Deferring on bonuses

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Strongside
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Deferring on bonuses

Post by Strongside »

When listening to the NAQT Podcasts I noticed a lot of captains deferring to their teammates on bonuses. As captain of my team I usually only defer to teammates on pronounciation and questions about Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. I notices on many bonuses captains in particular would say defer in what I felt was in some cases a last ditch effort hoping someone else on the team knew the answer. Since you only have one second to answer a bonus after being prompted deferring will generally buy you more time to answer a bonus. The NAQT rules don't say anything specific about deferring. In one non NAQT league we played in they said deferring could only be used on pronounciation questions.

So my question is, what exactly should be the rules and procedures of deferring on bonuses?
Brendan Byrne

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dtaylor4
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Post by dtaylor4 »

In Illinois format, the entire bonus is read at one time, then up to 30 seconds of conferring, then answers. The captain is allowed to defer, but only one person can answer the bonus. The captain can't answer parts 1 and 2 and then defer to a teammate for 3 and 4 aka shotgunning.

I believe the captain should be allowed to defer at any time, but the person being deferred to must answer immediately.

Deferring in general should be allowed as it can hurt teams that are composed of specialists.
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Post by NotBhan »

FWIW, I think these would be the relevant rules from the NAQT site ...

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"Teams may confer on bonuses. It is recommended that the captain give the answer for the team or clearly indicate who will give the answer. The moderator, however, will take the first answer unambiguously directed at him or her. If conflicting answers are directed at the moderator, the captain will be asked to choose the team's answer.

A team has 5 seconds to answer each part of a bonus question, unless otherwise noted by the question. After reading each part, the moderator will prompt the team for an answer after 4 seconds. Once prompted, someone on that team must begin answering, or the captain must immediately designate the person who will answer."
*****************

Most tournaments I'm familiar (collegiate, CC, or HS) allow the captain to defer to a teammate on any bonus part. As for the use of deferring, it seems to vary quite a bit from team to team. Some teams use it a lot just as a matter of course (even if there's no pronunciation issue), while others almost never use it. Deferring does avoid the potential problem of miscommunication ... I remember one such occasion on a CC team I played on arising from confusion of "coniferous" with "carniverous" ... needless to say, much hilarity ensued. And it can give teammates the chance to stay involved if they're not answering a lot of tossups.
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dschafer
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Post by dschafer »

If I have any doubt whatsoever about pronunciation, I always defer to a teammate; I'll gladly take 99 unneccessary defers to save the 1 answer I would have mispronounced.

Often, the "last-second" defers you describe are benign; for example, if two teammates have different answers that they are advocating and the moderator calls "answer please," I'll probably defer and point to the one I want to answer. On the other hand, I might defer to a specialist in a subject if nobody had a clue for the answer; that person would be able to come up with the best guess.

On the other hand, if its clear which teammate knows the material, that person can sometimes just give the answer directed at the moderator and save some time.
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DrakeRQB
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Post by DrakeRQB »

When I played I usually deferred on pronunciation and anything science-related (not my bag).

I tell my captain that she should defer if she's not 100% positive on the pronunciations. She also usually defers to specialists, especially on math and science questions.
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JohnAndSlation
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Post by JohnAndSlation »

Our captain has traditionally deferred on pronunciation bonuses, bonuses in a sbject she doesn't do (spelling, music, etc), or if a teammate has said they almost have the answer to a part. Our coach has specifically instructed her to refuse to defer to a teammate begging for it: "I know it! Defer to me," and the like.
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rchschem
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Post by rchschem »

My favorite technique is the "defensive deference", where a captain defers to a teammate at the last second because he or she doesn't know the answer and thinks he heard something credible from the other teammate. The look on the other teammate's face is priceless.

Why do there have to be any rules at all for deference/designation? If the rules say it's allowed, I don't see why there would have to be other conditions. Get the bonus right. That's the only criterion.

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fool_by_compulsion
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Post by fool_by_compulsion »

My policy on deferring sometimes ends up being that any time my teammate sounds more sure than I do on a topic that is not my strongest (usually history) -- even if I know what they're saying and how to pronounce it -- I may dish it off to them just because of the fear that I might somehow screw it up (something I know myself completely capable of).

I think it's a poor idea to restrict deferments only to pronunciation issues because part of being on a team is working as a team, giving people the chance to exercise what they know rather than putting all of the pressure on the captain if the tournament format allows you to distribute it more evenly.
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Post by harpersferry »

Deferring in general should be allowed as it can hurt teams that are composed of specialists.
How can deferring hurt teams with specialists? Wouldn't it help, since the specialist gets deferred to? This is usually why you get deferred to, I thought, because you have specific knowledge that might help answer the question better.

Another reason deferring is good- prompts. A captain that is simply reading answers doesn'tn have a snowballs chance at clarifying a first name. We'll also defer sometimes if someone has all the correct answers just because they get the confidence and credit from sweeping it solo.
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fancynancy
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Post by fancynancy »

pasedpawn wrote:
Deferring in general should be allowed as it can hurt teams that are composed of specialists.
How can deferring hurt teams with specialists? Wouldn't it help, since the specialist gets deferred to? This is usually why you get deferred to, I thought, because you have specific knowledge that might help answer the question better.
John, I think he meant that not allowing deferring would hurt teams with specialists.
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Post by pakman044 »

Another issue can come up is how much time a deferment adds to the bonus clock. If the deferment happens right up near the moderator's "time" call, the moderator's discretion here can be important. I generally interpret the defer request to add roughly 1 second to the clock if it's at the time point, which leaves to deferree very little time to prep for the answer (of course, when the team waits that long, they wouldn't have much time to start an answer ordinarily anyway). This can mean that the defer attempt can catch the player offguard, and thus run them out of time, which can be an important point to consider. This may mean that the captain may find it more beneficial to pull the trigger at the edge of the bonus clock in the need to get an answer out instead of get "out of time".

I must add that this situation should be PRACTICED by teams. If you're going to make that late defer, make sure that the player deferred to is ready to answer right away!

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