The Quizbowl Resource Center

Oh, look, a topic I actually know something about and can comment on substantively. Somewhat predictably, I'm going to be the defender of "pure" geography. My main argument would be simply that geography is knowledge. It's knowledge about stuff. And, if you say that stuff isn't "acade...

Right, a sports analogy (once again) is worthless. For one thing, the difference between college and pro football could roughly be put on parallel with the difference between hs quiz bowl and college. But, once people reach college (that is, beyond a novice level), there really shouldn't be that muc...

Yeah, I suppose with regard to high school, I was just being a tad bit practical in a post where not much else was. I didn't mean to imply that players from different schools couldn't team up. It's just slightly less feasible, but I can imagine situations where it would even be very useful - an inte...

Okay, so I like to read books of a romantic realist sort, those that envision utopian worlds. And, I was wondering, what would my quiz bowl utopia look like. Note that what follows is not necessarily an implicit critique of how things are now or of any existing format. It is merely what qb would loo...

Okay, I tend to like to mouth off about TRASH as if I know something about it/am any good at it, neither of which are very true. But, since noone seems to feel the way I do, here's my diatribe. Disclaimer: I've never played a trash tournament outside of Richler and likely never will; my knowledge is...

Probably hijacking this thread completely, I'll jump into the discussion since it's something I've had an opinion (granted an extreme one surely way in the minority) on for a long time. I struggle to understand why anyone would want to play any tournament as part of a "division II", no mat...

I'd like to echo Leo's sentiments over in the announcements section on Terrapin, and perhaps formally start a discussion of the tournament. Hopefully, this can act as an instructive complement to Andrew's (I would guess quite justified) comments on WIT. All in all, this was an excellent medium-level...

I'll follow Jerry's precedent and ignore the instruction to email. Sure, I'd love to play, if held at either IO or CO. Incidentally, I like the 50 percent Greco-Roman distrib, not really because it benefits me or most players, just because there is an awful lot of it.

Eh, I see both sides of the breadth-depth argument. Questions that really telegraph themselves and make it overtly obvious how the bonus is going to go are kind of pointless (name these types of mimicry, etc). On the other hand, I'm often not wild about bonuses that focus exclusively on one narrow t...

I too would potentially be willing to write a myth singles tournament, and I think it would be worthwhile, if a majority of people were in favor of a singles that narrow in focus. I'd likely be somewhat less apt at religion and philosophy writing, especially the latter. Let it be noted that I restra...

Since I'm bound to be hanging around Sunday anyway, I'd also like to put myself out as a trash free agent if someone needs a player. Let it be noted that I'm a terrible trash player and will contribute very little, but I will chip in money and fill a chair (and, on the upside, I won't neg nearly as ...

If by modern you mean after circa 2002, SNL writers have no brains to preserve - how a good show can become so bad I'll never know. Anyway, I've noticed that some of the Brasky quotes are slightly modified. For example, Brasky's poop is used as currency in Argentina, not Mauritius - perhaps Zeke sug...

In defense of Jerry, I had the same "A through Z" thought initially. Granted, I figured it out shortly afterward. Also, my one completely unqualified comment sort of echoes Jerry. I think that there is too much emphasis on winning tournaments, for the reasons already mentioned...people win...

Uncharacteristically for me, I'll stick to what I know and reference organic chem only here. Despite the fact that my "knowledge" would probably be rewarded by the type of leadins suggested here, I actually like orgo questions now if they're well written - usually describing theoretical me...

Just to add wholehearted (and probably wholly superfluous since I've never played CBI, but am familiar with the questions) agreement with all of what Weiner said - just don't play CBI. Nothing good can ever come of it. It is the responsibility of anyone who takes the accumulation of quiz bowl knowle...

My reading of NAQT eligibility is that you must take classes toward some degree. ACF eligibility from everything I can see merely requires that you take a class, somehow maintaining an "affiliation" with a university. Is this not true? If this is the case, I'll play ACF for Michigan no mat...

I'd like to post my thoughts on this because it's something I've noticed too, but didn't particularly want to start a thread to discuss. Maybe it's my background of moderating a number of forums and posting on literally hundreds of boards a week, but the so-called "trolling" around here is...

Now, here's a great poll. For me, it depends on who's saying "FIFTEEN!" and whether it's accompanied by any special effects. FIFTEEN also has repeatability going for it, it's good time and time again...I especially enjoy hearing it nine or ten times in a match wherein a bad team is pummele...

Based on my limited experience, I agree with most of the selections here and I particularly like the idea of placing players in tiers. The obvious mitigating factor is the format being played. More than that, you'd have to decide whether or not to put an equal weight on "depth" (knowing a ...

Anyway, let me say that I'm flattered that you would use me as the standard-bearer for the comedic pursuit of free-speech, though my lukewarm cynical racism did get me warned. A shame, if I knew I only had one chance to be offensively and comedically racist, I'd have done better than that amateurish...

I knew someone would post an internet ep guide of that on here...only a matter of time. Perhaps I should have used a better example like movie plots. It's pretty tough to write a question on a movie without having seen it, although this probably hasn't stopped people from trying. It just seems so mu...

This is really too bad, because I want to agree with you. I'm not much of a fan of hardcore sci-fi and fantasy, but the other option you present here makes me want to be. If you'd be willing to replace "Afro-American themed material" with "80's hair-metal band themed material", I...

Even given the fact that I am a terrible trash player, I would absolutely love to see trash get an ACF makeover. There is no reason that a tossup on Howard the Duck shouldn't be as pyramidal and well-written as a tossup on Ortega y Gasset. Trash doesn't have to be (and shouldn't be) the goofy, semi-...

Yeah, you're right Bruce...what I'm saying is that, especially with NAQT, I prefer to play with the "law of large numbers". I'm not indicting the format as a whole; I don't believe that it necessarily prevents a better team from winning. I just think that two games is a dangerously low num...

Very briefly, I agree with Weiner and Frankel. Will's gracious acceptance of NAQT policy is not the issue, and Chicago clearly won fairly according to the rules. But, the policy itself is highly dubious...especially in NAQT where, for a slew of reasons, a worse team can much more easily triumph over...

Well, let me throw in my two cents, and then probably reconsider these hastily thrown together 2-in-the-morning observations later... Firstly, sorry about Domenichino, he was mentioned in a history of art class I took and I thought he was more famous than he apparently is. I was trying to be origina...

Because I have nothing better to do, I may as well establish my inevitable reputation for being a prick by musing on these quesitons: 1. No, but I wish it were. It would be a lot funnier if it were. Oh well, it is in my head anyway. 2. Not only do I think this is an excruciatingly bad idea - if it h...

Mich. B is currently me and a couple of other guys. Technically, we are D2, since I don't believe any of us have ever been to ACF Nationals.