University of Minnesota Nationals Warmup, 5/9 at the U of M

[Kouign Amann]

But if quizbowl were only about competition and about the ‘game’, it would probably have much less allure for those truly passionate about it. So what else is crucial to it? I think Aidan Mehigan suggested it as well as anyone---it is a culture unto itself, and Aidan wished to immerse himself in it as completely as he could. And, as an aside, a wonderful opportunity apparently came to Aidan apparently as a consequence of his love of this culture. It seems he lived close enough to George Mason to volunteer to help out at PACE. As fortune ( or, better stated for PACE as a whole---MIS-fortune) would have it, one team was doing so poorly at the competition that it apparently just up & left the tournament!!!---forfeiting several games on the morning of the 2nd day. Apparently at this point Aidan and another of his actual highschool teammate was asked to fill in for the last 4 scheduled games of the team that had left. What happened? Aidan helped his “team” win all 4 games, and he, as a Freshman, average 105 points per game---placing him in the top 15 or so at PACE overall!!!---an amazing performance for a Freshman!

Please note that scoring 105 points per game is not a great accomplishment at all when one is playing in the bottom bracket of the NSC. Some of those games were honestly just like playing open chairs; you can see that Matt and I were not the least bit challenged in any of those games. Please don't overrate me based on those stats. We all know that statistics can, and often do, lie. Playing against teams of similar ability would have greatly reduced my numbers to a more accurate level.

[Edward Powers]

Aidan--you are too modest perhaps. But I will let you be the final judge of that. My deeper point was simply this---quizbowl offers you and others who share your passions an opportunity to share in a culture that honors your curiosity and love of learning rather than ridicule it. And coaches, especially those who wish to be good coaches, should always remain cognizant of this if they wish to do justice to you and others like you. So, if I somehow seemed to make too much of your performance, I apologize, but I trust you have discerned the deeper purposes of my comments.

[Cheynem]

I'm a grad student and did not play collegiate quiz bowl as an undergrad. While I certainly liked playing quiz bowl as a high school student, I find I like it a little more as a collegiate player because of the things you've touched on, Edward, such as having more of a passion for learning and testing the knowledge of things I've studied, researched, and taught on rather than simply having a drive to memorize facts (please bear in mind that this is simply my high school experience and as Dwight earlier touched on, I played in a high school era when there was less good quiz bowl opportunities). As a grad student, quiz bowl helps me to relax and to focus at the same time.

[Edward Powers]

I can certainly appreciate the distinctions you make here. To treat quizbowl as merely the mastery of mindless facts memorized in rote fashion has never appealed to me. Yet I know that there are some teams, even successful ones, that do emphasize such rote memorization. So your greater joy in competing in ways that allows you to actually express your love of learning makes complete sense to me, as does your keener appreciation of your collegiate experience if your high school experience involved too much rote learning.