I feel like more people need to hear this. The stigma around hardcore is absolutely ridiculous, and I used to buy into it. If you're good at non lurching rules, you'll still be good in hardcore, but it does require some consideration and some risk/reward that wouldn't otherwise be a factor in other tournaments.
Obviously if you're playing against teams like the Lions or Packers, and you have a slow QB, the risk is greater, and thus your playbook needs to take all of that into consideration.
We had at least 6 people who made it to their first ever GBLAN event, and they all had fun, and didn't complain about the rules one bit. In fact, I think not having any gameplay restrictions went a long way into easing their transition into Tecmo. In the last few games of group play, they were all playing their peers in ability, which is the beauty of Swiss rules.
I'm excited as we carve our own path in Tecmo, seeing where it leads. I'm also looking forward to expanding the original Tecmo Bowl tournament moving forward. Those of you who didn't participate in that event really missed out.