Search found 756 matches

by cchiego
Sat Feb 10, 2024 3:12 am
Forum: Miscellaneous Quizbowl
Topic: Quizbowl in the "Alternate Universe": Introduction
Replies: 7
Views: 2496

Re: Quizbowl in the "Alternate Universe": Introduction

I know this has been inactive for a long time and maybe this discussion has been continued on a different thread but I would love to see more of this. A couple of questions: One, if you were to look on a national scale, are there any national Quiz Bowl organizations as big or bigger than NAQT/pyram...
by cchiego
Sun Nov 19, 2023 1:21 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Thoughts on starting a team from the outside & outreach in general
Replies: 8
Views: 7231

Re: Thoughts on starting a team from the outside & outreach in general

What I think the deeper question is, and this is more of a question of philosophy, is what does success in quiz bowl outreach look like? If a school sends a team to a pyramidal quiz bowl tournament, but only one specific tournament a year, year in and year out, is this successful quiz bowl outreach...
by cchiego
Wed Oct 25, 2023 3:37 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Thoughts on starting a team from the outside & outreach in general
Replies: 8
Views: 7231

Re: Thoughts on starting a team from the outside & outreach in general

We need to create more resources to help teams that have launched to steady themselves. I don't have concrete suggestions on this at this point in time (refer to my first note on being tired at the start of this post, only it now being half an hour later), but the lack of more tools and campaigns t...
by cchiego
Wed Oct 25, 2023 3:30 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Thoughts on starting a team from the outside & outreach in general
Replies: 8
Views: 7231

Re: Thoughts on starting a team from the outside & outreach in general

After many years of trying similar things at the HS level and somewhat at the college level, I'm pessimistic about the ability of large-scale outreach efforts to make a major difference at the national level. I have had many experiences similar to Fred's at various points and the amount of work to r...
by cchiego
Sat Sep 30, 2023 10:43 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: What is the most pressing concern in college quizbowl today (2023 version)?
Replies: 4
Views: 4046

Re: What is the most pressing concern in college quizbowl today (2023 version)?

The money part is interesting to see get so many votes this year. Would be interested in hearing from any fledgling clubs that are experiencing these fiscal challenges. I wonder if some of that is also linked to increased restrictions and paperwork. It is getting very difficult to host an in-person ...
by cchiego
Sun Jul 02, 2023 5:34 pm
Forum: Community Discussion
Topic: Regarding BBB and Community Norms
Replies: 11
Views: 7011

Re: Regarding BBB and Community Norms

Halle's entire post is superb. I'd like to especially endorse this point: ...I don't think it crosses the line to say that a tournament entirely written and planned by middle schoolers, with absolutely zero oversight, is not a good idea. It isn't bad quizbowl! But it's very rarely successful, at lea...
by cchiego
Sat Jun 03, 2023 5:16 am
Forum: Community Discussion
Topic: Why College Retention Fails (Part 3 of 3)
Replies: 1
Views: 3437

Re: Why College Retention Fails (Part 3 of 3)

This has been an interesting series to read and, while I disagree with the recommendation of this post to focus less on inter-club institution-building, I appreciate the thoughtfulness of the post in examining intra-club dynamics and especially the idea of avoiding a "Road to Nowhere" situ...
by cchiego
Wed Mar 08, 2023 2:06 pm
Forum: Miscellaneous Quizbowl
Topic: New Quizbowl Podcast: Tossup 21
Replies: 37
Views: 24746

Re: New Quizbowl Podcast: Tossup 21

Episode #25 is up with Chris Borglum talking about the early days of SEC quizbowl and the legacy of the Turkey Leg Match. Just want to put a plug for this episode as a really good listen, especially the detailed discussion of the Community College quizbowl scene and its history. If quizbowl wants t...
by cchiego
Fri Feb 24, 2023 12:50 am
Forum: Community Discussion
Topic: Why College Recruiting Fails (2 of 3)
Replies: 8
Views: 4969

Re: Why College Recruiting Fails (2 of 3)

This means recruiting isn’t just about raw numbers! A critical mass of members is important, but a critical mass of geeks is even more important. Who’s going to be showing up every week? Who’s going to be playing tournaments? Who’s going to be genuinely invested in the club’s future? This is especi...
by cchiego
Sat Feb 18, 2023 10:19 pm
Forum: Community Discussion
Topic: Why College Outreach Fails (1 of 3)
Replies: 3
Views: 4434

Re: Why College Outreach Fails (1 of 3)

This is an interesting post and I'm glad to see more discussion about college-level outreach here on the forum! I agree with the part of the post about the need to establish a strong team community and work to improve that rather than focusing too much on the "broader" quizbowl community. ...
by cchiego
Sat Dec 03, 2022 3:01 pm
Forum: Theory
Topic: AGQBA Quizbowl
Replies: 22
Views: 7771

Re: AGQBA Quizbowl

ONLY Coaches and Judges may research and utilize online resources (accessed by phones, tablets, computers, etc.) either in the competition room, or in a designated research area, in order to research content challenges. I am pleased to see that AGQBA seems to have noticed some of the issues pointed...
by cchiego
Sat Jul 30, 2022 4:55 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: What is the most pressing concern in college quizbowl today (2022 version)?
Replies: 5
Views: 3291

Re: What is the most pressing concern in college quizbowl today (2022 version)?

I like this list, but I keep thinking that "identifying the current most pressing concern" is actually secondary to the greater question of our ability to solve it once identified. Many of these concerns are united in that they can be (and, arguably, would best be) addressed by top-down l...
by cchiego
Fri Jul 15, 2022 4:52 pm
Forum: Community Discussion
Topic: The most common schools from the last three NAQT Entering Freshmen Lists
Replies: 3
Views: 5270

Re: The most common schools from the last three NAQT Entering Freshmen Lists

I would slightly discount some of the NY schools because there's an overrepresentation of responses from Masterminds players, which is based in Upstate NY and is generally a less-active/involved HS circuit compared to many other areas. But it's still a good potential player base that could definitel...
by cchiego
Wed Jun 08, 2022 11:12 pm
Forum: Miscellaneous Quizbowl
Topic: Introducing the UQC
Replies: 23
Views: 7307

Re: Introducing the UQC

After seeing similar enterprises like NHBB and AQBL come and (mostly) go, I'm very skeptical of these kinds of ambitious plans for newfound national-level multi-state tournament schemes. The posts here so far do not allay those concerns. I'm especially disappointed by the labeling of this as "o...
by cchiego
Sat Jun 04, 2022 2:22 pm
Forum: Great Lakes Comparisons and Discussion
Topic: Minnesota 2021-22
Replies: 15
Views: 9983

Re: Minnesota 2021-22

I came across an interesting set of recent Meeting Minutes from a Minnesota Knowledge Bowl coaches meeting in March 2022 on the Southwest West Central Service Cooperative's website : There have been a lot of conversations about the question vendor again this year. The Regional Coordinators voted las...
by cchiego
Sat Jun 04, 2022 12:50 pm
Forum: Miscellaneous Quizbowl
Topic: NYTimes Column on "Academic Team Energy"
Replies: 2
Views: 1843

NYTimes Column on "Academic Team Energy"

A great NY Times column from (former Ohio quizbowler) Jane Coaston about "Academic Team Energy" vs. "Debate Team Energy" (may be paywalled): https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/04/opinion/academic-team-debate.html A brief/relevant excerpt: I have always wanted to learn more, whether ...
by cchiego
Tue May 17, 2022 2:20 am
Forum: Miscellaneous Quizbowl
Topic: Pennsylvania's state quiz bowl "championship" is poor -- how can we fix it?
Replies: 10
Views: 3218

Re: Pennsylvania's state quiz bowl "championship" is poor -- how can we fix it?

The main issue with changing anything involving PSAC is that PSAC is organized and run by one IU, Chester County IU. CCIU also seems to contract with several other local IUs to run their regional tournaments to qualify for PSAC, so they have a very large degree of control here. That said, so long as...
by cchiego
Sat Mar 19, 2022 2:31 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Circuit Building and Collegiate Novice Spring Tournament
Replies: 1
Views: 1043

Re: Circuit Building and Collegiate Novice Spring Tournament

In collegiate expansion in general, the biggest challenge will be finding someone at the target school who's willing to put in the work on the ground to get a club set up and recruit. This is where having a local HS circuit would be really helpful since it would likely produce motivated students wit...
by cchiego
Tue Mar 15, 2022 1:37 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Mountain West Collegiate Quizbowl
Replies: 11
Views: 4849

Re: Mountain West Collegiate Quizbowl

To clarify, when you're talking about Knowledge Bowls, Science Bowl, and Academic Decathlon, are they all high school programs? It seems that there's no collegiate equivalent, so maybe you could have alumni from these subject academic competitions to "see" collegiate ACF/NAQT as a natural...
by cchiego
Mon Mar 14, 2022 5:08 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Mountain West Collegiate Quizbowl
Replies: 11
Views: 4849

Re: Mountain West Collegiate Quizbowl

There appears to be an active team at the University of Utah . UTEP and New Mexico State would be a good base for a Rio Grande Valley Circuit if they still remain active. The main challenge for New Mexico is that there seems to be basically no all-subject academic competitions outside of perhaps som...
by cchiego
Tue Mar 08, 2022 1:56 pm
Forum: Miscellaneous Quizbowl
Topic: Quizbowl in the "Alternate Universe": Introduction
Replies: 7
Views: 2496

Re: Quizbowl in the "Alternate Universe": Introduction

Since Chris linked to a post of mine from 2014, I'll state for the record that my views have since changed (as seen, e.g. in the penultimate section header here ). Rather than seeing the good quizbowl community as a victorious post-"cold war" superpower, I now see it as more akin to an en...
by cchiego
Tue Mar 08, 2022 1:12 pm
Forum: Miscellaneous Quizbowl
Topic: The "Alternate Universe" Part I: The West
Replies: 3
Views: 1993

Re: The "Alternate Universe" Part I: The West

Washoe County Academic Olympics stopped running after 2019 due to budget cuts. The few teams out there that didn’t immediately disband due to this are mainly around for science bowl. We got Reno last year to AQBL and there’s interest for in person competitions up there if somebody could find a host...
by cchiego
Tue Mar 08, 2022 1:44 am
Forum: Miscellaneous Quizbowl
Topic: The "Alternate Universe" Part I: The West
Replies: 3
Views: 1993

The "Alternate Universe" Part I: The West

[This is Part I of a series of posts about the non-pyramidal "Alternate Universe" of quizbowl; please see this post for an introduction and links to other parts, which will posted in the weeks to come. I welcome any additions, corrections, or discussion regarding the information on this po...
by cchiego
Tue Mar 08, 2022 1:43 am
Forum: Miscellaneous Quizbowl
Topic: Quizbowl in the "Alternate Universe": Introduction
Replies: 7
Views: 2496

Quizbowl in the "Alternate Universe": Introduction

Rather than update the " state of Good Quizbowl, State-by-State " rankings that I've done in the past, I decided to embark on a slightly different project: a look at the state of non-pyramidal quizbowl as well as the general degree to which there are all-subject quizbowl teams of *any* kin...
by cchiego
Sun Feb 13, 2022 5:20 pm
Forum: Theory
Topic: How to Encourage Circuit Organization
Replies: 2
Views: 4302

How to Encourage Circuit Organization

Organizing a series of quizbowl events on a given circuit each year by encouraging schools to host, working with hosts, coordinating staff and teams, and TDing is generally exhausting. Tournaments do not materialize out of thin air and organizing effective, well-run tournaments especially takes a si...
by cchiego
Tue Feb 08, 2022 2:56 pm
Forum: Theory
Topic: AGQBA Quizbowl
Replies: 22
Views: 7771

Re: AGQBA Quizbowl

Based on what looks like the filed 2017 IRS tax documents , here are the AGQBA yearly expenses. The big thing that stands out to me there in the ~$140,000 a year budget is: $7,710 for "quiz materials" [I am assuming that's questions? if so, they could literally switch to using pyramidal qu...
by cchiego
Tue Feb 08, 2022 2:06 pm
Forum: Theory
Topic: AGQBA Quizbowl
Replies: 22
Views: 7771

Re: AGQBA Quizbowl

Several years ago, I spoke with another vendor by phone, and somehow the AGQBA quizbowl contract came under discussion. He said that when he won the contract, he had expected extra income (besides the AGQBA payment) from schools wanting his questions in their tournaments/leagues so they could learn...
by cchiego
Sun Feb 06, 2022 6:45 pm
Forum: Theory
Topic: AGQBA Quizbowl
Replies: 22
Views: 7771

Re: AGQBA Quizbowl

The format Satvik describes is OK, though it is not what I would choose to do, and like Chris I do not like lightning rounds. The questions Chris quotes are not good questions, and Arkansas students deserve better. Unfortunately, those questions are not bad because Chris just cherry picked the bad ...
by cchiego
Sun Feb 06, 2022 3:33 pm
Forum: Theory
Topic: AGQBA Quizbowl
Replies: 22
Views: 7771

Re: AGQBA Quizbowl

Questions are still pyramidal and studying is rewarded. The key issue with AGQBA is that the questions (which do sound like they're still from Questions Unlimited) are not very pyramidal. Here are some of the first few TUs from one state championship match last year : Following his imprisonment, Os...
by cchiego
Thu Feb 03, 2022 10:17 pm
Forum: Theory
Topic: Studying for MS qb
Replies: 7
Views: 4830

Re: Studying for MS qb

Glad to see someone from Arkansas middle school quizbowl on the forums! If Arkansas is still using Questions Unlimited (QU) as their question supplier, the best preparation will almost certainly be reading old questions previously used at Arkansas middle school regionals before if your school has ac...
by cchiego
Wed Jan 19, 2022 6:38 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Some Thoughts on Bonuses
Replies: 35
Views: 15035

Re: Some Thoughts on Bonuses

From a reader's perspective, I really hate seeing teams getting tripped up on the "easy" parts of a bonus because there are 5 lines of text between the lead-in and answer to the first part or there are 3 lines of difficult-to-parse quizbowlese on a middle part that includes one "obvio...
by cchiego
Sat Oct 30, 2021 5:20 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Tossup 21: One More Question
Replies: 8
Views: 3684

Re: Tossup 21: One More Question

NSC 2011: Let's get Matt Weiner and Trygve Meade in the same room!!!!! Plus the ad hoc circumambulation of the Northwestern campus (while carrying heavy objects!), the "hold the whole tournament for State College" opening, the inexplicable 2.5 hour delay after Round 2, the numerous contes...
by cchiego
Sat Oct 30, 2021 4:53 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Tossup 21: One More Question
Replies: 8
Views: 3684

Re: Tossup 21: One More Question

Thanks for making this series. Great production values, clearly a ton of work went into the interviews and production. Overall a nice contribution to quizbowl lore. Suggestions: would like to get some more perspectives from teams who weren't necessarily national powerhouses + the early episodes were...
by cchiego
Sat Oct 30, 2021 4:49 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Best Coaches in Each State
Replies: 13
Views: 4770

Re: Best Coaches in Each State

Ranking the "best" coaches can be difficult given that each school presents different opportunities and challenges. Every coach who commits to building a strong quizbowl program at their school deserves major thanks and recognition for their team's accomplishments. Winning state titles is ...
by cchiego
Thu Sep 16, 2021 6:02 pm
Forum: New Collegiate Teams
Topic: Starting intramural Quiz Bowl at South Dakota Mines
Replies: 6
Views: 6311

Re: Starting intramural Quiz Bowl at South Dakota Mines

Great to see that even a few tournaments at the University of Sioux Falls had an impact. There's actually some room too to tinker with quizbowl formats; you could potentially run a 4-quarter style event on NAQT questions (I believe NAQT does produce some lightning rounds each year, though talk to th...
by cchiego
Wed Sep 15, 2021 8:59 pm
Forum: New Collegiate Teams
Topic: Starting intramural Quiz Bowl at South Dakota Mines
Replies: 6
Views: 6311

Re: Starting intramural Quiz Bowl at South Dakota Mines

Hello and welcome to the forums! Are you from SD? Did you play in one of the Knowledge Bowl leagues there? Would love to know more about the quizbowl scene out there. Rapid City is fairly isolated, but you actually might have some luck in Wyoming given the very active Wyoming Academic Challenge circ...
by cchiego
Sun Jul 18, 2021 11:31 pm
Forum: Community Discussion
Topic: A Guide on Club Finances
Replies: 3
Views: 5101

Re: A Guide on Club Finances

This is an outstanding post. One of the more frustrating aspects of quizbowl finance is that each club will usually face a unique gauntlet of financial procedures, so that it's very hard to put together one guide that will cover everything. Ganon's post did a great job in emphasizing the more genera...
by cchiego
Thu Jul 01, 2021 1:25 am
Forum: Community Discussion
Topic: Why Professionalism in Quizbowl Matters
Replies: 5
Views: 7091

Why Professionalism in Quizbowl Matters

I want to briefly offer a few reasons for why "professionalism" in quizbowl is an important thing for every team, event, and organization in quizbowl to strive to achieve. I define "professionalism" as reliably treating all teams and individuals with respect and acting like quizb...
by cchiego
Wed Jun 23, 2021 2:20 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: College Bowl is back
Replies: 9
Views: 6153

Re: College Bowl is back

Ratings seem solid enough at 0.5 in the 18-49 demo and 2.79 million viewers. Maybe the audience will grow too as word of mouth seemed fairly positive on Twitter (outside of Minnesota fans, who learned firsthand about the wonders of teams getting different two-minute rounds). Also, while the two-minu...
by cchiego
Fri May 28, 2021 1:56 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion
Replies: 34
Views: 18183

Re: Southern California 2020-21 Discussion

It would be great if SoCal could reach out to more Orange County teams, as the circuit is currently heavily concentrated in San Diego with a few teams sprinkled in LA County, and almost nothing in the two-hour drive in between. From the perspective of an LA County player, more LA and OC tournaments...
by cchiego
Mon May 17, 2021 3:26 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: How to Get More Moderators
Replies: 4
Views: 4971

Re: How to Get More Moderators

I ran a survey in the main Discord server back in January to assess how feasible this was; out of 35 players and coaches surveyed, most said that their teams would not pay more than $80 for a high school tournament or more than $140 for a college tournament. To me, this indicates that as it stands ...
by cchiego
Sun May 16, 2021 10:18 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Génies en Herbe
Replies: 1
Views: 5371

Génies en Herbe

I have recently learned that there are a number of thriving quizbowl communities around the Francophone world competing under the general title of Génies en Herbe . Not only are there a number of well-produced, seemingly enthusiastically received national TV shows that have used that title, but ther...
by cchiego
Sun May 16, 2021 4:12 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: How to Get More Moderators
Replies: 4
Views: 4971

How to Get More Moderators

The limiting reagent for many events in quizbowl is the supply of willing and competent moderators. Aside from limiting field sizes and leading to frustrating waitlists before a tournament, all it takes is one or two particularly slow moderators to bring a tournament to a crawl or one or two poor mo...
by cchiego
Fri Mar 05, 2021 6:51 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: HSNCT and its Problems
Replies: 30
Views: 16290

Re: HSNCT and its Problems

Meanwhile (and this is all in the same packet, mind you), we see a commonlink on souls, which attempts to clue a Sam & Dave song, whatever that is (seems to be more "boomer trash," as NAQT trash has often been described), along with the video game Dark Souls and DuBois' The Souls of B...
by cchiego
Sun Jan 31, 2021 3:24 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Online Quiz Bowl Can Be Improved
Replies: 15
Views: 7462

Re: Online Quiz Bowl Can Be Improved

1. I think having a list of clear procedures for mods and players on what to do with common in-game issues like: a. "a player just disappeared from the room mid tossup" b. "a player buzzed in, looks like they are talking, but the mod can't hear them" c. "the mod calls time s...
by cchiego
Tue Jan 05, 2021 4:11 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Alabama 2020-2021 Discussion Thread
Replies: 83
Views: 27867

Re: Alabama 2020-2021 Discussion Thread

We also had to listen to our membership. The overwhelming majority wants to play as normal. Many teams have no interest in competing if it is online. Teams who want to compete online have many opportunities to do so. However, that is not something that ASCA is going to do. We discussed many reasons...
by cchiego
Tue Jan 05, 2021 1:59 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Alabama 2020-2021 Discussion Thread
Replies: 83
Views: 27867

Re: Alabama 2020-2021 Discussion Thread

If we do not see these at a greater level, I think this will happen in other states. Arkansas chose to go entirely online this year for their state quizbowl events. They have many rural schools. Colorado also seems to be set to go entirely online for their state Knowledge Bowl events. Again, they h...
by cchiego
Fri Dec 11, 2020 2:40 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: QBWiki Addition Suggestions
Replies: 48
Views: 21077

Re: QBWiki Addition Suggestions

I haven't given much thought to the QBWiki in several years, but I did want to check in to say that I think keeping individual player pages is valuable to preserving the history of quiz bowl. There's probably a lot that could be done to clean these up, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the pag...
by cchiego
Wed Dec 09, 2020 11:57 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: QBWiki Addition Suggestions
Replies: 48
Views: 21077

Re: QBWiki Addition Suggestions

I strongly disagree with this stance. The player pages, as sparse and poorly written as they are, are among the few reasons I go to the QBWiki. I would like there to be more player pages, and in fact I would like them to be more fleshed out with personal anecdotes (within reason - perhaps two per p...
by cchiego
Wed Dec 09, 2020 10:04 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: QBWiki Addition Suggestions
Replies: 48
Views: 21077

Re: QBWiki Addition Suggestions

As an aside, how moderated in this quizbowl reddit page? I'd be very worried about people sharing unclear question content there or saying things anonymously that would rightfully put them in hot water here on the forums or on the public Discord. I continue to believe there is this emerging bifurca...