Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

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Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by eseifte1 »

This is an announcement for the Centennial High School Quizbowl Tournament to be held at our school on Sunday December 4, 2011 at 8:30 AM (one day after the SATs)

This will be an NAQT style format with HOUSE-WRITTEN questions: 20 toss-ups with 30 point bonuses. Top teams after 5 rounds will be in a round-robin format. We will offer any team the option of staying on to play the complete set whether they are in the running for a trophy or not. The questions are at a level of difficulty seen in a novice tournament, but we are not restricting entry to any team. The ratio of categories are approximately 20% history, 15% literature, 5% geography, 15% art and music, 15% trash/popular culture, 10% RMP, 15% Science. Our field usually has a high number of first-time quiz bowl teams from the Baltimore and Howard County area. We are hoping the question distribution will help them stay slightly competitive with the more experienced and talented quiz bowl teams.

We are not capping the field and hope to have 30-48 teams sign up.
Registration will start at 8AM and we will provide a breakfast banquet as usual.
Cost is $60 for the first team and $50 for each extra team. Teams with working buzzers will receive a $10 discount.
Centennial High School is located at 4300 Centennial Lane, Ellicott City, MD 21042

To register email
[email protected] with the number of teams, buzzers, e-mail address, and a telephone number where you can be contacted on the day of the tournament. Feel free to share this announcement with any other schools that might be interested in attending.

Eric Seifter
It's Academic Coach, Centennial High School
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by Down and out in Quintana Roo »

Do you have a previous house-written set (or packet) that we might be able to see before committing to this tournament?
Mr. Andrew Chrzanowski
Caesar Rodney High School
Camden, Delaware
CRHS '97-'01
University of Delaware '01-'05
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by eseifte1 »

Hi,
I e-mailed a sample set to your school e-mail.
I am a new coach (just started last year) and our set from last winter was in a TV question format.
We are returning to a quiz bowl format and we hope to "convert" or introduce this format to the many "first-time" Baltimore/Howard County teams that have traditionally focused more on TV shows.
Eric Seifter
Coach Centennial team
Eric Seifter Coach, Centennial High School It's Academic
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by theflyingdeutschman »

eseifte1 wrote:Hi,
I e-mailed a sample set to your school e-mail.
I am a new coach (just started last year) and our set from last winter was in a TV question format.
We are returning to a quiz bowl format and we hope to "convert" or introduce this format to the many "first-time" Baltimore/Howard County teams that have traditionally focused more on TV shows.
Eric Seifter
Coach Centennial team
You should post a few sample questions, if not a whole sample packet, to give everyone a feel for what this tournament will be like.
Sam Deutsch
Richard Montgomery '13
University Of Southern California '17
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by eseifte1 »

These are representative questions that I’ve edited. Last year’s set is not applicable. The team ran a TV question (It’s Academic) style tournament last year. The team is under new management. This is the start of my 2nd year. We are trying to spread the gospel of traditional quiz bowl in an area (Baltimore/Howard County) more attuned to TV questions. Our set is not hard (as you can see) and contains more popular culture (trash) than usual in order to allow the first-time quiz bowl teams tp at least have a shot at some of the questions on an even footing with the teams well-versed in the “canon.”

1. Ian Fleming admitted that this message was the source for James Bond’s code name 007. The diplomatic code was signified by the number 0075, and in deference to this highest achievement of British military espionage up to that time in 1917, the British Admiralty attached a double 0 to all its highest classified documents. Name this secret German message decoded by the British which was sent to the German ambassador to Mexico instructing him to approach the Mexican government with a view to forming an alliance against the US, a provocation when discovered that hastened US entry into World War I. Zimmerman Telegram


2. Criollo is the rarest and most expensive version of this food and is native to Central America and the Caribbean islands. Forastero is the most common version, and is grown in Cote D’Ivoire, the source of almost 50% of the world’s supply. The trees cannot tolerate any temperature under 59 degrees Fahrenheit. The food is derived from the nib and conching is critical in its final production. Name this food product that has become the symbol of Hershey, Pennsylvania. Chocolate (or cacao or cocoa)

3. He died on the same day as Josef Stalin on March 5, 1953, which meant no flowers or musicians could be used for his funeral. After moving back to the Soviet Union in 1939, he wrote the film score for Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible in collaboration with Eisenstein, the ballet Romeo and Juliet, and the opera War and Peace. An earlier opera included The Gamblers and many ballets done in collaboration with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. Name this composer of the opera The Love for Three Oranges, the ballet Cinderella and his masterwork Peter and the Wolf. Sergei Prokofiev

4. This type of fish is catadromous, the only North American fish that spawns in the ocean but lives in freshwater river and streams. The Maryland version is born In the Sargasso Sea and travels thousands of miles to its preferred habitat in the Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers. Flotsam and Jetsam are Disney versions of this fish. Name this fish that is very elongated and can reach 12 feet long in the Giant Moray. Eel

5. The seal of this university carries the motto: Die Luft der Freiheit Wehr (the wind of freedom is blowing). The quote comes from Ulrich von Hutton commenting on the persecution of Martin Luther. The university is named for the founders’ 15 year old son who died of typhoid fever. It was coeducational from the day the doors opened in 1891. The over 8,000 acre campus was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, but suffered damage in 1906 from the famous earthquake. Name this university located in Palo Alto, California. Stanford



6. The word viscosity is derived from the latin word for this plant, Viscum, which is also the genus name for over 100 species. Apparently, the berries of this plant contain a very sticky juice, which when mixed with lime and twigs creates a powerful glue that can catch or trap small animals such as birds. Name this plant which is a hemi-parasite of trees, capable of photosynthesis, but deriving extra water and nutrients from the trees, and which, since the 18th century, has been used as a Christmas decoration, under which couples must kiss. Mistletoe

7. This author’s historical romance about the Cossack commander “Taras Bulba” evokes the campaign against the Poles waged in the author’s homeland of Ukraine. This author described how a civil servant clerk in St. Petersburg unjustly lost his prized overcoat, and how this clerk, named Akaky Akakyevich exacted revenge as a ghost on his death. Name this author who is also well known for his comedy “The Inspector General” and his panorama of Russian life published in 1842 “Dead Souls.” Nikolai Gogol

8. Assuming a skyscraper is defined as a multistory building at least 100 meters high, the city with the most number of skyscrapers has almost 1300, almost 3 times more than New York City (in second place). A good place to view them all is from Victoria Peak, accessible by tram. Name this city enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and the South China Sea, one of 2 special administrative regions in China, the other being Macao. . Hong Kong

9. For his 40th birthday, Oakland Athletics Manager Tony LaRussa allowed this sportscaster to manage the team during a spring training game. He is known for his exclamation: “Do you believe it?” when Ryne Sandberg hit his second game-tying home run against Sutter in the 10th inning. The Cubs went on to win 12-11 in the 11th inning. June 23, 1984. He interviewed George W. Bush in Beijing during the 2008 Summer Olympics, after declaring that Bush’s presidency had tragically failed a year before. His nickname has been “Rapping Roberto.” His bestselling “Fair Ball: A Fan’s Case for Baseball” was published in 2000. Name this sportscaster who completed an 8 year run on HBO last year, and now works with the MLB Network. Bob Costas



10. The definitive experiment to establish the cure for this disease was conducted by James Lind and published in 1772. It was inspired by the tragic voyage between 1740 and 1744, when Admiral Anson’s circumnavigation of the globe was marred by the death of 1400 of the 1900 men on 6 ships from this disease. He divided ailing sailors into 6 groups: all had the same diet but were randomized to supplemental barley water, vitriol, vinegar, seawater, cider, or 2 oranges and 1 lemon. Only the sailors receiving the fruit or cider recovered. Name this disease due to a deficiency of vitamin C. Scurvy (Barlow, Moeller, Cheadle’s disease)
Eric Seifter Coach, Centennial High School It's Academic
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by Kouign Amann »

Back in the day, this thread happened. No one left very happy. However, a few posts in this thread contain offers to help Centennial create a high-quality pyramidal set if they ever desired to do so. Under this new administration, it appears that they now desire to do so. I'm wondering if those people will follow up on their offers, and if Centennial is willing to accept them. This is an opportunity for a long-running DC event to make a big push towards pyramidality. If ends up as a novice level event, even better. This tournament attracts many teams every year no matter the set, and it could be a great opportunity to expose those teams to high-quality, difficulty-appopriate pyramidal questions for the first time.

I hope those offers still stand, and I hope Centennial will end its tradition of obstinately refusing the help of generous quizbowlers. Heck, if this really ends up as a novice-oriented event, and if my college applications aren't going too poorly, I'd be willing to help too.
Aidan Mehigan
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) »

Would Centennial be interested at all in combining their event with some other housewritten set from another region to have more experienced pairs of eyes going over their set, and to save you from being responsible for having the team write an entire tournament, and instead write something much more manageable for a new event like half the set. I'm really glad that your team is doing this and hope the set ends up being as good as it can be.
Charlie Dees, North Kansas City HS '08
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by unleashmayhem »

I played for Mt. Hebron 2 years ago when I was a freshman there.
Howard County being one of the best for education has a poor amount of teams playing any sort of quizbowl.
Hope this changes this year.
Sai Yalla
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by eseifte1 »

My reply to Aiden and Charlie,
I will be seeing several of the "posters" who offered to help this weekend at the College Park Tournament. I will ask for their help in editing. We would welcome combining with a house-written set from another region also. We really want to create a high quality set for this event. All the questions and bonuses have been written: they are in first or second editing stages. We could easily eliminate half the questions if combining with another set (especially with duplications).
Eric Seifter
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by Smuttynose Island »

eseifte1 wrote:My reply to Aiden and Charlie,
I will be seeing several of the "posters" who offered to help this weekend at the College Park Tournament. I will ask for their help in editing. We would welcome combining with a house-written set from another region also. We really want to create a high quality set for this event. All the questions and bonuses have been written: they are in first or second editing stages. We could easily eliminate half the questions if combining with another set (especially with duplications).
Eric Seifter
Coach, Centennial High School
If you guys are still looking for outside editing help, I'd be more than happy to look over some of your questions for you. You can get in touch with me at waddle[REMOVE]2357[AT]gmail[DOT]com
Daniel Hothem
TJHSST '11 | UVA '15 | Oregon '??
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by DumbJaques »

As Eric mentioned to those present at the Maryland tournament Saturday, I have agreed to look over the questions in this set, provide feedback, and (hopefully) attest publicly to their general lack of a characteristic we shall call "Gassire's Lute-ishness."
Chris Ray
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University of Maryland, 2014
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by eseifte1 »

This is an update for our upcoming tournament in a little more than 4 weeks.
We are affiliated with PACE, with 15% of the top teams eligible for their National Tournament.
Here is our current field (with 5 weeks to go):
Hammond
Langley
Spalding (2)
Blake
Banneker (2)
Baltimore Poly (2)
Bullis (2)
Atholton
Springbrook (2)
Rockville

Other schools have expressed interest; we await their confirmation.
Eric Seifter
Coach Centennial High School
Ellicott City, MD
Eric Seifter Coach, Centennial High School It's Academic
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by Great Bustard »

Oh, great, didn't notice that this was on a Sunday. I can definitely come and help out, since it's the day after the National Council for the Social Studies Conference ends and I'll be in the DC area anyway. Should be able to bring up to 10 buzzer systems if you need them too.
David Madden
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by The Stately Rhododendron »

This looks like its going to be great, but is 8:30 when the matches start or is it just when the teams should arrive?

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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by eseifte1 »

This is an update for our upcoming tournament in 3 weeks.
We are affiliated with PACE, with 15% of the top teams eligible for their National Tournament.
Here is our current field (with 3 weeks to go):

Hammond (1)
Langley (1)
Spalding (2)
Blake (1)
Banneker (2)
Baltimore Poly (2)
Bullis (2)
Atholton (1)
Springbrook (2)
Rockville (2)
Gonzaga (2)
Quince Orchard (1)
Fallston (2)
St. Stephen's/St. Agnes (1)
Arundel (2)
South River (1)

25 Teams so far with 3 weeks to go.
Other schools have also expressed interest (about 5) ; we await their confirmation.

We want teams to check in from 8:00 AM until 8:40 AM. We want to start at 9:00 AM.

We will offer a free breakfast buffet. We will be selling pizza and soda for lunch. There is a Parents+Coach's Round during lunch.
We are guaranteeing 8 games for everyone with 9 and 10 for some.
Play-offs will be in round-robin format, but the championship games may be single games (depends on field size).
This will be traditional quiz bowl with pyramidal 20 questions + bonuses, but the set trends toward Novice in difficulty (althogh all are welcome!)

Eric Seifter
Coach Centennial High School
Ellicott City, MD
CELL: 410-245-3562
Eric Seifter Coach, Centennial High School It's Academic
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by eseifte1 »

This is an update for our upcoming tournament in a little less than 3 weeks.
We are affiliated with PACE, with 15% of the top teams eligible for their National Tournament.
Here is our current field :
Hammond (1)
Langley (1)
Spalding (2)
Blake (1)
Banneker (2)
Baltimore Poly (2)
Bullis (2)
Atholton (1)
Springbrook (2)
Rockville (2)
Gonzaga (2)
Quince Orchard (1)
Fallston (2)
St. Stephen's/St. Agnes (1)
Arundel (2)
South River (1)
River Hill (2)
Glenelg Country (2)
Eleanor Roosevelt (1)
Oakland Mills (2)
Mount Hebron (1)
South Lakes (1)

34 Teams so far with a little less than 3 weeks to go.
Other schools have also expressed interest ; we await their confirmation.
If we reach 48, we may need to cap the field.

Eric Seifter
Coach
Centennial It's Academic Club/Team
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by Adventure Temple Trail »

How is progress on writing and editing the set coming?
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by sir negsalot »

just wondering, are there powers/negs, and will there be stats?
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by eseifte1 »

The question set is written, but is still being actively edited with new versions based on test playing and most importantly by major re-edits.
Chris Ray has gone line by line in 3 of our packets so far, and we have implemented his suggestions almost to the letter.
This has forced us to revise and revise again our other sets, based on his teaching and advice. We are a team of 35 students and an editing team of 12, but speaking as the Coach, we had a lot of learning to do to hone the questions. We have met on weekends and I am spending 4-5 hours a day revising our completed questions for substantial issues.
We have paid special attention to:

1. Keeping the answer easy if you wait for the final give-away
2. Throwing out silly obscure trivia
3. Strictly trying to adhere to pyramidal form to avoid early give-aways.
4. Giving reasonable helpful clues, not dates of birth etc.
5. Keeping bonuses to 10 points each and easy-middling-hard order (and no lists!)
6. Avoiding repeated info/subjects

As for the quality, this is already the best set we have produced (thanks again to Chris) but that is not saying much. I can say that we will continue to edit and revise until the day of the tournament so that this is the best set of questions we can produce. We will then post it for free use. Our goal is to produce a reasonably easy, but well written quizbowl tournament to transition our audience away from TV style questions only because quizbowl is more informative and ultimately more satisfying. That said, my kids like playing both.
For those who have come to our tournaments previously, we already have a better quizbowl set now than we have ever produced. But that's not sufficient. We are still aiming higher.
I edit for a living (last 30 years, scientific articles, on-line editorial work) and I still feel like a novice for quizbowl. But I am learning. And most of all, I am trying. And so are my kids. It would be easier to buy a set. But we have learned infinitely more in the process.

There will be powers, negs, and stats (and we needed that for PACE affiliation).
Eric Seifter, Coach Centennial High School
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by Down and out in Quintana Roo »

Eric, all of that really looks awesomely promising. Even though we can't come, i'm excited to see what the set ends up looking like. Your list of things you were working on is just spot on for what subpar house-written usually fail at, so i'm so happy to know that you're working at this and going to end up with a great set! We wish you all the luck in the world at this tournament, hope it turns out great!
Mr. Andrew Chrzanowski
Caesar Rodney High School
Camden, Delaware
CRHS '97-'01
University of Delaware '01-'05
CRHS quizbowl coach '06-'12
http://crquizbowl.edublogs.org
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by eseifte1 »

This is an update for our upcoming tournament in a little less than 3 weeks.
We are affiliated with PACE, with 15% of the top teams eligible for their National Tournament.
Here is our current field :
Hammond (1)
Langley (1)
Spalding (2)
Blake (1)
Banneker (2)
Baltimore Poly (2)
Bullis (2)
Atholton (2)
Springbrook (2)
Rockville (2)
Gonzaga (2)
Quince Orchard (1)
Fallston (2)
St. Stephen's/St. Agnes (1)
Arundel (2)
South River (1)
River Hill (2)
Glenelg Country (2)
Eleanor Roosevelt (1)
Oakland Mills (2)
Mount Hebron (1)
South Lakes (1)
Glenelg High (1)
Anacostia (1)
Howard (1)
Montgomery Blair (1 or 2)
Wilde Lake (1 or 2 )

40-42 Teams so far with a little more than 2 weeks to go.

We will cap the field at 48. Please let us know soon if you are interested in coming.

Eric Seifter
Coach
Centennial It's Academic Club/Team
Eric Seifter Coach, Centennial High School It's Academic
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by eseifte1 »

This is an update for our upcoming tournament in 13 days.
We are affiliated with PACE, with 15% of the top teams eligible for their National Tournament.
Here is our current field :
Hammond (1)
Langley (1)
Spalding (2)
Blake (1)
Banneker (2)
Baltimore Poly (2)
Bullis (2)
Atholton (2)
Springbrook (2)
Rockville (2)
Gonzaga (2)
Quince Orchard (1)
Fallston (2)
St. Stephen's/St. Agnes (1)
Arundel (2)
South River (1)
River Hill (2)
Glenelg Country (2)
Eleanor Roosevelt (1)
Oakland Mills (2)
Mount Hebron (1)
South Lakes (1)
Glenelg High (1)
Anacostia (1)
Howard (1)
Montgomery Blair (2)
Wilde Lake (1)
Severna Park (1)
Richard Montgomery (2 or 3)

44 or 45 teams so far with 13 daysto go. We will cap the field at 48. Please let us know now if you are interested in coming.

Eric Seifter
Coach
Centennial It's Academic Club/Team
Eric Seifter Coach, Centennial High School It's Academic
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by eseifte1 »

We have completed our field with 8 days to go. Subsequent requests will go on a wait-list.
We are affiliated with PACE, with 15% of the top teams eligible for their National Tournament: the top 7 teams should qualify
Here is our completed field :
Hammond (1)
Langley (1)
Spalding (2)
Blake (1)
Banneker (2)
Baltimore Poly (2)
Bullis (2)
Atholton (2)
Springbrook (2)
Rockville (2)
Gonzaga (2)
Quince Orchard (1)
Fallston (2)
St. Stephen's/St. Agnes (1)
Arundel (2)
South River (1)
River Hill (2)
Glenelg Country (2)
Eleanor Roosevelt (1)
Oakland Mills (2)
Mount Hebron (3)
South Lakes (1)
Glenelg High (1)
Anacostia (1)
Howard (1)
Montgomery Blair (2)
Wilde Lake (1)
Severna Park (1)
Richard Montgomery (3)
Longfellow (1)

48 TEAMS: 8 brackets of 6

Eric Seifter
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Centennial It's Academic Club/Team
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by Howard »

If you're holding back on the number of teams due to lack of moderators, I'd be happy to volunteer.
John Gilbert
Coach, Howard High School Academic Team
Ellicott City, MD

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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by eseifte1 »

After a very kind offer by a supportive coach Which we will accept) and an appeal by another team, we will open the field up to a few more teams.
Please e-mail ([email protected]) if you still have an interest.
Eric Seifter
Coach, Centennial High School
Eric Seifter Coach, Centennial High School It's Academic
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by eseifte1 »

We are poised to complete our field with 5 days to go after expanding the field to 54. Subsequent requests will go on a wait-list.
We are affiliated with PACE, with 15% of the top teams eligible for their National Tournament: the top 8 teams should qualify.
Here is our completed field :
Hammond (1)
Langley (1)
Spalding (2)
Blake (1)
Banneker (2)
Baltimore Poly (2)
Bullis (2)
Atholton (2)
Springbrook (2)
Rockville (2)
Gonzaga (2)
Quince Orchard (1)
Fallston (2)
St. Stephen's/St. Agnes (1)
Arundel (2)
South River (1)
River Hill (2)
Glenelg Country (2)
Eleanor Roosevelt (1)
Oakland Mills (2)
Mount Hebron (3)
South Lakes (1)
Glenelg High (2)
Anacostia (1)
Howard (1)
Montgomery Blair (2)
Wilde Lake (1)
Severna Park (2)
Richard Montgomery (3)
Longfellow (1)
Georgetown Day (1)
Maret (2)

53 TEAMS: 9 brackets of 6 (with 1 scab team)

Eric Seifter
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by eseifte1 »

Here is our completed field :
Hammond (2)
Langley (1)
Spalding (2)
Blake (1)
Banneker (2)
Baltimore Poly (2)
Bullis (2)
Atholton (2)
Springbrook (2)
Rockville (2)
Gonzaga (2)
Quince Orchard (1)
Fallston (2)
St. Stephen's/St. Agnes (1)
Arundel (2)
South River (1)
River Hill (2)
Glenelg Country (2)
Eleanor Roosevelt (1)
Oakland Mills (2)
Mount Hebron (3)
South Lakes (1)
Glenelg High (2)
Anacostia (1)
Howard (1)
Montgomery Blair (2)
Wilde Lake (1)
Severna Park (2)
Richard Montgomery (3)
Longfellow (1)
Georgetown Day (1)
Maret (2)

54 TEAMS: 9 brackets of 6
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by The Stately Rhododendron »

I thought that the tournament was definitely better than last year. I liked the many attempts to get teams to stay for the 2nd rounds (although plenty still left). Still, some of the bonuses were really inconsistent with difficulty levels and the powers were placed in weird places.
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by sir negsalot »

This tournament demonstrated a lot of effort on the part of Centennial. First of all, the breakfast certainly was a banquet and it was great to see that Centennial had many parent helpers to deal with registration,etc. While there were 54 teams, they were all quickly taken care of. All of our moderators were very good, and rounds finished in a timely manner. The novelties like the fossils and coaches' game were fun as well. All of these factors made quizbowl as enjoyable as possible to the many new or rare teams that attended. The questions, for the most part, were good. Sure, there were a few strange answerlines here and there, but they were well edited overall, and properly determined a winner between the two teams. It was great to see the progress made by Centennial after subpar questions in previous years. This tournament benefitted the DC-area quizbowl community, and I hope that many of the teams stick around in the circuit
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by Down and out in Quintana Roo »

So, what were the results?
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by jonathanmarx »

Blair A (which I believe was a combination of normal A and B team players) beat RM "A" (which was one normal A teamer and 3 normal B teamers) on the last question.
I believe GDS (Daniel B-N solo) was third but I could be mistaken and I don't know beyond that.
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by Panayot Hitov »

Oakland Mills lost to Daniel in the 3rd place game.

The tournament was overall fairly well run, considering the size (54 teams). We had no problems with readers, unlike almost every tournament we go to. The bonuses were pretty up and down in difficulty, and the lead-ins were too easy in some places.
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by schaej00 »

Thanks to Centennial for a good tournament. A nice large, diverse field. While we don't always see all the teams at other competitions, we will hopefully see many of them at future events. All the readers were good, the tournament was well organized and the questions were fine. There was clearly a lot of effort put in to preparing for the event.
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Coach -- Montgomery Blair High School
Silver Spring, MD
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by eseifte1 »

Hi everyone,
Thanks to all of you who participated in the tournament. Sorry for some of the confusion at the end, but we were unaware that so many teams had left. Next year we hope to have a better system for the rounds after lunch. Unfortunately, the individual statistics program did not work well. We will try to get whatever statistics we have and make them available as soon as possible. I will work on SQBS over Christmas break (I'm away for the next 2 weeks). We do have the final standings:

!st Place: Blair A trophy
2nd Place: RMA trophy
3rd Place: GDS trophy
4th Place: Oakland Mills A
5th Place: Blair B
6th Place: Severna Park A
7th Place: Gonzaga A
8th Place: Gonzaga B
9th Place: Rockville A won the gold bracket and also received a trophy.
10th Place: Longfellow

Congratulations to all teams. Again, thank you for participating. Also the Special Olympics donation from our tournament was $290. Thank you so much for your generosity. We forgot to mention that the boy who read the speech about Special Olympics has a brother who was a member of our It's Academic Team from 2203-2007. Thanks again. We hope you enjoyed it.
Eric Seifter
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by Adventure Temple Trail »

I'm absolutely thrilled that a tournament in my former high school circuit got 54 teams and ran at all, much less to the extent that it did. Congratulations to Coach Seifter, Chris Ray, and everyone else who helped this tournament's successes occur. I'm interested to hear whether there was time for announcing upcoming tournaments in the area and whether that happened.

An exhortation follows.

While this tournament drew a fantastic field of seemingly new teams, seemingly It's Ac-only teams, and teams we haven't seen in a long while, the majority of DC-area tournaments from the tail end of last school year through this school year have truly failed to do so. It's no secret that field sizes have on the whole been shrinking over the past few years, to the point where average field size has effectively halved within two or three years. With the core students of many motivated teams graduating this upcoming year, I predict they'll continue to shrink - both in total team number and in field strength among the well-connected circuit regulars - unless every team that currently cares makes a conscious, strong effort to fix things. I'll not be subtle: if a severe change of course doesn't happen, I predict that this year will be the last in which the DC area is a nationally-enviable hotspot of good quizbowl, and can even foresee a grim future where the circuit undergoes a total collapse as the number of tournaments increases beyond the number of (well-connected, forums-posting) teams at any individual event.

Having hosted a tournament in DC in the past, I know at least one reason why the fields continue to shrink: a lack of contact information and of a conscious effort to email every team in the area - not just the ones that win tournaments or post on the Internet, every team - each time a tournament is happening.

I urge the hosts of every single spring semester tournament in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and northern Virginia to contact Coach Seifter as soon as they can, asking for all the contact information Centennial has for schools in the region in exchange for letting Centennial use all the contact information they have. I see a lack of communication with these teams as a severe problem, and their welcoming with open arms into the circuit as the key facet of the solution. This tournament is evidence that there are literally dozens of teams willing to play pyramidal quizbowl if we just know how to reach them and actually do reach them - and who knows which one will be the next St. Anselm's, studying themselves into a national monster from a very modest starting place? We don't know, we can't know, we'll never know, until they all hear about every tournament and are truly welcomed into our world.

I was lucky to come of age in what was then the uncontested best place to be a high school quizbowler, where 30+ team tournaments were frequent and it was possible for local It's Academic clubs to see their surroundings, catch fire, and learn to compete with the best. I would be saddened if that world ended with a whimper.
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by Great Bustard »

NHBB will likely be based out of the DC area starting in 2013 or 2014 for likely 3-6 years or so. We'll do our part when we call the DC circuit home.
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by eseifte1 »

Hi.
I appreciate all the recent posts. We are seriously committed to improving our tournament in future iterations.
I want to share the secret of how we obtained so many "new" teams.
We sent fliers by snail mail to EVERY high school in the Baltimore, Annopolis, and DC area (about 180).
Of course, I can share the e-mail addresses I got.
But there is no substitute for mail when coaches change and students graduate.
That said, I was disappointed in the number of teams we attracted from Baltimore metro. Most were from the DC/VA/and DC suburbs. Obviously, we couldn't have handled more interest.
Another shout out to the National History Bee guys (Dave and Greg), the coaches who helped with reading, and my wife who was ghost-writing all of "my" responses on e-mail and who organized the opulent banquet(perhaps too lavish).
I am very proud of my very young and enthusiastic quiz bowl club members (we have 38 students). I needed their active participation and support. They were the ones who carried this project to fruition. Thank you.
Eric Seifter
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by Matt Weiner »

eseifte1 wrote:We sent fliers by snail mail to EVERY high school in the Baltimore, Annopolis, and DC area (about 180).
Of course, I can share the e-mail addresses I got.
But there is no substitute for mail when coaches change and students graduate.
I want to congratulate Centennial on doing this and urge more hosts of high school tournaments (held at high schools, colleges, or otherwise) to follow suit. Despite claims to the contrary all the evidence shows that physical mail is often the only way to reliably reach people outside of the message board audience. And if you get even 2 more teams from doing it, which you will, it more than pays for itself. This is by far the best way in which high school quizbowl can grow.
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by Howard »

Dr. Seifter thanked him at the event, but I want to publicly thank Chris Ray for all his assistance with this tournament set. I obviously wasn't privy to the questions prior to editing, but from the questions I saw, it seemed that this was a great benefit to the tournament.
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by Great Bustard »

See the following post for how I think this great event can get even better next year: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12443&p=230900#p230900
Also, Eric, if you needed more staffing, consider reaching out to the many college teams nearby. If you paid trained moderators, say, $40 or $50 or so for the day you could probably get enough to handle a likely even greater number of teams for next year based on the success of this year's tournament. Or you could just make moderating required when a school signs up, with an opt out penalty (that's the approach NHBB uses).
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by eseifte1 »

I agree with John Gilbert that I should have also thanked Chris Ray for the extensive training that allowed us to improve our question set.
Years ago, he and others offered to help. He delivered.... big time.
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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by Howard »

eseifte1 wrote:I agree with John Gilbert that I should have also thanked Chris Ray for the extensive training that allowed us to improve our question set.
Years ago, he and others offered to help. He delivered.... big time.
Eric Seifter
Coach Centennial
While I agree it's nice (and appropriate) that you did this, I also think thanking him at the site in front of all the teams is sufficient. There was no intent on my part to tell you that you should have thanked Chris here. I was simply looking to point out that I personally thought he made a large contribution to the tournament, and that this was the best place for me to express that appreciation after seeing the questions.
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Ellicott City, MD

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Re: Centennial Tournament Ellicott City, MD Sunday (12/04/11)

Post by DumbJaques »

I appreciate the sentiment, but I'd like to emphasize that all I did with this tournament was offer feedback. The players on Centennial and Dr. Seifter worked tirelessly through countless drafts of this tournament to make it what it was. This kind of effort is kind of alien to quizbowl, but to give you an idea, this set was more or less written several months ago; what teams played last weekend, I'm pretty confident, bore only minimal similarities. This tournament's editors basically did two sets' worth of work, because they were committed to addressing the issues this event has had in the past and demonstrating to the circuit the new direction Centennial quizbowl is heading in. I'm confident that future iterations will be even stronger, and hope that Centennial's efforts can be a key cog in efforts to restore and expand HS quizbowl in Maryland.
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