06-07 It's Academic TV Show

Djibouti · Post by **Djibouti** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 1:51 pm

As it's now mid-Summer, I was curious about the known taping dates and opponents for the coming season. Perry Hall tapes on September 30 against Mt. de Sales and Patuxent and airs October 14. I also heard from inter-county associates that Parkville tapes in December. Any other known dates and opponents (and predictions) for the Baltimore, Washington, and Central VA televised show next year?

bigtrain · Post by **bigtrain** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 4:36 pm

Unfortunately, Walter Johnson and RM are in the same semifinal bracket.

Magister Ludi · Post by **Magister Ludi** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 5:06 pm

Unfortunately Gonzaga in in that same semi-final bracket. We have a potential second round meeting with RM. I think it is absurd to have all three of last year's finalists in the same semi-final bracket.

Djibouti · Post by **Djibouti** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 5:17 pm

That makes absolutely no sense at all. In Baltimore, we were told that the three Finalists (Perry Hall, Parkville, and champion Hammond last year) would be placed in separate semifinal brackets as the #1 seed in their respective bracket. Why, in Washington, would they place all 3 finalists in the same semifinal bracket, with two playing each other in the 2nd round?

Byko · Post by **Byko** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 5:31 pm

Djibouti wrote:That makes absolutely no sense at all. In Baltimore, we were told that the three Finalists (Perry Hall, Parkville, and champion Hammond last year) would be placed in separate semifinal brackets as the #1 seed in their respective bracket. Why, in Washington, would they place all 3 finalists in the same semifinal bracket, with two playing each other in the 2nd round?

Good old random draw, I suppose. Now as long as Blake isn't in that same semifinal group too....

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 6:10 pm

I think the DC area has more stronger teams than the Baltimore area, making it difficult to make any semifinal bracket not have at least two very strong teams. I've got a copy of the DC bracket, but am far too lazy to type it in. Perhaps if someone has a copy on file....

Howard's taping is January 13, 2007, and our opponents will be Annapolis and Middletown. Game will be aired 3/10/07.

Byko · Post by **Byko** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 9:51 am

Howard wrote:Howard's taping is January 13, 2007, and our opponents will be Annapolis and Middletown. Game will be aired 3/10/07.

Thanks for the info. Jessie and I will probably try to be there for that tape date.

Djibouti · Post by **Djibouti** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 10:18 pm

In addition to Perry Hall, Dulaney also apparently tapes on September 30. Dulaney returns all three players on an all-Junior team that lost to us in the Baltimore Semifinal last year.

From what I saw last year, Perry Hall, Parkville, Centennial, Hammond, and Dulaney will have solid teams. Perry Hall and Dulaney wil likely meet again, and a likely Parkville v. Centennial match-up would also be intriguing (Parkville also returns all three Juniors from last year's quick Baltimore Finalist team; Perry Hall returns two Juniors from last year's Baltimore Finalist team).

For the simple reason that we have good teams returning most of their best players, Baltimore County should be a force in the Baltimore region next year, though we'll see. With the start of school comes the start of It's Academic season!

shylar · Post by **shylar** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 7:54 pm

Perry Hall should definitely be a good contender this coming year.

Hammond's first round is with Atholton and Glenelg for an all Howard County opener. We tape November 18, and I believe it airs the second Saturday in January.

A few of the teams we beat last year, including Perry Hall, Parkville, and Walkersville had most of their juniors returning.

We have one of our juniors returning from last year's team.

Bob Jenkins

Djibouti · Post by **Djibouti** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 5:34 pm

FIRST DAY OF TAPING!!!

BALTIMORE RESULTS:
Match 1: FRANKLIN 495, Perryville 360, Huntingtown 330
Match 2: PERRY HALL 625, Mt. De. Sales 375, Patuxent 330
Match 3: TOWSON 515, Thomas Johnson 490, Lansdowne 300
Match 4: DULANEY 615, North Carroll 370, Cardinal Gibbons 340

I was hoping we'd get a higher score, but we had a heavily abbreviated grab bag round b/c time was short, and we waited a little more on the buzzer in the final round. Overall, I'm pleased. As it stands, it's an all- Baltimore County playoffs!

I also just got a copy of the taping schedule. Interesting possible matches include: round 2 - Franklin v PH v Towson (all-county), Parkville v Severna Park; round 3 - PH v Dulaney, Parkville v Hammond, Centennial v Calvert Hall v Gilman. I know anything can happen, but it would be cool to have a PH-Parkville final.

Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) · Sat Sep 30, 2006 10:08 pm

I know I'm not from the area and I really don't understand this "It's Academic" show, but it strikes me as a little weird that someone's posted the results before (presumably) it has aired.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

AKKOLADE · Post by **AKKOLADE** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 10:35 pm

Welcome to the world of spoilers!

fool_by_compulsion · Post by **fool_by_compulsion** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 12:19 pm

Byko wrote: Good old random draw, I suppose. Now as long as Blake isn't in that same semifinal group too....

I don't think we are...I'm not positive -- I'll have to go back and look at the bracket listings on Tuesday but if my memory serves I think we're not in the same one.

Blake won its first round match. Don't know what happened in the other tapings; we were only the second of the day and I didn't catch who had come before us.

shylar · Post by **shylar** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 9:05 pm

Congratulations on your first round victory, Jeff.

Looking forward to meeting you later in the season again. ;)

Bob Jenkins

Djibouti · Post by **Djibouti** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:00 pm

The Baltimore Semi-Finals currently stand as:

Perry Hall v. Dulaney v. Catonsville
Mount St. Josephs v. Hammond v. (Parkville/Severna Park)
(Centennial/Walkersville) v. Calvert Hall (almost definitely) v. Long Reach/South River/Bryn Mawr

Perry Hall has two Seniors and a Junior, Dulaney has three Seniors (one very solid), Catonsville has formidable youth.
MSJ got very lucky (an accidental revealing of the answer after Catoctin buzzed with the right answer down 5 with 9 seconds left gave MSJ the match), Hammond is rapidly improving and anticipates very early, normally right, and Parkville is a 2006 Baltimore Finalist returning all three players.
The third bracket should be the winner of Centennial/Walkersville.

Anybody have the full results from Washington???

EDIT: Byko, you are most certainly correct. My mistake. Fixed now.
Baltimore tapes the rest of its playoff matches on April 21, and tapes all Semifinals and the Baltimore Final on May 12.

ieppler · Post by **ieppler** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:01 pm

DC 2nd round playoff games haven't finished yet. The semifinal games based on the results so far are:

Eleanor Roosevelt vs. Holton vs. Rockville
Walter Johnson vs. Richard Montgomery vs. TBA
TBA vs. TBA vs. TBA

Eleanor Roosevelt beat Blake and Rockville beat Georgetown Day and Quince Orchard, which were upsets, I guess. The problems with putting Gonzaga and Richard Montgomery in the same second round game are obvious and probably don't need to be discussed. I'll be updating It's Academic results on the It's Academic Pick'Em Facebook group, so if you're a DC area It's Ac player with Facebook, you can see the semifinals and make your picks if you are interested.

bigtrain · Post by **bigtrain** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:20 am

What are the semifinal and finals taping dates?

Byko · Post by **Byko** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 11:35 am

Djibouti wrote:The Baltimore Semi-Finals currently stand as:

Perry Hall v. Dulaney v. Catonsville
Mount St. Josephs v. Hammond v. (Parkville/Severna Park)
(Centennial/Walkersville) v. Calvert Hall (almost definitely) v. Long Reach/Havre de Grace/Bryn Mawr

Perry Hall has two Seniors and a Junior, Dulaney has three Seniors (one very solid), Catonsville has formidable youth.
MSJ got very lucky (an accidental revealing of the answer after Catoctin buzzed with the right answer down 5 with 9 seconds left gave MSJ the match), Hammond is rapidly improving and anticipates very early, normally right, and Parkville is a 2006 Baltimore Finalist returning all three players.
The third bracket should be the winner of Centennial/Walkersville.

Anybody have the full results from Washington???

Except for one thing: South River defeated Havre de Grace (as well as Arundel) last week in their first-round game. So it's Long Reach/South River/someone else in that last second-round game.

bigtrain wrote:What are the semifinal and finals taping dates?

For D.C., semifinal tapings are on April 28 with finals and the Super Bowl on May 19. The last of the second-round tapings for D.C. are on April 14. It is possible I might be ther for all three of these.

jrbarry · Post by **jrbarry** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:39 pm

Does It's Academic use pyramidal tossups?

Djibouti · Post by **Djibouti** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:54 pm

They use one-sentence, sometimes two sentence, statements that attempt to arrive at clues in a pyramidal fashion, but are short and rapid. In the traditional sense of "pyramidal" they are not. Before our first taping this year, I was talking with one of the producers, and he said that they attempt to begin with harder clues and narrow to easy clues, but that they also are under the constraints of TV, and would not be able to use paragraph questions as we are accustomed to at tournaments.

The format of the show is as follows:
Round 1: Themed Lightning Round: 8 short questions (10 pts each).
Round 2: Group Round A: 5-6 team questions (20 pts).
Round 3: Picture Round: 8 graphic questions. This is probably the closest round to pyramidal questions in the traditional sense, although they still are relatively short and you can get a fair amount on the picture alone (10 pts).
Round 4: Team Bonus Round: 8 team questions, with a bonus for all 8 correct (20 pts, 25 pt bonus).
Round 5: Grab Bag Round: A grab bag assortment of questions in a relatively pyramidal fashion.

So basically, the show does not use tournament-style pyramidal questions in favor of shorter questions under the constraints of TV. Many people assail the show for its speed element (some questions, especially those giving a capital, turn into buzzer races). However, according to the Baltimore question-writer, they do try to begin with harder clues and narrow at the end.

ieppler · Post by **ieppler** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 11:37 pm

I don't think that It's Academic questions are particularly pyramidal. While questions usually begin with hard clues and narrow down to easy clues, making them pyramidal, they are really pyramidal only in theory. They tend to only contain two or three clues, and the early ones are usually ridiculously obscure or non-uniquely identifying, setting up buzzer races on the giveaways. There are quite a few hoses as well, so part of preparation for It's Ac is gaining an instinct for realizing which questions will "turn." Stock clues are repeated (often word-for-word!), so a knowledge of those can be helpful as well.

From my experience, playing It's Ac requires a completely different set of skills from playing any other form of quizbowl. It relies much less on knowledge and much more on instinct, buzzer speed, momentum, and luck. Upsets occur on It's Ac much more than in any other form of quizbowl I've ever seen (including It's Ac-style tournaments in the DC area.) The fact that two teams that received votes in the national poll were defeated by relative unknowns in the first playoff round demonstrates that luck plays a huge factor in winning on It's Ac. The consensus best team usually wins the whole thing, though, so what do I know?

STPickrell · Post by **STPickrell** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 10:47 am

Who won the Central VA It's Ac?

bigtrain · Post by **bigtrain** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 6:22 am

jrbarry wrote:Does It's Academic use pyramidal tossups?

Most definitely not...unfortunately it was what my team h.s. team was best at.

square634 · Post by **square634** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 9:30 am

Centennial won in the first taping yesterday (Centennial 635 - Walkersville 415 - Owings Mills 290).

Does anyone know the results of the other tapings?

Byko · Post by **Byko** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 5:37 pm

square634 wrote:Centennial won in the first taping yesterday (Centennial 635 - Walkersville 415 - Owings Mills 290).

Does anyone know the results of the other tapings?

I don't know anything about Baltimore, but here's what I've heard for Washington:

Bethesda-Chevy Chase pulled an upset in the second round over Montgomery Blair, as did Landon over Walt Whitman. Semifinal tapings are this Saturday:

#1: Eleanor Roosevelt vs. Holton-Arms vs. Rockville
#2: Walter Johnson vs. Richard Montgomery vs. Bethesda-Chevy Chase
#3: Thomas Jefferson (probably) vs. Landon vs. Langley (probably)

On a side note, is it just me, or are there a fair number of technical problems this season resulting in some serious hard edits on the broadcast? I've seen questions where the visual didn't come up, a time when the buzzer rang but didn't light (this last week in the Catonsville second round game on the first question), and the incident with Mount Saint Joseph to look forward to this week. What's going on?

BuzzerZen · Post by **BuzzerZen** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 7:40 pm

I can confirm that TJ and Langley are in the playoffs. Yep.

Djibouti · Post by **Djibouti** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 8:14 pm

Baltimore stands as follows:

Perry Hall v. Dulaney v. Catonsville
Mount St. Joseph v. Hammond v. Parkville
Centennial v. Calvert Hall v. (Long Reach, South River, Bryn Mawr)

Did Whitman have its full "TV" team? That's definitely a shocker if they did.

As for the technical errors, in our game the visuals never came up at the beginning of the 2nd round, and they took a little while to change a picture round question (it didn't result in a penalty, cuase Franklin buzzed again on seeing the same picture). And seeing the Catonsville and Catoctin matches in person, they each took a while to resolve (although Catoctin technically couldn't be awarded the points). It's awful for something like happened to Catoctin to occur with under ten seconds and down 5 with the right answer.

Baltimore tapes the Baltimore Semifinals and Finals on May 12. All three of last year's Baltimore Finalists return (Perry Hall has its two leaders back with the additional of a third solid player, Parkville returns all 3 as Seniors, and Hammond returns Tini).

And finally, 5 Baltimore County teams (4 public)! More should go to tournaments. All 4 public would do well.

Byko · Post by **Byko** » Mon May 14, 2007 8:07 am

So who won on Saturday? Am I going to get to see my "dream final" of Perry Hall vs. Hammond vs. Centennial?

shylar · Post by **shylar** » Mon May 14, 2007 8:14 am

Well, not quite....

I have no idea who won the final. But I can tell you for sure
it wasn't Hammond nor Perry Hall. Both of us lost in the
semis.

Dulaney won the first match, and Parkville defeated us
in the second match. Although Parkville was good, I would
imagine Centennial won. But that's merely a guess.

Looking forward to learning the answer as well.

Bob Jenkins

shylar · Post by **shylar** » Mon May 14, 2007 8:15 am

Oh and the DC final next week is Landon, Holton-Arms and WJ.

Bob

square634 · Post by **square634** » Mon May 14, 2007 12:59 pm

Baltimore Final Results:

Centennial 465 Dulaney 445 Parkville 410

Djibouti · Post by **Djibouti** » Mon May 14, 2007 1:48 pm

Perry Hall seemingly "dominated" four rounds against Dulaney and Catonsville (Dulaney was even cursing in frustration after the Picture Round), but still only held a 40 point lead. Unfortunately, we collapsed in the final grab bag round and Dulaney was perfect. If I had to guess, Dulaney, having the second podium, got the bonus, sat back, and regrouped realizing they were still only down 40 at worst and we still had to get the bonus, while we tensed up on the third podium. The first thirty seconds went as bad as possible: Dulaney got the first two and we subsequently negged the next two, and never quite recovered. Peter Bacon was phenomenal in the final round. Dulaney played when it counted and we didn't. And they're a solid team. I want to see it on TV because that last round was just a horrible blur.

Parkville, in the second game, played great. Although they don't come to tournaments, they are an excellent team. I don't think Hammond quite responded from a lightning quick first round that ended with Parkville in the lead; Paikea falling didn't bode well either.

In the third match, Centennial was obviously in a different class against Calvert Hall and South River.

In the final, all three teams were pretty balanced, and Parkville would have made it extremely close had they not missed the first question of the bonus (the only bonus round question they've missed all year - probably overthought it). Dulaney, seemingly quiet in the first three rounds, again made its run in the final round (definitely a grab bag team), but Centennial forged ahead and broke the tie on the second-to-last question. Surpisingly, Dulaney didn't buzz on the last question on the longest Russian river, but I think they thought it was tied since the score didn't show properly on the screen. Centennial is a great team and will fare well in the Superbowl. Good luck to them.

Byko · Post by **Byko** » Sun May 20, 2007 1:03 pm

Yesterday, the Washington DC Finals and Superbowl were taped at the NBC4 studios. Walter Johnson defeated Holton-Arms and Landon in the DC final (I believe the score was something close to 495-435-395) and then ran away to victory in the Superbowl over Baltimore's Centennial High School (Ellicott City, MD--2nd place) and Central Virginia's Robert E. Lee High School (Staunton, VA--3rd place).

As a side note, with somewhere in the neighborhood of 300-400 people in the audience (many of them raucously supporting their school), the DC final was one of the most incredible atmospheres I've ever seen for a quiz bowl game. I also wonder if the huge crowd violated the fire code.

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Mon May 21, 2007 8:26 pm

See, we told you the Holton audience factor was not to be dismissed lightly.

Congrats to WJ on the repeat.