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Mahergate or DCIgate: You Make the Call
Michael Clauss

This just keeps getting better and better.

Last week I wrote an article about the Fuller/Maher suspensions which Scott graciously posted on this site. While it covered both suspensions, most of the writing centered on Maher because I felt, rightly or wrongly, that his infraction was more detrimental to the Magic community.

And as expected, people did respond. Some agreed, others took issue with some points while agreeing with others and then there were the FOM (Friends Of Maher) who countered my statements with compelling evidence like:

"[B]ob is a very good friend of mine, and having talked to him about this in great detail [I] know that all of the derogatory things that u said about him are false." -Neil Reeves

"Bob is one of the nicest people on the entire pro-tour and is a pleasure to both play against and talk to. He lets people stay in his hotel room FOR FREE if it's not a total inconvience and people need it, like he let a few of us in GP Atlanta." -Will Brinkman

How can you counter assertions like this?

But one of the things people kept commenting on was the timeline (or lack thereof), and no one was able to clarify the issue totally. So I decided to get into my wayback machine (SideBoard, Event Coverage Section) and reconstruct what happened.

The suspension article said that Maher confessed to the DCI following GP Seattle. That event took place in the month after PT Chicago, '99. The article also said that his cheating had allowed him to get an invite to the World Championships (no year provided). Since the cheating could not have happened after Seattle, and World Championships take place in the summer, we now have this as a timeline:

Cheating incident -- Before Summer, '99
PT Chicago -- December 3-5, 1999
GP Seattle -- January 15-16, 2000

Clearly Maher's success is a direct result of his cheating and as stated in my previous article, I believe he should have his title stripped, his rating reset and his suspension lengthened (at least two years).

A number of people have countered my desire for a harsher penalty by saying 'Maher might have entered the pro-tour dishonestly, but his solid play at the PT should allow him to keep his title.' I agree he is an excellent Magic player and he did outplay the field in Chicago. However, he should never have been there. Someone could argue that Maher might have eventually q'ed for the tour because of his skills, but that is just a hypothetical. The reality is he got on the gravy-train illegally. Not only that, but Maher and his cohorts denied several people spots on the tour; spots which were actually EARNED.

And now we come to the interesting part of the story. Mr. Brinkman, who I quoted earlier, made this statement towards the end of his e-mail to me:

"They [the DCI] basically just wanted for [Maher] to 'drop out of the spotlight' and then ban him."

At the time I ignored the comment as irrelevant. But it crept back into my head when I was working on the timeline. If you didn't notice it before, it took the DCI two years to wrap up this investigation.

Two years.

The DCI had testimony from one of the co-conspirators and it still took two years. If my memory is correct, it only took a matter of months to wrap up the T. Martin case. But for the sake of argument let's say it took the same amount of time to wrap up both cases. The question everyone should be asking is 'why wasn't Maher pulled from the tour right after Seattle?' And I don't want to hear that the DCI had no authority to do that. If they wanted him off the tour, he would have been history. Why keep him? Well I think there is some truth to Mr. Brinkman's statement. At the time Maher confessed, he was the poster-boy for Magic. He had just won two premier events in a row. What do you think would have happened if his cheating had been made public after Seattle?

The DCI had testimony from one of the co-conspirators and it still took two years.

So to save face the DCI most likely dragged out the investigation hoping that Maher's flame would go out. Unfortunately, that did not happen. That means over the last two years the DCI has allowed a self-confessed cheater to take home almost 60,000 in prize money (not counting the cash from Chicago & Seattle). You can argue that while the investigation was proceeding they had to allow him to play. But remember HE HAD CONFESSED. The only thing the DCI had to verify was the role the co-conspirators played; Maher was already guilty.

I don't know what's worse; Maher not stepping down voluntarily while the investigation proceeded, or the DCI letting a known cheater (known to them at least) collect checks.

Still not convinced how wrong this is? Think about how many pro-tour careers were effected by his continued presence. He took second at Worlds '00, 5th Chicago Masters '00, 5-8th New York Masters '00, 3rd New Orleans Masters '01, etc. Think back....did he edge you out of a top eight somewhere? Did his victory knock you out of the money? If you answered yes to either, thank your friendly DCI for moving so quickly on Maher's suspension.

This has to be, by far, the DCI's biggest screw-up.

Before I wander off I have one request:
Pressure the DCI to release the details on this case.

E-mail, call, send snail-mail; it doesn't matter. It's time for the DCI to open up about their "investigations." We need to be able to trust the DCI, and this incident does not instill trust.

- Michael Clauss
enderwiggan55@hotmail.com

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