The Quizbowl Resource Center

Posted: **Wed Sep 26, 2007 3:18 pm**

As had been reported months ago, Questions Unlimited has indeed changed things around in getting ready for NAC this year:

NAC's website wrote:Thanks to major funding from the C.A.B. Charitable Trust, which is being allocated 100% towards lower entry fees, we are able to offer schools participation at Nationals for only $600 per team.

Who is the C.A.B. Charitable Trust?

NAC's website wrote:Your team contingent must include four starters and one or more coaches. Alternate(s) are recommended but not required.

That's new.

NAC's website wrote:Each team must win an academic competition (local or regional) of at least 8 teams or finish in the top 15% of any tournament.

Hmmm...I wonder what company they got that 15% idea from....

Posted: **Wed Sep 26, 2007 3:37 pm**

Byko wrote:As had been reported months ago, Questions Unlimited has indeed changed things around in getting ready for NAC this year:

NAC's website wrote:Thanks to major funding from the C.A.B. Charitable Trust, which is being allocated 100% towards lower entry fees, we are able to offer schools participation at Nationals for only $600 per team.
Who is the C.A.B. Charitable Trust?

Dollars to donuts it's the Chip (Middle name (Alan?)) Beall Charitable Trust.

Posted: **Wed Sep 26, 2007 4:54 pm**

One can be certain that if this institution, whose only reference on the whole of Nexis is some unexplained involvement with sponsoring Christmas carols in Britain in 1994, is not a phony charity organized so that a certain individual can donate money to himself and claim it as a tax deduction, then there is some good reason that its name or initials exist nowhere on the charity register at give.org, or at the IRS's list of charitable trusts.

Posted: **Wed Sep 26, 2007 6:46 pm**

Darn... I wonder if I'd get a tax-deduction for this.

Posted: **Wed Sep 26, 2007 7:30 pm**

I seem to recall the "Webmaster's Baby" that was long displayed at qunlimited.com was named Christopher Alexei Beall, or something like that (might have been Alexander as a middle name). I would assume the charity is named either for himself or his son.

I would also not assume he's taking a tax deduction -- my guess would be that he wanted/needed to cut prices and thought he could market it better if it seemed like someone had made a sizable donation (as opposed to, "In order to compete with better tournaments..."). But it could be a tax thing too.

Posted: **Thu Sep 27, 2007 1:18 am**

According to Wikipedia wrote:The National Academic Championship is the longest-running high school academic quiz championship in the United States. The competition was the brainchild of Chip A. Beall,

Posted: **Thu Sep 27, 2007 1:48 am**

Something I found on facebook FTW:
http://chip.justgotowned.com/

Posted: **Thu Sep 27, 2007 7:20 am**

Oh man... and it's actually sponsored by a dating site. How funny.

Posted: **Thu Sep 27, 2007 12:49 pm**

Zip Zap Rap Pants wrote:Something I found on facebook FTW:
http://chip.justgotowned.com/

Replace "chip" with whatever and you'll get the same flash animation with the whatever you inputed.

e.g. mueller.justgotowned.com

Posted: **Thu Sep 27, 2007 1:43 pm**

You can take it one step further, and do first and last names, like fred.morlan.justgotowned.com.

Posted: **Thu Sep 27, 2007 2:49 pm**

DeisEvan wrote:You can take it one step further, and do first and last names, like fred.morlan.justgotowned.com.

i've been owned :(

Posted: **Thu Oct 25, 2007 8:23 am**

Sponsored by LettuceConnect.com!

Posted: **Thu Oct 25, 2007 1:05 pm**

For those interested, after years of having their sometimes-unreadable website design, they've done a massive overhaul that, I must admit, definitely looks better.

Posted: **Thu Oct 25, 2007 1:18 pm**

Byko wrote:For those interested, after years of having their sometimes-unreadable website design, they've done a massive overhaul that, I must admit, definitely looks better.

Only at 1024x768. If you display it at a greater dimension, then the background image gets tired of stretching and you have a white background - perfect for reading yellow text!

Posted: **Thu Oct 25, 2007 4:09 pm**

I was going to say... yellow text on white bkgd... bad design... bad bad design...

So do we have to create a new thread for a JHS nationals? At least DC will be a buzzing with quiz bowlers on that weekend!

But it is a little better template. A little better. Too bad it's JUST THEIR FRONT PAGE.

Posted: **Sun Nov 04, 2007 10:24 am**

Reviving this thread since I'm sure it will warrant discussion.

You have read the testimonials on the front page of that site, right?

"We have been going to Nationals in Chicago with the ----. Your tournament is so much better and more organized. We have now attended 3 different Nationals and none compare to the quality of your tournament organization and READERS!!!!"
--Rae Gambler, Defiance High School [name of other tournament deleted]

"Considering that we play in a number of college sponsored events in which the format is 20 tossups/20 Bonuses...and that the questions meander endlessly before getting to their points...QUnlimited is FAR superior. "
- Brock Putnam, Team Waramaug, CT

The good news is if we're doing comparisons, neither of these coaches has attended PACE.

Posted: **Sun Nov 04, 2007 11:30 am**

"Considering that we play in a number of college sponsored events in which the format is 20 tossups/20 Bonuses...and that the questions meander endlessly before getting to their points...QUnlimited is FAR superior. "
- Brock Putnam, Team Waramaug, CT

Jeez, maybe if his team didn't suck, the questions wouldn't "meander" quite so much.

Posted: **Sun Nov 04, 2007 11:36 am**

Will Run PACE for Reese's wrote:You have read the testimonials on the front page of that site, right?

The rest of the testimonials, for those interested:

"We have been going to Nationals in Chicago with the ----. Your tournament is so much better and more organized. We have now attended 3 different Nationals and none compare to the quality of your tournament organization and READERS!!!!"
--Rae Gambler, Defiance High School [name of other tournament deleted]

"Your questions are excellent."
- Loyce McKenzie, Madison Central High School

"During the 16 years of participation in tournaments supported by questions from the NAA we have been exceptionally satisfied with the consistent quality of the questions. As Hastings High School prepares for tournaments, we are guided by the content and diversity of the questions you provide."
-- Brian McGuinness, Hastings High School

"I prefer the Qunlimited format above all others. The different types of questions---organized into 4 quarters--- keep the matches rolling, with few teams out of the hunt. The mix of strictly academic questions, pop culture, current events, and the high brow classical culture questions keep the rhythm and pacing lively."
- Les Roby, White Plains High School

"Considering that we play in a number of college sponsored events in which the format is 20 tossups/20 Bonuses...and that the questions meander endlessly before getting to their points...QUnlimited is FAR superior. ... Questions Unlimited provides questions that are succinct and direct and that provide a demanding but fair test of high school students' abilities to recall accurate material quickly. In addition, the format offers a variety that ensures the students enjoy practicing with them. In addition, the various academic disciplines are well-balanced within any given question sets, which means that the full range of specialized talents within a given team of students will come into play in every match."
- Brock Putnam, Team Waramaug, CT

"The quality of your questions is first rate."
-- Tom Ihlbrock, Scripps Ranch High School

Posted: **Sun Nov 04, 2007 11:52 am**

Thanks for the link to those testimonials. It just interests me which two he deliberately puts on the front page of his website (granted in extremely small font).

Posted: **Sun Nov 04, 2007 12:11 pm**

Jesus I'm sad now that I read that.

Posted: **Sun Nov 04, 2007 12:13 pm**

"The quality of your questions is first rate."
-- Tom Ihlbrock, Scripps Ranch High School

HA. Wow.

Posted: **Sun Nov 04, 2007 12:45 pm**

Link

I don't know if the link will work or not. If it does, wait until you get to Worst. I don't know what it has to do with the rest of this thread.

Posted: **Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:07 pm**

"Chip set out to change the face of quizbowl...and he did, stealing a Soviet spy in the process."

Posted: **Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:19 pm**

"I prefer the Qunlimited format above all others. The different types of questions---organized into 4 quarters--- keep the matches rolling, with few teams out of the hunt. The mix of strictly academic questions, pop culture, current events, and the high brow classical culture questions keep the rhythm and pacing lively."
- Les Roby, White Plains High School

"The mix of terrible academic questions with a very large amount of terrible trash questions frequently prevents the better team from winning" --people who are interested in winning meaningless trophies instead of accomplishing something by contending at real tournaments

Posted: **Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:53 pm**

How out of line is it to ask that a mail bomb be sent to Columbus, OH in the near future?
EDIT- I just found this beauty on the Quiznet page, which I think justifies any physical harm against

"Why did Spanish police board a U.S. ship in the Atlantic Ocean and arrest the captain?" (Ans. He had sunken treasure that Spain claims to be theirs.

Posted: **Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:54 pm**

"Considering that we play in a number of college sponsored events in which the format is 20 tossups/20 Bonuses...and that the questions meander endlessly before getting to their points...QUnlimited is FAR superior."
- Brock Putnam, Team Waramaug, CT

I'm almost proud to have edited one of those college-sponsored events with long questions that his team played in last year. Funny how, while my tossups were meandering with no point, Stuyvesant and Kellenberg were buzzing in with the right answers...

Posted: **Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:56 pm**

What even is team Waramaug. I've heard of them before, but I have a hard time imagining that's the name of a school team.

Posted: **Sun Nov 04, 2007 2:00 pm**

That name reminds me of a noise a dying animal would make.

Posted: **Sun Nov 04, 2007 2:01 pm**

Man, I'm going through the quiznet page and there is some quality entertainment there. I particularly enjoy "The rookie team from East Lansing,
showing the gamut of emotions ...
from A to Z."
Hopefully A is "god these questions are hilariously bad" and Z is "these questions really blow."

EDIT AGAIN-
OH BABY IT HAS A PHONE NUMBER TO DIRRECTLY CONTACT CHIP ON IT. Does it really work, and has anyone called it to take him to task before?

Posted: **Sun Nov 04, 2007 2:12 pm**

Deesy Does It wrote:What even is team Waramaug. I've heard of them before, but I have a hard time imagining that's the name of a school team.

He's the coach at New Milford.

Posted: **Sun Nov 04, 2007 4:58 pm**

Deesy Does It wrote:EDIT AGAIN-
OH BABY IT HAS A PHONE NUMBER TO DIRRECTLY CONTACT CHIP ON IT. Does it really work, and has anyone called it to take him to task before?

I might have to try & call him to arrange for an interview on FMWH.

Posted: **Sun Nov 04, 2007 7:35 pm**

"I prefer the Qunlimited format above all others. The different types of questions---organized into 4 quarters--- keep the matches rolling, with few teams out of the hunt. The mix of strictly academic questions, pop culture, current events, and the high brow classical culture questions keep the rhythm and pacing lively."
- Les Roby, White Plains High School

Les Roby always seemed like a great guy, but I find it hard to believe that he'd argue that the object of a national championship tournament is to leave "few teams out of the hunt."

Roby had some very good teams back over 10 years ago when I was still going to Chip tournaments, and he was always the kind of coach who'd bother protesting questions that were flawed if it could benefit his team. If he's been going to

nationals for 15 years, it seems to me like the sheer quantity of questioned he would've objected to over the years would tell him something about Chip's tournament.

Does anyone else find it disturbing that Chip's using this quote, suggesting that nationals shouldn't be designed to distinguish between teams of various qualities? I guess maybe nothing short of porn should disturb me from

anymore.

Posted: **Sun Nov 04, 2007 7:44 pm**

From the 2007 Nationals summary:

Horace Greeley ran, of all things, the "Franz Ferdinand" category.

I'm sure there were a lot of places those questions could have gone.

Posted: **Sun Nov 04, 2007 8:19 pm**

I can confirm that the coach of team Waramaug carries or at one time carried a flask containing some potent beverage to quizbowl tournaments, drinking it when his kids weren't looking and offering it to my coach. I'm not even joking.

Posted: **Wed Nov 14, 2007 10:14 am**

Rae Gambler from Defiance, Ohio wrote:We have been going to Nationals in Chicago with the ----. Your tournament is so much better and more organized. We have now attended 3 different Nationals and none compare to the quality of your tournament organization and READERS!!!!"
--Rae Gambler, Defiance High School [name of other tournament deleted]

Once again reviving this thread because I just saw this quote myself -- I actually asked this coach's team about this. She's talking about ASCN here. I give

a big obnoxious buzzer-sound for deviousness.

Posted: **Wed Nov 14, 2007 11:32 am**

But wouldn't she have attended one other nationals in addition to NAC and ASCN?

Posted: **Wed Nov 14, 2007 6:45 pm**

Yeah, and I believe last year Defiance went to NAQT. However, the ASCN writeup would probably have been before NAQT, and there's a chance they went to Panasonic or any of the other national tournaments that stopped in the 90s.

Posted: **Thu Nov 15, 2007 12:08 am**

...or multiple ASCNs...

Posted: **Thu Nov 15, 2007 11:10 am**

For better or worse, many teams (esp. from New York and Texas) have attended

's tournaments for a number of years because their attendance dates back to the time he was the only game in town, and they have not seen any problems personally.

If our local Illinois tournaments are any indication, this trend will no doubt continue. I've had any number of discussions with local coaches who have griped about questions, brackets, etc. but will then say in the same breath "but we always come here" for no other reason than "tradition".

Posted: **Thu Nov 15, 2007 11:48 am**

Deesy Does It wrote:Yeah, and I believe last year Defiance went to NAQT. However, the ASCN writeup would probably have been before NAQT, and there's a chance they went to Panasonic or any of the other national tournaments that stopped in the 90s.

They did, but to my knowledge they haven't been to NAC in several years so unless they spontaneously offered that quote to

they hadn't been to NAQT at that time. They could be talking about Panasonic; I think they went once in the 80's or early 90's.

Posted: **Thu Nov 15, 2007 12:20 pm**

David Riley wrote:For better or worse, many teams (esp. from New York and Texas) have attended 's tournaments for a number of years because their attendance dates back to the time he was the only game in town, and they have not seen any problems personally.

If our local Illinois tournaments are any indication, this trend will no doubt continue. I've had any number of discussions with local coaches who have griped about questions, brackets, etc. but will then say in the same breath "but we always come here" for no other reason than "tradition".

When talking with one of the New York coaches, I mentioned that we had been at NAQT. The response was "What's NAQT?"

I do think that many of the teams are now at least aware of other tournaments' existence, even if they do not attend.

And here's advice: do not underestimate the power of snail mail. Lancaster is also one of the heavy Chip regions. We did some "outreach" last year by asking to go to two of their tournaments. (Like 30 of the schools have teams due to a television tournament.) Then I took the schedule and this year I snail mailed the schools. Now I have several Pennsylvania schools coming to our tournament in three weeks.

Posted: **Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:04 pm**

I don't think I'd underestimate standard mail, except that it is often extremely difficult to find the contact information for a particular school. Cold calling or cold mailing is not always the most efficient way to reach people.

Posted: **Fri Nov 16, 2007 9:58 am**

Indeed, I

- had coaches' names, because Conestoga Valley's tournament listed them in the tournament program
- looked up coach names on school websites when I could

In the worst case scenario, address it to "Academic Team Coach or Principal".

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