Florida CAC Results

[quizbowlmike]

Florida's state county championship is the Comissioners Academic Challenge (CAC) which took place this weekend. There are three divisions based on enrollment of each county's school system. The format is that of Panasonic. The results are as follows:

Division III Final
1. Gadsden 239
2. Jackson 230
3. Hardee 180
4. Desoto 159
5. Wakulla 147
6. Suwannee 144

Division II Final
1. Okaloosa 197
2. Highlands 196
3. Leon 162
4. Citrus 152
5. St. Lucie 109
6. Indian River 99

Division I Final *
1. Manatee 203
2. Collier 202
3. Polk 186
4. Escambia 177
5. Pinellas 130
6. Seminole 108

* The Division I Final was decided in a suddle death tie breaker. After the third tie breaker question, Manatee answered a question correctly to earn one point and to take home the title.

On a side note, and perhaps this belongs in discussion instead of results... This format needs some serious fixing. As you may or may not know about the Panasonic format, if you get the question right, you get that many points (5, 10, or 15) and if you get it wrong you lose that many points (5, 10, 15). Today I saw a 30 point swing, which is quite substantial, because the team did not answer the matching in the correct order that it was listed on the answer sheet. And it wasn't the normal matching of A, B, C, and D with 1, 2, 3, and 4; it was given 6 people, match each with his antagonist. (The answer given was Octavius - Antony, Ceasar - Pompey, Maius (sp?) - Sula, when the moderator wanted Octavius - Antony, Maius - Sula, Ceasar - Pompey) So, instead of earning 15 points, they lost 15 points. Two questions later, a similar thing happened on a language question. The team answered correctly and forgot to specify a language (be it French or Spanish). The answer was obviously in Spanish (the Spanish thing talked about the Spanish Armada among other things, and the French wa talking about Napoleon). At first, the moderator accepted the answer, then the team that lost 15 points two questions earlier protested because "if they were going to get screwed for something so petty, they other team should be held to the same standards." So the 12+ judges decided to give the team the neg 15 for the question. That team protested and after about another 5 minutes of judges conferring they determined to throw the question out. Instead of replacing the language question with another language question, it was replaced with math. This tournament adheres to strict question distribution ratios so this seemed quite odd to me, more so than usual. Anyone else have thoughts on this (of the Panasonic format in general)?

[jrbarry]

I have personal experience with that format. It is the worst quiz bowl format I have ever seen or heard about. (I coached PAC teams in 1989, 1991, 1994, and 1997). My team lost 15 points for saying "James Blaine" on a matching question. Heaven forbid NOT saying James G Blaine!

[jewtemplar]

You can't approach Panasonic as quiz bowl for the same reason you can't approach science bowl as quiz bowl: the rules and format make no sense, and the directors have no reason to change. If you approach it as a vaguely related sort of half-knowledge half-formalism game, then it can in fact be rewarding.
And everyone's in it for the cash, anyway. At least I hope so. Even if it is expensive as all hell, at least you have a chance at a return.

[shuby2]

Does anyone know the Team Florida selections this year?

And everyone's in it for the cash, anyway. At least I hope so. Even if it is expensive as all hell, at least you have a chance at a return.

Funny you say that, I can't speak for Panasonic (although I assume the Panasonic will still provide the scholarships), but Verizon stopped providing scholarships for the FL state championships this year at CAC. Instead of getting 1000 for 1st, 750 for 2nd, and 500 for 3rd, only the State Champs in each division got 500 this year...That money coming from private donations.

[jewtemplar]

Website says Panasonic is still on for the $2500, $1500 and $500 awards for winning teams and the $2500 all-america awards.
And let's not forget the rings.
That's a shame about the state tourney, though.

[quizbowlmike]

Do any other states have state tournaments where the participants can win money?

[rockgrant]

Yes, the PAC is just awful. But I do think it is worth it to adapt yourself to its bizarre rules and quirks, as it's the only quiz bowl format in which cash and prizes are involved. My strategy was always "sit back and watch everyone else crash and burn," and that brought me a lot of success. If I buzzed in on a question at all, I was usually 95% sure I'd get it right.

The tournament will not change this year, and it will probably never change. My advice is to players is to practice your matching and multiple choice as much as possible -- these are generally the easiest questions but it takes time to master them. Coaches, I would suggest that you be just as brutal and nitpicky about the rules during practice as the judges are at the real thing. Something is ALWAYS going to go wrong, you'll say the wrong thing or some jerk will protest something trivial and win, you've just got to be prepared for these inevitabilities.

Anyway, congrats to the winning teams, and congrats to Escambia for yet ANOTHER finish just out of the money.

[jrbarry]

My team, Brookwood in Georgia, won $4000 in scholarship money for winning a local televised competition.

[dtaylor4]

Here in Illinois the Masons run a state-wide tournament with the following payouts:

Regionals (up to 16 teams double elim)
1st (qualify for state) 500
2nd 400
3rd 300
4th 100
Consolation champs 200

State (16 teams double elim)
1st 2000
2nd 1250
3rd 950
4th 450
Consolation Champs 650

[zwtipp]

On our local t.v. show, they give 4000 in scholarship money to the winning team and 2000 to the runner up. One in columbus gives OSU scholarships to the winner, runner up and semifinalists.

OAC, the state organization for Ohio only gives a small monetary award to the state winner. Something like 250 dollars or some small sum like that. Unfortunately, the cost to attend Panasonic is much mroe than that.

[steven-lamp]

I know ASCA in Alabama gives money to the 1st through 4th place teams in the state tournament each year.

[First Chairman]

I think at Texas Decathlon state championship you get $1000 per gold medal.

[dtaylor4]

For Panasonic, there is a certain amount of strategy involved with certain kinds of questions, but it's mainly about being able to adhere to the strict and quirky rules (which is easier when one is able to participate in an actual tournament with the Panasonic format before June).