The Quizbowl Resource Center

In the last day or so, they have printed the schedules for two of the three NAC national tournaments. New Orleans (at Loyola) will be held May 29-31, followed by Washington (at Marymount University), June 4-6, and Chicago (at the Sheraton Four Points at O'Hare), June 12-14. James Island will be doing the JV at Washington, because we are a very young team.

Here is the New Orleans schedule:

http://www.qunlimited.com/nosche10.htm

Washington:

http://www.qunlimited.com/wasched10.htm

Please stop going to this tournament and pretending that its results matter at all. James Island really could be a decent "good quizbowl" team if you ignored these events.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure no one here cares all that much about NAC at this point.

In the MS levels, I'm interested in hearing what Coach Huang thinks of the competition at DC's "nationals" relative to our tournament, which was held with the CMST set of questions. I know Longfellow will crush the field, irrespective of the kinds of questions asked, unless there's, say, a "geography of your opponent's hometown" distribution.

The only reason we're going is to give more experience for the younger players we're bringing (2 freshmen and a sophomore). The JV we're in only has 7 teams.

That sounds like the worst imaginable way to have an experience. I would probably rather experience my house being burned down.

scquizbowl wrote:The only reason we're going is to give more experience for the younger players we're bringing (2 freshmen and a sophomore). The JV we're in only has 7 teams.

Anyone who actually believes this, raise your hand.

Yeah, couldn't they get more quizbowl experience at... a quizbowl tournament?

Why not bring them to the NSC? We're looking for standby teams, and still have slots open.

I certainly hope the "Wilson" that I see on the Washington schedule isn't the same Wilson SHS that has come to several tournaments in our area and done reasonably well. I can't imagine that this would be fun for them; even though they're probably the most skilled quizbowl team at the Washington site, they'd probably still do badly and end up frustrated due to the hosetasticness.

RyuAqua wrote:I certainly hope the "Wilson" that I see on the Washington schedule isn't the same Wilson SHS that has come to several tournaments in our area and done reasonably well. I can't imagine that this would be fun for them; even though they're probably the most skilled quizbowl team at the Washington site, they'd probably still do badly and end up frustrated due to the hosetasticness.

Their coach posts here and seems to have more sense than that (see this post and this one, for example).

I asked last year when I saw a Wilson. He said it wasn't them.

RyuAqua wrote:I certainly hope the "Wilson" that I see on the Washington schedule isn't the same Wilson SHS that has come to several tournaments in our area and done reasonably well. I can't imagine that this would be fun for them; even though they're probably the most skilled quizbowl team at the Washington site, they'd probably still do badly and end up frustrated due to the hosetasticness.

It's the one from South Carolina. I wanted them to go to Chicago for the HSNCT instead, but apparently they couldn't afford it. It's a shame, really.

Jeremy Gibbs Freesy Does It wrote:I would probably rather experience my house being burned down.

Future question: "Charlie Dees is like Anne Bradstreet. Why?"

Hilltopper22 wrote:

Jeremy Gibbs Freesy Does It wrote:I would probably rather experience my house being burned down.

Future question: "Charlie Dees is like Anne Bradstreet. Why?"

They both end in a double e followed by a consonant?

ITS A HOSE

RyuAqua wrote:I certainly hope the "Wilson" that I see on the Washington schedule isn't the same Wilson SHS that has come to several tournaments in our area and done reasonably well. I can't imagine that this would be fun for them; even though they're probably the most skilled quizbowl team at the Washington site, they'd probably still do badly and end up frustrated due to the hosetasticness.

Matt,

I think reasonably well is a bit of an overstatement but I appreciate the thought. That Wilson is not us, at least as far as I know. The picture alone scares me, I can't imagine what the real thing is like.

That said, I fear the day that my principal hears about this and tells me I am going

Mr. Singer,

Check your Verizon email when you have a chance. Thanks!

Here is the Chicago schedule:

http://www.qunlimited.com/chsched10.htm

New Orleans starts tomorrow.

RE: Chicago schedule...
Who ARE these schools? Is El Paso the one north of Bloomington, IL? There is a LaGrange is Illinois, but I've never heard of a middle school there playing scholastic bowl of any type.
I see some schools that appear to be IL schools, such as Fairfield, Plano (?), North Boone, and El Paso(?), but they'd all be pretty small schools.... Maybe they attend this b/c they feel this gives them a shot (whereas HSNCT would be pretty hopeless)?

Who cares?

Moving Day wrote:In the MS levels, I'm interested

I stopped reading here.

Moving Day wrote:RE: Chicago schedule...
Who ARE these schools? Is El Paso the one north of Bloomington, IL? There is a LaGrange is Illinois, but I've never heard of a middle school there playing scholastic bowl of any type.
I see some schools that appear to be IL schools, such as Fairfield, Plano (?), North Boone, and El Paso(?), but they'd all be pretty small schools.... Maybe they attend this b/c they feel this gives them a shot (whereas HSNCT would be pretty hopeless)?

Plano and El Paso are almost certainly Texas; Fairfield is IL, they've gone for years. North Boone attending NAC would blow my freaking mind -- they don't even attend tournaments in Winnebago or Rockford. They barely get to .500 in Big Northern Conference play.

I agree with Brad. Also, it's Boone rather than North Boone, which makes it unlikely to be from Illinois. So, the only Illinois team is one that is five hours away.

Why does this thread exist?

Would it be nuts to say that literally so few of the nation's competitive teams even participate in a Chip-written event per year that it would actually not really demonstrate an anti-Chip bias to remove this from the Nationals forum?

Jeremy Gibbs Freesy Does It wrote:Would it be nuts to say that literally so few of the nation's competitive teams even participate in a Chip-written event per year that it would actually not really demonstrate an anti-Chip bias to remove this from the Nationals forum?

Why does it matter to have an anti-Chip bias? The format and questions are unquestionably bad anyways.

Westwon wrote:I agree with Brad. Also, it's Boone rather than North Boone, which makes it unlikely to be from Illinois. So, the only Illinois team is one that is five hours away.

LaGrange, IL is right by Brookfield and the only high school in town is Lyons Township. It's a huge school.

EDIT: I don't think I'm supposed to care about this thread.

Kanye West wrote:

Jeremy Gibbs Freesy Does It wrote:Would it be nuts to say that literally so few of the nation's competitive teams even participate in a Chip-written event per year that it would actually not really demonstrate an anti-Chip bias to remove this from the Nationals forum?

Why does it matter to have an anti-Chip bias? The format and questions are unquestionably bad anyways.

Charlie means that the forum is probably better off not appearing to have a de facto anti-Chip bias, but rather one that is arrived at via all the evidence being on the side of good quizbowl--it's a way to preemptively beat the bad argument of "you don't like x, so you're biased against x, so your opinion that you don't like x can't possibly be valid). But if sufficiently few teams do Chip tournaments, then there's a fine, independent reason not to have the thread in the Nationals forum.

Crazy Andy Watkins wrote:

Kanye West wrote:

Jeremy Gibbs Freesy Does It wrote:Would it be nuts to say that literally so few of the nation's competitive teams even participate in a Chip-written event per year that it would actually not really demonstrate an anti-Chip bias to remove this from the Nationals forum?

Why does it matter to have an anti-Chip bias? The format and questions are unquestionably bad anyways.

Charlie means that the forum is probably better off not appearing to have a de facto anti-Chip bias, but rather one that is arrived at via all the evidence being on the side of good quizbowl--it's a way to preemptively beat the bad argument of "you don't like x, so you're biased against x, so your opinion that you don't like x can't possibly be valid). But if sufficiently few teams do Chip tournaments, then there's a fine, independent reason not to have the thread in the Nationals forum.

Oh, ok, that makes sense.

Zionsville (IN) won the New Orleans phase of the tournament, but not without some controversy.

Here is their writeup:

http://www.qunlimited.com/national.htm

scquizbowl wrote:Here is their writeup:

http://www.qunlimited.com/national.htm

Histrionics aside, it's kind of nice to have a detailed write-up of what happened. I realize that NAQT has a blog during the HSNCT, but a detailed, well-written retrospective afterwards might be a nice way to make the action real for those of us who can't attend, to say nothing of those coaches and students who are drawn to the NAC by its dramatic touches. Is it too late to fly Christian Flow to PACE?

Yes, who wouldn't want a writeup containing such gems as "they defeating Fort Morgan in their first playoff match, 400-255"?

Yeah, I think I specified "well-written" as a criterion.

Kyle wrote: Histrionics aside, it's kind of nice to have a detailed write-up of what happened. I realize that NAQT has a blog during the HSNCT, but a detailed, well-written retrospective afterwards might be a nice way to make the action real for those of us who can't attend, to say nothing of those coaches and students who are drawn to the NAC by its dramatic touches. Is it too late to fly Christian Flow to PACE?

This isn't a bad idea at all. "Tournament Tradition" is basically the only area where the NAC has any pull anymore and it'd be nice for future generations to hear how things unfolded. Once the full stats get posted, I'll go back and write up some kind of well-written, CBFlow-esque recap using what I saw during the liveblog and combine that with the stats to develop a solid "storyline." I can't guarantee I'll be able to create another literary icon like Dallas though.

You guys can't be serious. Chip's writeups read like bad wrestling storylines, and they're only really good for a chuckle. You don't want to emulate his example.

A writeup is fine. Chip's is not.

Just for the record, the fact that Bayside is now considered one of the 8 best teams in America tells me all I need to know about

"White Plains netted 30, given the title of the Spanish edition of Hemingway books, and identifying the original English titles. Klein then netted 30 on COOKING 101."

Cooking is important stuff, man

White Plains netted 30, given the title of the Spanish edition of Hemingway books, and identifying the original English titles. Klein then netted 30 on COOKING 101."

I actually thought this sentence was a joke until I looked at the link and saw it with my own eyes.

In 2008, Georgia engaged in an armed conflict with Russia and separatist groups from two Georgian republics. South Ossetia was one. What was the other?" (Ans. Abkhazia) Among the 20-pointers scored were two Russian-related questions: Mainland knew that the dish shashlyk consists of skewered meats, and Zionsville identified that dark witch of folklore, Baba Yaga. They scored the second bonus-round tossup, identifying Woody Guthrie after a list of his songs, then swept the EINSTEIN bonus and never looked back. They recognized Chopin after listening to a few notes of the Revolutionary Etude, and swept the ensuing CURRENT EVENTS bonus, including this 20-pointer: What natural substance does the Bloom Box use to create electricity? (Ans. Sand)

These sound "fun" and shockingly random too!

Ice Warrior wrote:You guys can't be serious. Chip's writeups read like bad wrestling storylines, and they're only really good for a chuckle. You don't want to emulate his example.

Again, people seem to miss the part where I suggested that it actually be done well.

Ice Warrior wrote:You guys can't be serious. Chip's writeups read like bad wrestling storylines, and they're only really good for a chuckle. You don't want to emulate his example.

You should consult an expert before making such statements. I don't see anything about people being put through tables.

The Granny wrote:

Ice Warrior wrote:You guys can't be serious. Chip's writeups read like bad wrestling storylines, and they're only really good for a chuckle. You don't want to emulate his example.

You should consult an expert before making such statements. I don't see anything about people being put through tables.

I might come to NAC if this happened.

The Granny wrote:

Ice Warrior wrote:You guys can't be serious. Chip's writeups read like bad wrestling storylines, and they're only really good for a chuckle. You don't want to emulate his example.

You should consult an expert before making such statements. I don't see anything about people being put through tables.

you are confusing "good wrestling storylines" with "bad" ones

Being from Indiana, I'll put in a plug for Zionsville as a pretty decent team. They not only beat but trounced teams in three Indiana tournaments this year, solidly beating both Culver Academies (HSNCT #57) and Penn (HSNCT #97). Both Phil Blessman and I were sure they would be good in the NAQT format, so we tried to get them to attend either the NAQT State Qualifier or the Midwest Championship, but with no success. (Their coach expressed interest, but the timing was not good for them.) I believe they would have made the top 50 (maybe 40) at HSNCT.

The Indianapolis-based league has always been big on NAC, which is why many of their teams end up there. Further, the success Zionsville is having this year, coupled with Harrison winning the entire tourney in '07, means it will be that much more difficult to persuade the state away from QU.

Ben Dillon wrote:They not only beat but trounced teams in three Indiana tournaments this year, solidly beating both Culver Academies (HSNCT #57) and Penn (HSNCT #97).

What kind of tournaments were these victories in?

Ice Warrior wrote:

The Granny wrote:

Ice Warrior wrote:You guys can't be serious. Chip's writeups read like bad wrestling storylines, and they're only really good for a chuckle. You don't want to emulate his example.

You should consult an expert before making such statements. I don't see anything about people being put through tables.

you are confusing "good wrestling storylines" with "bad" ones

ok fine where are the people beating each other with fluorescent light tubes?

You should consult an expert before making such statements. I don't see anything about people being put through tables.

I look forward to meeting you someday Fred and discussing my knowledge of pro wrestling with you. I always wondered if I got on "Stump the Schwab" back in the day if they'd let me pick "Mid 1990s Pro Wrestling" as my expert category. Wow, I'm a loser.

Charbroil wrote:

Ben Dillon wrote:They not only beat but trounced teams in three Indiana tournaments this year, solidly beating both Culver Academies (HSNCT #57) and Penn (HSNCT #97).

What kind of tournaments were these victories in?

Tragically, they attended tournaments that would not be considered "good quiz bowl"... i.e. tourneys with QU-written packets. My estimation of their ability rests solely on my appraisal of their knowledge base demonstrated at those tourneys and their penchant for "powering" questions that have no power mark in them.

We are now in town for the NAC tournament. Our first two JV games are at 6:00 and 6:45 tonight, with the second against John Cooper. On Saturday, we play at 11:20, 12:40, and 3:10, but then we don't play again until 7pm .

We are getting ready, but we haven't gone to the college yet.

scquizbowl wrote:We are now in town for the NAC tournament. Our first two JV games are at 6:00 and 6:45 tonight, with the second against John Cooper. On Saturday, we play at 11:20, 12:40, and 3:10, but then we don't play again until 7pm .

We are getting ready, but we haven't gone to the college yet.

In the interim you should try to catch a blender infomercial for some quick but effective studying.