RESULTS! ACF Nationals 2007 Details

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salamanca
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RESULTS! ACF Nationals 2007 Details

Post by salamanca »

Hello all,

As you may or may not have known ACF Nationals will be taking place on March 31, 2007 at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

The official Tournament Director will be Adam Kemezis and the on site point man will be Matt Keller. Please send all team registrations to both of these gentlemen at the following email addresses: [email protected] and [email protected]. When you register please include any information about buzzers and/or moderators you all will be providing.

While they will not be eligible for the title, teams composed of masters players (e.g. non students) are allowed to compete as long as we have space in the field. All teams who have played an ACF tournament in the last three years are required to submit a packet. If they do not submit a packet by the final late penalty deadline of March 17 at 4am, they will be assessed a crazy financial penalty and will learn the ever lasting ire of Matt Lafer.

Here are the exceptions: if you know now you aren’t going to be able to produce a packet or simply don’t want to, then tell us as soon as possible (so we can plan to write a replacement) and we will charge you a $200 flat fee (subject to moderator and buzzer discounts, of course); more legitimately, if you are an inexperienced team (i.e. this is your organization’s first ACF Nationals in three years or you are a new team) then your may write a modified packet of 15 and 15 and have it count as a full packet. Please let me know by February 9, if you want to take advantage of either of these offers.

Base fee per team: $140
Additional teams from the same school: $110
Working buzzer discount: $5 per buzzer (with a minimum of two per school)
Competent moderator discount (as determined by me): $10

Here is the discount/penalty schedule:
Jan 26: -$40
Feb 9: -$20
Feb 16: No penalty
March 2: + $20
March 16: + $40

Note: to qualify for the discounts and/or have your packets accepted they must be formatted properly. If you send us a packet and it is not formatted properly we will assess an additional $25 penalty. I can’t stress how much time correcting formatting wastes, time that should be spent improving questions and writing the playoff packets.

Packets must be submitted as Microsoft Word documents. First off, no question should exceed 8 lines. In fact, 6-7 would be ideal. The text should be in size 10 Times New Roman Font. Do not number your questions or use tabs or any other mechanism that can trigger auto-formatting in word except for smart quotes and apostrophes. Do not put page breaks between blocks of questions. Please sort your questions by category and label them: Literature TUs followed by 5 questions and then Literature Bonuses followed by those questions, for example. The answers to tossups should be preceded by "ANSWER: " and should have the required portions in bold and underlined. Please do not use bold or underlining in any part of any question that is not the answer. Bonus parts should be preceded by their point value in brackets such as [10], and answers should be treated as specified above for tossups. At the top of the packet please write the name of the institution you represent and the names of the packet authors in bold.

Here is the distribution for a Nationals packet:
25/25
Literature ... 5/5
History ... 5/5
Science ... 5/5
Religion/Myth/Philosophy ... 3/3
Fine Arts ... 3/3
Geography/Social Sciences ... 2/2
More "Big Three" (science, lit, history) ... 1/1
Your choice (could be any mix of the above, including yet more science, lit, and/or history; could also be as much as 1/1 trash) ... 1/1

Please send all packets and concerns about packets to both Andrew Yaphe and I at the following addresses: [email protected] and [email protected]. Indeed, if you have any questions at all pertaining to the tournament, or comments as to why Gilbert Arenas shouldn’t be the MVP, feel free to email us.

Thanks and hope to see you all at the end of March,
Ezequiel Berdichevsky
Head Editor, ACF Nationals 2007
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Post by vandyhawk »

Given all the debate about ICT travel, I thought I would mention here that Nashville is currently the "featured destination" for Southwest, so tickets will be pretty cheap until Feb. 5. You can fly directly on Southwest from a lot of places, and we have ATA and JetBlue as well, besides the major carriers. Further travel details will be posted later, but I wanted to let people know about this.
salamanca
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CORRECTION

Post by salamanca »

Adam Kemezis' email was incorrect in the original announcement. You should direct your emails about registration and the like to him at
[email protected]. Everything else about the original email remains in effect however... so get your packets in 'cause now that football season is over and March Madness has yet to begin there really are no excuses.


thanks,
Ezequiel Berdichevsky
[email protected]
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Post by vandyhawk »

Now that Regionals is over, here is some more detailed travel info for getting to Nashville.

Air Travel

The Nashville International Airport (BNA) is served by all major airlines, as well as Southwest and JetBlue. Southwest has a very large presence in Nashville, but JetBlue is limited to connecting flights in New York. If you need to rent a car, all major companies are at the airport, and taxis to the Vanderbilt area are about $20-25. Depending on traffic, it takes about 15-30 minutes to drive between campus and the airport.

Driving Directions and Parking

From the west/north: on I-40 East/I-65 South, take the Broadway exit (209B), and turn right on Broadway (away from downtown). From I-24 East, stay on I-65 south after they merge and follow above.

From the south/east: on I-40 West/I-65 North, take the Broadway exit (209), and turn left on Broadway. From I-24 West, stay on I-40 West after they merge and follow above.

Broadway will run into a fork at 16th Ave, and you should veer left to stay on Broadway. Broadway will curve around and become 21st Avenue South, and the Vanderbilt main campus will be on your right. To get to Wesley Place parking garage, which is your best parking bet, turn left at Scarritt Place, which is between Ben and Jerry's and Breugger's. The entrance to Wesley Place will be on your right, 1/2 block past the intersection. Public parking spaces are 52-170. Here is the most useful map for parking. Wesley Place is in quadrant C7. Your other parking options are the numbered lots (5, 6, 6A, 6B) along 21st Ave, which aren't technically for visitors but aren't patrolled on weekends.

[Note: If you find yourself on I-440 for some reason, you'll need to get off on West End Ave East. Note that from I-440 east, exiting on West End Ave East actually puts you on Murphy Rd, where you'll need to make a left to get to West End, where you'll turn left to go east. In either case, take West End Ave. to 21st Ave, where you'll turn right, and then follow directions above.]

Tournament Location

We'll be using Buttrick Hall, which is in C5 on the parking map above. You can also use the interactive campus map. You'll need to zoom in a bit to make it useful, but Buttrick should be circled already. Headquarters will be in room 101, which is a lecture hall on the south end of the building, right by the entrance with an Emily Dickinson quote "The brain - is wider than the sky."

Hotels

There are a number of hotels within walking distance of the tournament location, though most are going to be fairly expensive. Use this link to a Google map with hotels near campus. Any of the first 9 (ignoring the Marriott sales office that shows up) are walkable, and they are all pretty nice except the Days Inn, which is apparently kind of run down, but is the only one right by campus for under $100 at the moment. The Hampton Inns and Courtyard are probably the best combinations of price and convenience. If you have a car and want to stay somewhere cheaper, there are plenty of hotels off of the various interstates on the city's outskirts.

There are really too many food options in the immediate area for me to bother listing at this point. You'll see most of them on your way, but feel free to ask about more.

If anyone has more specific questions for me, you can contact me at matt.keller at vanderbilt.edu.

-Matt
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Post by vandyhawk »

In case anyone didn't get Adam's email, we're asking teams to show up around 8:30 on Saturday, with the hope of games starting by 9:00. By the way, we are on CENTRAL time, so don't get confused like some people do when they travel here assuming we're on eastern time for some reason. Directions are in the post above, and our cell phone numbers are in Adam's email if something comes up. See you all then.
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Post by Mr. Kwalter »

For anyone who hasn't rented a car for this weekend yet, check this out:

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread ... 0&t=462867

You can get the equivalent of one full round trip flight in Southwest Rapid Rewards credits by renting through Hertz for 2 or more days. I think our total came out to like 54 bucks for a full size.

Jew out.
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Post by QuizBowlRonin »

Kit Cloudkicker wrote:For anyone who hasn't rented a car for this weekend yet, check this out:

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread ... 0&t=462867

You can get the equivalent of one full round trip flight in Southwest Rapid Rewards credits by renting through Hertz for 2 or more days. I think our total came out to like 54 bucks for a full size.

Jew out.
No, you only get 1/8 of a flight, not a full flight (they give you 2 credits, need 16 for round trip).
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Post by vandyhawk »

I think he meant you get the same number of credits as taking one round-trip flight, that number being two.
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Post by Rothlover »

Yeah, thats what Eric meant, though I could've sworn some RT flights are only 8 credits at certain times. Also, to further the deal talking for people who haven't gotten a hotel, or who have a cancelable hotel, I was able to priceline the Homestead Suites by the airport for $21 a night + tax and fees, which worked out to like $30 a person for two nights with two people per room. I'd imagine there is similar stuff out there if you are cheap and have a car. Rooms in the Vanderbilt area, as priceline defines it, are also fairly cheap, but they charge for parking. more Jew.
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Post by QuizBowlRonin »

vandyhawk wrote:I think he meant you get the same number of credits as taking one round-trip flight, that number being two.
Bleh, never mind. It's been a long night/day for writing questions.
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Post by Matt Weiner »

Unverified top 2 playoff bracket results from memory:

1. Chicago A (undefeated)
2. Brown (3 losses, 1st in BC tiebreaker)
3. Texas A&M (3 losses, 2nd in BC tiebreaker)
4. VCU (3 losses, 3rd in BC tiebreaker)
5. Illinois
6. Carleton

7. Michigan
8. Vanderbilt
9. Texas
10. UCLA
11. Maryland
12. Chicago B

No final was needed since Chicago cleared by 3 games. I think Mike Sorice was leading individual scorer. We got through 13 excellent rounds by about 8:00; editors Ezequiel and Andrew did a terrific job as did Matt and all the other people on Vanderbilt's end.
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Post by vandyhawk »

Thanks a lot to Ezequiel, Andrew, and Adam for coordinating things with us to help everything run smoothly (though we had little to do with this once the tourney actually started). A big thanks also goes to Tim Hildebrand for doing stats and to the readers: Heather Shows, Scotti Whitmire, Markus Iturriaga, Wes Eddings, Toni VanWinkle, Andrew Feist, Eric Douglass, Jason Paik, Paul Litvak, Tyler Ritchie, Max Altman, William Werner, and of course, Andrew, Zeke, and Adam.

Here is a link to the round robin stats.

The top two from each bracket then played the top two from each other other bracket, and so on down the line. Carleton defeated UT-Austin in a tie-break match to claim the second spot in the top bracket from the Klopstock division. To break other ties, points per bonus was the chosen metric.

Despite a bit of a setback with the playoff rounds magically disappearing from SQBS, we got them re-entered, and they can be found here: final playoff standings. Matt (Weiner's) list isn't quite correct. Based on ppb, Carleton would be ahead of Illinois A, and Vanderbilt would be ahead of Michigan. Also, Chicago B is actually ahead of UCLA and Maryland based on record.

I'm too tired to make any further comments, but I know I had a great time today, and hope others did too.
Last edited by vandyhawk on Sun Apr 01, 2007 2:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Scipio »

I, too, had a great time at the tournament: the reading was excellent, the atmosphere was on the whole cordial, and people seemed to be enjoying themselves.

However, I noticed something while looking at the round-robin statistics and I thought it should be mentioned. According to the tabulation of the VCU-Kentucky game, Weiner is listed as going 2-0 and his teammate as going 12-0. I'm pretty sure this is an error, and that the statistics for both players are reversed. Therefore, Weiner should have 100 points added to his totals, and this would give him about 95 ppg and 1st in scoring. I'm sure he would probably not have mentioned this himself, but credit where credit is due.
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Post by Morton's Fork »

Yes some of the stats seem "interesting" like the Texas Wayne State game.
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Post by vandyhawk »

EDIT: The couple notable errors pointed out have now been corrected, and packet names have been added to the round report. The links above will go to the corrected files now.
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Thanks

Post by salamanca »

Hello all,

I just wanted to take this time to personally thank all the folks who made ACF Nats such a logistical success [Andrew and I will address question issues in the other thread] this past weekend. Vandy, especially the people assigned to help us out in the Tournament Headquarters on Saturday, really helped the event run smoothly. I want to thank the triumvirate of science editors, Jason Paik (who also came to read), Matt Lafer, and Raj Bhan, for helping us take care of questions that Andrew and I wouldn't have had a prayer of fixing, as well as Paul Litvak and Adam Kemezis for helping out on Social Science and Classics, respectively. I'd like to thank Andrew who ended up editing and organizing more than I think he expected to and, in my opinion, helped produce a set that a large spectrum of the teams at this event could compete on and enjoy. Finally, I'd like to thank all of the outside readers: Wes, Scotti, Andrew F., Toni, Heather, Eric Douglass, and Tyler R., for coming out-- we could not have done it w/o you all. I'd also like to send a shout out to the teams that ended up in 9th and agreed to read the final two packets to each other on their byes; that was classy and allowed to tournament to stay on track.

So, thanks again and I hope that people continue to support ACF events in the future.

Ezequiel Berdichevsky

-note that if you'd like an electronic copy of the questions [they are $10], email me...
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Post by Mike Bentley »

For any one interested, I once again recorded these matches for the Quizbowl Cast. They'll go up as soon as I finish putting up the VCU Open. Check the signature for the link.
Mike Bentley
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Adviser, Quizbowl Team at University of Washington
University of Maryland, Class of 2008
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Post by RobotorcH »

Seth, did you go to shit again on those tough questions?
:wink:

In all seriousness, email me some time.

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Post by Mike Bentley »

For those interested, the recordings of these matches are now up in podcast form over at http://quizbowlcast.blogspot.com
Mike Bentley
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Adviser, Quizbowl Team at University of Washington
University of Maryland, Class of 2008
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