Quidditch conception (was Why Does Krum Catch The Snitch?)

[cynthiaanncoe at home.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 26634

Luke wrote:

> This is actually closely-related to the one thing that I think is 
> poorly-conceived (or brilliantly conceived, depending on how you 
view 
> it) about Quidditch.  It seems to me that in real life this game 
would 
> not go far, because of the excessive Seeker emphasis.  A truly 
> brilliant team could be foiled by an awful seeker and a talented 
> seeker might save a horrid team.  Sure, one person can make a big 
> difference in any sport, but this is a bit much--if you consider, 
the 
> only other person with near this much sway is the Keeper (the "if 
they 
> can't score, you can't lose" philosophy), and even those efforts 
could 
> be undone by the opposing Seeker rather easily.  Of course, on the 
> flip-side I can't blame JKR.  In some ways, it's quite appropriate, 
> because it was a very good way to put a lot of the weight on 
Harry's 
> shoulders.  And after all, as a writer one should know when to 
> sacrifice credibility for drama.
> 
> But really, can anyone think of any real life sport that has an 
equal 
> potential for such severe imbalance?
> 


I can nominate one such sport:  Baseball.  I'm not a big fan, so 
correct me if I mess this up.  But one player, the pitcher, can 
almost singlehandedly win the game (by pitching a perfect game) or 
lose it by performing so badly that the game is essentially out of 
reach.  The other similarity between baseball and Quiddich is that 
the players, not the clock, determine when play ends.  In baseball, 
the game could conceivably go on forever, as it can in Quiddich.  

But then again, the seeker really has far more power than the pitcher 
in baseball.  Half the time, the contribution of the pitcher is nil 
because he is sitting on the bench while others on his team are at 
bat.  In Quiddich, the seeker is always on the field, able to end the 
game by performing one task successfully.

Cindy (who has just exhausted her knowledge of baseball)