Goldfish National Championship Tournament

[pretzeldude92]

Well, I just sent Rapp's results in, and I must say, this was very fun. We played against a lamp that has moving (mechanically, of course) aqualife inside. And we beat the lamp. Yay!

[AndyShootsAndyScores]

Well, I just sent Rapp's results in, and I must say, this was very fun. We played against a lamp that has moving (mechanically, of course) aqualife inside. And we beat the lamp. Yay!

Our opponent was Batman.

That's right, Batman lost something. Imagine that, Lee.

[Golran]

We beat up on a stuffed Nemo.

[Blackboard Monitor Vimes]

We had four Goldfish snack-type-things, each with a buzzer. Erik ate them after the game.

[Judson Laipply]

We played against a stuffed whale and a stuffed Pinky(of pinky and the brain). If the brain made it, we might have lost, but we beat them.

[pblessman]

Thanks to everybody who has already turned in their scores! And tghank you also for all the descriptions of who you played against... My favorite thus far is the lamp with (fake) fish inside it...

I'll run the results as soon as everything is in tomorrow, and I will try to get them posted tomorrow evening. Just as a little teaser, here are a few more interesting results than the pasting our B Team got from Walton:

WALTON WHEATON NORTH A
Points For 447.5 322.5
NEGS 4 1
TUS 7 3
POWS 6.5 6.5
TUH 24 24
BonH 13.5 9.5
BonPts 300 200
PPBH 22.2 21.1
PP20TUH 372.9 268.8
Goldfish Score 625 665

Brindlee Mountain A Brindlee Mountain B
Points For 510 250
NEGS 2 0.5
TUS 7 4
POWS 9 4
TUH 24 24
BonH 16 8
BonPts 315 150
PPBH 19.7 18.8
PP20TUH 425.0 208.3
Goldfish Score 630 530

Adair County Maine South (IL)
Points For 220 300
NEGS 3 3
TUS 8 7
POWS 1 5
TUH 24 24
BonH 9 12
BonPts 140 170
PPBH 15.6 14.2
PP20TUH 183.3 250.0
Goldfish Score 285 390

[rchschem]

Raleigh Charter B beat up on a Nixon bobblehead.

[quizbowllee]

Well, I just sent Rapp's results in, and I must say, this was very fun. We played against a lamp that has moving (mechanically, of course) aqualife inside. And we beat the lamp. Yay!

Our opponent was Batman.

That's right, Batman lost something. Imagine that, Lee.

No... your opponent was an unconscious stuffed Batman. I made this very clear. The real Batman would have destroyed you.

Get your crap straight.

[Tegan]

Maine South had a pinata of a clownfish.

The team got hungry at halftime.

It was not pretty!

[Judson Laipply]

Maine South had a pinata of a clownfish.

The team got hungry at halftime.

It was not pretty!

Does NAQT Have rules against eating you opponent???

[quizbowllee]

I am so ready for results!

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

So am i, this was a really fun competition, and it basically served as the final activity for my team for the year. We'd like to see where we placed, but general i think the kids were disappointed in their potential showing.

[pblessman]

I've posted all the Goldfish results I have in right now:

http://pblessman.googlepages.com/Goldfi ... ldfish.xls

Please check to see that:

1. Your team is listed (If you believe you have submitted your scores).
2. All the data is correct.

I will compile head-to-head scores once I have all the data in (hopefully tomorrow). If you haven't submitted yet, please do so ASAP or let me know when (or whether) you will submit your scores.

[quizbowllee]

I want to clarify - the "winner" will be the team that does best in head-to-head simulation, correct?

[pblessman]

I'm going to compile two kinds of rankings: Goldfish and Round robin Head-to-Head totals. However, the Head-to-head totals are much more informative in terms of who is the stronger quizbowl team and would most likely prevail in a live quizbowl match or tournament.

[evilmonkey]

So I was scrolling through, and I happened to notice something strange:

Verona D got question 8 on word 35, and thats listed as a normal tossup-get.
Auburn B got question 8 on word 35, and thats listed as a FIFTEEEEEEEEEEN.

(Just looking through, it looks as though Verona may have rounded to the nearest 5)

[jbarnes112358]

Yeah, it's pretty obvious a few teams counted to the nearest 5. When I first saw the questions, and before I read the instructions, I also thought that was how to do it.

Depending on how they rounded to the nearest 5, it will either slightly inflate or slightly diminish their performance.

[Tegan]

When will it be acceptable to start making excuses like "none of our starters were there" or "our science teacher was playing for our team, and was appalled at the amount of social studies".

[rchschem]

When will it be acceptable to start making excuses like "none of our starters were there" or "our science teacher was playing for our team, and was appalled at the amount of social studies".

I don't think excuses are ever out of season, to wit:

1. The difficulty level was really uneven.
2. Way too much geography.
3. Too many answers that began with "g."
4. Our goldfish was offended by the questions. NAQT clearly hates fish.

[AndyShootsAndyScores]

1. The difficulty level was really uneven.

I don't feel like reading back, so were these questions supposed to be HSNCT level?

[pblessman]

Thanks, Bryce, about the heads-up concerning +10 vs +15!

Whoopsee! I meant to put a thing-a-majigga in the Excel spreadsheet that would check for +10 vs. +15. No biggie- I'll fix it and revise the scores.

A few people didn't follow instructions to a T, but that's OK. Specific mistakes I noticed:

1. Not reading OT TUs
2. Rounding to 5 on word number.
3. Entering something for TU when no score (-5,+10,+15) occurred (popular optinons: x, NA, and 100, 200, etc.)
4. Not noting the word somebody negged on.

I'm sure as teams get used to the format some of these kinks will get sorted out... Overall, I think coaches did a nice job filling out the forms and getting them back to me.

Difficulty level was IS, not HSNCT.

Oh excuses...

1. Our goldfish was actually a mutant with thumbs... and a HUGE brain... no fair. Next time we'll play against a lamp.
2. The questions were SO LONG... Why can't we just do questions like: "Name the author of..."?
3. Why are there no question on driver's ed? Or bass fishing? Or phun matching questions such as: "Match these twelve authors with their respective books..."? Or even phunner multiple choice questions such as: "Which one of the following was not a king of England: William, George, Henry, Genghis Khan"? Or some amazing super-phun little riddles, such as: "What punctuation mark is also a body part?"

[rchschem]

1. The difficulty level was really uneven.

I don't feel like reading back, so were these questions supposed to be HSNCT level?

I was kidding. It did have an odd feel to it, but this is not a serious complaint. See "NAQT hates goldfish."

[AndyShootsAndyScores]

1. The difficulty level was really uneven.

I don't feel like reading back, so were these questions supposed to be HSNCT level?

I was kidding. It did have an odd feel to it, but this is not a serious complaint. See "NAQT hates goldfish."

Yeah, looking back, I probably shouldn't have quoted something I knew was not serious when asking a serious question.

All in all, I did enjoy this more than the KMO.

[Golran]

Can I use my other registration now to read the packet for the tennis team (of which nobody else has ever come to a practice/tournament/seen a buzzer) and send in their results tonight?

[pblessman]

Yes, no problem! Or you can bank a one team credit for next time- either way is fine.

[Maxwell Sniffingwell]

Best buzz looks to be a tie: 9s for LASA A, Bergen A, and Detroit County Day on question 2.

[Golran]

Turned out the tennis team didn't want to answer questions from NAQT, just go around naming all the MLB, NFL, and NHL teams division by division on our bus rides back and forth today.

[jbarnes112358]

We may have given our goldfish the biggest drubbing, but several teams beat us head to head.

[pblessman]

Final Goldfish Scores Below. Average score was 336, median score 325. Also posted with all the nittygritty at: http://pblessman.googlepages.com/Goldfish_Gold.xls. Congratulations to Maggie Walker for doing a better job than anybody else of beating the pulp out of their goldfish!!! They may officially consider themselves the "Spring 2008 Goldfish Score National Champions" I will send them a plaque/certificate/trophy to be determined to commemorate the occasion!

Standby: Now I am going to crunch the numbers for the head-to-head scores... I think this will be interesting! It'll probably take me a few hours to get everything together even with the Excel spreadsheet I have prepared...

Team GF Pts
1. Maggie Walker 705
2. Wheaton North A 665
3T. Bergen A 655
3T. LASA A 655
5. Brindlee Mountain A 630
6. Walton 625
7. Detroit Country Day 610
8. Brindlee Mountain B 530
9T. Champlain Valley A 525
9T. Raleigh Charter A 525
11. Daviess County 500
12T. Culver A 470
12T. Kellenberg A 470
14. Rappahannock 465
15. Madisonville A 450
16. Tate 430
17. Bergen B 425
18. Brindlee Mountain C 415
19. Culver B 410
20. LVille Eastern A 400
21. Harrison A 395
22. Maine South 390
23. Kellenberg B 370
24T. JFK A 365
24T. LASA B 365
26. Tippecanoe 360
27. Reed City A 355
28T. Columbia Central 350
28T. Raleigh Charter C 350
30. Madisonville B 345
31. Caesar Rodney 340
32T. Raleigh Charter B 330
32T. White Cloud 330
34. Champlain Valley B 320
35. North White 315
36T. Chesterton 305
36T. JFK B 305
38T. Lville Eastern B 300
38T. Shelbyville 300
40. Ward Melville 290
41. Adair County 285
42T. Champlain Valley C 280
42T. MAST A 280
44. Harrison C 275
45T. Auburn A 260
45T. Noblesville 260
47. Wheaton North B 255
48. MAST B 240
49. North Central 235
50. Kellenberg C 225
51. Logan 220
52T. Athens 195
52T. Zionsville 195
54T. Culver C 190
54T. Twin Lakes 190
56. MAST C 185
57. Reed City B 180
58. Harrison B 175
59. Dolgeville 160
60. Pasquotank A 130
61. Verona A 120
62. Auburn B 85
63T. Pasquotank B 70
63T. Verona B 70
65. Verona C 50
66. Verona D 35

[AndyShootsAndyScores]

I guess I assumed that the winner would be the one with the best "record" and not the highest point total. I suppose I could be wrong, though.

EDIT: I actually read your post and saw that it said Goldfish Score Champion. My bad.

[jbarnes112358]

Yeah, Your Brindlee Mountain team seems to be one that beat us, as did Bergen County and possibly others. Our raw score and bonus conversion proved we knew stuff. But, we were a bit slow buzzing in. To quote one of my players, "[We] should have been buzzing faster on some of those...I told you it would be psychologically different...no one wants to neg against Goldfish."

[pretzeldude92]

1. Our goldfish was actually a mutant with thumbs... and a HUGE brain... no fair. Next time we'll play against a lamp.

Objection. We played against a lamp. Not a legitimate excuse. Lamps are very powerful players. They are very bright. I'm sorry. Pardon the pun.

[pblessman]

Final Goldfish Head-to-Head Scores Below. I've also posted an amzing amount of nittygritty at: http://pblessman.googlepages.com/Spring ... o_Head.xls. (wow! that's a lot of data! If you like stats, I think you'll enjoy this...) Congratulations to Bergen County for gong undefeated (65-0!!!) to claim the first ever Goldfish Head-to-Head National Championship! I will send them a plaque/certificate/trophy to be determined to commemorate the occasion!

There were actually a lot of impressive showings, including five teams who won 61 or more games out of 65! Kudos to Brindlee Mountain, Walton, Maggie Walker, and Wheaton North, for giving Bergen County a run for their money! All four of these teams were within 100 points or less of Bergen County.

Bergen County 395
Brindlee Mountain 357.5

Bergen County 357.5
Walton 312.5

Bergen County 417.5
MW 352.5

Bergen County 430
Wheaton North 330

The most exciting match was the one against Brindlee Mountain, as Bergen County mounted a furious comeback with three questions to play and down by 72.5. Bergen County swept the last three questions, including two powers, and they converted 70 of the possible 90 bonus points to win by 37.5. You simply had to be there! It was amazing!

TU BC Brindlee
21 285 357.5
22 320 357.5
23 360 357.5
24 395 357.5

Thanks so much to everybody who participated! I look forward to running this again next year... I'm planning on doing this twice next year, once as a pre-season warm-up, and then one pre-nationals event like I did it this year... I hope everybody had a great time!

Spring 2008 Goldfish Head-to-Head Results
Team Record (W-L-T)
1. Bergen A 65-0-0
2. Brindlee A 64-1-0
3. Walton 63-2-0
4. Maggie Walker 62-3-0
5. Wheaton North A 61-4-0
6. LASA A 60-5-0
7T. Brindlee B 58-7-0
7T. Detroit Country Day 58-7-0
9. Rappahannock 57-8-0
10. Kellenberg A 56-9-0
11. Daviess County 55-10-0
12T. Raleigh Charter A 53-12-0
12T. Tate 53-12-0
14. Culver B 52-13-0
15. Culver A 51-14-0
16. Champlain A 49-16-0
17T. Brindlee C 48-17-0
17T. LASA B 48-17-0
19. Harrison A 47-18-0
20. Maine South 45-20-0
21. Tippecanoe 44-21-0
22T. L'ville Eastern A 43-22-0
22T. Madisonville A 43-22-0
24T. Bergen B 41-24-0
24T. Raleigh Charter C 41-24-0
24T. Reed City A 41-24-0
27. Raleigh Charter B 40-25-0
28. Caesar Rodney 38-27-0
29. JFK A 36-29-0
30. Champlain B 36-29-0
31. Columbia Central 34-31-0
32. L'ville Eastern B 32-33-0
33T. Adair County 31-34-0
33T. Ward Melville 31-34-0
35T. Auburn A 30-35-0
35T. Kellenberg B 30-35-0
37T. Chesterton 28-37-0
37T. White Cloud 28-37-0
39T. MAST A 27-38-0
39T. Zionsville 27-38-0
41T. Logan 25-40-0
41T. Shelbyville 25-40-0
43. Madisonville B 25-40-0
44. Harrison C 22-43-0
45. Wheaton North B 21-44-0
46. Twin Lakes 20-45-0
47T. JFK B 19-46-0
47T. North White 19-46-0
49T. Harrison B 18-47-0
49T. North Central 18-47-0
51. Dolgeville 16-49-0
52. MAST C 14-51-0
53T. Kellenberg C 13-52-0
53T. MAST B 13-52-0
55. Reed City B 12-52-1
56. Athens 11-54-0
57. Noblesville 10-55-0
58. Champlain C 9-56-0
59. Culver C 7-58-0
60. Verona A 6-58-1
61. Pasquotank A 5-60-0
62. Auburn B 4-61-0
63. Verona B 3-62-0
64. Pasquotank B 2-63-0
65. Verona C 1-64-0
66. Verona D 0-65-0

[First Chairman]

I have moved subsequent discussion to HS Discussion.

[dschafer]

Is there any chance a copy of the stats could be released with what the corresponding answers were (as a prerequisite to this: would releasing the answers for an entire packet be kosher with NAQT)? I'd be interested to see which questions and subject areas were hardest/easiest.