Yes, it's understood that a vocal group of coaches of bad teams want to cripple their competition instead of getting better, and have used their position on the advisory board to pass backroom rules that essentially make it illegal to try to improve. That is, in fact, the problem we are discussing here.ReinsteinD wrote:So what you're all saying is that, if MSHSAA disappeared, teams throughout Missouri would recognize the superiority of good quizbowl and stop playing bad quizbowl? Do you realize that they use a four-quarter format because coaches want it that way and that if lots of coaches felt otherwise the format would change?
Hey, the "anything that improves participation is good" argument: still dumb. The logical conclusion of what you are saying here is that we should just play softball and call it quizbowl. Then every school would have a team, with 30 people on it! Wow, look at all that participation! Let's give ourselves some awards for being such great evangelists!I realize I'm on the verge of setting up a strawman here, but let's be realistic about what would happen if MSHSAA dropped quizbowl. Some teams would cease to exist, including a small number of decent ones, and a lot of teams would continue to play bad quizbowl and like it.
The reality is that if you're not playing good quizbowl, there's no point in playing at all. Good questions and good formats encourage you to LEARN THINGS, which is the point of this activity. Bad questions and formats reduce to nothing more than reflex tests, math contests, and rewards for trying to make psychic connections with the writer. School-sponsored Trivial Pursuit serves absolutely no purpose, and increasing participating in it is no achievement. Real quizbowl does have a reason to exist, and if Missouri has 80 teams playing that in the future rather than 200 teams playing what they have now, then they will have 80 more teams who are getting a benefit out of the activity than they presently do.
Also, please tell noted states without any regulatory power on their high school teams Maryland, Virginia, Minnesota, Michigan, Texas, North Carolina, and Georgia that they have poor participation in high school quizbowl and are being elitist or whatever your "what the coaches want" argument is supposed to be arguing towards. They will laugh at you. Note also that in addition to Pennsylvania and South Carolina, which don't have as much participation but are likewise unregulated, those states have produced EVERY real national champion. It's not a coincidence.
