The Quizbowl Resource Center

Since I started the thread last year, I figure I will get the ball rolling again.

Who is planning on coming? If so, who are you playing with, etc. What peripheral tournaments do you want in on, and any bold predictions you care to add (I'll also be running the pool for what round Frankel gets booted for drunken disorderly conduct, my money is on rd. 7 :-P ) .

I personally will be getting in on the art singles and do not have a teammate at this time. Anyone who might want my meager services, or other teammatesless people can feel free to send me an e-mail at danpass @ brandeis . edu .

As far as actual predictions go, I'll say whoever has Yaphe will win.

And thanks to Subash for putting together this excellent tournament again, and to Frankel and Jordan for their respective singles work.


edited for factual correctness

Rothlover wrote:Jordan/Jerry for their respective singles work.

No need to thank me, I won't be doing anything this year. It's al Jordan this time around. Poor bastard.

Jerry

grapesmoker wrote:It's al Jordan this time around. Poor bastard.

I actually managed to rope Wesley Matthews into helping with planetary science, Irene Ying to help with Biology, and Dan Benediktson to help on Math. So I'm not alone in my folly, but I've never been one to turn away pity.

As for CO, I'll be there, but a team has not congealed. I'll likely be playing with Dan Benediktson and any other poor saps we can recruit.

Hey,
Since Chicago Open's been announced, I was thinking it might be useful to discuss a couple things. Does anyone know about what kind of teams are coming, or what luminaries of yesteryear's game may rise from their graves (Altered Beast style) and wind-up at this year's tournament? I'll start this one out. It's looking like Sudheer, myself, Andrew Ullsperger, and Matt Weiner will play again, tenatively as "Ignorance on Stilts." Andrew's still in the air somewhat, but I think he'll probably play.
This brings me to my other point. Are any players looking for teams (or almost-teams looking for players?) I'll start this one off, too. My teammate Kelly Tourdot is looking to join a team; she can be contacted at [email protected]. Surely there must be others.

See you in July,
MaS

Administrator: Moved this to the right thread; deleted old thread. Sorry.

Edit:
some desperate team actually took me!
Good luck to all those at the CO.

--

If a team is really, really, really desperate for a player, I'd *love* to come and play. I might even be able to get a fine arts question here and there.

--Billy Beyer
Florida State University
[email protected]

I'll be taking classes at Chicago during the summer, maybe even in the same building in which this thing will be held, so it would not be out of my way at all to attend. It would also fit with my pattern of attending tournaments that I have no place being at this year.

To any others my age: the only way to make these things better for us is to attend in large numbers. The reason that I put up over 10x the points at ACF Nationals than I did at Manu was because there were teams at ACF Nationals that were at or near our skill level. You too can put up near-respectable numbers at hard tournaments if you help me dilute the talent pool.

Thank you Bruce for giving me my signature.

I'm Dave and played for Michigan DII this past year. I'm pretty sure I'll be at CO, thus I'm also looking for a team, and I'm willing to play with Kelly, Bruce, and/or anyone else that thinks they could use my meager services. Let me know. [email protected]

Thanks,
Dave

I'll be teaming with Seth Kendall and former Valencians Amy Harvey and Jim Baker (maybe on the latter). Raj Dhuwalia is going to miss this year, unfortunately, meaning that Seth and I get to be the science guys. Look out Sorice and Teitler!
--cborg

Chris and Seth: If your "maybe" player becomes a no, I'd be happy to fill the role of the science guy since I'm pretty sure I'm going to be in Chicago that weekend anyway (wedding planning trip...won't mind in the least getting out of it for a day). As Seth can attest, I know some other stuff too.

On another note, when is Science Monstrosity going to be held? I couldn't find a date in any of the announcements/discussions - is there one yet?

-Matt

vandyhawk wrote:On another note, when is Science Monstrosity going to be held? I couldn't find a date in any of the announcements/discussions - is there one yet?

No, there isn't a firm date/time yet. If there's no overlap with individuals who want to do the Fine Arts singles, that would probably be the best time. Otherwise, I'm open to suggestions, although I guess Subash has the final call.

ezubaric wrote:If there's no overlap with individuals who want to do the Fine Arts singles, that would probably be the best time.

There's overlap.

-Seth

Furthermore, I want to play the arts singles and am willing to read the science tournament (preferrably without falling asleep midway through* this time) and I imagine others are in that position as well, so holding them at the same time is not the best idea. Last year the science tournament was immediately after CO on Saturday and the lit singles was Sunday morning, which seemed to work.

*Anyone who's not been to a Chicago tournament before: There are no drink machines or convenience stores anywhere near the building. Caffeine dependents are encouraged to bring their own drinks accordingly.

It looks as if my CO team will consist of myself, Leo "horrible at QB" Wolpert, Eric Kwartler, and Ryan Westbrook.

The team I am playing on now looks to be Chad Money, Kelly Tourdot, myself and Gerald Patton. I guess I will add a poll to this like I did last year now that some teams are taking shape. Feel free to post or e-mail me rosters if you wish to waste time with the quiz bowl Hot stove league. (Should be noted that my team was entered into the poll afterwards by weiner as I forgot to put it in, hence its terse name, I imagine I'll be the 3rd scorer on that team.)

Guessing on a likely winner at this point probably won't accomplish much, with Yaphe being the even money option. Given this very, very preliminary field, I'd guess the top five would be somewhere around:

1. Yaphe et al.
2. Weiner and Illinois
3. Lafer, Litvak, et al.
4. Hentzel, Hilleman, et al. (they're not on the poll, but I've heard hearsay that they're coming in some form)
5. More ND than ND Kalu (me, Leo, Kwartler, Westbrook)

Obvious disclaimer that additional confirmations and info on player movement will likely change this list substantially.

IP address for this post
pc-lab01.rh.uchicago.edu

--admin

I'm playing on Andrew Yaphe's team. I think Wesley Matthews and Adam Kemezis are joining us, but I'm not 100% certain of that. In any case, I think my most important function will be keeping Andrew supplied with energy drinks. Perhaps I'll finally remember to bring him his last Red Bull from ICT.

I predict Chris Borglum and Seth Kendall will take the one earth science tossup of the tournament in their match against us, thoroughly embarrassing Wesley and myself. Similarly, I predict the Potru/Sorice/Ullsperger combine will maintain precedent by taking all the science in our match, but I will feel less embarrassed.

And now, some predictions for the non-Chicago Open tournaments of the weekend:

Chris Frankel's fine arts tournament: Andrew will win, Zeke and Subash will take 2nd and 3rd in some order (if they play). If they don't play, there's no telling who will win, but I'd put my money on Jared Sagoff, followed by Anthony de Jesus and Juliana Froggatt. Actually, I think Matt Weiner, Mike Sorice, Eric Kwartler, and Seth Kendall will all do well. I'm sure there are many other people I should be including here.

Eric Kwartler's name-that-classical-tune tournament: AZS or ASZ still seems likely, but I think Adam Kemezis and Chris Frankel, at least, have a chance of breaking the top 3. Note that my thinking is based on 0 facts.

Science Monstrosity III: I think the Chicago edition will be won by Sorice/Ullsperger, or myself and Selene "poster child of qb" Koo. I'm not even sure who else will be playing--Jordan, Dan, and Wesley are all involved with editing, and Raj Dhuwalia isn't coming this year, apparently. Are Dan Suzman or Frank Kelly coming? Will Andrew Yaphe team up with Tim McElroy to take every question on science biography, fake science, Star Trek science, and wholphins (<-- real science) on their way to victory?

If there is a West Coast edition, and if Paul Lujan and Stephen Lee team up again, I predict they will win, and that they could probably take or at least play close to any team at the midwest edition.

Trash tournament: I have no idea.

History singles: Is this happening?

Are there any tournaments I missed?

A final, sweeping prediction for the weekend: Andrew Yaphe will emerge with the highest titles-per-capita for the weekend, but he still won't get anywhere close to Matt Weiner's trophies-per-capita record.

-Seth

Predictions:

Yaphe/Teitler/Matthews/Kemezis? Uhh...sounds very much like last year, where the rest of us were playing for second. That team has no weaknesses (much like Kevin Roth, according to a player from Brock University on the J! discussion fora), except it's actually true for the team I'm talking about.

SMIII:

After having moderated the two-packet three-way final match in which Seth and Trey prevailed last year, I'd say it's a tough call to pick this one. I'm sure that it'll be Teitler/Koo and Sorice/Ullsperger in the final (especially without Raj in the field)...however, if Andrew can shake off the rust, his knowledge of Colvin science and chemistry (he'll probably split biology with Selene) will carry the day, assuming that Seth and Mike more or less split on the physics...but, as I witnessed, Seth does have the ability to take over, so we'll see.

I'm not at all qualified to comment on the West Coast.

FA Singles:

I don't know how many of you have ever seen Kelly Tourdot play, but she is (as I've said) *by far* the best visual arts player I have ever seen. Watching her destroy the arts questions at Manu was simultaneously incredibly gratifying and disgusting. Although Kelly will probably have a disadvantage on the classical music and some of the "other" categories (dance and film are the ones that come to mind), I'm still predicting that she'll pick up more than enough visual art to win.

Name-that-Classical-Tune:

It seems to me like Subash probably has the best shot at winning this tournament, but to be honest, I don't put Kemezis, Frankel, or Sorice far behind him.

No comment on the trash, as I don't think I've ever heard a trash packet by Andrew or Subash.

--Sudheer

Dave Rappaport will also be on our team. We're still looking for a fourth player.

Lafer, would you take me if I could come? My aforementioned grad party will probably have to be moved anyway.

We (me, Dan from Princeton, and Irene from Caltech) are also looking for a fourth for CO. E-mail me (jbg-AT-princeton.edu) if you want to join this fool's errand.

setht wrote:

History singles: Is this happening?

I was half-expecting to get this done by this summer, but much of my effort has been directed other projects, such as trying (and as yet failing) to gain my humble masters degree while not in-residence. And, since 1: at the time I was deciding yea or nay it looked like this year's singles would be a fine arts tournament, 2: I am helping with Science, 3: it now appears there could also be a trash tournament, and 4: I am still not quite certain I can make it to Chicago (though should be soon) I will not be pushing to finish the tournament for this year's Chicago events. So, no, at least not with questions written by myself. My apologies. It is certain, however, that this tournament will eventually be finished, and I hope to offer it up in a timely fashion as soon as it is.

--Wesley

Any new roster movement or teams?

New rumors about teams that anyone directly involved with such is free to correct:

-Zeke Berdichevsky will be taking Sudheer's place on the Weiner/Illinois team.
-Chris Romero will be joining Lafer, Litvak, and Dave.
-Eric Smith may repeat his role as the fourth on the Hentzel/Hilleman/Pike team.

Chris Frankel wrote:New rumors about teams that anyone directly involved with such is free to correct:

-Zeke Berdichevsky will be taking Sudheer's place on the Weiner/Illinois team.
-Chris Romero will be joining Lafer, Litvak, and Dave.
-Eric Smith may repeat his role as the fourth on the Hentzel/Hilleman/Pike team.

I may not be as skilled a qb mind as Martin Faber (whoever the hell that is) or even Clay Davenport, but I think it is safe for me to say that these additions add a lot to their respective teams.

Does anyone know who will be on the various chicago team/s at this point, who Billy Beyer is playing with or if the Caltech/Princeton people ever picked up a fourth.

Rothlover wrote:or if the Caltech/Princeton people ever picked up a fourth.

Through a confusing series of requests/retractions, our fourth has switched from Noah to Romero and finally to Bruce from Chicago.

-Jordan

Hey,
If anyone's looking for a player, my teammate Steven Canning is available and looking to join a team. He can be reached at [email protected].

Thanks,
MaS

I, Billy Beyer, am playing with Boris Nguyen and Jamie Delmolino of Valencia, and the infamous Nathan Freeburg.

--Thanks

I'll be in Chicago over the summer and I'd like to play in as many of tournaments over the course of the weekend as possible. If any teams need another player, I'll be happy to fill in. I should probably mention, however, that I suck really bad at quiz bowl.

~Ray

Anyone looking for a SMIII teammate? I'm strong in bio, chem, and certain areas of physics (not so much quantum and theoretical stuff), so someone who knows other stuff well would be good. Let me know at [email protected] Thanks.