East TN End-Of-Summer Academic Party at Tusculum, 08-04-2018

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East TN End-Of-Summer Academic Party at Tusculum, 08-04-2018

Post by ShorterPearson »

This is your formal announcement of the East Tennessee End-Of-Summer Academic Party, to be held the morning and early afternoon of Saturday, August 4, 2018 at the still-with-that-new-building-smell Meen Center on the campus of the newly-christened Tusculum University in Greeneville, Tennessee.

Let me see if I can remember how to do this properly...

ETEOSAP will be a SHORT academic tournament using the PACE NSC-like Great Lakes Regional Academic Championship (GLRAC) set. It's NOT a full Saturday; we'll promise every team that wants them five games, and we'll try to get you all seven that are in the set. This field will be open; all comers are welcome, whether a high school or college team working up for the new season or a team of old farts like me. If there's more than a little bit of interest, we'll try to do some power-matching with the schedule so that you're playing games with teams on the same level as soon in the tournament as possible.

Fair warning: GLRAC played VERY difficult for a high school set; the results from the Case-Western implementation of it are here, and the top bonus-conversion rate of 13 PPB in a tournament that featured Detroit Central Catholic should tell you what you need to know.

(The above colored out because the TD is a dope and can't correctly interpret a SQBS report including bouncebacks, leading me to believe that a field including DCC A maxed out at 13 points per bonus while they were maxing at 13 points per BOUNCEBACK. 22 PPB is FAR healthier. Still will be a taxing set, though.)

(Also note: we're not playing bouncebacks, I'm not going to risk readers messing bouncebacks up.)

And because a brutal academic morning requires proper detox, we're pairing this Academic Party with a Trash Free-For-All, a singles shootout scheduled for that afternoon.

Your base fee is $15 a head. A full team of four players can play for $50; smaller teams play for the per-head price. We'll assign a maximum of two discounts per team, or one per individual, for buzzers (-$5) or staffers (-$5). We'll also let you have a break on fees for the trash if you play both.

Your tournament director is general-purpose East Tennessee quizbowl flunky Chuck Pearson, who has done this before but still isn't very good at it.

Hit up the registration form to get yourself or your team in the field.

More news forthcoming.

pearson
Last edited by ShorterPearson on Mon Jul 02, 2018 8:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Chuck Pearson
East Tennessee/Southwest Virginia quiz bowl flunky (and that won't change)
Vice President of Outreach (2018-2019), PACE (seriously, what even)
Associate Professor of Natural Science, Tusculum University (coming soon to a collegiate tournament in the Mid-South)
[email protected], @ShorterPearson where relevant
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Re: East TN End-Of-Summer Academic Party at Tusculum, 08-04-

Post by ShorterPearson »

I will stall on a full field report until I have more in the registration, but I can confirm that there are two official registrants and significant additional interest, which isn't bad for this announcement not even having been up for 48 hours.
Chuck Pearson
East Tennessee/Southwest Virginia quiz bowl flunky (and that won't change)
Vice President of Outreach (2018-2019), PACE (seriously, what even)
Associate Professor of Natural Science, Tusculum University (coming soon to a collegiate tournament in the Mid-South)
[email protected], @ShorterPearson where relevant
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Re: East TN End-Of-Summer Academic Party at Tusculum, 08-04-

Post by Scipio »

Having just been given permission to do this: I would like to arrange Historature, imaginary landscape, or both during this weekend.
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Re: East TN End-Of-Summer Academic Party at Tusculum, 08-04-

Post by Tippy Martinez »

Just a note about the set: I don’t think it’s quite as hard as you are making it out to be. DCC got 13 points per bounceback, while putting up a quite good 22 PPB
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Re: East TN End-Of-Summer Academic Party at Tusculum, 08-04-

Post by ShorterPearson »

oh hai

it me, @ShorterPearson

I can’t read SQBS reports with bouncebacks

will edit appropriately

pearson [see, I do not claim to be good at this]
Chuck Pearson
East Tennessee/Southwest Virginia quiz bowl flunky (and that won't change)
Vice President of Outreach (2018-2019), PACE (seriously, what even)
Associate Professor of Natural Science, Tusculum University (coming soon to a collegiate tournament in the Mid-South)
[email protected], @ShorterPearson where relevant
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Re: East TN End-Of-Summer Academic Party at Tusculum, 08-04-

Post by ShorterPearson »

We do have a field, for the record!

Registered teams committed:
Kendall et al. (Seth Kendall, see)
Fulghum et al. (Knoxville-area-ish?)
Blankenship et al. (Four Folks From Kentucky)

Registered free agents commtted:
Mark Morris
Dargan Ware

Interested:
Individuals along the general ETSU/Gate City/UVa-Wise axis

More news as events warrant.
Chuck Pearson
East Tennessee/Southwest Virginia quiz bowl flunky (and that won't change)
Vice President of Outreach (2018-2019), PACE (seriously, what even)
Associate Professor of Natural Science, Tusculum University (coming soon to a collegiate tournament in the Mid-South)
[email protected], @ShorterPearson where relevant
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Re: East TN End-Of-Summer Academic Party at Tusculum, 08-04-

Post by Scipio »

So, at the risk of being an irritant:

I have been endeavoring to set up some additional events for this weekend (although not to run them myself, as I want to play in them); Pearson has basically countenanced this, so I'm not usurping. My thought was for Historature and/or Imaginary Landscapes. However, it occurs to me that I don't know if any other attendees would want to play these. If any of the same are reading: would you?
Seth Lyons Kendall
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Re: East TN End-Of-Summer Academic Party at Tusculum, 08-04-

Post by ShorterPearson »

Updates!

The following are COMMITTED teams:
Kendall et al. (because Seth Kendall)
Fulghum et al. (Cedar Springs Homeschool alums and others, Knoxville-area)
Blankenship et al. (Four Folks From Kentucky)
Darnell et al. (Gate City *current players*)
SUPER SECRET ADDITION (so secret I am currently still confirming their identity)

The following are COMMITTED free agents:
Mark Morris
Dargan Ware
Andrew Helton

Still interest as far north as Honaker and as far south as...um, Greeneville, and not me? This should be interesting!

I'll make sure teams know how we're billing for this as soon as I make sure I know how I'm taking in the funds. Please know that any money we get supports the development of Tusculum's program and will enhance our ability to do other bits of foolishness. If you were to pay more than you're billed, I will put it to good use. Thank you for your support.

I'm still working on formats for the scheduling. I will promise all teams five rounds of academic, and I'll do my best to make it six. If we hit seven or eight teams, it becomes (respectively) six rounds with a bye or seven rounds, without playoffs and with super-well-defined tiebreakers (i.e., CONVERT YOUR DANG BONUSES). I don't think we'll get over eight teams no matter who else comes into the field, but I'm not gonna turn folks away either.

For those who join in for the trash: that will be at least three rounds of 30 questions each, singles, shoot-out style with the capacity to "buzz out" if 10 tossups are claimed in the round (a la the IPNCT format). The top eight by points-per-tossup-heard will advance to a final.

Seth Kendall has asked a question about side events; I'm personally interested in Historature, although time is getting short for planning how we'd do such a thing. If you're interested, throw in SOON. I might even scramble together a music game for the afternoon if there are interested parties (from people other than Alex Tabor).

Keep me posted if questions emerge. This is my first event since those PACE folks saw fit to elect me Vice President of Outreach. I'm feeling no pressure. None whatsoever.

[sheldon paper bag dot gif]

chuck
Chuck Pearson
East Tennessee/Southwest Virginia quiz bowl flunky (and that won't change)
Vice President of Outreach (2018-2019), PACE (seriously, what even)
Associate Professor of Natural Science, Tusculum University (coming soon to a collegiate tournament in the Mid-South)
[email protected], @ShorterPearson where relevant
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Re: East TN End-Of-Summer Academic Party at Tusculum, 08-04-

Post by ShorterPearson »

IDENTITY CONFIRMED:

The mystery team above is Hugenin et al (Wise County Central alums, apparently playing as "Chucky P & The Boyz")
(no points awarded for team names that suck up, possibly points deducted for the blatant misspelling of my name)
Chuck Pearson
East Tennessee/Southwest Virginia quiz bowl flunky (and that won't change)
Vice President of Outreach (2018-2019), PACE (seriously, what even)
Associate Professor of Natural Science, Tusculum University (coming soon to a collegiate tournament in the Mid-South)
[email protected], @ShorterPearson where relevant
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Re: East TN End-Of-Summer Academic Party at Tusculum, 08-04-

Post by ShorterPearson »

FINAL FIELD UPDATE FOR THE ACADEMIC PARTY AND TRASH FREE-FOR-ALL:

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Hey, Charlie Steinhice taught me to make schedules for n-2 to n+2 teams, and buddy, we are REALLY close to that window now, with an n = 5.

If anybody has a weird head to play academic tomorrow and has had plans fall through for your Saturday, get to the Tusculum University campus (put "60 Shiloh Road, Greeneville TN" into your GPS) between 800 and 830 AM. We will almost certainly be able to get you into the field and promise you at least five games, hopefully six, maybe as many as seven.

If anybody has a weird head to play "sports and entertainment" trash singles tomorrow, get to the Tusculum University campus roughly between 200 and 300 PM. We will almost certainly be able to get you into the field and get you 90 tossups in three rounds of 30, and if you score right, you can play off on a final round of 30.

Music game...will happen if I get everything else right because LOLOLOLOL

Just come, y'all. It's a party. We're even welcoming party crashers at this point.

chuck
Chuck Pearson
East Tennessee/Southwest Virginia quiz bowl flunky (and that won't change)
Vice President of Outreach (2018-2019), PACE (seriously, what even)
Associate Professor of Natural Science, Tusculum University (coming soon to a collegiate tournament in the Mid-South)
[email protected], @ShorterPearson where relevant
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Re: East TN End-Of-Summer Academic Party at Tusculum, 08-04-

Post by ShorterPearson »

(I'm only writing up one of these for both events. As a certain hero of mine would once say, apologies for the inevitable cross-posting.)

Congratulations to Ware "et al.", in the person of Dargan Ware, for his flawless comeback victory over Kendall "et al.", in the person of Seth Kendall, at the first ever East Tennessee End-Of-Summer Academic Party at Tusculum today. Congratulations to Erskine Thompson for his victory in the corresponding Trash Singles Free-For-All, and to Seth Kendall for lording his music knowledge over the field in the first-ever edition of the Air Guitar Hero music game.

Ware and Kendall playing solo both bested a very game field of teams-of-four from East Tennessee Spicy University (because the "S" doesn't REALLY stand for "State"), from greater Knoxville (who took the name of Tyler Fulghum's "Digital Underground T-Shirt"), and Gate City Generations (featuring current Gate City HS players and alums) on a difficult set courtesy of the Case Western team's Great Lakes Regional Academic Championship. Kendall swept the morning round-robin; in an advantaged final, Ware eliminated the advantage in style and won decisively. ETSU took third in a very experimental three-way playoff that the tournament director inflicted upon unsuspecting staffers.

In the equally experimental singles format, using the National Sports and Entertainment Bowl questions (thank you to Robin J Richards for quality service), Ware, Kendall, and Thompson all played spectacularly in preliminary stages, hitting 80 points and "buzzing out" of all three preliminary rounds. In the final, however, taking a nod from an old ACE Camp format and playing a game where the fourth neg eliminated the player AND their points, Ware and Thompson battled spectacularly throughtout, with Ware "negging out" on the very last question. This allowed Noah Lyons of ETSU, who was not one of the top qualifiers, to squeak second place with some strong buzzes over Kendall, who finished 3rd.

The music game was an absolute monster, probably the hardest thing about the day which tested the whole field, and quite possibly will only be mentioned again by Kendall, who won both the preliminary and the finals in dominant fashion. Erskine Thompson shocked himself placing second, and late entry Alex Tabor didn't get to eat at the new campus Chick-Fil-A but did ride finish 3rd.

---

The runup to the day was utter chaos, and I missed getting to see a LOT of people for one reason or another. (And the day itself stayed hectic and I took NONE of the customary selfies!)

There were a host of people who I owe a mammoth debt for this tiny little work in building our circuit.

Chyann Perry and Melanie Spencer were among the first to arrive and were absolutely the last to leave. Their support over this particular season especially has meant the world to me, and especially Chyann's willingness to throw in and help and see all the crazy ways this game she plays in high school happens at every level has been a total breath of fresh air. The relationships with families sustains so much.

All of the Gate City families who support their people - the Dotson family, the Helton family, and beyond - they make the work I do so gratifying. I keep telling folks about the wonder of Gate City. Eventually, enough of you are going to see them that you'll believe me. Thanks to them all. (Thanks to Mama Helton for the late scorekeeping assist.)

Alex Tabor may have had to work, but he showed up and I tossed him right into a room and said "hey, read the last trash prelim" and he was there for it. Thanks as always to Alex, the absolute best of who we are in Southwest Virginia. And to Breanna Moles as well, for all her love and support.

John Brown has wanted to help with something like this for the longest time, and I put him to work today. He reached the point of running his room solo before all was done, and he worked like the champ he is. I was happy to give him his last big quizbowl day out before his arrival on the grounds at the University of Virginia, and I was happy he wanted to spend that day working for us. All love, brother.

And last but never least, I'm sure we both agree that Stacy Thompson deserves all the credit for supporting her husband in all of his work in this game, but there is nothing on the planet like getting to work alongside the Partner in Crime, Erskine Thompson of Lindale, Georgia [1]. The lengths he has gone in support of me in these bits of foolishness has been amazing and wonderful and I pray all of you have a friend as faithful.

Too many people who wanted to be here for the first ETEOSAP had to miss out for reasons far, far beyond anyone's control. We'll go all-out to make a Second Annual happen. Thanks and love to you all.


[1] as Erskine reminds me, he's officially of Rome, Georgia now, but he will always be Erskine Thompson of Lindale, Georgia in my heart
Chuck Pearson
East Tennessee/Southwest Virginia quiz bowl flunky (and that won't change)
Vice President of Outreach (2018-2019), PACE (seriously, what even)
Associate Professor of Natural Science, Tusculum University (coming soon to a collegiate tournament in the Mid-South)
[email protected], @ShorterPearson where relevant
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