The Quizbowl Resource Center

by **dtaylor4** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 4:18 pm

This is the official announcement for the Earlybird Tournament, which will be held at the University of Illinois on Saturday, October 10, 2009.

QUESTIONS:

Right now, we are looking at using an ACF format set from HSAPQ. If this changes, an announcement stating such will be made.

FORMAT:

The Earlybird tournament will use its traditional format, which is similar to the recent format adopted for the PACE NSC. Matches will be 20/20, with sudden-death tiebreakers. bonuses are three parts, and the parts bounce back individually. No final decision has been made concerning powers.

In terms of tournament structure, we usually use some form of round robin, followed by rebracketing and an ACF-format final.

WHO WE'RE TRYING TO ATTRACT:

The University of Illinois ABT is pleased to invite all interested teams from any state to attend this tournament. In the past, we've attracted teams from Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, and Missouri; we hope those teams will return and bring other teams with them. Our tournament also pulls in the best teams from all over the state, so everyone will have the chance to play good teams on good questions. We're also interested in receiving second, third, fourth, and nth teams from the same school.

COST:

The base registration fee is $65. Teams may receive a $5 discount for each working buzzer set they bring up to $10, for a minimum registration fee of $55 per team. Schools that bring multiple teams may receive a discount for subsequent teams at the discretion of the Tournament Director.

REGISTRATION:

If you're interested in registration, please e-mail Tournament Director Donald Taylor at dtaylor4@uiuc.edu. Please use "Earlybird" as your subject line.

We hope to see many of you in October!

by **dtaylor4** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 12:14 am

Update:

We will be using the standard PACE format for this set: 20 point powers, no negs, each part bounces individually.

by **dtaylor4** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 2:48 pm

Potential field so far:

Loyola (2)
DCC (2)
Carbondale (1)
Champaign Centennial (1)
Fenton (2)
New Trier (2)
Springfield (2)
St. Viator (1)
Crete Monee (2)

Still plenty of time to register.

EDIT: Updated as of 10/9.

by **dtaylor4** » Sun Sep 06, 2009 6:12 pm

Field's been updated, and I'm missing a few of the usual suspects.

by **dtaylor4** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 12:40 pm

Bump. Got some more teams in.

by **dtaylor4** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 11:00 am

Bumping again.

If you've registered, but not given me a firm number of teams, please do so. I plan on making schedules fairly soon, and would like to have a good idea of the # of teams.

by **dtaylor4** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 1:21 pm

Also, I just realized that this is homecoming weekend.

If you plan on driving down and back, be prepared for lots of traffic.

by **David Riley** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 2:17 pm

D'oh!

by **Captain Sinico** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 6:43 pm

I think the traffic probably shouldn't be that bad by the time we're getting out; we should miss the football game and we're far enough from the stadium. Just avoid Green street on your way out; use Springfield or University instead. If you want help navigating, get ahold of me at or before the tournament.

MaS

by **Dan-Don** » Sat Oct 03, 2009 4:27 pm

Sorry for such late notice, but it now appears that my parents wouldn't mind paying the fee if I take the SAT IIs in Nov. and come down for this. So, is it ok if I play solo?

Also, my parents will drive me, but I was wondering: Mr. Riley, would I be allowed to come in Loyola's van?

by **David Riley** » Sat Oct 03, 2009 4:31 pm

It's a bus, but if you can play solo, then yeah....i'll need to check with my activities director but i'm sure with one person it would obe okay.

by **Dan-Don** » Sat Oct 03, 2009 4:33 pm

David Riley wrote:It's a bus, but if you can play solo, then yeah....i'll need to check with my activities director but i'm sure with one person it would obe okay.

Great! Let me know what you hear as soon as possible.

by **dtaylor4** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 2:07 pm

Dan-Don wrote:Sorry for such late notice, but it now appears that my parents wouldn't mind paying the fee if I take the SAT IIs in Nov. and come down for this. So, is it ok if I play solo?

This is fine by me.

by **Dan-Don** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 5:43 pm

dtaylor4 wrote:
Dan-Don wrote:Sorry for such late notice, but it now appears that my parents wouldn't mind paying the fee if I take the SAT IIs in Nov. and come down for this. So, is it ok if I play solo?

This is fine by me.

Cool...I'll let you know via post/email/facebook as soon as I hear from Mr. Riley. Can I get a discounted entry?

EDIT: Just to cover my ass, don't call me Viator. Call me team Dan-Don until I think of a better name.

by **mlaird** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 11:17 pm

Dan-Don wrote:EDIT: Just to cover my ass, don't call me Viator. Call me team Dan-Don until I think of a better name.

You are from East St. Louis Academy for Troubled Youth.

by **Dan-Don** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 12:56 am

mlaird wrote:
Dan-Don wrote:EDIT: Just to cover my ass, don't call me Viator. Call me team Dan-Don until I think of a better name.

You are from East St. Louis Academy for Troubled Youth.

That just reminded me of that school that Uncle Vernon says Harry Potter goes to: St. Brutus' Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys.

by **dtaylor4** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 12:57 am

Dan-Don wrote:
mlaird wrote:
Dan-Don wrote:EDIT: Just to cover my ass, don't call me Viator. Call me team Dan-Don until I think of a better name.

You are from East St. Louis Academy for Troubled Youth.

That just reminded me of that school that Uncle Vernon says Harry Potter goes to: St. Brutus' Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys.

As TD and statperson, I reserve the right to call you whatever I want.

by **Dan-Don** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 1:02 am

dtaylor4 wrote:
Dan-Don wrote:
mlaird wrote:
Dan-Don wrote:EDIT: Just to cover my ass, don't call me Viator. Call me team Dan-Don until I think of a better name.

You are from East St. Louis Academy for Troubled Youth.

That just reminded me of that school that Uncle Vernon says Harry Potter goes to: St. Brutus' Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys.

As TD and statperson, I reserve the right to call you whatever I want.

Really, though...call me anything but Viator because I could get in trouble. Otherwise, I give you total creative license to pick whatever name you find funny and suitable.

by **dtaylor4** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 1:03 am

Dan-Don wrote:
dtaylor4 wrote:
Dan-Don wrote:
mlaird wrote:
Dan-Don wrote:EDIT: Just to cover my ass, don't call me Viator. Call me team Dan-Don until I think of a better name.

You are from East St. Louis Academy for Troubled Youth.

That just reminded me of that school that Uncle Vernon says Harry Potter goes to: St. Brutus' Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys.

As TD and statperson, I reserve the right to call you whatever I want.

Really, though...call me anything but Viator because I could get in trouble. Otherwise, I give you total creative license to pick whatever name you find funny and suitable.

I figured, and I understand. It'll probably be something business-related, since I am in the middle of hell week #2.

And now I return to writing about the pharmaceutical industry and Talbots...

by **dtaylor4** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 5:37 pm

Bumping this. Field's updated.

by **dtaylor4** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 9:05 am

Barring any last-minute changes, we're at 16 teams.

Assuming this holds, the tentative schedule is a 2x8 preliminary round-robin, followed by playoff round-robins of four. Preliminary records will not carry over. Preliminary ties in record, for the sake of final placement within a bracket, will be broken by PPG. After the playoff games, if a team is ahead by two or more games, then that team is the champion. If a team is ahead by one game, then there will be an advantaged final. In the top bracket, all record ties will be played off. This is a PACE qualifier, and thus these tiebreakers will be used to determine seeding. In the event of a three-way tie in the top bracket, teams will be seeded by PPG. The bottom seed will play the second seed for the right to play the top seed.

More information about the tournament itself will be sent out within the next 24-36 hours, or after I actually get sleep, whichever comes first.

by **dtaylor4** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 11:20 am

So far:

Springfield had to drop to 1 team, so we're running 7/7 with brackets of 4 for the playoffs.

DCC A hung over 500 in the first round, but lost to Carbondale 340-320 after the latter got six of the last seven tossups.
DCC B hung 400 on a team in each of the first two rounds.
New Trier A hung over 500 on its B team.

This is just through the first two rounds.

by **jonah** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 11:41 am

dtaylor4 wrote:hung over…
…hung over…

This is clearly a cry for help.

edited to add some actual content: Loyola A beat Loyola B 430-something under 100. Loyola A looks really really good. B got a couple of really nice powers, though; they clearly know stuff as well. Champaign Centennial looks pretty solid, especially for being a new team. Fenton A got a few nice buzzes in. Illinois looks to be a stronger state than I had expected this year.

by **dtaylor4** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 11:42 am

Jonah, less posting more reading you nitwit.

DCC B just put up 530 on Hobo.

More news as I hear of it.

by **jonah** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 11:43 am

dtaylor4 wrote:Jonah, less posting more reading you nitwit.

When I have two teams in my room, I will read.

by **dtaylor4** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 11:47 am

This just in:

Ben, a sophomore from Carbondale, went 6-6 in a 480-20 win over Fenton B.

by **JackGlerum** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 3:03 pm

How are my protégés doing?

by **Captain Sinico** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 3:12 pm

Man, there are a lot of science errors in this set!

MaS

by **dtaylor4** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 4:01 pm

Prelims:

Loyola A, C'dale 6-0
DCC A/B 5-1
Hobo, NT A 4-2
Loyola/NT B 3-3
Centennial, Springfield 2-4
Fenton A/B 1-5
Crete-Monee A/B 0-6

Playoffs so far (prelim records do not carry over):
DCC B def C'Dale 340-320 by powering TU 20
DCC A def Loyola A 390-300

by **Dan-Don** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 4:52 pm

We're heading into a 1-game championship between Loyola A and DCC A.C-Dale is playing off third place against DCC B. After a 10 point win, New Trier claimed the consolation title over me. I was the tourney's high scorer.

by **Your Cup of Robust Tea** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 4:55 pm

Dan-Don wrote:We're heading into a 1-game championship between Loyola A and DCC A.C-Dale is playing off third place against DCC B. After a 10 point win, New Trier claimed the consolation title over me.

Haha, well, that's not so bad.

by **Dan-Don** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 4:56 pm

Not at all...except that I scrimmaged them 3 rounds earlier and won convincingly. Oh well...congrats to the NT crew! I'll post highlights from the championship periodically.

by **Your Cup of Robust Tea** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 5:02 pm

Dan-Don wrote:Not at all...except that I scrimmaged them 3 rounds earlier and won convincingly. Oh well...congrats to the NT crew! I'll post highlights from the championship periodically.

Cool.

I know Ben played pretty phenomenally today. How did Loyola look today? Who was their leading scorer (and with how many PPG)?

by **Dan-Don** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 5:47 pm

Yeah Ben was the second highest scorer. He went 6/6 one round.

Btw, I didn't update because I scrimmaged Jonah in an empty room (and lost pretty soundly), but Loyola beat DCC A by a margin of like 200. Marcel was leading scorer for Loyola A, but I don't know the ppg. (Nolan says around 65 ppg.)

by **Your Cup of Robust Tea** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 5:53 pm

Dan-Don wrote:Yeah Ben was the second highest scorer. He went 6/6 one round.

Btw, I didn't update because I scrimmaged Jonah in an empty room (and lost pretty soundly), but Loyola beat DCC A by a margin of like 200. Marcel was leading scorer for Loyola A, but I don't know the ppg. (Nolan says around 65 ppg.)

Wow, that's pretty impressive. I wanna see all these stats...

by **dtaylor4** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 6:40 pm

Hey, stop stealing my lines, damnit.

Congratulations to Loyola Academy A, for winning the one-game tiebreaker against Detroit Central Catholic A 440-310 and claiming the title at the 2009 UIUC Earlybird. In the tiebreaker for third place, Carbondale defeated Detroit Central Catholic B 360-300.

Individually, some guy off the street played by himself and put up 110ppg, claiming first overall. Ben from Carbondale claimed second, putting up 98.33 ppg, including one game where he put up 6-6 for a total of 180 points.

I would like to thank everyone who came out to staff, especially Jonah Greenthal and Matt Laird, who helped out in a very sticky staffing situation that ended up working out. The tournament ran fairly smoothly given the circumstances.

I have yet to enter all of the games from round 10 and the two finals, so once those get entered, I will post a link here.

by **dtaylor4** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 7:03 pm

Prelims

Playoffs

Let this be a lesson to you jagoffs who wait weeks/months without explanation to get stats up.

by **New York Undercover** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 8:27 pm

Powers were 20?

Edit: uh... i seem to have missed the second post. Only looked at the first post where it said no final decision had been made on powers; sorry for this. I guess I forgot NSC had 20 point powers to ensure 1000 possible points per game.

<Ignore this post>

by **Secretary of Bobcats** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 9:59 pm

I'd like to thank the UIUC ABT for running an excellent tournament which ran very smoothly and had some great moderators. It was unfortunate than some teams could not come because of whatever reasons (Auburn, Hobo's friends, Ignatius) but ABT had no control over that, and everything they did have control over went excellently. The set was for the most part good, although there were some questionable powers and the difficulty fluctuated between sets.
I'd also like to congratulate the DCC A team for beating us in the 1st round of the playoffs, and more importantly finishing 2nd. Also, congrats to that random kid we found on the street who was able to put up 250 ppg by himself. The only logistical error in this tournament was in our first round crossover that did not happen because of the other team not getting the memo, Mr. Laird's laptop being stupid, and Donal's laptop being incredibly slow. Once Again, thank you ABT for running a great tournament I thoroughly enjoyed.

If for some reason you guys are interested (Abid) the pseudonyms were:
Lee: Marcel
Leon: Nolan
John: Christian
Charl(ie/es): Will
Jonah ruined the B Team playing under "Post-Op Disney Characters" such as Joe White and the Lion Queen.

by **Dan-Don** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 10:21 pm

MoCity02 wrote:I'd like to thank the UIUC ABT for running an excellent tournament

Echoing this.

MoCity02 wrote:The set was for the most part good, although there were some questionable powers and the difficulty fluctuated between sets.

I was less enamored with the set. I'm the farthest thing from a science player and even I could glean that there were numerous factual errors and instances of SCIENCE! Difficulty was all over the place, especially on bonuses. And there was a lot of repeated information. Overall, not one of HSAPQ's better sets; but, hey, it's HSAPQ...there's nothin' better.

MoCity02 wrote:Also, congrats to that random kid we found on the street who was able to put up 250 ppg by himself.

Wherever that bum is, I'm sure he appreciates Loyola letting him ride in their bus. Hopefully I can do it again...he likes this solo thing.

MoCity02 wrote:If for some reason you guys are interested (Abid) the pseudonyms were:
Lee: Marcel
Leon: Nolan
John: Christian
Charl(ie/es): Will

My suggestion, thank you very much. Btw, where did Christian and Will go when we were in the back of the bus discussing my outer space escapades?

by **Secretary of Bobcats** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 10:32 pm

Dan-Don wrote:
MoCity02 wrote:I'd like to thank the UIUC ABT for running an excellent tournament

Echoing this.

MoCity02 wrote:The set was for the most part good, although there were some questionable powers and the difficulty fluctuated between sets.

I was less enamored with the set. I'm the farthest thing from a science player and even I could glean that there were numerous factual errors and instances of SCIENCE! Difficulty was all over the place, especially on bonuses. And there was a lot of repeated information. Overall, not one of HSAPQ's better sets; but, hey, it's HSAPQ...there's nothin' better.

MoCity02 wrote:Also, congrats to that random kid we found on the street who was able to put up 250 ppg by himself.

Wherever that bum is, I'm sure he appreciates Loyola letting him ride in their bus. Hopefully I can do it again...he likes this solo thing.

MoCity02 wrote:If for some reason you guys are interested (Abid) the pseudonyms were:
Lee: Marcel
Leon: Nolan
John: Christian
Charl(ie/es): Will

My suggestion, thank you very much. Btw, where did Christian and Will go when we were in the back of the bus discussing my outer space escapades?

They were more to the front of the bus, and were either quietly talking to each other or trying to sleep. Also, Dan I did not know you were so enamored with black holes :P

by **Ethnic history of the Vilnius region** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 8:08 am

If anyone had any problems with specific questions, please contact me at ericd25 at hotmail dot com or Shawn Pickrell at shawnpickrell@hsapq.com. We at HSAPQ would like to fix the problems mentioned above regarding science questions (or any other questions), but we need to hear what the problems are. Thanks!

by **Westwon** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 9:07 am

Thanks to Donald & Crew for putting on a good tournament, and Congrats to Loyola for winning it.

I just sent a brief email to Eric and Shawn describing some of the problems with the set, and I hope that people with better memories than me will send more detailed emails. Discussing questions after a tournament is more fun once they are cleared and the discussion can take place on a public forum like this one, but it is important for more of us to contact NAQT and HSAPQ after seeing their questions to give them more feedback.

by **David Riley** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 10:34 am

Second everything Mr. Reinstein said, and thanks to Donald and crew for running a great tournament, and to DCC for making the trip to Illinois, both teams were fantastic competitioon.

by **Jane Fairfax** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 3:58 pm

A thousand props to Loyola and Carbondale, and that Hobo I guess for performing really well. Both Loyola and Carbondale far succeeded my expectations and they definitely boost the reputation of Illinois. It'll definitely be really fun playing both of them in some fantastic games.

High fives to Ben Chametzky, and Marcel Proust, and that Winkla kid for representing the class of 2012.

by **Dan-Don** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 5:44 pm

Two things I learned yesterday:
1) Loyola is really, really good. Even though Deveau's computation skills and the IHSA format might give them an unhappy ending in the state series, they are probably the best team in the state at good quizbowl. (Granted, I still haven't seen Auburn.) Every one of their players is solid, and the Joe/Jack dynamic seems to live on in Marcel/Nolan.

2) Everyone seems to have written New Trier off, but I played them twice yesterday and went 1-1. Both their A and B teams are almost unstoppable science forces. Unfortunately, they have trouble converting literature and fine arts questions even at the giveaway.

Thanks for a good tourney Donald and for letting me play.

by **Secretary of Bobcats** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 6:33 pm

Dan-Don wrote: New Trier

Steve put up 97 ppg on this set, putting him at 3rd highest (2nd, if you discount solo teams) which is quite a feat, even with the field missing some of the top 10 players & teams in the state. To everybody who was wondering how much New Trier would drop off after Ben's graduation the answer is: Well, he's no Ben but Steve can certainly keep New Trier competitive.

by **dtaylor4** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 6:36 pm

MoCity02 wrote:
Dan-Don wrote: New Trier

Steve put up 97 ppg on this set, putting him at 3rd highest (2nd, if you discount solo teams) which is quite a feat, even with the field missing some of the top 10 players & teams in the state. To everybody who was wondering how much New Trier would drop off after Ben's graduation the answer is: Well, he's no Ben but Steve can certainly keep New Trier competitive.

From what I saw from the perspective of Stat Guy, Carbondale (less Jeremiah) and New Trier have the same problem: converting bonuses. You take tossups off of them, you will win. At this point, they have the aggressiveness, but not the knowledge base.

by **Monk** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 5:56 pm

Would you mind helping me with a little information gathering? I had to miss UIUC due to the SAT, and the report back from my team was a little incomplete. I know Ben Chametzky did great (from this post), but what about Mrinalini Prasanna? I've been planning on her being one of the core players, but I don't really know how good she is at tournament play.

by **jonah** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 7:17 pm

Monk wrote:Would you mind helping me with a little information gathering? I had to miss UIUC due to the SAT, and the report back from my team was a little incomplete. I know Ben Chametzky did great (from this post), but what about Mrinalini Prasanna? I've been planning on her being one of the core players, but I don't really know how good she is at tournament play.

Her stats are here. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to see Carbondale, so I can't give you my impressions, but hopefully others here can, and there are some numbers for you. Remember that the numbers are somewhat deflated because of Ben, but presumably that would also be the case if she's playing on the A team, and you'd be deflating her further.

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