ANNOUNCEMENT: Muck Masters (8/19/06) at UT-Chattanooga

[Kilby]

The UTC Academic Trivia Association will host its sixth annual Muck Masters, a one-day open trash tournament on Saturday, August 19, 2006. That's the day before the Moc Masters open academic tournament (see the appropriate message for more information on that event).

WHO'S IN CHARGE HERE:
Editing and pre-tournament registration will be handled by myself, John Kilby. If you wish to register or need any more information regarding the tournament, please e-mail me at muckmasters [at] gmail [dot] com. Your tournament director is Charlie Steinhice. If you have any questions for him, he can be reached by e-mail at steinhic [at] bellsouth [dot] net or by snail mail at 1185 Mountain Creek Rd. #1801, Chattanooga, TN 37405.

TIME & PLACE:
Registration will be at 9:00 AM, announcements at 9:45 AM, and play beginning at 10 AM. The tournament length will depend on the number of teams attending, but we will aim for playoffs (or the final round robin rounds if the field is large) by 6 PM if not earlier. Tournament headquarters will officially be Holt 124 on the UTC campus, the same building the tournament will be held. Directions to UTC can be found at the end of this message.

ELIGIBILITY:
This tournament is open to all interested parties EXCEPT those who have been exposed to the questions being used at the Montgomery Burns trash tournament on August 5, 2006 at Ann Arbor, Michigan (we will be swapping packets with that tournament). Teams do not have to have any academic affiliation. If you want to make yourself available as a free agent to join a team or if you have a partial team but need free agent help, please e-mail me.

FORMAT:
Teams will be four players each with alternates allowed as long as there are no substitutions during rounds. Depending on the number of teams, the schedule will either be round robin, round robin plus playoffs/swiss pairings, or bracketed round robin. We will be using the standard modified-ACF rules used at most UTC trash tournaments. Each round will have 20 toss-up questions and be untimed. Bonus laming and claiming will be in effect.

MUSIC ROUND:
If you are interested in hosting a music round or some other special round, please e-mail me. Preference will be given to players on teams that submit their packet earlier.

PACKET SUBMISSION:
Muck Masters will return to being a packet submission tournament this year. All teams will be required to submit a full packet of 24/24 unless the team arranges it in advance.

FEES:
The base fees are as follows:

Questions submitted before 11:59 PM EST on Friday, July 21: $40
Questions submitted before 11:59 PM EST on Friday, July 28 but after previous deadline: $60
Questions submitted before 11:59 PM EST on Friday, August 4 but after previous deadline: $80
Questions submitted before 11:59 PM EST on Friday, August 11 but after previous deadline: $100
No packet submitted (must be requested by before 11:59 PM EST on Friday, July 21 to guarantee spot): $120
Questions submitted Saturday, August 12 or later: $140 (acceptance of packet is up to editor's discretion)

As shown above, there is a significant difference between the base fee for teams who submit their packet early compared to those who wait until the last minute or submit no packet at all. This is mainly done in order to be able to send a sufficient number of fully-edited packets to the Michigan folks (and of course doing so gives your editor more time to do his job). Although the base fee for teams who submit packets early is generous, please do not send in a sloppy packet in order to beat a deadline. A packet that does not meet the specifications outlined below will be returned with the reason or reasons for rejection.

The following discounts are available:

Novice teams: - $40 (a novice team is defined as a team that consists entirely of players who have never attended a trash tournament before)
Full-time reader: - $10 or said reader can join us for dinner at Provino's after the tournament
Working buzzer: - $5
High school packet discount*: - $15
High school partial packet (10/10) discount*: - $5

* These discounts involve writing a packet or partial packet of questions for our upcoming fall high school tournament. Packet must be submitted by Friday, August 17 and sent to Charlie. For more information, please e-mail Charlie (steinhic [at] bellsouth [dot] net).

The minimum fee after all discounts is $0. (Hey, we'd love to have you come, but we're not gonna pay you to play!)

REGISTRATION:
To register for Muck Masters, e-mail me with how many teams you are bringing, if you are planning on bringing any moderators or buzzers, and what the trashy team name is for each team.

PACKET SPECIFICATIONS:
Although Muck Masters has "Masters" in the name, the question difficulty being aimed for is medium to difficult. Although this means that toss-up questions on subjects that would be considered too obscure for an average tournament are fair game, please make sure that the majority of toss-up questions are answerable by the end of the question. Of course, all toss-up questions should be pyramidal and contain enough clues to differentiate between different depths of knowledge (two clues or one sentence is not enough for a toss-up, unless that one sentence is Faulknarian in nature). For bonus questions, use the three-part, ten points per answer variety as often as possible. Try to avoid other question types such as 40-30-20-10-1's or 30-20-10-5-1's and 15-10-5's. For a standard three-part bonus question, one part should be answerable by most teams, one part should be answerable by teams with a fair amount of knowledge of the subject, and one part should be answerable only by those teams with extremely deep knowledge of the subject.

Plagiarism will not be tolerated. This includes such actions as copying questions from an older set and copying and pasting information from Wikipedia or other Internet sources. If undeniable proof of plagiarism is obtained, the packet will be returned to the submitting team. For fee purposes, the packet will be considered to have not yet been submitted at the time that the packet is returned.

Each packet should contain 24 toss-up questions and 24 bonus questions. They should be distributed as follows:

Major Categories - 4/4 each from:
- movies
- TV
- sports
- music

For each major category, the questions should approximately cover the following time periods:
- 1/1 from 1960's or earlier
- 1/1 from 1970's or 1980's
- 1/1 from 1990's or 2000's
- 1/1 author's choice of remaining decades

For the author's choice, write a question about a decade that has not been covered yet. For example, if you wrote a toss-up question on a song from the 1960's, one on an artist from the 1980's, and one on an album from the 2000's, you can choose from the 1990's, 1970's, and the 1950's or earlier as the time period covered by the subject in your final music toss-up. Some questions will span across time periods, but please aim for these guidelines where applicable.

Also, please mix-up genres. For example, writing a toss-up question on baseball and a bonus question on baseball is fine, but writing multiple baseball toss-up questions or multiple baseball bonus questions is not. Another example: writing a toss-up question on a horror film and a bonus question on horror films is fine, but writing multiple toss-up questions on horror films or multiple bonus questions on horror films is not.

Minor Categories - 8/8 total, 2/2 maximum from any category including:
- popular literature
- comics
- computers and Internet
- computer or video games
- non-electronic games
- gadgets/inventions/appliances
- consumer brands and products
- food & drink
- Americana
- periodicals (features, columnists, etc.)
- current events
- toys
- amusement parks and rides
- game/activity (game show style bonus questions, etc.)
- mixed major categories (i.e. toss-up questions with no more than one clue from a given major category or bonus questions with at most one part from each category)
- any other category not listed here

Since it is often harder to apply the standards of time periods to questions in the minor categories, please use the following time period guidelines to ensure that your packet does not lean excessively toward any time period:
- no more than 3/3 from 1960's or earlier
- no more than 3/3 from 1970's or 1980's
- no more than 3/3 from 1990's or 2000's

The same comments about the major category question apply to the minor category questions. Some questions will span across time periods, but please aim for these guidelines where applicable. Also, please mix-up genres. For example, writing a toss-up question on a certain brand of soda and a bonus question on several different sodas is fine, but writing two toss-up questions about sodas or two bonus questions about sodas is not.

Please do not number your questions. Group the toss-up questions and bonus questions separately and within each of the two question types group questions together by category (that is, put all the sports toss-ups together, put all the TV toss-ups together, put all the music bonuses together, etc.).

Please send your questions to me as a Microsoft Word document. Please use 1/2 inch page margins, 10-pt Times New Roman font, and format your questions like this:

This is a toss-up question. FTP, what is the answer?
ANS: answer (preceded by a tab, required part bolded)

This is the bonus lead-in that mentions the point scale, such as FTPE or FTSNP.
A. This is the first part (two spaces follow the letter).
ANS: answer 1 (preceded by a tab, required part bolded)
B. This is the second part (two spaces follow the letter).
ANS: answer 2 (preceded by a tab, required part bolded)
C. This is the third part (two spaces follow the letter).
ANS: answer 3 (preceded by a tab, required part bolded)

Please do not use underline; use italics for titles and bold to indicate the required portion of the answer.

If you need any help with your packet, please feel free to e-mail me.

DRIVING DIRECTIONS:
From Atlanta and points south -- take I-75 to Chattanooga, then I-24 west towards downtown, then follow the freeway splitoff for U.S. 27 North, downtown Chattanooga. From 27 North take the 4th Street exit, within sight of the Tennessee Aquarium. Go right on 4th St. (you have no choice) and follow it for ca. 1 mile. Go past the UTC Arena, after which E. 4th St. becomes part of E. 3rd St. After that, take the second right on Palmetto St. Go two blocks and turn right on Vine St. (just past the EMCS Building.) Just before the place where Vine St. is blocked off, the parking lot for Grote and Holt Halls is on the right. Enter Grote by the door next to the dumpster.

From Knoxville and points north -- take I-75 to Chattanooga, then I-24 West; directions from there same as above.

From Nashville and points west/north: Take I-24 east to Chattanooga. As you round Moccasin Bend (freeway goes alongside river) watch for two exit lanes on the right; take the less rightward of the two, which will have signs above it for U.S. 27 N. Rest of directions are the same as above.

From Birmingham and points southwest: Take I-59 to the outskirts of Chattanooga, where it dead-ends into I-24. Get on I-24 East and follow the Nashville directions from there.

MIRRORS/PACKET SWAPPING/FREELANCING:
If you are interested in mirroring, swapping packets with, or freelancing for Muck Masters, please e-mail me.

[Kilby]

Here’s a short update on which teams have registered for UTC’s Muck Masters trash tournament on August 19, 2006:

Jefferson State (Green)
Jefferson State (Red)
Joseph Dion / Seth Kendall / Wally Edmondson
Mississippi State

Also, I’m happy to announce that Anthony Bush has volunteered to run the music round.

As a reminder, if your team plans on playing WITHOUT writing a packet, you must notify me by Friday evening (send an e-mail to muckmasters [at] gmail [dot] com).

If you want to play and submit a packet, there is still plenty of time to do that (but please get the packet to me soon for both my sake and your wallet’s sake).

[Your Genial Quizmaster]

Apologies in advance for the dreaded cross-posting...

As you probably know already, UTC is hosting two open quizbowl tournaments in mid-August -- Muck Masters (trash) on Sat. 8/19 and Moc Masters (academic) 8/20. As of tonight we're expecting nine teams for Muck Masters and eight for Moc Masters. The fields as we have them so far are printed below. But first, these words...

While I will be administering the tournaments that weekend, I am *not* the key contact for packets and other details in the meantime. This is for two reasons: (a) I'm not spearheading the editing teams this time, and (b) after tonight I will be out of town and away from e-mail through Sun. 8/13. So please, PLEASE, if you have packets or registration or just need information, contact:

Muck Masters: muckmasters [at] gmail [dot] com
Moc Masters: utcacfediting [at] gmail [dot] com

Please let us know at the listed addresses if there are any corrections, or if you're interested in late entry, free agent status, etc. If you think of it, cc: me as well, but that's not necessary.

Here are the fields expected for each tournament to date:

MUCK MASTERS (trash tournament Sat. 8/19)
Arlo Lyle / Mike Staley et al.
Cave Spring High School (VA)
Joseph Dion / Seth Kendall / Wally Edmondson / Anthony Bush
Mississippi State
UGA Alums
Jefferson State CC Green (AL)
Jefferson State CC Red (AL)
Fort Payne High School (AL)
Chris Hendry / Al Przygocki / Michael Kearney / Megan Clancy

MOC MASTERS (academic tournament Sun. 8/20)
Jefferson State Red
Jefferson State Green
Fort Payne HS
Mississippi State
Billy Beyer
South Florida
Valencia (Chip Thomas et al.)
UTC

[Kilby]

Congratulations to Widespread Panic at the Disconan O'Brien (Joseph Dion, Anthony Bush, Seth Kendall, and Wally Edmondson) on winning the 2006 edition of Muck Masters. Second place went to the Fat Gay Jews (Dren Rollins, Mark Franklin, Robin Richards, Jad Johnson), third place went to Dr. Strange, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Occult (Michael Kearney, Al Przygoki, Chris Hendry, and Megan Clancy), and fourth place went to Snakes on a Motherfuckin' Trash Team (David Moore, Steve Taylor, and Jacob Vannucci). The tournament MVP was Dren Rollins of the Fat Gay Jews.

Thanks first of all to Charlie for handling tournament logistics. Thanks to all those who moderated, kept stats, and the like: UTC's Shannon Edmondson, Ruth Jackson, and Nikki Poarch, UTC alum Rachel Moore, and Jefferson State's Lucy Lewis. Thanks also to Nathan Bragg, Jack Brounstein, Mark Coen for providing questions (if you haven't played the set, you can play it at Boston University's mirror on September 16). Questions will be available for purchase after the Boston mirror. Also, thanks to Anthony Bush for providing a music round (which was won by yours truly with Chris Hendry taking the runner-up spot... I can't remember the results after that, so my apologies).

Full details and stats are available here:
http://www.terminallytrivial.com/quizbowl/muck06.htm

Thanks again to everyone who came. We hope to see you all at our Foghat mirror (Big Lots Clearance Open on Sunday, October 22), TrashMasters (date TBA, but likely the first weekend of December or around that time), or both!

[Matt Weiner]

For whatever purpose anyone might want to use this: If you crunch those numbers, it shows that the average game had 14.3 tossups answered out of twenty (and thus, that half the games probably had MORE than six dead tossups).

[barnacles]

I'm not sure how you calculated those numbers, but it would also be worth noting that the numbers you used were probably skewed because the high school team there only showed up for half of the day, leaving the rest of their games as forfeits and, I'm sure, skewing the numbers a bit (you can see they lost seven games but only had 1095 points scored against them with an average difference of -102.50 and a bonus conversion of 19). The fact that four of the nine teams were at their first trash tournament probably didn't help the numbers either.

This was definitely not an overly difficult set and was quite enjoyable, which I think is evident from the points scored by the top half of the bracket. Kilby did a great job once again.

[Matt Weiner]

Thanks for the correction.

Reducing games played for Vestavia from 8 to 4, the actual number of tossups answered per game was 13.8.

[NotBhan]

Thanks for the correction.

Reducing games played for Vestavia from 8 to 4, the actual number of tossups answered per game was 13.8.

Not that I want to get involved in this, but how'd that happen? If the number of tossups heard is reduced by 80 ... maybe there's a logical reason why that would reduce the tossups answered per game stat, but I'm not seeing it.

--Raj Dhuwalia, presumably not the only one with this question

[Matt Weiner]

You're right, it makes the byzantine calculations needed virtually impossible without knowing which teams were involved in the forfeits (all you can say is that if you assume EVERY team did all their scoring in only 7 games, which of course is more optimistic than is the case, it brings total tossups converted per game up to 16.) Perhaps stats should have been posted in SQBS so that such things could be determined with precision...

[Kilby]

Here are the stats you need to figure this (I believe no game went into overtime, so each game had 20 toss-ups):

TU Answered Per Team:
Panic: 97
FGJ: 81
Dr. S: 87
Snakes: 75
Manage: 70
Nerd: 30
PETA: 22
Vest: 10
Steel: 13

Total TU Answered: 485
Games Played: 32
Total TU Heard: 640
% Answered: 75.8%
TU Answered Per 20: 15.2

So the initial calculations of ~14 TU Answered Per 20 are incorrect. The percentage of toss-ups answered was a bit low, but the important thing to note is that we had a number of inexperienced teams. Three of the teams were attending their first trash tournament and a fourth was coming to their second. To demonstrate the effect this had, look what happens to the numbers when these teams are removed and only the games that took place between the top five are counted:

TU Answered Per Team:
Panic: 46
FGJ: 43
Strange: 34
Snakes: 30
Manage: 26

Total TU Answered: 179
Games Played: 10
Total TU Heard: 200
% Answered: 89.5%
TU Answered Per 20: 17.9

For a masters tournament that allowed players to send in a few questions that were of very high difficulty and given the large number of inexperienced teams, I don't think these numbers are detestable.

[Matt Weiner]

Alright, I'll bite.

My original intention was to use the well-known issue of trash tournaments in general, and UTC tournaments in particular, not really caring about overly hard tossups as an angle by which to remind you guys that there's just no reason not to use SQBS. But now I have to take exception to some of your statements. Knowing that half of your field was first-time players, why not adjust difficulty accordingly? Shouldn't difficulty reflect the field? What kind of answer is "it was good enough for the best teams, who cares about the other teams?" Isn't that the sort of elitist attitude that trash proponents claim to dislike? Why did a team leave after four rounds, anyway? Did it have something to do with the shower of dead tossups?

[Kilby]

SQBS is not my decision, but as far as the questions...

Knowing that half of your field was first-time players, why not adjust difficulty accordingly? Shouldn't difficulty reflect the field? What kind of answer is "it was good enough for the best teams, who cares about the other teams?" Isn't that the sort of elitist attitude that trash proponents claim to dislike?

In that case, if half the field at ACF Nationals was made-up of first-time teams, should the questions be brought down to an ACF Fall level even if all the powerhouse teams were going to be there? In that case, it wouldn't be fair to the teams that worked really hard to make it to the top of the game only to find questions that didn't challenge them.

The tournament was clearly advertised as a tournament with above-average difficulty. In my contact with first-time teams, they all said they understood this and mainly wanted to come because it was an affordable tournament (only two teams at the whole tournament paid more than $40 to play) and they wanted to see good teams play on difficult questions.

If you want to accuse me of being "elitist," I would refer you to the RC Cola set that I edited earlier this year. That was probably the easiest set of trash questions to come out in some time. I took a lot of flak from the veteran teams for doing that, but the more inexperienced teams loved it. I'd also like to point out that I personally sent an e-mail to all the teams who attended offering feedback on their packets (at present three teams have requested).

Why did a team leave after four rounds, anyway? Did it have something to do with the shower of dead tossups?

The team was a high school team and, from what I understand, they had only planned on the day lasting until around noon. They didn't know that at the collegiate level and at trash tournaments, the days are expected to last until late afternoon/early evening.

[First Chairman]

It should also be noted, there is the delayed mirror in about a month. I don't know about the difficulty of field there, but I would hope that the stats from there may reflect more "access."

[Scipio]

Winston Churchill wrote:

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.

[Your Genial Quizmaster]

Congratulations to Widespread Panic at the Disconan O'Brien (Anthony Bush, Joseph Dion, Wally Edmondson, Seth Kendall), winners of the 2006 Muck Masters trash tournament at UT-Chattanooga on 8/19/06. Fat Gay Jews (Mark Franklin, Jad Johnson, Robin Richards, Dren Rollins) finished second. Dr. Strange, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Occult (Megan Clancy, Chris Hendry, Michael Kearney, Al Przygocki) took third, snapping an impressive three-tournament winning streak at UTC trashfests.

Special thanks go to John Kilby for his yeoperson service as sole editor and prize shopper. Thanks also to the folks at Boston U. and other freelance contributors, and to our tournament staff: Ruth Jackson, Nikki Poarch, Shannon Edmondson, Rachel Moore, Ashley Rousselle, Jimmy Beilstein, special guest reader Lucy Lewis, and whoever I'm forgetting.

As always, we do welcome constructive criticism or suggestions for future events. (A personal aside: I find constructive criticism more relevant when it comes from those who were present at the tournament and/or have heard or read the final version of the questions. Still, anyone else is welcome to chime in as they see fit. I will address the SQBS issue briefly. We have no quarrel with SQBS, but the UTC computer system does. It treats our CD as a security problem and will not let us run it on their equipment. We have run SQBS -- when the one volunteer we have who is familiar with it brought his own computer. We have tentative plans to buy a laptop for team use in the near future, at which point we may switch to SQBS. On the other hand, some of our volunteer statskeepers are more comfortable with the old Excel method, and I see no harm in deferring to their preference when they're doing the work.)

After Sept. 16, question sets will be available for trade, or for purchase for only $10. As a reminder for those who were present at Muck Masters: The questions will also be used for a mirror tournament in Boston on Sept. 16, so please don't post anything publicly that would reveal any answers till then.

TEAM RESULTS
Team Name Win - Loss Points Opp Pts Diff/GM
Widespread Panic at the Disconan O'Brien 8 - 0 2926 575 293.88
Fat Gay Jews 7 - 1 2270 940 166.25
Dr. Strange, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Occult 6 - 2 2505 1125 172.50
Snakes on a M___f___ Trash Team 5 - 3 1726 1400 40.75
Under New Management 4 - 4 1760 1346 51.75
Log Base Nerd X 3 - 5 595 1971 -172.00
Pieta Pita PETA 2 - 6 450 2140 -211.25
Vestavia 1 - 7 275 1095 -102.50
Steel City Slugs 0 - 8 150 2065 -239.38

SPECIAL RECOGNITION
The John Drennen Wiley Rollins Award for Outstanding Achievement in Buzzer Aggression was shared by Alex Rice and Paul Kimbrough.
Title IX All-Star went to Gwen Mitchell.
Rookie of the Year was Brandon Hollingsworth.

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Player Team 10 -5 Points Rounds PPG
Bruce Villanch/ Dren Rollins Fat Gay Jews 27 5 245 4 61.25
Lying is the most fun a girl can have.../ Joseph Dion Widespread... 36 7 325 7 46.43
L A Houser/Anthony Bush Widespread... 34 7 305 7 43.57
Dr Strange/Mike Kearney Dr. Strange... 34 6 310 8 38.75
Harvey Fierstein/ Mark Franklin Fat Gay Jews 27 5 245 7 35.00
Kenan/ David Moore Snakes... 30 5 275 8 34.38
John Foster Dulles/Brandon Hollingsworth Log Base Nerd X 17 2 160 5 32.00
Dr Orpheus/Al Przygocki Dr. Strange... 27 4 250 8 31.25
Mike Staley Under New Mgmt. 24 3 225 8 28.12
Isaac Mizrahi/ robin richards Fat Gay Jews 21 3 195 7 27.86
Guy Sitting next to Nurse Hathaway/Steve Taylor Snakes... 25 9 205 8 25.63
Merkin Muff/Chris Hendry Dr. Strange... 22 3 205 8 25.62
Agent Flynn/ Jacob V. Snakes... 20 3 185 8 23.12
Amazon/ Gwen Mitchell Vestavia 5 1 45 2 22.50
Seth Kendall Widespread... 17 3 155 7 22.14
Arlo Lyle Under New Mgmt. 19 4 170 8 21.25
Alex Rice Under New Mgmt. 19 11 135 8 16.88
Wally Edmondson Widespread... 10 0 100 7 14.29
Background/Paul Kimbrough Miss. St. 15 11 95 7 13.57
Sea Biscuit/ Ray Zakary Vestavia 1 0 10 1 10.00
Matt Hicks Under New Mgmt. 8 0 80 8 10.00
Mick Jagger/Harry Nelson Miss. St. 6 3 45 5 9.00
Nell Carter/ Jad Johnson Fat Gay Jews 6 1 55 7 7.86
Stacy Heckathorn Log Base Nerd X 7 4 50 7 7.14
Eric Schulz Steel City Slugs 5 2 40 7 5.71
Brian Fontana/ T.C. McLemore Vestavia 3 2 20 4 5.00
Brandon Sharp Log Base Nerd X 3 1 25 5 5.00
Zatanna/Megan Clancy Dr. Strange... 4 0 40 8 5.00
The Black Knight/ Jeremy Zakary Vestavia 1 0 10 2 5.00
Tommy/Miles Wilcott Steel City Slugs 4 2 30 7 4.29
Emily Limbaugh Log Base Nerd X 2 0 20 6 3.33
Aquaman/Matt Kettleman Miss. St. 1 0 10 5 2.00
Brett/Samuel Turner Steel City Slugs 3 4 10 8 1.25
Porky/ Anna Chambers Vestavia 0 0 0 3 0.00
The Sofa King/ Seth Buckles Vestavia 0 0 0 1 0.00
Stephen Stokes/ Stephen Stack Vestavia 0 0 0 1 0.00
Robin Delawder Steel City Slugs 1 2 0 8 0.00
Jenn Vanderslice Log Base Nerd X 1 5 -15 5 -3.00

[Matt Weiner]

A personal aside: I find constructive criticism more relevant when it comes from those who were present at the tournament and/or have heard or read the final version of the questions.

Yeah, yeah. Don't complain if you weren't there, but if you don't like it, just don't go. I.e., don't ever complain about anything ever. We've been here before.

More constructively (?), my curiosity remains piqued by the high bonus conversion paired with the low tossup conversion at this tournament. I'm interested in finding out how common that is as well as where 15 tossups answered per game fits compared to other tournaments. Emboldened by some recent reading on sabermetrics, I'm currently embarking on some extensive analysis of tournament statistics from the last year to provide answers to all the questions about what is to be expected, difficulty-wise, from a quizbowl tournament.

I'll post the full report here once I'm done and we'll see who else cares. I, at least, will expect to have some more solid information on just where a particular tournament I choose to criticize really stands against common quizbowl practice.

[Skepticism and Animal Feed]

Matt,

If I've noticed this after just 2 years in collegiate quizbowl, you should have noticed it by now too, but teams leaving early at quizbowl tournaments, especially if

a) They are really young or inexperienced; and
b) They are getting slaughtered

is not uncommon at all, and it does not seem to be caused by question quality, as it happens even at ACF tournaments.

[Captain Sinico]

...teams leaving early at quizbowl tournaments... is not uncommon at all...

I'd say that's actually pretty inaccurate. I've found this practice to be uncommon (as well it should be.) I've only experienced it once (IIT at FUCT 2002) and heard of its having happened perhaps 4 other times.

MaS

[Skepticism and Animal Feed]

...teams leaving early at quizbowl tournaments... is not uncommon at all...

I'd say that's actually pretty inaccurate. I've found this practice to be uncommon (as well it should be.) I've only experienced it once (IIT at FUCT 2002) and heard of its having happened perhaps 4 other times.

MaS

Didn't Rose-Hulman leave early at ACF Fall 2004 at UIUC?

Then there's Athens State at ACF Nationals, and one of the Chicago teams at ACF Fall 2005.