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So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:23 pm
by Great Bustard
Lisa Rawls in an email to me this afternoon wrote:
Greetings,

The National Tournament of Academic Excellence is currently registering teams to participate in its upcoming event.

Teams are invited to gather at Walt Disney World’s Contemporary Hotel and Convention Center in Orlando, Florida on June 14 – 17 as the National Tournament of Academic Excellence (NTAE), formerly the Panasonic Academic Challenge begins anew its tradition of celebrating academic excellence.

The NTAE has enjoyed a rich history of showcasing the excellence of the US educational system and rewarding the individual scholastic achievement of student participants. The tournament has hosted teams from many states as well as the District of Columbia, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands. These teams represented America’s best and brightest scholars competing in what became known as the nation’s most prestigious academic tournament.

States that have been named National Champion include Illinois, Maryland, Texas, and Virginia.

Each registration includes a 3-day Parkhopper Pass attendees may use to enjoy all of the Disney World theme parks. Participants also enjoy five-star accommodations and food as only Disney can offer.

The tournament will feature a closing banquet and awards ceremony designed to reward the participants and acknowledge the academic prowess displayed by each team.

Funding from the Florida Department of Education as well as other sources provides grants of $1,720.00 to each team to help defray registration expenses.

If you would like more information about the NTAE, please reply to this email or visit our website: http://www.ntae.us

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:43 pm
by ryanrosenberg
This has been semi-public for a while; an email similar to this was sent to Mountain Lakes's superintendent and posted in the "Quiz Bowl" Facebook group by Andrew Ibendahl back in January.

NASAT continues to be the premier national All-Star tournament, consistently offering a universally-lauded question set, top-tier competition, and more games than any other (14 guaranteed last year as opposed to the 2 that NTAE is offering).

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 6:40 pm
by Great Bustard
Yes, by all means go to NASAT, not NTAE. My post should not be taken as an endorsement of NTAE but rather as a "throwing this out there so that people are aware and can discuss accordingly" type deal.

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2014 5:00 pm
by zachary_yan
The tournament seems like its going to be held during the exact same time as NASAT, except that the NTAE is going to make you stay a few more days to see Disney world. Looks like they're literally trying to avoid the mainstream quizbowl demographic this time around. But anyways, doesn't the Florida DoE have more pressing matters to spend the money and resources on?

Here are some highlights from the Commissioner's Academic Challenge, Florida's own qualifying tournament, notice the lack of actual game footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeXIEbVnS3Q

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Mon May 05, 2014 5:48 pm
by Stained Diviner
I just got an email asking if Illinois wants to sponsor a team.

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Mon May 05, 2014 7:58 pm
by Good Goblin Housekeeping
Yellow-throated Honeyeater wrote:I just got an email asking if Illinois wants to sponsor a team.
HEY IF THE KIDS WANT TO GO TO DISNEYWORLD

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Mon May 05, 2014 9:46 pm
by coldstonesteveaustin
While we're talking about receiving emails about NTAE, Gaius Stern received an invitation to form a Team California. He proceeded to forward that email to Omkar Salpekar, Varun Govil, and me. I promptly declined, as I am going to NASAT on that same weekend, and wished him good luck.

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 8:33 am
by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)
So does anybody here know of any registered teams? The NTAE website is not keeping up their end of the bargain about posting a list of registered teams in mid-May and I suspect that's because they don't have teams to list, but I would love to know if this tournament is in fact happening.

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 11:10 am
by Kevin
I heard that Jesuit (New Orleans) will be representing Louisiana.

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 11:22 am
by Sniper, No Sniping!
Fisher Catholic is representing Ohio.

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 11:41 am
by Important Bird Area
The OAAC website indicates that Oklahoma will be sending a team.

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 2:00 pm
by AKKOLADE
Why why why

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 2:10 pm
by merv1618
Dr. Loki Skylizard, Thoracic Surgeon wrote:Why why why
zachary_yan wrote:The tournament seems like its going to be held during the exact same time as NASAT, except that the NTAE is going to make you stay a few more days to see Disney world.

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 2:11 pm
by Mnemosyne
Kevin wrote:I heard that Jesuit (New Orleans) will be representing Louisiana.

This frustrates me so much.

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 4:17 pm
by Important Bird Area

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 6:10 pm
by cchiego
Sniper, No Sniping! wrote:Fisher Catholic is representing Ohio.
Tom: was there some kind of financial incentive/sponsorship offered for playing in it? Any indication of the question source?
Kevin wrote:I heard that Jesuit (New Orleans) will be representing Louisiana
Why is Jesuit--a perfectly competent team on good quizbowl questions and probably the best team between Georgia and Texas--always choosing to go to the worst tournaments? This just seems baffling especially since they have so much good QB experience.

This just seems like an all-around silly situation, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some semi-random states pop up here too. Departments of Ed. have built in credibility for the people making the calls. The weird thing is why they'd try to revive this in the first place.

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 7:10 pm
by Sniper, No Sniping!
cchiego wrote:
Sniper, No Sniping! wrote:Fisher Catholic is representing Ohio.
Tom: was there some kind of financial incentive/sponsorship offered for playing in it? Any indication of the question source?

I'll be pretty candid that our decision to go isn't necessarily a matter of money influencing us to go. Our willingness to go basically was a summation of the excitement of getting to go to Disney World, getting a "last hurrah" as a group before we go off to college, soaking the experience of yet another national tournament in, and being able to say you're representing your home state (Ohio) at what some consider to be a prestigious national tournament is pretty cool as well.

In terms of financial incentive from the NTAE for playing in it: as far I as know, no. We have received generous support from members of our community to enable us to even go.

I think it's safe to say our expectations for the quality of questions are much lower than what we will see this weekend and in Chicago next weekend. We realize there's something like two games guaranteed, and yes that really isn't a good deal at all. Are we expecting a competition the caliber of HSNCT or NSC? Not really, we're expecting something unique. We imagine there's going to be a couple goofy questions and their way of doing things may be bad. No, it might not be bad... it might be laughably bad. Our experience there may have as many humorous or annoying misadventures as Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. It might be the most painstaking thing I've ever experienced since reffing middle schools girls basketball.

Or, it might not be so bad. Perhaps the tournament will exceed expectations and gradually adapt towards being acceptable in the quiz bowl community and actually be a high quality event competition wise. Who knows, we'll keep an open mind heading into it and draw conclusions after. What I plan on getting out of this is a really cool trip to DisneyWorld, being able to rep the state (and put my school in good spotlight) w/ my good friends on the team, have a nice mini vacation in central Florida and have a good time overall. If this was just some randy tourney held somewhere at an unattractive place etc then I definitely would've done NASAT instead.

Oh, lastly: I kind of figured this in my head, but when I agreed (I like to think I had some sway in the matter) to go, this would be a pretty good press opportunity, and to my understanding it will be. We were able to get a lot of public support so far because we are doing this (while we did get some for doing HSNCT, NSC, and NHBB, somehow we're getting a lot more for this... I don't know why, but that's just the way it is).

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 7:18 pm
by Sniper, No Sniping!
Regarding question source: no clue. All I know so far is they really are standing a lot on ceremony. We've had to personally fill out kinda long questionnaires (they ask for SAT/ACT and AP scores, what you want to be when you grow up etc), we make a team motto (we think ours is pretty good), we get honored at a banquet (or something)... I don't remember much more other than the fact your registration pays for the food and you're expected to attend the banquet(s). Some of it does seem kinda wonky, if that's a good way to put it. It seems like a lot of effort is concentrated on making it a celebration versus a competition, but that's just a hasty observation. When in Rome, do as the Romans, and since we put pen to paper we'll play by the rules of their game and experience it.

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 10:51 pm
by etchdulac
cchiego wrote:Why is Jesuit--a perfectly competent team on good quizbowl questions and probably the best team between Georgia and Texas--always choosing to go to the worst tournaments? This just seems baffling especially since they have so much good QB experience.
Because they are perfectly aware that they have no chance at winning HSNCT or NSC. They have never been to HSNCT, and I assume the same for NSC. They go to NAC, they make the playoffs, they tell their administrators (if they care) that they rank wherever in the nation, and they have no incentive to alter that line of thinking. I'm sure Panasonic looks like the same kind of opportunity. Jesuit is not interested in good/bad quizbowl dichotomy discussions. They want trophies.

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 11:38 pm
by djones
Northmont won the right to represent Team Ohio at Panasonic by winning OAC state, but turned it down due to the fact that it conflicted with NASAT, which Sam prioritized way higher. Also, the chance to play 2 games wasn't worth the ridiculous cost per person of the trip. I know why Fisher decided to go after they were offered the bid as the runner up, but it is a little crazy for players on the NASAT team to skip that tournament for something like this. Totally not quiz bowl.

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Sat May 24, 2014 12:54 am
by Sniper, No Sniping!
djones wrote:Northmont won the right to represent Team Ohio at Panasonic by winning OAC state, but turned it down due to the fact that it conflicted with NASAT, which Sam prioritized way higher. Also, the chance to play 2 games wasn't worth the ridiculous cost per person of the trip. I know why Fisher decided to go after they were offered the bid as the runner up, but it is a little crazy for players on the NASAT team to skip that tournament for something like this. Totally not quiz bowl.
Coach Jones, don't you think there may be a more appropriate place to discuss this rather than hsqb? I know Brandon inevitably wasn't able to attend NASAT as soon as he found out due to a prior obligation (but I guess it later turned out that obligation could be adjusted? I don't know, but knowing him there certainly wasn't anything nefarious behind his decision... we also did not know this was even remotely a possibility until a few weeks ago).

Regarding me; well there aren't any excuses for what appears to be me flaking out on a commitment for a different tournament. I weighed my options for a bit, thought of pros and cons for both. I think you know as well as I do the idea of getting to play alongside Sam, Zel, Arjun etc, guys I've played against in strong competitions for years and consider to be friends was something I really looked forward to for a long time. After what happened last year, showing up to the tryouts with hellish nausea only to get passed over in favor of a kid from Olmsted Falls that would up sleeping through most of the Saturday portion of NASAT, I always wanted to put a lot more pride in representing Ohio quiz bowl at that stage than ever before. NTAE wasn't even in anywhere near my head until a few weeks ago, b/c I didn't even know Ohio would send a team. When Stevenson texted me that we somehow back-doored into the opportunity, I couldn't believe it... at first I thought "oh God don't you realize this competition isn't supposed to be good". But then I realized this could be a really good final trip with my best friends and two adults in my life that have had a great impact on me for four years.

So yes, I did in fact think outside of quiz bowl terms and what I felt was better (and admittedly) more enjoyable for me. The decision wasn't an easy one, and I realized it could come across as offensive that I turned NASAT down for this. However, before I made a decision I talked to Joe Czupryn (for those who don't know, Joe is the one who spent all of the time doing tryouts and is coaching Team Ohio) and everything he said indicated he didn't have a problem with me doing Disney World in place of NASAT, so he seemed encouraging and supportive of it, which finally prompted me to decide "I want to go to Disney World".

In summary, it wasn't an easy decision for me and I know there may be some hurt feelings, and perhaps some resentment because we didn't hold up our end of the commitment, and rightfully so. I can embrace that some do not like this. I don't think you're trying to imply this, but I simply wish I could paint more to the picture so it doesn't look like we acted like a bunch of snob-faced teens about it, because I don't feel that's an accurate depiction of what happened, or who I am personally or Brandon for that matter. I guess I could try to justify by saying "we have our own reasons", but that doesn't address what's perceived to be the issue at hand here.

Coach Jones - I like to think you and I enjoy a pretty good relationship as is, so I understand this isn't great by any means and probably upsets people; for that, I do apologize. I think I can speak for Brandon on here in that he certainly wishes it didn't play out like it did (the circumstances surrounding his prior commitment and NTAE/NASAT, but not his actual choice - because if he so chooses I think he'd rather speak for himself there). We'll see you around probably in this nice hotel, and maybe we can talk more about it then.

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Sat May 24, 2014 1:04 am
by jonpin
Sniper, No Sniping! wrote:
djones wrote:Northmont won the right to represent Team Ohio at Panasonic by winning OAC state, but turned it down due to the fact that it conflicted with NASAT, which Sam prioritized way higher. Also, the chance to play 2 games wasn't worth the ridiculous cost per person of the trip. I know why Fisher decided to go after they were offered the bid as the runner up, but it is a little crazy for players on the NASAT team to skip that tournament for something like this. Totally not quiz bowl.
Coach Jones, don't you think there may be a more appropriate place to discuss this rather than hsqb? I know Brandon inevitably wasn't able to attend NASAT as soon as he found out due to a prior obligation (but I guess it later turned out that obligation could be adjusted? I don't know, but knowing him there certainly wasn't anything nefarious behind his decision... we also did not know this was even remotely a possibility until a few weeks ago).
While Panasonic is obviously dubious, I can think of no better place on the internet than HSQuizBowl.org to discuss a HS Quiz Bowl tournament like NASAT, including the reason why good players are traveling hundreds of miles to play not-quiz-bowl rather than half an hour up the road to play the last quiz bowl tournament of the year.

This is a forum about quiz bowl, and users are not permitted to make remarks like "let's not talk about this quiz bowl thing here".

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Sat May 24, 2014 5:57 am
by djones
I wasn't slamming you or your team in any way Tom. I completely understand wanting another event with your teammates- you guys worked hard together all year and spending a week in Disney World is a fun conclusion to your hs career.

In fact, had my non-Sam students wanted to spend the money and go, we may have let them do that. But our team wasn't going to spend $2,000 or more on a non-quiz bowl tournament (it would have had to be an individual thing if individuals wanted to go- we had one student who wanted to but no one else). And Sam never would have been approached about skipping NASAT- when I let parents and students know about the Panasonic opportunity, I explained we would be playing without him if we went since that tournament was more important.

Again, I know how much you love quiz bowl and I was your strongest advocate to get you a well-deserved spot on the NASAT team last year. If this is what you want to do, i have no ill will about it- none at all. I was just indicating why we passed up the opportunity to go.

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 12:35 am
by Kevin
etchdulac wrote:
cchiego wrote:Why is Jesuit--a perfectly competent team on good quizbowl questions and probably the best team between Georgia and Texas--always choosing to go to the worst tournaments? This just seems baffling especially since they have so much good QB experience.
Because they are perfectly aware that they have no chance at winning HSNCT or NSC. They have never been to HSNCT, and I assume the same for NSC. They go to NAC, they make the playoffs, they tell their administrators (if they care) that they rank wherever in the nation, and they have no incentive to alter that line of thinking. I'm sure Panasonic looks like the same kind of opportunity. Jesuit is not interested in good/bad quizbowl dichotomy discussions. They want trophies.
As an alumnus of Jesuit (class of 2003), I'd like to throw in my two cents here.

Probably the biggest reason Jesuit goes to NAC is that it's almost always been in New Orleans. As for Panasonic, LAAC (Louisiana's organization for bad quiz bowl) has always had the state championship team go (which was Jesuit on a number of occasions). I don't know how Jesuit funded those trips (or is funding this one). I know we the players had to fork over money for NAC, but we obviously didn't have any travel expenses for that. Are they motivated by trophies? Probably. The bigger factor, though, is probably years of NAC building up relationships with schools such as Jesuit. What do NAQT and PACE do to attract schools to their national tournaments? Probably not much more than sending out an e-mail to teams that qualify. After all, HSNCT and NSC are thriving tournaments. They don't need Jesuit. NAC needs them, and qunlimited works harder at setting up their bad tournaments during the regular season, using all the game-show style bell and whistles to impress the parents and coaches.

I have tried on a number of occasions to get Jesuit to go to HSNCT. The coaches there (both of whom were teachers of mine when I was at Jesuit) know my personal opinions about the shortcomings of NAC and similar stuff. Unfortunately, I don't know what else I can do short of donating $1500 of my own money and saying "You can only have this if you go to HSNCT and skip NAC." I'm more upset than anyone else on the board is, but I really don't know what I can do about it.

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2014 1:26 pm
by Sniper, No Sniping!
It's June 4th and still no listed field of participating states.

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2014 5:20 pm
by Sniper, No Sniping!
So far it appears Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Ohio are confirmed. A quick search reveals on Google that New Mexico and Iowa might be sending teams. NTAE's Facebook page isn't particularly resourceful either. I'll check with my coach tomorrow night and see if the field is mentioned in any emails.

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 11:40 pm
by Sniper, No Sniping!
Teams that are competing, it appears: Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2014 7:45 pm
by Aaron Goldfein
Apparently the tournament happened and Florida won. Results

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2014 10:46 am
by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)
God that's depressing. At what point would they just have canceled it, if only 3 teams signed up?

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2014 10:47 am
by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)
Also, who were the teams?

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2014 11:50 am
by Sniper, No Sniping!
Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) wrote:Also, who were the teams?
CO - Grand Junction
FL - "Team Florida" (all-stars team)
LA - Jesuit
ME- I have no idea
NC - North Carolina School Sci&Math / NCSSM
OH - Fisher
OK - all-stars team, but players from Edmond Memorial, Edmond Santa Fe, and I believe a school called Oklahoma Math and Science (it was described as "the Oklahoma equivalent of NCSSM")
PA - Downington East
SC - I believe this was Southside HS.

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 7:14 pm
by Auger recombination
If I remember correctly, the Maine coach learned about the tournament relatively late, so she had to just pick four people without time for tryouts or something like that.
Team Oklahoma was one from Edmond Memorial, two from Edmond Santa Fe, one from Choctaw High School, and one from Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics.

Re: So Panasonic is back...

Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 3:39 pm
by mcprice30
I know I'm really late in posting about this, but seeing as I've actually (unfortunately) played at the Commissioner's Academic Challenge for 3 years from 2012 to 2014, including a selection to "Team Florida" and a "State Championship", I may be able to answer some questions about CAC/NTAE.
Sniper, No Sniping! wrote:Regarding question source: no clue.
The questions are "written by educators from high schools throughout the state".
The question writing group consists of "ten to twelve teachers from the subject areas of English/language arts, foreign language (French and/or Spanish), mathematics, science, social studies, the fine arts (music, art and/or humanities), and technology (business, agriculture, computers, etc.)".
It also appears as though all of the questions are written over a 1-2 day period, with no regard or notice to the canon, pyramidal writing, avoiding hoses, etc.

NTAE in many ways reminds me of televised "quiz bowl" programs. Though they attempt to make the questions very academic in nature, the questions are not written in a pyramidal fashion or at a very consistent difficulty level. I do enjoy the idea of audio/visual questions, and some of the computation questions, but I also feel that the execution can be slightly improved.

If you are looking for a quiz bowl tournament, I would probably not recommend NTAE on the grounds that it is too different from conventional quiz bowl. There are many for whom this format is very enjoyable, but I feel that it is important to distinguish between NTAE and normal quiz bowl. A large amount of my frustration towards the format came from comparing the tournament to NAQT and the like, where a more appropriate mindset would be to consider the two as completely distinct entities. All in all, though I feel NTAE isn't necessarily the same thing as quiz bowl, the addition of pyramidality would make the tournament much better.