Search found 42 matches

by MichaelKearney
Wed Dec 15, 2010 5:14 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Lames In Modern Tournaments
Replies: 12
Views: 3417

Lames In Modern Tournaments

To prevent the Penn Bowl topic from getting crowded, I'll start this anew. Are lames something that the majority of quizbowl players want? There's a lot of dispute over this topic, with the two camps being "Lames aren't necessary in good quizbowl, that's just something from the bad old days&quo...
by MichaelKearney
Mon Dec 06, 2010 4:12 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: TrashMasters at UT-Chattanooga 12/4/2010
Replies: 17
Views: 4784

Re: TrashMasters at UT-Chattanooga 12/4/2010

Actually, I'd like to see if anyone would be interested in mirroring it. It's a 12-round tournament, 6-7 line tossups, with a hard difficulty level. With the lack of TRASH Regionals this year, are there any schools out there who want to run it? If so, shoot me an e-mail at friendlyneighborhood(at)gm...
by MichaelKearney
Tue Nov 30, 2010 8:28 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: TrashMasters at UT-Chattanooga 12/4/2010
Replies: 17
Views: 4784

Re: TrashMasters at UT-Chattanooga 12/4/2010

Sunday's festivities will include a mirror of VAIN, a videogame tournament. Depending on how many people want to play, we'll run it as singles or doubles. Also, if you're a free agent looking for a team, let me know. If someone from DAR and UTC could confirm if you guys are bringing a team, and if y...
by MichaelKearney
Sun Nov 28, 2010 2:40 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: TrashMasters at UT-Chattanooga 12/4/2010
Replies: 17
Views: 4784

Re: TrashMasters at UT-Chattanooga 12/4/2010

Update: I count 10-12 teams coming, and 6 packets. I'm not entirely sure who's playing on what team, but take a look at this list and e-mail me any changes to your roster. People on the bottom of this list, let me know when I should be receiving your packet. Also, if you plan on NOT writing a packet...
by MichaelKearney
Thu May 13, 2010 6:59 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Land of Lincoln Throwdown Announcement
Replies: 123
Views: 24791

Re: Land of Lincoln Throwdown Announcement

I would support CULT over RC Cola 1,000%. Difficulty doesn't really matter here - we're talking Mike Bentley trash vs. Steinhice trash. There's no comparison. Because we should be doing an academic set primarily over a trash set side event, skipping those few rounds of CULT wouldn't be a problem at...
by MichaelKearney
Thu Apr 22, 2010 1:47 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: RC Cola Classic at UT-Chattanooga 5/9/2010
Replies: 21
Views: 4779

Re: RC Cola Classic at UT-Chattanooga 5/9/2010

Traditionally, RC's only been released to people in paper format, and this year is the first time that it's been released to the greater internets. So yeah, I'd totally be willing to hold off on posting it. Wanna come down and play? That gives me a great segue to remind teams to sign up, by letting ...
by MichaelKearney
Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:45 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: RC Cola Classic at UT-Chattanooga 5/9/2010
Replies: 21
Views: 4779

Re: RC Cola Classic at UT-Chattanooga 5/9/2010

Yep. Packets are entirely house-written, but if people want to submit their own/mirror it at their university, that's fine. UPDATE: Packets from the last two RC Cola tournaments are now available on Wastebin, so you can get a feel for what this year's event will be. (Thanks to Mike Bentley for the s...
by MichaelKearney
Wed Mar 03, 2010 7:28 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Penn Bowl Trash II Discussion
Replies: 79
Views: 13733

Re: Penn Bowl Trash II Discussion

Realistically, the Waterboy is an important movie due to its box-office earnings, its status in a very well-known actor's career, and its repeated showings on cable. That's generally a good judge of a movie's relevance outside of awards and spots in top 100 lists. And even if it wasn't, perhaps it w...
by MichaelKearney
Wed Mar 03, 2010 6:29 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Penn Bowl Trash II Discussion
Replies: 79
Views: 13733

Re: Penn Bowl Trash II Discussion

Also, the magic of the Internet tells me that Charlie Dees is a 74-year old baseball player for the Angels. I can't help but scoff at any arguments posed by a man who still plays quizbowl at 74. I understand that you were ALIVE during Pearl Harbor, but that is no reason to denigrate Mr. Richards. (a...
by MichaelKearney
Wed Mar 03, 2010 6:20 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Penn Bowl Trash II Discussion
Replies: 79
Views: 13733

Re: Penn Bowl Trash II Discussion

Not to make any comparisons to Pearl Harbor, but the Waterboy still ranks as the 2nd highest grossing Football movie EVER MADE. Also, it's virtually tied with Big Daddy as Adam Sandler's biggest movie. Sure, you might have liked Punch-Drunk Love or Click better, but as far as cultural relevance goes...
by MichaelKearney
Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:23 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Penn Bowl Trash II Discussion
Replies: 79
Views: 13733

Re: Penn Bowl Trash II Discussion

Here's my attempt to be constructive and helpful to the writers of this tournament. There are 4 additional lines after the characters Riff-Raff and Columbia are mentioned in the Time Warp question, 3 lines after you mention Steve Wiebe and Fistful Of Quarters in the Billy Mitchell question, and 4 li...
by MichaelKearney
Sat Dec 19, 2009 11:38 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Writing Trash for Academic Tournaments
Replies: 30
Views: 5129

Re: Writing Trash for Academic Tournaments

I really like Mike's original call for suggestions for writing better trash questions, since it's far too easy to get nitpicky and complain about what's wrong, rather than provide constructive information that people can use to improve. But apparently we're now talking about how Sidney Crosby is way...
by MichaelKearney
Fri Dec 11, 2009 3:32 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Discussion: Can Trash be more girl friendly?
Replies: 40
Views: 12287

Re: Discussion: Can Trash be more girl friendly?

Not an attempt to derail this thread, but every tournament has things that would make people upset. It's why we're adults, and why maybe high school teams should be warned about the content of trash tournaments. But there's no way that these lines couldn't have been edited in a different way. "...
by MichaelKearney
Fri Dec 11, 2009 11:53 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Discussion: Can Trash be more girl friendly?
Replies: 40
Views: 12287

Re: Discussion: Can Trash be more girl friendly?

I wouldn't know if it's specifically a trash thing, but it's not specifically Southern, since the same thing happened up at TRASHionals and Chicago Open Trash. It's probably more of a douchebag-thing, since the concept of "You're a BLANK, that's why you got that" is a comment made to massa...
by MichaelKearney
Fri Dec 11, 2009 11:37 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Discussion: Can Trash be more girl friendly?
Replies: 40
Views: 12287

Re: Discussion: Can Trash be more girl friendly?

Having attempted to write in a more balanced way for several tournaments(RC Cola being my most recent attempt to write a tournament to please everybody), I've discussed this very concept at length with a lot of people. I don't really think there's an intentional bias toward women at trash events, bu...
by MichaelKearney
Mon Aug 10, 2009 3:18 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: All-Movie Side Event 20XX
Replies: 30
Views: 5420

Re: All-Movie Side Event 20XX

I'm very interested in this event, since it's taking place in 20XX. I hope that I can use my Mega Buster as a buzzer system. Seriously though, super-awesome. The distribution does confuse me a bit, since you've got 4 "people and companies" tossups, and 14 "movies" tossups. Does t...
by MichaelKearney
Tue Jul 28, 2009 1:10 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Ferdinand Tönnies Discussion
Replies: 42
Views: 13990

Re: Ferdinand Tönnies Discussion

I really enjoyed this tournament, even more than last year's event. The readers were universally friendly and clear-tongued, and realized that the best way to shorten round lengths in trash tournaments is to just go ahead and read the next tossup, and expect people to listen. I never felt like anyon...
by MichaelKearney
Wed Jul 22, 2009 8:38 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Trash Packets Online
Replies: 25
Views: 4434

Re: Trash Packets Online

I was just saying that older packets have a lot of things that aren't considered important in the current canon, just like Octomom and Samantha Ronson will fade away eventually. If you actually wanted to get better at trash questions, answering questions on 4 or 5-year old one-hit wonders like He Ha...
by MichaelKearney
Wed Jul 22, 2009 2:45 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Trash Packets Online
Replies: 25
Views: 4434

Re: Trash Packets Online

OR you could just directly ask one of the nice and generous trash partisans that occasionally frequent these boards. I gotta wonder why the replies to this perfectly appropriate question, posted in the Trash Forum got everybody up in arms. If you're not gonna be helpful, lay off other team's persona...
by MichaelKearney
Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:10 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Fake Trashionals Mirrors/Discussion
Replies: 1
Views: 775

Fake Trashionals Mirrors/Discussion

Hey, are these packets cleared for discussion/will they be posted online somewhere in the near future?
by MichaelKearney
Tue Jul 07, 2009 12:42 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Announcement: Ferdinand Tönnies Memorial Trash Tournament
Replies: 116
Views: 31787

Re: Announcement: Ferdinand Tönnies Memorial Trash Tournament

Are ties going to be broken in this format? Last year there were only 20 questions per packet, with no tiebreakers.

And is there actually going to be a finals packet, in case of ties in the standings?
by MichaelKearney
Sun May 10, 2009 2:13 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror @ UC Berkeley (5/9/09)
Replies: 25
Views: 5017

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror @ UC Berkeley (5/9/09)

Having played a Southeastern Mirror of Penn Bowl a couple months ago, I think the general consensus was that the tournament was written well, but obviously by new players. I still find it weird that a 4-month old tournament discussed on the boards was used.
by MichaelKearney
Fri May 08, 2009 12:08 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror @ UC Berkeley (5/9/09)
Replies: 25
Views: 5017

Re: Fake TRASHionals @ UC Berkeley (5/9/09)

Or, you could mirror RC Cola, a tournament that hasn't been discussed on the boards at all. It's an 11 round tournament that you can have, with questions blind to everyone but Mike Cheyne and some Southern circuit people. Toss me a line at friendlyneighborhood(AT)gmail(DOTCOM) if you want it.
by MichaelKearney
Tue May 05, 2009 12:43 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: New National Trash Tournament in 2010?
Replies: 58
Views: 13269

Re: New National Trash Tournament in 2010?

I don't think the lame makes it ok to write bad questions. I mean, if you were writing bad questions, letting teams skip one of them doesn't change the other 18-19 bad bonuses. And if you've got good, well-written, easy-medium-hard questions, you can't possibly guarantee that all of them will follow...
by MichaelKearney
Sun May 03, 2009 2:43 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: New National Trash Tournament in 2010?
Replies: 58
Views: 13269

Re: New National Trash Tournament in 2010?

I guess the prospect of questions on 1950s novelty country music acts and kitty litter really appeals to the masses. You can always find clunkers in every set. ASS II had questions on "The GameFAQS Forums" and "End of Ze World", Trashmasters had "The UK Christmas Number One...
by MichaelKearney
Sun May 03, 2009 1:53 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: New National Trash Tournament in 2010?
Replies: 58
Views: 13269

Re: New National Trash Tournament in 2010?

I think that it's unnecessarily dismissive of the Chicago Open Trash Tournament, which is a really hard, house-written, single location event that is heavily attended by undergraduate teams. Which is the same thing as what Mike's proposing, but this one would crown a "Champion". Which is m...
by MichaelKearney
Sat May 02, 2009 11:59 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: New National Trash Tournament in 2010?
Replies: 58
Views: 13269

Re: New National Trash Tournament in 2010?

So, it's a tournament with no requirements to get in, held at one site? It seems like what you're proposing is a Master's-Level trash tournament, but geared toward undergraduate players. Wouldn't that just crown a Chicago regional champion of "Things thought to be relevant to 19-year-olds"...
by MichaelKearney
Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:35 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: RC Cola Classic (3/29/09) at UT-Chattanooga
Replies: 9
Views: 2480

Re: RC Cola Classic (3/29/09) at UT-Chattanooga

The only one that's not cleared to talk about is round 4, because it wasn't used, which might be the one you're thinking about. Reading packets and playing them are two very different things, though. At the tournament proper, I didn't have a problem with people jumping the gun based on the theme. So...
by MichaelKearney
Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:48 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Fake ICT 2 Mirror at UIUC - March 21st
Replies: 106
Views: 21731

Re: Fake ICT 2 Mirror at UIUC - March 21st

I'd also like to know the status of Fake TRASHionals, since I was planning on bringing a team solely for it. It seems that there were a lot of teams at this site who wanted to play, regardless of the status of the Tulsa/Berkeley sites. Is it actually in a playable format? I'd understand if it wasn't...
by MichaelKearney
Fri Mar 13, 2009 4:37 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: RC Cola Classic (3/29/09) at UT-Chattanooga
Replies: 9
Views: 2480

Re: RC Cola Classic (3/29/09) at UT-Chattanooga

As per Mike's suggestion, I'm strongly upping the amount of super-helicopter and knife-wielding Ernest Borgnine content. We've got a lot of early response for the tournament, and what looks like one team receiving the earliest packet discount. Again, PACKET SUBMISSION IS NOT REQUIRED, but if you'd l...
by MichaelKearney
Tue Mar 10, 2009 5:11 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: GARBAGE set discussion
Replies: 44
Views: 7808

Re: GARBAGE set discussion

As someone who derived his HSQB handle from the Freelance Police, I must commend (or damn, not sure which) Team Sorice for writing a Sam & Max question which I probably would have been beaten to, as it ignored the comics and cartoon series. It's clear after "little buddy," but the Hit...
by MichaelKearney
Mon Mar 09, 2009 2:56 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: GARBAGE set discussion
Replies: 44
Views: 7808

Re: GARBAGE set discussion

I really disagree with your premise that trash submission will just always be late and rampantly ignore distribution. We got our packet in on time (and we really suck at that) and to distribution; I don't see any reason anyone else shouldn't have been able to. I also think that, if anything, the fa...
by MichaelKearney
Mon Mar 09, 2009 2:04 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: GARBAGE set discussion
Replies: 44
Views: 7808

Re: GARBAGE set discussion

I'm not trying to make anybody unwilling to try this again. I'm attempting constructive criticism. it generally attempted to adhere to the principles of good quizbowl. Things like answer selection (avoiding questions on albums of no particular importance, random characters who are not well-known in ...
by MichaelKearney
Sun Mar 08, 2009 9:09 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: GARBAGE set discussion
Replies: 44
Views: 7808

Re: GARBAGE set discussion

I noticed quite a few leadins like that in this set. I enjoyed most of the rounds, but they were in serious need of editing for clue placement. When the questions are still being edited at 3 in the morning, I understand that clue placement is the last thing on anyone's mind, but it made quite a few ...
by MichaelKearney
Mon Feb 16, 2009 3:46 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: RC Cola Classic (3/29/09) at UT-Chattanooga
Replies: 9
Views: 2480

Re: RC Cola Classic (3/29/09) at UT-Chattanooga

Editor-in-chief here. I'd like to add that if people would like to mirror this tournament at their institution, there are going to be 10 rounds of "theme-lite" packets, and two finals rounds. Theme-lite means that the theme won't really help you guess at answers, just to eliminate wrong gu...
by MichaelKearney
Tue Feb 10, 2009 7:14 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: TRASHionals XII: Preliminary Field Announcement
Replies: 47
Views: 12083

Re: TRASHionals XII: Preliminary Field Announcement

Alright, putting my two cents in. I believe that we can spare a little invective here, as I think that Tim chose to not respond to the comment that TRASH is run by Rhesus Monkeys. I'd hardly consider that "reasonable discussion". Yeah, I'd prefer a two-day tournament, as would my team. I'v...
by MichaelKearney
Mon Sep 29, 2008 1:59 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Trevor's Trivia/Selcer Memorial at UT-Chattanooga 9/27/08
Replies: 31
Views: 5932

Re: Trevor's Trivia/Selcer Memorial at UT-Chattanooga 9/27/08

As one of the Moderators for the Tournament, I can clear up some of these issues before the usual piranhas come by to argue further points. Yeah, things went a bit long. The tournament didn't end after 10, however, because I was at Provino's at 10. Several teams flat out didn't show up at the beginn...
by MichaelKearney
Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:43 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: CO Trash discussion
Replies: 22
Views: 5714

Re: CO Trash discussion

Being that this was my first "ACF-style" trash tournament, out of 16 or so other trash tournaments, I was expecting a ton of meta and academic clues. I was really pleased to see that there was a lot less of both compared to the Keller/Richler sets. I don't particularly care for either, but...
by MichaelKearney
Mon Apr 07, 2008 4:46 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: TRASHionals 11 Discussion
Replies: 48
Views: 10647

Re: TRASHionals 11 Discussion

Yep. You're right. My comments did seem a bit flippant. Apologies to you, Evan. Your earlier post seemed a wee bit picky, and I fell upon the old standard argument I use when people mention that their favorite topic didn't come up enough. As someone who has played as much trash as you have, you must...
by MichaelKearney
Mon Apr 07, 2008 2:50 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: TRASHionals 11 Discussion
Replies: 48
Views: 10647

Re: TRASHionals 11 Discussion

As far as old games, there was that audio bonus, a part of a tossup on Bubbles that related to the Williams game, and...nothing that I can remember. As one of the only other people in the tournament who could nail text-adventure questions, how do you frame them? There are no visuals to remember, the...
by MichaelKearney
Mon Apr 07, 2008 12:54 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: TRASHionals 11 Discussion
Replies: 48
Views: 10647

Re: TRASHionals 11 Discussion

As the main writer/editor of RC Cola, and one of the eventual winners of TRASHionals, I would've loved to have more overlap between the questions, since that would've meant I could get more of them. Having written over half of the tossups/bonuses in RC, I didn't see any overlap that went beyond &quo...
by MichaelKearney
Sun Apr 06, 2008 8:58 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: TRASHionals 11 Discussion
Replies: 48
Views: 10647

Re: TRASHionals 11 Discussion

Let's get the easy stuff out of the way first. John, Anthony, and every other member of TRASH ran a really excellent tournament. It's tough to run two brackets in two separate buildings, but I don't think I was ever waiting more than a few minutes to start any given round. Readers were universally g...