better last year. Sweetlax, Team 91, Blue Star all sent multiple teams.
Not so much this year. Pretty much just local teams. Quality of play has gone down big time.
I can tell you why... rules and officiating.
This tournament does not use real box rules (USBOXLA or other sanctioning organization). So teams that come in from out of town that have played sanctioned tournaments all the sudden don't know the rules.
This set of rules may be what Madlax uses for their winter league, and I guess that's OK if you're used to that set of rules, but it's not real box. And even those rules that draw from real box aren't usually called correctly because the officials don't have an appreciation for or any real training in box.
There are a lot more fights at this tournament then I generally see at other box tournaments, and I think the rules and lack of training for officials are a big reason for that.
Box has a reputation for being a "rough" game, but I think that's more because of all these factors playing out, not because the game in and of itself is rough. It certainly can be more physical, particularly in close with moving picks and all that, but trained box officials tend to call slashing, roughing, and checks from behind a lot tighter to keep the games under control. And don't get me started on interference.
