Search found 128 matches

by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Tue Mar 06, 2012 6:55 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: IHSA
Replies: 125
Views: 34422

Re: IHSA

Even if a coach doesn't give any hint to his players of the questions, and he doesn't manipulate packets to suit his team strengths, it still affects his decisions as coach. If a coach knew which categories were coming, it might affect his choices of who to put in. If a coach really did just look a...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Sat Dec 17, 2011 4:34 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: NTV liveblog
Replies: 22
Views: 7066

Re: NTV liveblog

Wait... Carbondale was 3-2 in the morning, but they are in the top afternoon bracket because their PPB is a hundredth of a point better than 4-1 DCC? Please tell me that's an oversight. Why is that such a bad thing? Points per bonus is one of the only measures that is fairly comparable throughout a...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Fri Nov 25, 2011 9:17 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: What's Going on in Wisconsin?
Replies: 18
Views: 7092

Re: What's Going on in Wisconsin?

Sorry that I am so late here. Wisconsin has several teams that show up to quiz bowl tournaments, but there is definitely not a true circuit in the state. Most of the teams practice every once in awhile, but it's hard for people to take the game seriously when there are only 2-3 good tournaments in t...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Fri Jun 24, 2011 11:10 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2010-11 NAQT IS sports question discussion
Replies: 106
Views: 20505

Re: 2010-11 NAQT IS sets: question-specific discussion

I'd say that these stats back up my point: if you aren't a hard-core sports fan, you aren't going to be getting sports questions, while if you are really into sports it's easy to power them. My point was that a reasonably intelligent person could expect to have at least basic knowledge of pretty mu...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:14 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: COLT - University of Chicago - 7/31/2011
Replies: 66
Views: 20886

Re: COLT - University of Chicago - 7/31/2011

I guess I will throw my hat into the ring for this tournament. For as bad as I am at actual quizbowl, I am actually pretty solid at trash. Sports are my specialty (especially collegiate sports, tennis, and boxing), but I also have my niches within movies, television, and music. If this sounds like w...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Mon Apr 25, 2011 9:11 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Are certain categories likely to produce difficulty cliffs?
Replies: 33
Views: 6034

Re: Are certain categories likely to produce difficulty cliffs?

I don't know about everyone else, but the implication that we should limit the number of Current Events questions or Geography questions because there is less variation in knowledge levels (in terms of quizbowl) seems troubling to me. As Reinstein acknowledged, a key reason for these "difficult...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Mon Apr 04, 2011 11:33 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: MUT Mirror 4/2 @ NGCSU
Replies: 165
Views: 67048

Re: MUT Mirror 4/2 @ NGCSU

One obvious thing that has yet to be stated is the fact that encouraging good teams to tank at the end of games takes away one of the major sources of joy for non-elite teams, which is getting a tossup against an elite team. I am by no means an elite, or even a good, player. Off of the top of my hea...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Tue Feb 15, 2011 9:09 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Penn Bowl Trash III General Discussion
Replies: 18
Views: 3856

Re: Penn Bowl Trash III General Discussion

I really enjoyed this tournament a lot. Clues seemed to be well-arranged, the toss-ups seemed to be of appropriate difficulty, and there were a defintely a fair amount of interesting clues. I also reject the earlier stated criticism that this tournament had too many old answer lines. Outside of the ...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Sun Jul 18, 2010 9:19 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Announcement: Paul Goodman Memorial Open
Replies: 157
Views: 59568

Re: Announcement: Paul Goodman Memorial Open

Final Edit: My team is complete, as I will be joined by Devin West, Stephen Liu, and Kevin Koai.
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Wed Jul 14, 2010 2:46 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2011 NAQT HSNCT: May 27-29: Congratulations State College!
Replies: 112
Views: 39912

Re: 2011 NAQT HSNCT: May 27-29, Atlanta

Nobody is mentioning the obvious upside to this decision, which is the fact that this will be located right in the center of a downtown. I love Chicago, but Rosemont is not Chicago. I attended both the ICT and the HSNCT last year and got the distinct impression that very few teams went Downtown. If ...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Sat Jul 10, 2010 11:50 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Announcement: Paul Goodman Memorial Open
Replies: 157
Views: 59568

Re: Announcement: Paul Goodman Memorial Open

Myself and recent Wisconsin graduate Devin West will both be playing this, and are looking for teammates. I am very good at sports (with a special emphasis on tennis and boxing), and solid at TV. Devin has a pretty eclectic knowledge base, but I would say that he is probably best in recent movies an...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Thu Jun 17, 2010 11:10 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: How should NAQT change its distribution for 2010-11?
Replies: 58
Views: 14079

Re: How should NAQT change its distribution for 2010-11?

I assume that I will be the only person who takes this stance, but I believe that NAQT's distribution is pretty near perfect. I think that while an increase in myth, social science, and philosophy is well intended, it would be harmful to the community as a whole. The basis for this opinion are my ow...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Sat Jun 12, 2010 10:23 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2010 HSAPQ NASAT Discussion!
Replies: 57
Views: 27124

Re: 2010 HSAPQ NASAT Discussion!

Apparently, I am liveblogging this. Link soon to come.
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Thu May 13, 2010 3:20 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Land of Lincoln Throwdown Announcement
Replies: 123
Views: 24837

Re: Land of Lincoln Throwdown Announcement

Is this 100% attached to RC COLA? CULT is now open for mirror opportunities. Charles Martin and I have both playtested multiple rounds of CULT, so if we were to play you would have to skip those rounds. Also, CULT might be a little too hard for this field, though RC Cola is also no walk in the park...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Mon Apr 26, 2010 8:08 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Uncooperative coach
Replies: 20
Views: 4525

Re: Uncooperative coach

This is a dilemma that I am all too familiar with. In high school, my coach was not against good quizbowl as much he was just against spending large amounts of time as a quizbowl coach. He signed up under the assumption that he was going to coach our team for our conference season, take us to a tour...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Thu Apr 15, 2010 12:28 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Is timed quizbowl still awesome? (split from trash thread)
Replies: 17
Views: 2629

Re: Is timed quizbowl still awesome? (split from trash thread)

Well, people are forgetting that timed tournaments really can save time. Take, for example, the UIC SCT. There were two moderators that were consistently hitting 14-16 tossups in a game. If it takes the slowest reader twenty minutes to read sixteen tossups, then it would probably take them ten minut...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Tue Mar 09, 2010 2:51 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: IHSA Regional Results and Discussion
Replies: 111
Views: 17870

Re: IHSA Regional Results and Discussion

I really do not understand how one can defend this tournament. What makes this the best written state series yet? By my count, Round 3 had ten acceptable tossups out of thirty. Assuming the ratio is the same for bonuses, that means that we can expect three good TU-bonus cycles per match, and that is...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Mon Mar 08, 2010 8:45 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: IHSA Regional Results and Discussion
Replies: 111
Views: 17870

Re: IHSA Regional Results and Discussion

Hopefully this thread can stay here. This one of the few occasions where people who do not usually browse the forums check it out. They will be able to find it here, read the discussion, and hopefully offer input that is not normally heard. I doubt they will know to look in AHAN. And since I am post...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Mon Mar 08, 2010 8:24 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: IHSA Regional Results and Discussion
Replies: 111
Views: 17870

IHSA Regional Results and Discussion

This deserves its own thread. The results are starting to come into the ScoreZone. WWS won their quarterfinal 424-139, setting the early mark for points we should expect upper level teams to score. Lake Zurich also put up an impressive 373, possibly indicating that they could give Fremd a battle lat...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Tue Mar 02, 2010 9:50 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Matt Cvijanovich Memorial Novice Tournament (3/6/10)
Replies: 86
Views: 25590

Re: Matt Cvijanovich Memorial Novice Tournament (3/6/10)

Circumstances have made it look like I will be attending this mirror. However, I do have a couple of issues that I need straightened out. I have heard that there will not be any open teams. I really would rather not play solo, as I am terrible on more than half of the canon. If I have to, though, do...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Tue Feb 16, 2010 6:14 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Answer lines and moderator errors
Replies: 31
Views: 5874

Re: Answer lines and moderator errors

Obviously I am biased, but I really did not like how this happened. There is a reason that the rule is the way that it is. The fact is that a change in the score does affect the way a game is played. Going into the final question down by forty, the team that was behind may have played conservative t...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Mon Feb 15, 2010 12:04 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: April Tournament?
Replies: 23
Views: 2919

Re: May Tournament?

Wisconsin hosts a spring tournament every year, and this year it will probably be on April 17th. It will be using NAQT questions. If teams are looking for a place to practice on NAQT questions before HSNCT, or are looking for a place that will let them play without school affiliation, I would strong...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Sun Feb 07, 2010 8:04 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: UIC deserves its own thread
Replies: 15
Views: 3430

Re: UIC deserves its own thread

Moving on to other people's comments: I believe one critical error was made by the UIC people, and that was the fact that they would not remove the moderator in Illinois A... I approached Joey as early as Round 6 and demanded that she be removed for afternoon rounds. The response that I received wa...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Sun Feb 07, 2010 9:55 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: UIC deserves its own thread
Replies: 15
Views: 3430

Re: UIC deserves its own thread

This tournament was pretty well run. However, I believe one critical error was made by the UIC people, and that was the fact that they would not remove the moderator in Illinois A. Now, I know that it is hard to be an effective moderator, and nobody wants to openly have to criticize a moderator. But...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Fri Jan 29, 2010 11:59 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: '09-10 HS Midseason Poll - Congratulations State College!
Replies: 137
Views: 22373

Re: '09-10 HS Midseason Poll

...DCC, Eh, we beat them earlier this year at Penn. Maybe they had a bad game, but i don't know if CR can beat an actual top 5 or 10 team. and Alpharetta. Really? They have one very awesome player, but what's the rest of the team like? Is there solid help for him? He said top five team that he play...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Thu Jan 28, 2010 10:13 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: IHSA Sectional assignments are (finally) up
Replies: 80
Views: 13020

Re: IHSA Sectional assignments are (finally) up

Following this announcement, the IHSSBCA has made All-Sectional/All-State nomination forms available on its website. Nomination form Rules & Procedures If you are interested in being an All-State selector representing your sectional, please contact me at <<mlaird1 -at- gmail.com>> for info. I a...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Thu Jan 28, 2010 2:48 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Why we can't have nice things
Replies: 141
Views: 27606

Re: Why we can't have nice things

Coach Grant, what's your position here regarding the relationship between your chosen question source and the "operational" side of a tournament? I've run totally smooth tournaments on pyramidal high school and college questions, so I'm not sure in what respects using QG makes the tournam...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Sun Jan 24, 2010 12:30 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Fremd Varsity & Frosh/soph 1/23/10
Replies: 70
Views: 11207

Re: Fremd Varsity & Frosh/soph 1/23/10

I know it is fun to criticize the Fremd tournament, and it is certainly not a beacon of good quizbowl, but those tossups seem much better than anything at the four Fremd tournaments I attended. Also, the brackets were very even compared to the catastrophe that was last year. Mind you I have also hea...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Sat Jan 23, 2010 7:31 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Fremd Varsity & Frosh/soph 1/23/10
Replies: 70
Views: 11207

Re: Fremd Varsity & Frosh/soph 1/23/10

Are these questions cleared, because I just literally heard about the funniest tossup ever? I'll just say that the category was Religion-Computation. My source also says the tournament was poorly written, though it did not contain the hoses that have plagued Fremd tournaments in the past. As for res...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Sat Jan 09, 2010 2:12 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Mid-Suburban League Pre-Season Tournaments (1/9/10)
Replies: 6
Views: 1436

Re: Mid-Suburban League Pre-Season Tournaments (1/9/10)

Actually, this tournament does have a championship trophy, or at least it did last year. It was not a small trophy, either. It is probably the biggest Scho Bowl trophy I have seen. However, I imagine the host school picks out the trophy, so there is a good chance that there will be none this year. O...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Sun Dec 20, 2009 1:03 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Power matching sucks: a theoretical offering
Replies: 94
Views: 26582

Re: Power matching sucks: a theoretical offering

You are missing the #1 reason people do power matching, which is the fact that it produces closer games that help teams more. Helps them keep their fragile egos intact? There is minimal, if any, difference between playing close games and playing blowouts in relation to learning. Once someone stops ...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Sun Dec 20, 2009 11:31 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Power matching sucks: a theoretical offering
Replies: 94
Views: 26582

Re: Power matching sucks: a theoretical offering

You are missing the #1 reason people do power matching, which is the fact that it produces closer games that help teams more. Would Auburn A really benefit from playing three of their five matches against B teams or terrible A teams? Would Wheaton Academy B really benefit from playing St. Ignatius? ...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Wed Dec 09, 2009 1:45 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Michigan Autumn Classic (12/05/09)
Replies: 36
Views: 7869

Re: Michigan Autumn Classic (12/05/09)

Ok, here are full prelim stats. Playoff stats are still here . Neil, that is really, really, impressive. 9/9/1 in one game...I don't want to be a fanboy, but is that some kind of record? :aaa: :aaa: :aaa: From what i can remember from the NAQT stats records online (they're broken now for some reaso...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Tue Dec 08, 2009 7:48 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: ELVIS
Replies: 27
Views: 23361

Re: ELVIS

As far as I know ELVIS hasn't happened since. Can somebody who has been to more than just 2007 ELVIS tell me about the ELIVSes of the past? The person that I know who has been associated with the team the longest is Gabe. If it happened before he arrived, I cannot help. I will see if I can track do...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:59 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Is this a BLITZ or not?
Replies: 78
Views: 14993

Re: Is this a BLITZ or not?

This seems like a cheap ploy to gain additional time rather than a blitz. Except it's impossible to gain any extra time with it, under ACF rule G.10: However, the player must give the first word of the actual content of the answer before the time limit expires, and cannot use filler words to try to...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Thu Dec 03, 2009 9:30 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Is this a BLITZ or not?
Replies: 78
Views: 14993

Re: Is this a BLITZ or not?

I don't know about that, Sandy. "Blitzing" in its pure form seems to only be useful on bad questions. I've been involved in something like 3000 games as a player or moderator, and I can count on one hand the number of "blitzes" I've seen anyone attempt. Whether we need this rule...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Mon Nov 30, 2009 9:28 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: VCU Season Finale Tournament IV -- April 24, 2010
Replies: 58
Views: 88488

Re: VCU Season Finale Tournament IV -- April 3, 2010

There is no other date on which to hold this tournament, and "the day before Easter" remains not a holiday in any religion I know of. We expect a good field. Then you are not aware of Christianity. Holy Saturday is a pretty important holiday in many Christian denominations. As it is the d...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Tue Nov 24, 2009 11:16 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Illinois '09-'10
Replies: 568
Views: 141655

Re: Illinois '09-'10

You know what the worst part is? Mike Sacks is a well-mannered, intelligent, nice guy. It bothers me a lot that he has those opinions, because unlike some other coaches, he's actually worthy of quite a bit of respect (personality-based, at least.) That being said, the tournament at Homewood-Flossmo...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Sun Nov 22, 2009 4:01 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Illinois '09-'10
Replies: 568
Views: 141655

Re: Illinois '09-'10

were no individual stats kept? Correct. I had an interesting brief exchange with Mike Sacks from Homewood-Flossmoor about this. He was in my room for the first round, when I opened my folder to find no proper scoresheet, only a half-sheet to put the final score on. I said something offhandedly like...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Wed Nov 18, 2009 2:31 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Illinois '09-'10
Replies: 568
Views: 141655

Re: Illinois '09-'10

No offense to Viator but why are they on this list? OK, they aren't great sans Dan-Don, but who else can go up there? The only team that I probably should've included was Culver A, because I wasn't thinking. If I take Viator off the list then I have to take WWS off too (they had a lower bonus conve...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Wed Nov 18, 2009 12:32 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Illinois '09-'10
Replies: 568
Views: 141655

Re: Illinois '09-'10

I will be interested to see the bracketing for this tournament. Given there'll be 10 brackets, there is a high chance of some varaince with regards to teams being split into balanced pools. I know that pooling by reputation bodes ill for my teams as we tend to be viewed as a middling program. :lol:...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Fri Nov 06, 2009 6:39 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Illinois '09-'10
Replies: 568
Views: 141655

Re: Illinois '09-'10

. My moderator schedule is set, but if you're into data entry, then have I got a job for you! It's all right. I will be attending, but as the unofficial coach of BG. Honestly, the only difference between myself and a coach is that the coach picks the schedule and the coach gets paid. Also, how will...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Thu Nov 05, 2009 2:23 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Wisconsin NAQT State - 4/3 at Lawrence
Replies: 2
Views: 682

Re: Wisconsin NAQT State - 4/3 at Lawrence

cornfused wrote:Title says it all, I'll update with more later.
Uh, aside from being my birthday, this is also the day before Easter.
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Thu Nov 05, 2009 1:55 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Illinois '09-'10
Replies: 568
Views: 141655

Re: Illinois '09-'10

My vote is Zach Blumenfeld, mostly b/c I haven't seen Deveau play. And no, this pick is not based upon Zach's Jeopardy pwnage. Zach and Deveau seemed to put up very similar numbers last year. I think the thing that it is important to note when making solo predictions is that solo rewards the genera...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Mon Oct 19, 2009 9:58 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Collaborative Middle School Tournament: Writer Signup
Replies: 28
Views: 6333

Re: Collaborative Middle School Tournament: Writer Signup

I'll write 10 questions and be an Assistant Editor. My best areas would be history, current events, or geography.
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Sat Oct 17, 2009 6:33 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Loyola Mirror of Dunbar Academic Tournament (10/17)
Replies: 41
Views: 10133

Re: Loyola Mirror of Dunbar Academic Tournament (10/17)

Since nobody actually in attendance is talking, Carbondale defeated St. Ignatius in the final.
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Thu Oct 15, 2009 9:07 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: EFT IV Mirror at Macalester College--St. Paul MN
Replies: 14
Views: 4122

Re: EFT IV Mirror at Macalester College--St. Paul MN

Yeah, these stats are a little off on some places. Notably, my team did not have a game where we had a 0 bonus conversion, and we did not get to hear the same amount of tossups as everyone else as we played the first two rounds on the clock. Our individual stats are wrong. They are actually: Me 21 ...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Wed Sep 30, 2009 4:01 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Proposition: Get Rid of Trash
Replies: 108
Views: 16124

Re: Proposition: Get Rid of Trash

How about we define "trash we should ask about (if we decide to ask about trash)" as "trash that stands a good chance to be answered" and stop arguing about Kennesaw Mountain Landis as if that's going to solve a single question presented in this thread. Because that is not what ...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Wed Sep 30, 2009 11:27 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Proposition: Get Rid of Trash
Replies: 108
Views: 16124

Re: Proposition: Get Rid of Trash

"Culturally significant" is, of course, subjective. In fact, askability standards for all trash is subjective. Pretty exemplary of this was the Packet Exchange which was briefly run in the summer. There was a 1/1 distro of "whatever you want to ask, most likely trash," and it qu...
by Kanga-Rat Murder Society
Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:01 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Proposition: Get Rid of Trash
Replies: 108
Views: 16124

Re: Proposition: Get Rid of Trash

I am in favor of trash at all tournaments. However, I am tired of bad trash questions. In an academic tournament, I would like the trash questions to be what I call important trash. What is important trash? Important trash is trash that has a substantial effect on the culture of our country. For exa...