UA Admiral Ackbar Invitational Tournament - January 30

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at your pleasure
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Re: UA Admiral Ackbar Invitational Tournament - January 30

Post by at your pleasure »

Ukonvasara wrote:
Doink the Clown wrote:
linaloki wrote:An A-set may work, especially if we're having a large amount of CC interest that would be otherwise deterred by our use of IS-90. And I still haven't heard back from Penn after messaging them earlier. Perhaps an A set would work better for people?
How are college teams put off by IS sets? I realize these are CCs, but still.
As was mentioned earlier, conflicts with a different CC tournament.
Oof. I conflated the sentiment expressed two posts above this one with this post. My bad. Still, my head boggles at the idea of college teams playing A sets even more than it boggles at the idea of college teams playing IS sets.
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Re: UA Admiral Ackbar Invitational Tournament - January 30

Post by geekjohnson »

Again, I wonder why it is such a problem for people to run tournaments that are not geared for super serious tones and such. Yeah, IS and A sets are easy...very easy...My suggestion is that, even though such occurances tread on the sense of "quizbowl aesthetics" held by many, if you do not want to go to tournaments using such questions...then...do not go. As far as causing teams to not go to tournaments such as ULL's Penn Bowl Mirror, I think that is a load of tosh. People that want to play Penn Bowl level questions will play them, and would prob. not play on IS or A sets even if no other tournament was available. So, I believe it just comes down to tournament host discretion. Back when I was at UA, we contacted Matt Weiner months in advance about getting a good collegiate style difficulty set produced to be used at UA...in November '07 I believe. The date was set at least 2 months in advance, and we sent out feelers to the majority of teams in the SE. Despite having a set that was of ultra high quality, Titanomachy, we attracted...4 teams...2 when one subtracts the house teams. My point is that regardless of question set/style/difficulty, tournaments need to have as many teams as possible. If that means using IS or A sets, then big whoop. When we hosted our first college tournament at UA, Ragnarok, we had a total of 15 teams, with, I think, being 9 other teams once the house teams were subtracted. Ragnarok used an IS set. I understand such trends involve more of dates than anything, but it still does not change the fact that Ragnarok, though having it's own set of execution problems, was by far a more enjoyable experience than the ghost tournament of Titanomachy. So, whatever question set is used, get as many teams there, and have fun. Unless the host is responsible for the production of the set, then try not to be so dismissive of teams using whatever resources they have available to them to provide for a tournament. In the end, I think the best motto, to be henceforth termed, "The Aesthetics Law," should be...if you don't like the questions, or hell, anything about the tournament, such as location, TD, scoring systems, snacks, and the inevitable room stank that generally haunts quizbowl tournaments, then... do not go.
James A. Johnson
University of West Florida
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Re: UA Admiral Ackbar Invitational Tournament - January 30

Post by cchiego »

Shorter College- Hosted ACF Fall 07, had 21 teams
UGA- Hosted ACF Winter 09 10, had 16 and 21 teams each
GA Tech- Hosted ACF Fall 09, had 20 teams

I can understand that UA is trying to make $$ off tournaments, but it seems that ACF-style ones actually do rather well as of late in the SE. I think Titanomachy was an unfortunate combination of relatively short notice and bad timing, though I still thought it was one of the best tournaments I've played in and thoroughly enjoyed the set and tournament, even with only 4 teams.

Why not email all the teams in the region, offer them a choice, and see what results you get? Rather than speculating about what teams want, try contacting them directly. Then, decide on a set and go ahead with the tournament (you may even ask if they'd be interested in a MUT mirror in March too).
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Re: UA Admiral Ackbar Invitational Tournament - January 30

Post by geekjohnson »

I agree, ACF tournaments in the SE are very well received in terms of attendance, but those aren't always available. As for Titanomachy, I do not think short notice factored in to it, http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4399, as it was announced nearly 2 months in advance, granted that may seem like leap seconds when compared to some of the date reservations made these days, I'm looking at you Borglum, lol, but still I think it was a good amount of time. I think the thing is that no viable set is available, given the mirror of Penn Bowl at ULL. I just do not see the problem, if there is interest in having tournaments on IS an A sets then why have all the hubub. Sure it is not perfect, but I am sure fun will be had by teams in attendance, if they come, much more fun than say...no having any tournament.
James A. Johnson
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Re: UA Admiral Ackbar Invitational Tournament - January 30

Post by 49-Mile Scenic Drive »

Snead would prefer to play on the A-Set as it appears to be our only viable option since Penn Bowl seems unlikely. We'd love to come to UA and have a little fun at a tournament even if it is A-Set.
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Re: UA Admiral Ackbar Invitational Tournament - January 30

Post by The Ununtiable Twine »

geekjohnson wrote:I think the thing is that no viable set is available, given the mirror of Penn Bowl at ULL. I just do not see the problem, if there is interest in having tournaments on IS an A sets then why have all the hubub. Sure it is not perfect, but I am sure fun will be had by teams in attendance, if they come, much more fun than say...no having any tournament.
Well, people it takes a time, dedication, and patience to write such sets. Plus, my initial suggestion was for UA to push the tournament back to March and host a mirror of MUT. Let me state here that I plan on bringing my undergrads over to the MUT mirror and not hosting one over here to have a conflict of interest. This is typically how things go. Oh yes, and since the tournament is in the middle of the semester and you're in a pretty good location (and doesn't [or at least shouldn't] conflict with other events), you'll get a good number of teams. Let me be the first to say that the MUT mirror at UA was my idea and I want a massive discount.

And would you stop mentioning our mirror already? I dropped the subject quite a long time ago. It was just a matter of principle, that's all. Maybe one day when I'm the qb president at UA we'll have some kind of grand unified theory to make all quizbowl awesome. Tournament scheduling is an easy process in areas such as yours and with the right amount of timely communication, you should never have ANY problems, whether you want to host a tournament on an A-set, regular IS, ACF Nationals level questions, whatever. The problem of questions being too hard and whatnot can be lessened by the right approach by the club president and the rest of the organization. Trust me. Don't say something's too hard when the only thing that's making it hard is the fact that you are less dedicated than some other hard-working people. What I'm saying is that if every college player puts in any effort at all in trying to improve their game, they should be able to score at least 10-15 ppg on these "hard" questions with no problem. Just pick a topic or two and learn about them! With a few years of practice time and whatnot, my guys (none of whom you've ever heard of) have improved so much as a team and find the questions to be rather accessible. This coming from a club whose best team had a hard time scoring 250 ppg on IS questions five years ago and has lost most of those players, but still finds ways to be reasonably competitive at these "hard" tournaments despite having depleted lineups. Oh wait, they don't even come to practice sometimes, but they still score tons of points based mainly on academic interest. Exposing yourself to the material is what makes the game easier at the "hard" level. But if you don't have experience on certain difficulty levels, of course you'll come to find them "hard" and be frustrated by them. Just put a few hours of work in per month. Is that really hard to do?

If you're the president of an organization and don't expose your players to tougher questions and don't suggest ways to improve and don't see to it that it gets done, it is primarily YOUR fault. Don't go around calling the questions "hard" -- what's "hard" to do is play at an advanced level without putting in much effort.

There's also the method of playing your newbies at tougher tournaments just to give them some exposure to tougher stuff. Of course they're going to struggle, given that they are new to the level of competition and the new difficulty level. It's not hard to mature as a player, it just takes time.
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Re: UA Admiral Ackbar Invitational Tournament - January 30

Post by linaloki »

Well... I never intended to cause this much ado about anything... and this may also cause ado, but whatever.

I've contacted NAQT, and we're going to switch to an A-set and put on this tournament. I would ask that all teams interested in coming e-mail us at [email protected]. We hope to have a fun time with this tournament. It may not be as challenging as some would like, but with ACF Regionals and NAQT Sectionals coming up soon, I figure we'll get enough of that. Prices will be finalized at a later time. I can tell you that there will definitely be $10 discounts for buzzers, but that's all I'm 100% on right now.

Thanks for everyone's patience.
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Re: UA Admiral Ackbar Invitational Tournament - January 30

Post by geekjohnson »

I am unsure if the remarks you are making are directly at anyone in particular, but, for the record, I never said anything about questions being too hard. Hard questions are fun, just as easy questions can be fun as well. I think the point you make about improving as a player on difficult questions is well reasoned. I do not know if my remarks made it feel as though I was advocating being a stagnant player geared towards only novice level questions, but that was not their intention. And again, I never called any questions "hard." As far as calling out other programs presidents for their style of running things...eh, that is tricky. I would say just let people do as they wish, because every president, and every other officer for that matter, do the best with what they have, considering what they all have on their plates, commitment wise. Running a program is a group effort, or it should be, and it requires a concerted effort to make things run, just as it requires an open and willing group of players to further whatever agenda is set by the organization. Viva la 'Bama.
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Re: UA Admiral Ackbar Invitational Tournament - January 30

Post by linaloki »

Pricing information is up. Detailed maps will be up later, as well as e-mailed to schools that have e-mailed us to confirm. We may actually be doing 91A, depending on if NAQT isn't fed up with our constant switching, as one other school has already heard 89A.
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Re: UA Admiral Ackbar Invitational Tournament - January 30

Post by 49-Mile Scenic Drive »

If you would like some more teams I can always play solo if you'd like. I believe we can bring 4 buzzers for sure, with a possibility of a couple extra.
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Re: UA Admiral Ackbar Invitational Tournament - January 30

Post by crimsonscholar »

Results from tournament including final:

1st Place: Clemson B (10-0)
2nd Place: Alabama A (8-2)

Championship: Clemson B 425, Alabama A 295

Individuals:

1st Place: Nick from Clemson B
2nd Place: Freddy from Clemson A
3rd Place: Mark Morris from Snead B
4th Place: AJ Collins from Alabama B
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Re: UA Admiral Ackbar Invitational Tournament - January 30

Post by The Ununtiable Twine »

Stats?
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Re: UA Admiral Ackbar Invitational Tournament - January 30

Post by 49-Mile Scenic Drive »

Just wanted to say everyone from Snead enjoyed themselves yesterday. It was a nice break and I enjoyed this "fun" tournament. I wish we could've gotten to stick around T-Town longer, but the inclement weather in our area of Alabama prevented that. Props to Bama for hosting, and I hope to come to another real soon, *hint MUT Mirror please* :party:
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Re: UA Admiral Ackbar Invitational Tournament - January 30

Post by acmagee »

Andrew Magee
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Re: UA Admiral Ackbar Invitational Tournament - January 30

Post by 49-Mile Scenic Drive »

Not that it is of any dire significance, but is there any particular reason why it lists the Snead A/Snead B round as 105-85 and neither team getting any bonus points? I don't remember the final score but it was like 285-260 or something
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Re: UA Admiral Ackbar Invitational Tournament - January 30

Post by CSQuizJags »

http://www.ajc.com/sports/uga/is-it-a-t ... id=thbz_hm

Given the push at Ole Miss for this, will you be able to still use this name for your tournament if it passes?
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Re: UA Admiral Ackbar Invitational Tournament - January 30

Post by Marble-faced Bristle Tyrant »

CSQuizJags wrote:http://www.ajc.com/sports/uga/is-it-a-t ... id=thbz_hm

Given the push at Ole Miss for this, will you be able to still use this name for your tournament if it passes?
Oh dear God. I highly doubt Lucas would allow that, though.
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