ACF Detox trash tournament at UTC 2/5/06: status

[Your Genial Quizmaster]

Apologies for (a) the inevitable cross-posting and (b) the confusion expressed below...

As announced at our recent tournaments, the UT-Chattanooga Academic Trivia Association has scheduled its 6th annual ACF Detox trash tournament on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2006. As I come up for air after a Sword Bowl/Penn Bowl editing marathon, I thought I should post a follow-up message, since I lost all my e-mails from December and since I didn't receive any packets by the first deadline. So since I couldn't retrieve the original message from my now-defunct Sent file, I went to the Yahoo! Groups messages to get the details to repost, and... didn't find any. I therefore assume that I never posted them. So...

Assuming we have enough takers to warrant it, we will still have ACF Detox on Sun. 2/5/06. We've never cancelled a tournament at UTC and would hate to break that streak, especially since it's my own $&%*^@!! fault. If you are interested in attending, please let me know ASAP, and I'll post a confirmation by this Sunday, Monday at the latest. Also let me know if you'd be able to put together a round by, say, Mon. 1/30.

BASIC INFO: For the uninitiated, ACF Detox is a trash tournament, meaning a quizbowl-style tournament where the subject matter is all pop culture. Since we're hosting ACF Regionals the day before (Sat. 2/4/06), we need some way to ease back out of the groves of academia and into the less highbrow world where most of us live.

TIME & PLACE: Registration will begin at 9:30 AM EDT on Sun. 2/5/06. 12/3/04, with announcements at 9:45 and play starting at 10 AM. Yes, we know it's Super Bowl Sunday, so we intend to finish well before kickoff and may even try to find a suitable restaurant/bar for those who want to watch the game together. Tournament headwuarters will be Holt 124 on the UTC campus.

WHO'S IN CHARGE: The increasingly forgetful Charlie Steinhice is your tournament director, editor, and genial quizmaster. See below for contact info.

ELIGIBILITY: This tournament is open to all interested players, assuming they fulfill three basic tasks (let me know you're coming, pay fees, and arrange for a packet as described below.) Current or former academic affiliation, or lack thereof, doesn't matter. If you want to play, then form a team, tell me in time, and submit a packet or make arrangements otherwise (see below.) Again, please let me know as soon as possible if you plan to attend.

FREE AGENTS: If you want to attend but don't have teammates, let me know. Or if you have a partial team and are looking for
reinforcements, do the same. Any folks like this, I'll put you in touch with each other and let you sort it out.

FORMAT: 20 questions per round, untimed. Teams will be four players each, with alternates OK as long as there are no substitutions in mid-match.

MUSIC ROUND: Someone (Chris Hendry?) offered at TrashMasters to host the next music round, and I accepted. So there'll be one.

FEES: Under the circumstances, we are making major adjustments to the fee structure for this year's ACF Detox:

Base fee: $60 per team. This assumes submission of a full packet of 25 tossups and 25 bonuses, following the guidelines below, by 5 PM Mon. 1/30/06.
Minimum fee after discounts: $40

Discounts:
- $10 for an experienced reader for ACF Detox
- $5 for readers from ACF Regionals who we took to dinner Sat. night, or $15 for any readers who missed out on Provino's

- $5 for bringing a buzzer

Penalties: + $15 for submitting partial packet of at least 15 tossups and 15 bonuses by 5 PM Mon. 1/30/06
+ $15 late fee for submitting packet between 5 PM Mon. 1/30/06 and midnight Wed. 2/1/06
+ $30 for submitting no packet [must arrange in advance]

PACKETS, PART 1 -- FORMAT, ETC.: Each team is expected to submit a packet unless arrangements otherwise are made in advance. To allow for bonus laming and to simplify editing of the inevitable numerous duplicates, each packet submitted needs to contain at least 25 tossups and 25 bonuses. Visual, tactile, and even gustatory bonuses will be accepted if possible; due to equipment limitations, audio questions won't. We will consider physical challenge questions, provided they do not conflict with giving every team a fair shot regardless of individual members' physical limitations.
Some format preferences: If at all possible, please send me packets in MS Word or RTF format. Please place the required parts of each answer in bold, please put answers on a separate line from the question, and please precede them with the word "Answer:". If you want to save me some more time, make the font 11 pt Times New Roman and the margins 0.5" all around.

PACKETS, PART 2 -- SUBJECT MATTER: While we'll allow some flexibility, we prefer that you follow these loose distribution
guidelines. (Note: Especially in the first four major categories, we also recommend you mix it up for time periods, genres, etc.)
Number Category
3 - 4 Movies
2 - 4 TV
3 - 4 Sports
3 - 4 Music
1 - 3 Trashy "literature"
1 - 3 Trashy current events
1 - 3 Food and beverage
No more than 2 each:
Computer games & other computer stuff
Comics
Gadgets
Consumerama
Roadside America
Board games, children's games, etc.
Anything else you deem suitably trashy is fine, as long as there are no more than two questions per as-yet-unnamed category. See FEES above for packet submission timetable.

DIRECTIONS:
* From Atlanta and points south -- take I-75 to Chattanooga, then I-24 west towards downtown, then follow the freeway splitoff for U.S. 27 North, downtown Chattanooga. From 27 North take the 4th Street exit, within sight of the Tennessee Aquarium. Go right on 4th St. (you have no choice) and follow it for ca. 1 mile. Go past the UTC Arena, after which E. 4th St. becomes part of E. 3rd St. After that, take the second right on Palmetto St. Go two blocks and turn right on Vine St. (just past the EMCS Building.) Just before the place where Vine St. is blocked off, the parking lot for Grote and Holt is on the right. Holt is the building that actually faces the lot, not the one with the dumpster by the back door (Grote.)
* From Knoxville and points north -- take I-75 to Chattanooga, then I-24 West; directions from there same as above.
* From Nashville and points west/north: Take I-24 east to Chattanooga. As you round Moccasin Bend (freeway goes alongside
river) watch for two exit lanes on the right; take the less rightward of the two, which will have signs above it for U.S. 27 N. Rest of directions are the same as above.
* From Birmingham and points southwest: Take I-59 to the outskirts of Chattanooga, where it dead-ends into I-24. Get on I-24 East and follow the Nashville directions from there.

CONTACT: Your genial quizmaster, Charlie Steinhice, coach of UTC's quizbowl team, can be reached by e-mail (steinhic at bellsouth dot net -- and yes, it's steinhic, not steinhice), or by phone at 423-eight seven seven, two-seven-zero six (home.)

[Your Genial Quizmaster]

On Sun., Feb. 5, UTC will host the ACF Detox trash tournament. Between the late notice, the number of short-handed teams, and the fact that it's Super Bowl Sunday, we are restructuring the tournament to fit the situation. (Credit to UTC A.T.A. President Emeritus* John Kilby for the idea.)

ACF Detox will take place as scheduled -- but as a pairs tournament. All teams will consist of either one or two players, EXCEPT that first-time trash players don't count against the team limit. In other words, you could field a team of four first-time players, or two experienced trash players plus one or two first-time-ever trash tournament players, or... well, you get the idea. If you've wanted to try a trash tournament, this would be a great time to check it out. We will finish in time for everyone to see the Super Bowl.

Fees are really simple: $30 per team with a full packet (at least 24/24, which I really need by Tuesday evening), $40 with a half packet (at least 12/12), or $50 with no packet. You can knock another $5 off for each official for ACF Regionals Saturday, even if you went to Provino's.

For Detox and/or ACF Regionals Southeast, if you need further details, directions, packet specifications, etc., e-mail me at steinhic [at] bellsouth [dot] net. Thanks.

P.S. Mark your calendars for Sat., March 4. We'll host our spring high school tournament, the Dennis Haskins Open. Come join us as officials for the day -- gain some great experience, earn major credit for tournament fees and/or practice questions, and get treated to dinner at Provino's.

* Emeritus from the Latin: "e-" meaning "you're out" and "-meritus" meaning "you deserved it"

[Kilby]

Here are the brief results:

The Golden Girls Gone Wild (Joseph Dion, Chris Hendry, and Timothy Dion) took first place at ACF Detox 2006. Law & Order: JOC (Dren Rollins, Scott Sherman, and two new players whose names escape me at the moment) took second. There was a three-way time for third, but this was not announced (we were all in a hurry to get out before the Super Bowl started). The tournament MVP was Michael Kearney. Also, congratulations to Timothy for winning Chris Hendry's music round (an impressive feat given his young age).