The Quizbowl Resource Center

Howard

Running Field: York Suburban 2 Maryland School for the Deaf How is the is the Maryland School for the Deaf gonna play QB? At one of our tournaments were able to accomodate a deaf team by putting the questions into a powerpoint which revealed the words one by one for the tossups. We then didn't read...

Howard

To preserve privacy, post statistics online with initials (M. Meyer, for instance). Keep records of the real names, provide them if necessary to purposes of seeding. -M Say what? Should participants not have the right to not have their name posted on the internet? First names only (or first names w...

Howard

As I was beginning to make travel plans, I made note of your rather unorthodox start time. While I'm aware you won't know the specifics of numbers of rounds and scheduling, can you give us a time estimate of when you're planning on completion of all games?

Howard

Thanks, Cody. Put us down for one team, one buzzer, and one moderator. I'll follow up with an actual entry e-mail when I can access my e-mail account.

Howard

I'd like to bring my team to this tournament because I think it'll maximize our ability to learn, but one of our players doesn't meet the eligibility requirements. She's a junior, but the highest PPG I've been able to find for her is 26.67 at this year's Maryland Fall. Would you be willing to make a...

Howard

I've received official word from my students that we'll be a two-man team. If circumstances arise which make it desireable to combine us with a similarly short-staffed team, feel free to do so.

Howard

Thanks for posting, Jessie. I fear that I otherwise would not have found out.

Howard

And the next week i just hear the same complaints again of students who say they find it impossible to get good at this, but they read about one packet every two or three weeks and think that that's sufficient. When i tell them of how much effort and work Trey put into "getting good" the ...

Howard

Lastly, I want to say how happy I was that every single team stayed for the duration of the tournament. It made me happy, on the inside. This is in direct contrast to last year's tournament where nearly every team-- I can think of only one exception-- that did poorly in the prelims left at rebracke...

Howard

Batsteve wrote:Registration will run from 8:30 - 9:00, with the first round starting as soon after as feasible.

DumbJacques wrote:Registration will run from 8:15 - 8:45, with rounds starting as close to 9:00 am as possible.

Howard

-> $10 off each tournament volunteer we actually use (Since we won't know until check-in time whether we need volunteers, these should be people who will accompany your team anyway.) You might consider removing the parenthetical expression. It's easy to find ways to use volunteers, whether as a sco...

Howard

Please stop not telling the whole truth. While the Fall Novice questions will not be speedcheck short (one sentence), they won't exactly be novel length. As one of the head editors of FN last year, I can guarantee that not more than a very small handful (say, less than 5) of my tossups from last ye...

Howard

I've made this point before elsewhere on the board, but it's important to not lose sight of your tournament audience. You've said you want to use short questions which can be answered quickly. I can guarantee you that the fall novice set will be nothing like that. While I'm sure the fall novice set ...

Howard

I think I may have misspoke when I mentioned the PP thing before. I'd be using the packets (which most are old [2005-2007 or so]) as GUIDES as to how to format quick, factual questions. If some seem appropriate to use, they might be used, but I believe we'll also be using other formats to supplemen...

Howard

The criminal charges brought against Mr. Asch (for which see http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/nyregion/12stuyvesant.html ) were subsequently thrown out in court. It would be inappropriate, I think, lay out all of my thoughts on the character and behavior of my former advisor in a public forum; suf...

Howard

I mean, I don't know this guy nor the other horror stories, but this isn't just "unauthorized participation" in quizbowl, this is just being a bad authority figure. A parent personally says a child cannot go...so you bring the child? You make no effort to provide chaparones? I'd be a litt...

Howard

Mike, I have to base my comments on my own experience, which is limited to two HSNCTs, a few regional tourneys at the HS level, and local play; I am not familiar with mACF format, nor have I seen a match play out with a five second rule. From that limited experience, however, my opinion is that the...

Howard

The Freshman Division with speed check, though, is bad. Speed Check questions are terrible. At times, it seems, intentionally so. You don't learn anything from them, and that's the whole educational point of quiz bowl. They don't distinguish the more knowledgeable team, and that's the whole competi...

Howard

it seems everyone registers later and later these days for no apparent reason, maybe coaches just procrastinate on paperwork, or think if they register they're absolutely prohibited from dropping a team or changing anything. Right now we only have 5-6 teams for the Chris Ray Open ourselves :'( It's...

Howard

21 is not an awful number. If you run 3 pools of 7 for the prelims, you can do a 5 game playoff pool where the top 2 in each pool play a full round robin, or you could do a 6 game cross bracket where the top 3 teams in each pool play the top 3 in each other pool. This sounds reasonable. The only is...

Howard

There's a very outside chance we can do this. I was busy with other things last week and didn't remember to push the issue with the team. Two people at today's practice that indicated interest, and I've e-mailed those I haven't yet seen. Awesome! Let me know as soon as possible. Sorry if I got your...

Howard

There's a very outside chance we can do this. I was busy with other things last week and didn't remember to push the issue with the team. Two people at today's practice that indicated interest, and I've e-mailed those I haven't yet seen.

Howard

Unfortunately, our It's Academic taping that was scheduled for the 13th has been moved to the 20th, making us unavailable. I was hoping this date would have been better for us.

Howard

The terms of the old thread were not the terms of free discussion that this board requires. Forum moderators took action, and now we have a new thread, and more importantly, an open discussion about quizbowl in Illinois and about discussing quizbowl in general. Agree wholeheartedly on this point, A...

Howard

-- Matt then accused me of being anti-quizbowl discussion. You've pulled the "civility" card more than anyone else in the history of this board, John. That could be. I'm not certain, and don't really care either way whether this is true. I don't recall a single instance when I've suggeste...

Howard

Instead of understanding all this happening in spite of Matt's actions, I see it happening directly because of them. By making clear in the coldest possible terms the unacceptability of the terms of the previous discussion, Matt's strategy has allowed us to get to this point. I couldn't disagree wi...

Howard

I'm not sure how your statement (made in response to Isaac) disputes Isaac's. Both of you say that you want tournaments to be more accessible, but when Isaac (a member of a stronger team) argues that this tournament was too difficult, you disagree even though you're the coach of a weaker team and t...

Howard

When I host a tournament, I usually set the fee based on the anticipated number of attendees. This in turn is based on factors such as question costs, moderator costs, and lunch. I usually break even or take a small loss. I tend to do this, too, with the exception of breaking even or taking a small...

Howard

I think it is OK to say, "BONUS! It was written for the dedication ceremony for the Church of Christ the Savior in Moscow. FTPE:" Don't recall seeing it in this thread, and am not sure if it has been mentioned elsewhere, but it's important to remember that facts cannot be claimed as intel...

Howard

So in essence, you're saying that there's no objective determination of whether a tournament is better or not? After all, the only "standards" that I've seen universally shared on this board are that Quiz Bowl tournaments should A) Be about academic topics B) Be of reasonable difficulty, ...

Howard

2. The idea that it isn't reasonable for tournament organizers to pick a playoff format (including single elimination) that fits their needs after consideration of factors the organizers deem important. There really is no evidence that the latter happened, though- the explanation essentially said, ...

Howard

I really wish you were capable of engaging in the same discussion that the other people in the thread are having. No one else is making any claims about whether the Centennial tournament has "value" (which you have defined in such terms that it is impossible for any tournament not to have...

Howard

What you arbitrarily want your team to know shouldn't be a criteria in the discussion, since it's obviously impossible for us to know the terms of the debate, and you yourself admit the set of answers you want your team to know varies with possibly intangible decisions. We can't judge whether a tou...

Howard

The second part seems to imply that the tournament was easier than most local, which based on what people have said about the set all over this thread is disputable at best. Don't know how I can make it more clear than this: By my estimation, about 75% of the tossups had answers I'd want my team to...

Howard

#4. Frankly, the 16-team antiquated play-off format got the students running the tournament and the finalists at a decent time so that we could finish up homework. This also ensured that a 3-2 team had a shot at winning first place, believe it or not. Your convenience should not be the goal in orga...

Howard

At some point, I think there is little that you can do when teams just like bad questions. The Centennial tournament is not in It's Academic format; it's in 20/20 format. It's not more accessible than other tournaments; all reports say it's noticeably harder. The only difference at all between the ...

Howard

One thing that bothered me about Mr. Gilbert's post was the assertion that this tournament benefitted less-experienced teams while still satisfying upper-level squads. Instead, I find that the tournament this year has settled into a sort of uncomfortable middle ground where neither sorts of teams a...

Howard

Not taking any stats though... is a problem, for me. It's not difficult and it's something that a lot of teams look forward to going through after the tournament is done. Allowing conferring on all questions has always (as long as I can remember) been a rule at this tournament. This makes individua...

Howard

I hope this doesn't come off the wrong way, but... why would anybody choose to come to this? I mean, maybe i'd go if it were free, or like $10 a team... but, why? If I were in charge of your team, I probably wouldn't go to this, especially with Charter's tournament the day before. For my team, on t...

Howard

Bad Boy Bill wrote:
Howard wrote:Regrettably, it appears this will be the first time in several years we won't be able to attend this. I will, however, volunteer to moderate and supply buzzer if you'd like.
This is an offer I will gladly accept.

Confirming that I shall arrive between 8 and 9 AM.

Howard

It's a waste of time to predict It's Ac Yes. Especially in the semifinals in DC, where it's pretty much guaranteed all 9 teams will be very good at the show's format. game outcomes are essentially random. (Interestingly, Altman Productions is very willing to inform its staunchest supporters of that...

Howard

Regrettably, it appears this will be the first time in several years we won't be able to attend this. I will, however, volunteer to moderate and supply buzzer if you'd like.

Howard

I'd be interested in playing in this, Bill. Already received several negative answers from my team, so I may just be offering to freelance, as was the case at VCU.

Howard

Frater Taciturnus wrote:http://www.tinyurl.com/dsffood will give you a google map of nearby food.

I would also suggest the food court in Regency Square Mall across Parham Rd.

Howard

So, having had a series of emails with Matt Weiner, it seems likely that we will be using a set of reformatted HSAPQ produced VHSL questions. This would seem to destroy your desire to have TJ (and all other Virginia teams) attend your tournament. I'd expect, however, that we're talking about a smal...

Howard

It doesn't look like our usual team is going to be playing, so I will throw my hat in the ring as a free agent. I'll be staffing the high school tournament the day before, so my entry comes with a $15 discount. It turns out my team won't be available for the Saturday tournament, so I'll volunteer a...

Howard

Said freshman states that he was hired to coordinate Q-Unlimited's regional and national tournaments, or something of the sort. This makes me wonder if Chip hired said person specifically to coordinate a tournament near Boston. I might be interested in knowing exactly how many regional tournaments ...

Howard

you can control what file format Open Office produces (drop down menu under save as) Once I started using Word97 format when I saved my Open Office files, people have had no trouble opening them. I can't speak as to whether all the desired functions are there. Unfortunately, saving in pdf format is...

Howard

Some players are stronger on the buzzer, some are stronger at interpreting the question, some are stronger at certain areas of knowledge. Not being able to confer limits a team's ability to take advantage of the positive traits of all its members at the same time. Allowing conferring allows each te...

Howard

2. I think it might lead to a lot of annoying talking and make it hard to hear. Also, the idea you could cherry-pick an answer off of someone on the other team talking a little louder than you is annoying. Having coached a large number of conferring-allowed events, I can testify that with perhaps o...

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