UA Admiral Ackbar Invitational Tournament - January 2010

[linaloki]

After discussion, UA has decided to hold off on our Admiral Ackbar tournament. We will be hosting it in January, 2010. The specific date is still pending, and while we may still do an IS set, specifics on that are now pending as well.

[Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)]

Is there a market of teams who really want to play A-sets at the college level?

[nobthehobbit]

I don't see this listed anywhere on NAQT's website, but I'm with Charlie on this one: are there really collegiate teams that want to play IS-A questions?

[Matt Weiner]

Maybe he meant to post this in the high school section? There is already a HS tournament at Brindlee Mountain that day, though.

[Important Bird Area]

The 2007 edition of this used IS #68 (not an A-series) for a mostly-CC field.

[The Ununtiable Twine]

It might not be such a great idea to host a college NAQT tournament on A-sets. They tend to be a tad bit too easy, even for the below average college player. Some of the better high school teams in Louisiana had rounds where they neared 600 points on these packets, and teams consisting of people with little to no quizbowl experience were in the 250-300 point range. These tend to be ridiculously easy for any collegiate market.

[49-Mile Scenic Drive]

Maybe he meant to post this in the high school section? There is already a HS tournament at Brindlee Mountain that day, though.

If this is for college, Snead would be interested, whether it's just me or my team comes along. However, since it's on the same day as Brindlee Mountain's tournament, we won't be able to go because 3/4 of our team are BMHS alums and have already told Lee we'd help him. Although I don't speak for them, I assume Northeast would do the same due to their ties to Brindlee Mountain.

[Nine-Tenths Ideas]

Guys, even the name of this tournament tells you that it's a trap.

[Kwang the Ninja]

I think I speak for everyone at Chipola when I say I would be bored out of my skull playing an A-set. I think this tournament would be good for some CC teams, the ones that were barely breaking 100 on an IS at Faulkner, but after playing ACF Fall and THUNDER and aiming to play some normal difficulty tournaments in the spring, this would be a severe let-down for us.

[49-Mile Scenic Drive]

I think I speak for everyone at Chipola when I say I would be bored out of my skull playing an A-set. I think this tournament would be good for some CC teams, the ones that were barely breaking 100 on an IS at Faulkner, but after playing ACF Fall and THUNDER and aiming to play some normal difficulty tournaments in the spring, this would be a severe let-down for us.

Normally I'd feel the same with it being A-Set, but since I'm not playing ACBL this semester and my first tournament next semester is Sectionals, I'll play damn near anything that's close, unless of course it's way above my range of thinking.

[linaloki]

Apparently, I'm just kidding, guys. Details are still being fleshed out, but IS-90 where we'll be going with this, I believe. More information will be forthcoming. I'll be editing the original post to keep you all updated.

[49-Mile Scenic Drive]

Hmmm going to an IS from an A-Series makes me a bit more interested. I'm not sure how great the chances are of that happening though. I also just now realized that this is the same day as the SEC Championship game, although if the game kick-off isn't until late then there shouldn't be an issue with that for me.

[The Ununtiable Twine]

The game tips off at 3:00 CT. Maybe there can be a break in-between rounds to watch football? If I'm able to make it, I surely wouldn't mind.

[49-Mile Scenic Drive]

Oh I just remembered one other detail. Most of the other Community College sans us and Northeast may not come due to the tournament being held at LBW in Greenville on the 4th. I say this because as Jeff mentioned earlier there were a few CCs in the field for this tournament before.

[quizbowllee]

While I certainly have no power over this, it certainly does suck for Brindlee Mountain that Bama is hosting this tournament on this day. I count heavily on my Brindlee Mountain alums to staff our annual tournament - which funds us for the year. This will undoubtedly have an adverse affect on our ability to adequately staff our tournament. Over half of our usual moderating staff either plays on the CC circuit or is on Alabama's team.

This seriously sucks.

[Mechanical Beasts]

While I certainly have no power over this, it certainly does suck for Brindlee Mountain that Bama is hosting this tournament on this day. I count heavily on my Brindlee Mountain alums to staff our annual tournament - which funds us for the year. This will undoubtedly have an adverse affect on our ability to adequately staff our tournament. Over half of our usual moderating staff either plays on the CC circuit or is on Alabama's team.

This seriously sucks.

RADICAL CONCLUSION: maybe this tournament should not happen on this date (perhaps even this could be a mirror of a spring tournament set!).

[Matthew D]

Which one Andrew? Brindlee Mt has been on the same weekend for about 5 years now, this one has moved around more than one time

[Mechanical Beasts]

Which one Andrew? Brindlee Mt has been on the same weekend for about 5 years now, this one has moved around more than one time

I meant the UA tournament, which is stepping on Brindlee Mountain's date and running a college tournament on an IS set that no one seems to be too excited about.

[The Ununtiable Twine]

Maybe the best idea here is to let UA and Brindlee Mountain decide this amongst themselves instead of making it look like UA is trying to be a detriment to Brindlee Mountain's situation. A team has the right to host a tournament whenever it wants, and UA's president is new, so maybe it didn't occur to him to check the date on the Brindlee Mountain tournament. It could just be an honest mistake, you know. UA is also probably trying to host an event in which the questions are accessible and enjoyable for more teams in the region, which is understandable. I suggested a Delta Burke mirror to one of their team members if they are aiming for a lower difficulty tournament, but in reality it's up to them what they decide to do, and some teams like to play on NAQT format every now and then. Sure, IS is easy, but a clear solution to have people quit complaining about the difficulty level would be for NAQT to make additional IS sets available that have the difficulty level of D2 SCT and perhaps the level of D1 SCT or something a little easier than that, or maybe even a little harder, and announce the difficulty level of the set so that teams know what they're getting themselves into beforehand. Unfortunately, every tournament doesn't satisfy every customer, even though we'd like it to be that way.

[quizbowllee]

Clearly, UA can host a tournament whenever they want. I'm not pretending to tell them otherwise. I was simply pointing out that it might hurt our tournament.

Incidentally, I asked Andy Knowles (who is on UA's team) about moderating for us today. He said he had no idea UA was planning to host this tournament.

[Mechanical Beasts]

Sure, IS is easy, but a clear solution to have people quit complaining about the difficulty level would be for NAQT to make additional IS sets available that have the difficulty level of D2 SCT and perhaps the level of D1 SCT or something a little easier than that, or maybe even a little harder, and announce the difficulty level of the set so that teams know what they're getting themselves into beforehand. Unfortunately, every tournament doesn't satisfy every customer, even though we'd like it to be that way.

It's a "clear solution," but it also requires a whole lot of work from NAQT that NAQT can't really produce out of thin air.

[The Ununtiable Twine]

Clearly, UA can host a tournament whenever they want. I'm not pretending to tell them otherwise. I was simply pointing out that it might hurt our tournament.

Incidentally, I asked Andy Knowles (who is on UA's team) about moderating for us today. He said he had no idea UA was planning to host this tournament.

We've been the victim of such cross-scheduling many times before, so I can see why you'd have concerns as far as moderating and attendance are concerned. I suppose they wanted to get another tournament in somehow before the semester is over with and some of them had no clue about the Brindlee Mountain tournament, but that's just a guess.

Andy? Never heard of him :)

[linaloki]

I'm glad I'm getting this feedback. It wasn't our intention to step on Brindlee Mountain's or on the LBW tournament. We had wanted to get in one last tournament for this term, just a fun light-weight thing, and December 5 was the last weekend before Finals Week for we UA students that would have worked. Not to mention, I was unaware of Brindlee Mountain's tournament, and I apologize for any trouble this announcement caused. I am definitely willing to move this back to January instead, since December 5 is showing to be problematic for multiple people on teams we would like to invite as well as our own. However, I don't know what day in January would work best for my and other teams. Any feedback on potential Saturdays, 1/9, 1/16, 1/23, or 1/30, that would work well for teams would be nice. I know Chatanooga has talked about doing something in January as well, and that 1/16 is MLK weekend, but I'm sure we can get something figured out.

[Matt Weiner]

Any feedback on potential Saturdays, 1/9, 1/16, 1/23, or 1/30, that would work well for teams would be nice. I know Chatanooga has talked about doing something in January as well, and that 1/16 is MLK weekend, but I'm sure we can get something figured out.

1/16 is ACF Winter which will be running at U of Georgia, among other places.

1/30 is Penn Bowl which has been mirrored at GT for several years, though I'm not sure if any Southeastern mirror has yet been announced this time.

I'm not aware of any college tournaments on 1/9 or 1/23.

[49-Mile Scenic Drive]

1/23 is during the CC Sectionals but if I remember correctly ours will be the 22nd, so we shouldn't have a conflict.

EDIT: I also remembered that Charlie said Sword Bowl was a possibility in January. I'd hate to have to choose between these two tournaments if they were to occur the same day