ACF Nationals 2012: April 21 & 22 at Maryland

[Matt Weiner]

ACF Nationals this year will be held at the University of Maryland in colorful College Park, Maryland. The tournament will last all day on Saturday, April 21 and conclude on the morning of Sunday, April 22.

Jonathan Magin will be the head editor of this tournament and will post information on packet submission shortly.

I will be Tournament Director. I will guarantee a fully staffed, efficiently run tournament with a sensible format that remembers to award the Undergraduate and Division II trophies.

Information on hotels and such is to follow. If you have any questions about the logistics of ACF Nationals that you need answered right now, feel free to post here or e-mail me at mattweiner.vcu@gmail.com. I'm looking forward to a healthy field and a great event.

Jonathan Magin will be taking registrations for the tournament, so if you want to sign up before you hand your packet in, contact him at jonathan.magin@gmail.com.

[magin]

Here’s the fee schedule and distribution for this year’s ACF Nationals. Guidelines for who is eligible to play ACF tournaments and packet submission can be found here: ACF Packet Submission Guidelines

Fee schedule:

Base fee: $220
-$100 discount: January 23
-$50 discount: February 6
-$25 discount: February 20
No penalty: March 6
+$25 penalty: March 13
+$50 penalty: March 20

NOTE: No packets will be accepted later than two weeks before the tournament!

I don't know how to make this any clearer. After the $50 deadline, you will owe us $10/day; if you cannot turn in a packet more than two weeks in advance of ACF Nationals, you will not be playing ACF Nationals. This is a hard and fast deadline and there will be no exceptions.

This year, I’d also like to announce a 50 dollar discount for teams who write at least 20/20 that doesn’t need any major editing and submit their packet by the no penalty deadline. By major editing, I mean things like having to change many of the clues and/or answerlines and having to fix many grammatical errors.

I would much rather give out lots of hefty discounts for excellent early packets than rake in money for late ones, so please take advantage of them.

Distribution:

5/5 Literature: This includes 1/1 American, 1/1 British, 1/1 European, 1/1 World, and 1/1 Other (which can include any of the preceding categories). Please vary your questions by time, place, and genre (for instance, please don’t submit 5/5 on French literature or 5/5 poetry).

5/5 History: This includes 1/1 American, 2/2 European, 1/1 World, and 1/1 Other (which can include any of the preceding categories). Please make sure that your questions aren’t all from the same time period or place and aren’t all one type of history (for instance, try not to submit 5/5 political history or 5/5 military history).

5/5 Science: This includes 1/1 Biology, 1/1 Chemistry, 1/1 Physics, and 2/2 Other Science (including areas like Astronomy, Earth Science, Math, and Computer Science). Please don’t write two questions about the same scientific subdistribution.

3/3 Arts: This includes 1/1 Painting, 1/1 Classical Music, and 1/1 Other (including Architecture, Sculpture, Opera, Jazz, Ballet/Dance, Art Film, and Photography). Please vary your questions by time, place, and genre.

3/3 RMP: This includes 1/1 Religion, 1/1 Mythology, and 1/1 Philosophy. Please do not write both religion questions on the same religion or both mythology questions on the same myth system.

1/1 Social Science: This includes Psychology, Economics, Anthropology, Sociology, Linguistics, and Social Criticism. Please write your tossup and bonus on different areas of social science.

1/1 Geography/Current Events: These questions should be about different parts of the world. Geography questions that incorporate cultural and environmental clues instead of purely discussing physical features are particularly welcome.

1/1 Other Academic: This includes questions from every preceding category, as well as answers that don’t quite fit into any of the preceding categories.

Keep in mind that ACF Nationals does not have trash; if you submit any trash questions, they will simply be sent back.

To reiterate, please vary the distribution of your questions. Last year, we had teams submit packets with both chemistry questions about the same narrow area, to present one example, and it would prevent many headaches if you make sure your questions are reasonably distributed. Also, please remember that while the goal of ACF Nationals is to determine the best team in the nation, writing primarily about extremely difficult topics is not the best way to achieve this, so please try to keep your fellow players in mind while choosing your answer lines.

This announcement comes with ample time for everyone to start writing their Nationals packets and submit them as early as possible. We want to give you every opportunity to save money on this fantastic event and save us the trouble of having to edit a bunch of packets at the last minute. You should avail yourself of this chance posthaste.

All packets should be sent to jonathan.magin@gmail.com. If you have any questions about packet writing, you can send them to that email address also. Start writing!

[fourplustwo]

What time in the morning would the tournament start on Saturday?


Also, to those from Maryland, how long would the taxi right from Dulles to the tournament take on a Saturday Morning (8amish)?

[pray for elves]

What time in the morning would the tournament start on Saturday?


Also, to those from Maryland, how long would the taxi right from Dulles to the tournament take on a Saturday Morning (8amish)?

Dulles to College Park would be a very, very expensive cab ride. Think $80. It'd take close to an hour. I'd recommend flying somewhere other than Dulles if it's possible, or rent a car if you must. It'd be cheaper than that taxi ride.

[Matt Weiner]

What time in the morning would the tournament start on Saturday?


Also, to those from Maryland, how long would the taxi right from Dulles to the tournament take on a Saturday Morning (8amish)?

I anticipate registration starting at 8 AM as per usual. Evan is correct about Dulles and a taxi not mixing. The closest airport is BWI, which would have more affordable taxis as well as several public transportation options. I'll post a full travel guide soon.

[Cheynem]

I will attest to the expensiveness of the Dulles to College Park taxi, although it wasn't that bad when split four ways. And the taxi driver was suitably unimpressed with the mention of "academic competition."

[magin]

It's also fairly convenient for teams flying in Friday night to land at National airport in DC and take the metro to College Park.

[Mike Bentley]

It's also fairly convenient for teams flying in Friday night to land at National airport in DC and take the metro to College Park.

Yeah, this is the easiest way to get to College Park from an airport in my opinion.

[Transparent Pudding]

It's also fairly convenient for teams flying in Friday night to land at National airport in DC and take the metro to College Park.

Yeah, this is the easiest way to get to College Park from an airport in my opinion.

The Metrobus from BWI to Greenbelt is not a bad second option, though neither it nor the Metro run terribly early, so it's really only useful if you're staying that Friday night.

[Standard-winged Nightjar]

I can both staff this and give people rides to and from airports.

[Matt Weiner]

Jonathan Magin will be taking registrations for the tournament, so if you want to sign up before you hand your packet in, contact him at jonathan.magin@gmail.com.

[magin]

The following schools have submitted packets by the -100 dollar deadline:

-100 deadline:
Minnesota
Carleton
Yale A
Yale B
VCU
UCSD

-50 deadline:
Northwestern

-25 deadline:
Dartmouth
South Carolina

No penalty deadline:
Michigan A
Alabama
Penn

+25 deadline:
Illinois
Rutgers
Virginia A
Harvard

+50 deadline:
Haverford
Columbia
Virginia B
George Mason
Ohio State
Chicago C
Chicago B

[magin]

Hey, just a reminder:

The packets we've received so far have contained some incredibly hard tossups. Some of them are so difficult that they are not usable. Sure, ACF Nationals is a hard tournament, but again, it's not supposed to be an impossible one. Please try to keep your fellow players in mind when writing your questions, and choose reasonable answers that more than one or two people might know.

Last year's Nationals was widely criticized for being too difficult. I agree, and one of my main goals for this year's Nationals is to keep difficulty in check. If you're not sure about the difficulty of a question you're writing, email me at jonathan.magin@gmail.com and I'll talk to you about it. Submitting super hard tossups is a good way to ensure that those questions will not get used.

[magin]

Here's a brief update:

The -50 dollar packet deadline has passed, with only one team submitting a packet. The next deadline is February 20th for the -25 dollar packet discount; I hope to see many more packets in my inbox by then.

[magin]

As a reminder, the twenty-five dollar discount deadline for submitting your team's packet is February 20th, and is rapidly approaching. I'd love to have a bunch of packets in my inbox, so I encourage you to finish your packet by then and to start writing it if you haven't done so yet.

[magin]

The 25 dollar packet discount deadline has now passed. As a reminder, the no penalty deadline to submit a packet to ACF Nationals is March 6.

[magin]

If you haven't yet registered for ACF Nationals and would like to, please register here: ACF Nationals 2012 Registration

[Matt Weiner]

Remember to e-mail me if you can staff this tournament.

Here is some travel info from the perspective of someone who has traveled to a large number of Maryland tournaments. If any of this is out of date I assume a current Maryland student will be along to correct it:

It's not impossible to walk from the metro station, but it can be a hike especially if the weather is bad. It's a little over a mile from the campus entrance which is in turn about another quarter mile or so from the expected tournament building.

There are all kinds of hotels by nearby metro stops. Overall, the best solution if you really want to avoid a car would be to stay at one of the near-to-campus hotels on Route 1 or the on-campus Marriot, since those are as walkable as the Metro if not more so (usually "more so" since they don't require going uphill) and eliminate a good deal of the cat-herding aspect by simplifying your whole tournament-morning plan to one walking trip and just dealing with getting from the airport to College Park on Friday.

Another good aspect of doing it that way is that there is a free shuttle which runs from the metro stop to the Maryland campus during certain hours. It is intended for Maryland students but I have used it before as they do not check ID. This will be running if you get in at a reasonable time on Friday evening, and thus can be used to get to a College Park hotel more easily, but does not run on Saturday mornings usually so should not be relied upon as part of a staying-elsewhere plan.

Reagan/National has its own Metro stop, and getting from BWI to the Metro system is also fairly easy (there is a commuter train to Union Station, which sits atop Metro Center, and there is also a bus that goes to Greenbelt metro; the latter is more direct/quick a trip if College Park is your final destination, but in my experience the bus has been less easy to find departing when you need it). Do not under any circumstances fly into Dulles unless you are going to rent cars or pay for taxis to the nearest Metro stop or College Park; I suppose there is theoretically some sort of bus running from Dulles to the Virginia side of the metro, but it's quasi-mythical and will only leave you with an additional hour's or so ride on the metro once you even get there, so it is rather pointless to attempt in my opinion.

For those who do plan on driving either to Maryland or from your hotel to the campus, there is ample free parking on-site, and unless this tournament is placed in a very unusual building, it will be right at the door of the actual location of games. Once we're sure which building we're in I will have more info on that. As usual, suggestions on food will be handed out on-site.

Also, for those who have asked, registration on Saturday is expected to start at 8 AM and the tournament will conclude by around 3 PM on Sunday. The 3 PM time may change depending on the final format of the event, which will in turn depend on the number of teams participating, so please do not consider it ironclad and do not do something dumb like book a departure out of Dulles at 4:30.

[DumbJaques]

Any shuttle between campus and the College Park metro should, by university policy, not require ID. If you draw the belligerent lunatic driver who wears the Trapper John, MD hat and he cards you, just ignore him.

Also, though I doubt it will come into play, any Maryland shuttle should accept any current university ID; we have visiting students and professors use them all the time without issue. A friend of mine used his ID from Damascus U and didn't have a problem, so I'd certainly hope Brown or Michigan would be fine.

[magin]

Thanks to all the teams who submitted their packets by yesterday's deadline.

As a reminder, after the $50 deadline, you owe us $10/day; if you cannot turn in a packet more than two weeks in advance of ACF Nationals, you will not be playing ACF Nationals. This is a hard and fast deadline and there will be no exceptions.

There are still a few non-packet exempt registered teams who still need to send in their packets; please send them in as soon as possible.

[Smuttynose Island]

Is the field for this tournament posted anywhere? If not, would it be possible for someone affiliated with the tournament to post such a list? Thanks.

[Susan]

Is the field for this tournament posted anywhere? If not, would it be possible for someone affiliated with the tournament to post such a list? Thanks.

The field for the tournament is all of the teams in Magin's packet-tracking post above, plus Chicago A, WUStL, Maryland, Chicago D, and Rice.

[magin]

We've already spoken privately to the teams who still have to submit packets, but as a reminder:

If your team is required to write a packet and does not submit one by April 7th, you will not play ACF Nationals. Let me be absolutely clear about that.

I sincerely hope to see the remaining packets in my inbox before then.

[CWSYuen]

If one is getting to DC by Friday night, would it be more convenient and cost-efficient to get a hotel in DC and take the metro to College Park in the morn' or to get a hotel in the College Park area?

[Susan]

If one is getting to DC by Friday night, would it be more convenient and cost-efficient to get a hotel in DC and take the metro to College Park in the morn' or to get a hotel in the College Park area?

I think you're going to be a lot better off getting a hotel in College Park, especially since some of the transport options that simplify getting from DC to College Park (like campus shuttles) are not available on Saturday morning. If someone with greater knowledge of the area wants to weigh in, though, that would be great.

Susan

[hangfromthefloor]

If one is getting to DC by Friday night, would it be more convenient and cost-efficient to get a hotel in DC and take the metro to College Park in the morn' or to get a hotel in the College Park area?

I think you're going to be a lot better off getting a hotel in College Park, especially since some of the transport options that simplify getting from DC to College Park (like campus shuttles) are not available on Saturday morning. If someone with greater knowledge of the area wants to weigh in, though, that would be great.

Susan

This weekend, the Metro will be an even more problematic transportation option than usual.

While the College Park station is on the Green Line, nearby stations on the Red Line will be closed for track work starting Friday evening. Train service will be replaced by free, but slow, shuttle buses.

In any case, the College Park Metro shuttle will not start operating until 9 on Saturday morning, as has already been mentioned.

[DumbJaques]

Yeah, Susan's got this covered. There's no real reason I can think of for you to spend the night in the district (which will be far more expensive and far less convenient for Saturday morning travel), unless of course you're planning to attend An Evening of Sophistication with Andray Blatche.

The metro thing sounds unpleasant (and assuredly will be, for someone), but teams can very easily avoid it. I can't imagine anyone attending this tournament will need to be on the red line except to escape Union Station, so just make sure you take the train heading towards Shady Grove. You might also see a train that says "Glenmont." Don't get on this train! Get on the other train. This will be the westbound train heading into the city, and will in two stops deposit you at Gallery Place-Chinatown, where you can transfer to the Green and Yellow train heading towards Greenbelt/fight Andray Blatche for a table at Ming's (don't worry, he doesn't box out). From there, getting to CP is easy.

[Matt Weiner]

I will be going over this a final time at the tournament itself, where we will note which players and teams are eligible for the subsidiary titles and scoring prizes and make immediate rulings on any edge cases, but just to clear up any confusion in light of recent events, this is how Undergraduate and Division II titles work at ACF Nationals:

To be undergraduate-eligible, you must meet two conditions:
1) You did not receive an actual bachelor's degree or equivalent before this academic year. Examples: if you have not yet graduated, or you graduated in fall 2011, you're fine; if you graduated in summer 2011 or before you are not eligible.
2) You must be in either your first four years of college quizbowl, or your first four years of college, or both. Examples: You are a junior whose first college tournament was EFT in fall 2009; you are eligible. You are a senior who played ACF Fall as a high school junior in the fall of 2006 and has been playing college tournaments for six years; you are eligible. You started college and quizbowl in fall 2007 and are a fifth-year senior; you are not eligible. You are a fifth-year senior but your first tournament was in spring 2009; you are eligible. Note that what counts as a tournament for the purpose of determining when a super-senior started playing in college includes all ACF and ACF-like events as well as NAQT SCT, NAQT ICT, and NAQT CCCT and other community college events played on questions specifically written for a college or community college audience, but does not include trash, College Bowl, or events played on NAQT high school questions. Please also note another big difference between ACF and NAQT undergraduate rules: in ACF, your four-year eligibility clock starts as soon as you play a college tournament while a college student, and continues to run regardless of any time you take off from school or quizbowl. If you played a tournament in 2007 as a freshman and then missed 2008 through 2010, you are still ineligible for undergraduate status because you began playing college quizbowl as a college student more than three academic years ago.

To be Division II-eligible, you must meet all Undergraduate eligibility requirements, have never played ACF Nationals before as a college student, and be in either your first two years of quizbowl, your first two years of college, or both. All the caveats and definitions as to what constitutes "first two years" are the same as for the Undergraduate title, just with a two-year window instead of a four-year one. Also, it was decided starting in 2010 that all people who are first-year college students are eligible for Division II, even if they previously played ACF Nationals as a high school student or something.

Undergraduate-eligible teams are teams composed exclusively of Undergraduate-eligible players; Division II-eligible teams are teams composed exclusively of Division II-eligible players.

At the end of the playoffs, the Undergraduate title will be played off if the top two Undergraduate teams are separated by less than eight spots in the standings. If the teams are exactly tied, there will be a one-game final; if not, then the team that is ahead in the standings will receive the advantage in a weighted best-of-three final. The same rules will be used for Division II. If exactly one Undergraduate team is in the overall final (or wins the tournament outright without need for a final), then that team will win the Undergraduate division without need for an Undergraduate final; if exactly one Division II team is in the Undergraduate final, then that team will win Division II without need for a Division II final. Being in a tie for entrance to a disadvantaged final does not count as being "in the final" for these purposes; only clearing the field by two games and obviating an overall final, or being one of the last two teams standing in an actual final, does.

I'll be happy to answer any questions here or by e-mail.

[Ringil]

Is there any news on how prelims/playoffs will be structured?

[Susan]

Is there any news on how prelims/playoffs will be structured?

For the prelims, four brackets of seven teams each will play a round robin. The top three teams from each prelim bracket will have crossover playoffs (i.e. each team will play the top three teams from the other three brackets), while the fourth/fifth and sixth/seventh teams will play in round-robin brackets of eight.

[Ethnic history of the Vilnius region]

Could someone please post the discount schedule for this tournament for moderators, buzzers, and laptops.

[Susan]

Could someone please post the discount schedule for this tournament for moderators, buzzers, and laptops.

There is a $5 discount for buzzers and a $10 discount for moderators. Everyone will be contacted this evening to confirm the number of buzzers they said they would bring. We will be using paper packets, so we're not offering discounts for moderators. Relatedly, teams should also bear in mind that there is no travel discount for ACF Nationals.

[grapesmoker]

We will be using paper packets, so we're not offering discounts for moderators.

Or rather, we're not offering discounts for laptops.

[Susan]

We will be using paper packets, so we're not offering discounts for moderators.

Or rather, we're not offering discounts for laptops.

Yikes. I need a nap. Sorry, Jerry is, of course, right. We haven't yet invented self-reading paper packets, so we are very interested in having moderators.

[Matt Weiner]

The entire tournament will take place in Jimenez Hall. Please meet in room 0220 (large lecture hall in basement).

Lot HH, immediately outside Jimenez facing Campus Drive, is free on weekends but is not very large. If other activities fill the lot, your backup option is Lot 1, the large lot somewhat to the north of the building.

Registration will begin at 8 AM and all teams and staff should be present by 8:30. The likely time for the start of round 1 is 9:00 but I'm not just going to have people sit around if we get through the opening stuff quickly--i.e. if we're done at 8:45 we're just going to start games, and if you're not there you're going to have problems.

Email to teams and staff to follow tonight.

[DumbJaques]

If anyone is in town this afternoon, Jeff Amoros and I will be prepping for this tournament by launching bricks and screaming out names of minor Transylvanian nobles (#ready4Bruce) at Maryland's Rec Center. If people want to get some quizbowl basketball going, drop me a line.

[Matt Weiner]

Stats will be maintained at http://hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/977/stats/prelims/ .

[Matt Weiner]

Championship bracket teams after the prelims: UVa A, Illinois, Yale A, Ohio State A, Chicago A, Penn, Maryland A, Michigan, Harvard, Chicago B.

There is a two-way tie between Yale B and Minnesota that is currently being played off for the eleventh championship spot. The twelfth and final spot goes to the winner of a three-way tiebreaker among Carleton, George Mason, and Columbia A.

The losers of all of those tiebreakers will go to the middle bracket along with South Carolina, Rice, UVa B, Northwestern, and VCU.

The bottom bracket will be Dartmouth, Haverford, WUSTL, Chicago D, Columbia B, Rutgers, Chicago C, and Alabama.

[Matt Weiner]

Minnesota and Columbia A won the tiebreakers. Playoffs are in progress. We're going through five playoff rounds tonight then resuming in the morning.

[marnold]

Edit: oh hey playoff stats are up (except our game with Illinois for some reason). Please ignore my random speculation

[Smuttynose Island]

Not really sure where everyone stands. After 7 rounds (two carryover, five played) I think i'm right saying Michigan is 6-1 (loss to Chicago a) and Yale is 6-1 (harvard). Uva lost to Yale B in the prelims but that doesn't carry over and they may be undefeated. Harvard is doing well too I think. The legions of Columbia fans should know we've won one.

UVA remains undefeated in the playoffs.

[Matt Weiner]

http://hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/977/stats/playoffs is current. Round 15 is in progress and then there will be one more round of top bracket play before tiebreakers/finals.

The D2 final between Haverford (+advantage) and Chicago D is underway.

Chicago B and Illinois are mathematically certain to be in an Undergraduate final, but the advantage, if any, is still to be determined by remaining playoff games.

[Matt Weiner]

Haverford is your D2 champion.

[Skepticism and Animal Feed]

Yale and UVA are playing an advantaged final: Yale has the advantage.

After 5 tossups, Yale leads game one by a score of 90 to 45.

[Matt Weiner]

Also, there is a third-place game between Penn and Michigan going on, and the UG final, also in progress, is one-game and between Illinois and Chicago B.

We're going into tossup 12 of the first game of the finals series, and the score is Yale 190, UVa 85.

[Matt Weiner]

Yale 210, UVa 140 going into tossup 16.

[Susan]

Illinois won the undergrad final by 20 points.

[Matt Weiner]

Overall: 1) Yale A 2) Virginia A 3) Michigan 4) Penn
UG: 1) Illinois 2) Chicago B 3) Rice 4) Carleton
D2: 1) Haverford 2) Chicago D 3) Rutgers 4) Columbia B

Overall all-stars: Ike Jose (illinois, 87 PPG, also UG), Matt Bollinger (UVa, 83, UG), Eric Mukherjee (Penn, 79), Chris Ray (Maryland A, 59) Henry Gorman (Rice, 59, UG), Matt Jackson (Yale, 59, UG), Andrew Hart (Minnesota, 51), Sean Smiley (VCU, 44, UG)

UG all-stars: Doug Graebner (Chicago B, 43), Jasper Lee (Ohio State, 38), Charles Tian (Chicago B, 37, also D2), Kevin Malis (Northwestern, 36)

D2 all-stars: Spencer Weinreich (Yale B, 33), JR Roach (UVa B, 24), Arun Chonai (Maryland A, 23), Ashvin Srivatsa (Yale A, 22)

[grapesmoker]

During the tournament I managed to record a few games. The video quality is shoddy and the sound is ok; if you simply must hear the mellifluous sound of my voice while watching Penn square off against Minnesota, you can do that here. I'll be putting up a few more videos soon.

[marnold]

Hey, this was released about this tournament

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/cult ... ingle.html