NAC schedule info/tournament thread

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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by #1 Mercury Adept »

rmgeokid wrote:I mentioned NAQT to a reader, and she said "Eww. We did that one year and the questions were like a paragraph long"
Ow! My attention span!
:roll:
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by AKKOLADE »

sir negsalot wrote:(I edited it myself this time, freddy)
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by AKKOLADE »

rmgeokid wrote:I'm considering telling all of the somewhat good teams there (and there were a few) about the other nationals.
This is a good idea. Try and respectfully talk with other teams about it.

The other idea - badmouthing the tournament to a reader - is probably not the best one. Causing a scene will cause more harm than it will do to help.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by jonpin »

sir negsalot wrote:"We have been going to Nationals in Chicago with the ----. Your tournament is so much better and more organized. We have now attended 3 different Nationals and none compare to the quality of your tournament organization and READERS!!!!"
--Rae Gambler, Defiance High School [name of other tournament deleted]
They probably legitimately believe as much. Of course, given that QU requires a handful of readers and NAQT requires 60+, you would hope the tournament was both more organized and better staffed. On the other hand, Mr. Gambler probably considers a quality reader to be the next Alex Trebek and/or Regis Philbin.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by cdcarter »

jonpin wrote:
sir negsalot wrote:"We have been going to Nationals in Chicago with the ----. Your tournament is so much better and more organized. We have now attended 3 different Nationals and none compare to the quality of your tournament organization and READERS!!!!"
--Rae Gambler, Defiance High School [name of other tournament deleted]
They probably legitimately believe as much. Of course, given that QU requires a handful of readers and NAQT requires 60+, you would hope the tournament was both more organized and better staffed. On the other hand, Mr. Gambler probably considers a quality reader to be the next Alex Trebek and/or Regis Philbin.
For what it's worth, this quote is in reference to the now-defunct ASCN tournament, not NAQT's HSNCT.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Angry Babies in Love »

For what it's worth the readers were actually really really good. That was the only plus of this tournament.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by scquizbowl »

Wow, that's funny. Ernie is an OK reader, and some of the others are average, but Chip is the worst because of his ego the size of Georgia.

Do you know what teams made the playoffs? How did Stratford (SC) do? They were in our local Quest tournament, and finished 2nd in the Social Studies section that we won.

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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by PaladinQB »

cdcarter wrote:
jonpin wrote:
sir negsalot wrote:"We have been going to Nationals in Chicago with the ----. Your tournament is so much better and more organized. We have now attended 3 different Nationals and none compare to the quality of your tournament organization and READERS!!!!"
--Rae Gambler, Defiance High School [name of other tournament deleted]
They probably legitimately believe as much. Of course, given that QU requires a handful of readers and NAQT requires 60+, you would hope the tournament was both more organized and better staffed. On the other hand, Mr. Gambler probably considers a quality reader to be the next Alex Trebek and/or Regis Philbin.
For what it's worth, this quote is in reference to the now-defunct ASCN tournament, not NAQT's HSNCT.
Actually not the case, I'm sad to say. I see Ms. Gambler quite a bit and asked her about this one time, and she told me she was talking about NAQT. When she told me that she liked :chip: 's questions better than NAQT's too, I decided that we didn't have anything to talk about and just walked away.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Angry Babies in Love »

scquizbowl wrote:Do you know what teams made the playoffs? How did Stratford (SC) do? They were in our local Quest tournament, and finished 2nd in the Social Studies section that we won.
No clue. Sorry.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by fleurdelivre »

As much as I hate to say it, a team from El Paso in my room for Round 13 of HSNCT said the same thing. They'd been losing, mostly badly, over the course of the day, and felt exhausted at the quantity of stuff coming at them full-speed, it seemed. They were still a friendly bunch, but it seemed their experiences had pushed them to prefer a format on which they could win regularly rather than study hard to win at a format at which they would need a good deal of work to return as an upper-middling team the next year. It's not the response we want people to have to good quizbowl, but then again, an event like HSNCT is probably pretty demoralizing for about half the field, and some of them will respond this way - who wants to start their quiz bowl season with "well, we're going to put in some long, long hours and we MIGHT break the top 40 if we give it our all" when there's Plan B - go to this other, friendlier thing where we might have a chance?
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by cdcarter »

PaladinQB wrote:
cdcarter wrote:
jonpin wrote:
sir negsalot wrote:"We have been going to Nationals in Chicago with the ----. Your tournament is so much better and more organized. We have now attended 3 different Nationals and none compare to the quality of your tournament organization and READERS!!!!"
--Rae Gambler, Defiance High School [name of other tournament deleted]
They probably legitimately believe as much. Of course, given that QU requires a handful of readers and NAQT requires 60+, you would hope the tournament was both more organized and better staffed. On the other hand, Mr. Gambler probably considers a quality reader to be the next Alex Trebek and/or Regis Philbin.
For what it's worth, this quote is in reference to the now-defunct ASCN tournament, not NAQT's HSNCT.
Actually not the case, I'm sad to say. I see Ms. Gambler quite a bit and asked her about this one time, and she told me she was talking about NAQT. When she told me that she liked :chip: 's questions better than NAQT's too, I decided that we didn't have anything to talk about and just walked away.
Dag, I have been lied to, then.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Mechanical Beasts »

fleurdelivre wrote:As much as I hate to say it, a team from El Paso in my room for Round 13 of HSNCT said the same thing. They'd been losing, mostly badly, over the course of the day, and felt exhausted at the quantity of stuff coming at them full-speed, it seemed. They were still a friendly bunch, but it seemed their experiences had pushed them to prefer a format on which they could win regularly rather than study hard to win at a format at which they would need a good deal of work to return as an upper-middling team the next year. It's not the response we want people to have to good quizbowl, but then again, an event like HSNCT is probably pretty demoralizing for about half the field, and some of them will respond this way - who wants to start their quiz bowl season with "well, we're going to put in some long, long hours and we MIGHT break the top 40 if we give it our all" when there's Plan B - go to this other, friendlier thing where we might have a chance?
It's sort of surprising that they chose to attend, then. I think this could be an argument for NAQT just starting to say "no, no, you aren't ready for this" to some fraction of its field if that fraction is going to be so demoralized by the questions that they'd turn to bad quizbowl. That said, I feel like this has to be the vast minority of cases and could alternatively be handled by NAQT encouraging some self-policing.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Nine-Tenths Ideas »

To be fair, this seemed to happen with a contingent of Kentucky teams at NSC.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Cheynem »

HSNCT could possibly improve on this by making their packets a bit more accessible, like perhaps allowing one sample packet from each year's previous national championship. However, the onus here is on coaches to know both their team's capababilities and limitations AND knowing how they will respond. There's nothing wrong with a team losing every game if they feel like they're learning and having fun.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by fleurdelivre »

Johannes Climacus wrote:To be fair, this seemed to happen with a contingent of Kentucky teams at NSC.
Well, yeah. You're good in your immediate area (because nobody's really that good in your immediate area), and you went to one regional tournament and got completely whipped by the one genuinely competitive team in the area, but you assumed they're freaks who will probably win nationals and that you'll still be pretty decent there yourselves ... and then the questions are a notch harder, the field is ridiculously good, and what do you do? I mean, I had one KY team where, in the stretch round in an already-long-lost match against State College A, the captain started taking notes on the questions. And I have never been more proud. But I can also imagine where teams like El Paso develop a preference for a game where the field and the questions are more competitive for them.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

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Cheynem wrote:HSNCT could possibly improve on this by making their packets a bit more accessible, like perhaps allowing one sample packet from each year's previous national championship.
There should always be a sample HSNCT packet available on our samples page.

More generally: we don't really see the point in turning qualified teams that have expressed interest away from HSNCT. If such a team is in fact "so demoralized by the questions that they'd turn to bad quizbowl," they would probably turn to bad quizbowl anyway if we told them they weren't ready to play at the national championship. Finally: I can't think of any useful way for us to predict in advance which 3-7 teams at HSNCT will learn new things and be motivated to improve the next year, and which will be so demoralized as to turn away from pyramidal quizbowl. At least giving them the chance to fall into the first category seems obviously worth it to me.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by fleurdelivre »

bt_green_warbler wrote:More generally: we don't really see the point in turning qualified teams that have expressed interest away from HSNCT. If such a team is in fact "so demoralized by the questions that they'd turn to bad quizbowl," they would probably turn to bad quizbowl anyway if we told them they weren't ready to play at the national championship. Finally: I can't think of any useful way for us to predict in advance which 3-7 teams at HSNCT will learn new things and be motivated to improve the next year, and which will be so demoralized as to turn away from pyramidal quizbowl. At least giving them the chance to fall into the first category seems obviously worth it to me.
You're not at all wrong. It's just hard watching teams (in your room! while you're working to give them a good quizbowl experience!) choose the other thing.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

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bt_green_warbler wrote:Finally: I can't think of any useful way for us to predict in advance which 3-7 teams at HSNCT will learn new things and be motivated to improve the next year, and which will be so demoralized as to turn away from pyramidal quizbowl. At least giving them the chance to fall into the first category seems obviously worth it to me.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Nasen »

jonpin wrote:
sir negsalot wrote:"We have been going to Nationals in Chicago with the ----. Your tournament is so much better and more organized. We have now attended 3 different Nationals and none compare to the quality of your tournament organization and READERS!!!!"
--Rae Gambler, Defiance High School [name of other tournament deleted]
They probably legitimately believe as much. Of course, given that QU requires a handful of readers and NAQT requires 60+, you would hope the tournament was both more organized and better staffed. On the other hand, Mr. Gambler probably considers a quality reader to be the next Alex Trebek and/or Regis Philbin.

At least Trebek and Philbin can read their clues/questions without butchering half the words like the :chip: people did. Also, Trebek and Philbin don't start making fun of the accent of the region a contestant hails from (even if the contestant doesn't have it him/herself) like the :chip: people did.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Rococo A Go Go »

Well, to be honest, a couple of the Kentucky teams that went to NSC were barely competitve in poor regions, and may have expected the questions to be more like local Governor's Cup questions, which are less pyramidal.

Don't fret over our state though, because a lot more KY teams will be heading in the NAQT/PACE direction in the next couple years. We had 21 at NAQT State this year, and that number should grow for next year. Leagues, tournaments, and even the KAAC organitzation that runs Governor's Cup are all starting to affirm the superiority of pyramidal questions, and Good Quizbowl in general.

As for our school, we viewed going 5-5 at HSNCT as a learning experience, and our younger players are already talking about trying to raise money to attend both HSNCT and NSC next year.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Cheynem »

The sample packet on the website is great, but I think a few more from varying years, especially more recent ones, would help give teams a better idea of what to expect at HSNCT (unless the sample packets are rotated?).
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Important Bird Area »

Cheynem wrote:(unless the sample packets are rotated?).
I'm not at all sure how we choose which ones are the sample packet; and it would certainly be a good idea if we put up some SCT/ICT content more recent than 2003. But the HSNCT sample is the most recent packet on the whole page (the first round of the 2008 HSNCT).
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by DumbJaques »

Also, Trebek and Philbin don't start making fun of the accent of the region a contestant hails from (even if the contestant doesn't have it him/herself) like the :chip: people did.
I'm interested to know what exactly happened with this, and which moderator it involved.

EDIT: Nevermind, I see you posted it in the other thread. Oh well, I'm afraid you're unlikely to find a ready supply of outraged humanity mass to line up outside and protest anyone's flagrant Jersey insensitivity.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

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fleurdelivre wrote:As much as I hate to say it, a team from El Paso in my room for Round 13 of HSNCT said the same thing. They'd been losing, mostly badly, over the course of the day, and felt exhausted at the quantity of stuff coming at them full-speed, it seemed. They were still a friendly bunch, but it seemed their experiences had pushed them to prefer a format on which they could win regularly rather than study hard to win at a format at which they would need a good deal of work to return as an upper-middling team the next year. It's not the response we want people to have to good quizbowl, but then again, an event like HSNCT is probably pretty demoralizing for about half the field, and some of them will respond this way - who wants to start their quiz bowl season with "well, we're going to put in some long, long hours and we MIGHT break the top 40 if we give it our all" when there's Plan B - go to this other, friendlier thing where we might have a chance?
The other part of the story with the El Paso schools is that El Paso High recently finished second at Chip nationals. They kind of had to find out for themselves what that translated to at HSNCT. El Paso quiz bowl is driven by a TV competition that, of course, relies on quicker questions and would probably fall under our definition of "bad quiz bowl," so they won't be entirely escaping that format anyway. The fact that there were four El Paso schools at HSNCT in the first place is progress. I'll be interested to see if they continue to come.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Stained Diviner »

It's very difficult to predict how well your team will do at a National Tournament unless you have been to National Tournaments before.

Ironically, the first match I ever coached at an HSNCT, in 2005, was against a team from the El Paso area. I knew that some Texas teams had placed at Nationals (St. John's was one of the best teams in the country not too long ago), and I figured that any team which traveled that far to a quizbowl tournament had to be pretty serious, so I told my team to just do its best and not get discouraged if things didn't go our way. After we won the match 400-65, I thought we had a shot at winning the National Championship.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by etchdulac »

In some ways, the El Paso quiz bowl scene is superior to the rest of Texas; in others, it's inferior. But it's definitely different in every way, as you discovered.

High-Q has run for 25 years on television there, on the local PBS affiliate. They play Chip's four-quarter format and use either QU or similar questions (for TV, it's kinda what you have to do). As you can see from the bracket at http://www.kcostv.org/HQBRACKETS(1).html, it's a pretty involved thing. A higher percentage of school have quiz bowl teams in El Paso than in any other major Texas city. When Houston had a TV tournament, the field number I remember was 88 teams; now, who knows if Houston has a third of that.

Nevertheless, El Paso is limited in NAQT terms by the fact that its significant competition is Chip format. I don't see how pyramidal questions are going to prevail there as long as the TV show exists, yet you want the TV show to exist because it has kept quiz bowl in some form alive there. Just a few years ago, El Paso High was runner-up at Chip's NAC; that makes encouraging a switch even more difficult.

Still, Franklin, Chapin and EP High were at HSNCT, giving it a try. Franklin A was the bottom 5-5; Franklin B and El Paso High went 4-6; Chapin was 2-8. El Paso High had a freshman that scored 24 PPG at HSNCT.

Any feedback and advice on how TQBA should try to interact with El Paso is appreciated. I'm not exactly in an executive role here, but I'd like to hear ideas.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Brian Ulrich »

etchdulac wrote:In some ways, the El Paso quiz bowl scene is superior to the rest of Texas; in others, it's inferior. But it's definitely different in every way, as you discovered.

High-Q has run for 25 years on television there, on the local PBS affiliate. They play Chip's four-quarter format and use either QU or similar questions (for TV, it's kinda what you have to do). As you can see from the bracket at http://www.kcostv.org/HQBRACKETS(1).html, it's a pretty involved thing. A higher percentage of school have quiz bowl teams in El Paso than in any other major Texas city. When Houston had a TV tournament, the field number I remember was 88 teams; now, who knows if Houston has a third of that.

Nevertheless, El Paso is limited in NAQT terms by the fact that its significant competition is Chip format. I don't see how pyramidal questions are going to prevail there as long as the TV show exists, yet you want the TV show to exist because it has kept quiz bowl in some form alive there. Just a few years ago, El Paso High was runner-up at Chip's NAC; that makes encouraging a switch even more difficult.

Still, Franklin, Chapin and EP High were at HSNCT, giving it a try. Franklin A was the bottom 5-5; Franklin B and El Paso High went 4-6; Chapin was 2-8. El Paso High had a freshman that scored 24 PPG at HSNCT.

Any feedback and advice on how TQBA should try to interact with El Paso is appreciated. I'm not exactly in an executive role here, but I'd like to hear ideas.
NAQT provides TV questions. I wonder if this is a contract they should try for?
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by etchdulac »

Brian Ulrich wrote:
etchdulac wrote:In some ways, the El Paso quiz bowl scene is superior to the rest of Texas; in others, it's inferior. But it's definitely different in every way, as you discovered.

High-Q has run for 25 years on television there, on the local PBS affiliate. They play Chip's four-quarter format and use either QU or similar questions (for TV, it's kinda what you have to do). As you can see from the bracket at http://www.kcostv.org/HQBRACKETS(1).html, it's a pretty involved thing. A higher percentage of school have quiz bowl teams in El Paso than in any other major Texas city. When Houston had a TV tournament, the field number I remember was 88 teams; now, who knows if Houston has a third of that.

Nevertheless, El Paso is limited in NAQT terms by the fact that its significant competition is Chip format. I don't see how pyramidal questions are going to prevail there as long as the TV show exists, yet you want the TV show to exist because it has kept quiz bowl in some form alive there. Just a few years ago, El Paso High was runner-up at Chip's NAC; that makes encouraging a switch even more difficult.

Still, Franklin, Chapin and EP High were at HSNCT, giving it a try. Franklin A was the bottom 5-5; Franklin B and El Paso High went 4-6; Chapin was 2-8. El Paso High had a freshman that scored 24 PPG at HSNCT.

Any feedback and advice on how TQBA should try to interact with El Paso is appreciated. I'm not exactly in an executive role here, but I'd like to hear ideas.
NAQT provides TV questions. I wonder if this is a contract they should try for?
I wish I could provide more info on how to try to make that happen... though I don't really know how to construct an argument that NAQT should devote time to this. It's a PBS station that runs "High-Q" in El Paso, KCOS-TV (kcostv.org). They are already advertising that High-Q will return for its 26th season in September 2009.

If anyone at NAQT is interested in hunting down more info on this, I'd be glad to try to help, albeit from 500 miles east of El Paso.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Byko »

etchdulac wrote:
Brian Ulrich wrote:NAQT provides TV questions. I wonder if this is a contract they should try for?
I wish I could provide more info on how to try to make that happen... though I don't really know how to construct an argument that NAQT should devote time to this. It's a PBS station that runs "High-Q" in El Paso, KCOS-TV (kcostv.org). They are already advertising that High-Q will return for its 26th season in September 2009.

If anyone at NAQT is interested in hunting down more info on this, I'd be glad to try to help, albeit from 500 miles east of El Paso.
A couple years ago, Paul Cain, the coach at Ysleta High School out in the El Paso area, talked with me about Academic Initiative providing the questions for their TV competition. He made it sound like he had some sort of role (or at least influence) in deciding questions for them, which seemed odd to me. Things didn't work out in the end, but that wouldn't be a bad place to start. I'd especially say that because I know his feelings about :chip: aren't the most positive: on at least one occasion, he has told me that he doesn't really like the NAC but has brought teams there in the most recent years simply because it's the only tournament where they have a chance to be remotely competitive. He seemed to prefer NAQT and PACE, especially in the mid 2000s when he was bringing teams to those tournaments.

One other thing I wonder is if there are any high school quiz bowl alumni in the El Paso area who could possibly put on a tournament. Maybe some high school graduates going to UTEP? If there's at least a seed in the El Paso area, there are enough people here (both far away in the eastern half of Texas and very far away in other parts of the country but just as accessible by e-mail) that would be happy to nurture it. Last time I had heard, a certain Dwight Kidder had an entering freshman contact list--does he still do that anymore?
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by etchdulac »

Byko wrote:A couple years ago, Paul Cain, the coach at Ysleta High School out in the El Paso area, talked with me about Academic Initiative providing the questions for their TV competition. He made it sound like he had some sort of role (or at least influence) in deciding questions for them, which seemed odd to me. Things didn't work out in the end, but that wouldn't be a bad place to start.
Paul Cain always seemed like a great guy; I have run into him off and on for the past... 15 or so years. I'll try to track down a contact for him. Ysleta had some decent teams over the years.
Byko wrote:One other thing I wonder is if there are any high school quiz bowl alumni in the El Paso area who could possibly put on a tournament. Maybe some high school graduates going to UTEP? If there's at least a seed in the El Paso area, there are enough people here (both far away in the eastern half of Texas and very far away in other parts of the country but just as accessible by e-mail) that would be happy to nurture it. Last time I had heard, a certain Dwight Kidder had an entering freshman contact list--does he still do that anymore?
The only El Paso alum I know of off the top of my head is playing for UT, but they are bound to be out there.

It's hard to tell if TQBA as an organization is going to be able to do much in terms of actual tournament-running and format-grooming out there. When we last went to El Paso, I am told only four teams showed up for our event. But if we (read: I) can catalyze a little regime change, I'd like to see about that.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Brian Ulrich »

etchdulac wrote:
Brian Ulrich wrote:
etchdulac wrote:In some ways, the El Paso quiz bowl scene is superior to the rest of Texas; in others, it's inferior. But it's definitely different in every way, as you discovered.

High-Q has run for 25 years on television there, on the local PBS affiliate. They play Chip's four-quarter format and use either QU or similar questions (for TV, it's kinda what you have to do). As you can see from the bracket at http://www.kcostv.org/HQBRACKETS(1).html, it's a pretty involved thing. A higher percentage of school have quiz bowl teams in El Paso than in any other major Texas city. When Houston had a TV tournament, the field number I remember was 88 teams; now, who knows if Houston has a third of that.

Nevertheless, El Paso is limited in NAQT terms by the fact that its significant competition is Chip format. I don't see how pyramidal questions are going to prevail there as long as the TV show exists, yet you want the TV show to exist because it has kept quiz bowl in some form alive there. Just a few years ago, El Paso High was runner-up at Chip's NAC; that makes encouraging a switch even more difficult.

Still, Franklin, Chapin and EP High were at HSNCT, giving it a try. Franklin A was the bottom 5-5; Franklin B and El Paso High went 4-6; Chapin was 2-8. El Paso High had a freshman that scored 24 PPG at HSNCT.

Any feedback and advice on how TQBA should try to interact with El Paso is appreciated. I'm not exactly in an executive role here, but I'd like to hear ideas.
NAQT provides TV questions. I wonder if this is a contract they should try for?
I wish I could provide more info on how to try to make that happen... though I don't really know how to construct an argument that NAQT should devote time to this. It's a PBS station that runs "High-Q" in El Paso, KCOS-TV (kcostv.org). They are already advertising that High-Q will return for its 26th season in September 2009.

If anyone at NAQT is interested in hunting down more info on this, I'd be glad to try to help, albeit from 500 miles east of El Paso.
My bad - NAQT started supplying questions for this show last year. I've also learned that there's more going on here, but don't think it's for me to talk about. Others can if they want.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by etchdulac »

Brian Ulrich wrote:My bad - NAQT started supplying questions for this show last year. I've also learned that there's more going on here, but don't think it's for me to talk about. Others can if they want.
Thanks for the update. Had no idea NAQT was already on top of this.

Obviously, I'd like to hear more, but I understand if it's not cool.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Brian Ulrich »

etchdulac wrote:
Brian Ulrich wrote:My bad - NAQT started supplying questions for this show last year. I've also learned that there's more going on here, but don't think it's for me to talk about. Others can if they want.
Thanks for the update. Had no idea NAQT was already on top of this.

Obviously, I'd like to hear more, but I understand if it's not cool.
No idea if it is or not - I just know I'm an editor, not someone who can assess it's coolness.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by etchdulac »

Brian Ulrich wrote:
etchdulac wrote:
Brian Ulrich wrote:My bad - NAQT started supplying questions for this show last year. I've also learned that there's more going on here, but don't think it's for me to talk about. Others can if they want.
Thanks for the update. Had no idea NAQT was already on top of this.

Obviously, I'd like to hear more, but I understand if it's not cool.
No idea if it is or not - I just know I'm an editor, not someone who can assess it's coolness.
I just meant whether it's cool to elaborate or not -- trust me, if NAQT has already made significant progress in El Paso, that's very welcome news by itself, and I don't really need to dig further into it. I'd be glad to focus on regions closer to home knowing that El Paso's already in better hands.

Good to know my concerns and ideas are only about a year behind the curve -- I've probably done worse!
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by scquizbowl »

:chip: has his summary up of the Junior NAC, which was won by Longfellow of Falls Church, VA, a local team.

They also have pictures of the top two teams, and basically a synopsis of the semifinals and finals. 37 middle school teams participated in the tournament.

http://www.qunlimited.com/nationaljr.htm

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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

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With all due respect... some of the pictures are pretty scary of some of these kids.

I also want to know how the irony of having a question be centered on the airport abbreviation of Sioux Falls. I can't help but thinking "this tournament SUX."
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by dxdtdemon »

Here's confirmation that Copley did "win" the Washington phase of this tournament.
http://www.qunlimited.com/national.htm#wash
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Down and out in Quintana Roo »

that crappy website wrote:For longer than we can remember, we’ve had a tradition of giving away a pack of chocolate cigarettes every time a team sweeps a 60 Seconds category. They’ve become something of a cult item. In the past 12 months, three concerned adults, names unknown, have severally come to us earnestly requesting that practice be stopped. We despise cigarette smoking, but we considered that request a bit silly. Still, we tried not to be flippant with our answer, “Until someone shows us a scientific study linking chocolate cigarette use in childhood with tobacco smoking in adulthood, we’ll continue the tradition.” Well, after the DC phase of the tournament was in the books and the teams had emptied out of Reinsch Auditorium, as we were tearing down the set and cleaning up, a copy of an article, anonymously placed, was discovered: Preventative Medicine, Vol. 45, Issue 1, July 2007, Pages 26-30. “History of Childhood Candy Cigarette Use Is Associated with Tobacco Smoking by Adults.” We read the study, it makes sense, so we’re sticking by our promise: it’s goodbye chocolate cigarettes. Sorry about that, folks. We are now accepting suggestions for future alternate cult items to recognize 60 Seconds sweeps.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Nine-Tenths Ideas »

Wow, Copley? I've seen Jackson Kulas play and he's actually really good at pyramidal history questions.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Rococo A Go Go »

Caesar Rodney HS wrote:
that crappy website wrote:For longer than we can remember, we’ve had a tradition of giving away a pack of chocolate cigarettes every time a team sweeps a 60 Seconds category. They’ve become something of a cult item. In the past 12 months, three concerned adults, names unknown, have severally come to us earnestly requesting that practice be stopped. We despise cigarette smoking, but we considered that request a bit silly. Still, we tried not to be flippant with our answer, “Until someone shows us a scientific study linking chocolate cigarette use in childhood with tobacco smoking in adulthood, we’ll continue the tradition.” Well, after the DC phase of the tournament was in the books and the teams had emptied out of Reinsch Auditorium, as we were tearing down the set and cleaning up, a copy of an article, anonymously placed, was discovered: Preventative Medicine, Vol. 45, Issue 1, July 2007, Pages 26-30. “History of Childhood Candy Cigarette Use Is Associated with Tobacco Smoking by Adults.” We read the study, it makes sense, so we’re sticking by our promise: it’s goodbye chocolate cigarettes. Sorry about that, folks. We are now accepting suggestions for future alternate cult items to recognize 60 Seconds sweeps.

Now, only if we can place an article at an NAC event titled "Attendance of the NAC is Associated with Distorted Sense of Good Quizbowl"
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by jonah »

Write it, email it to me, and some game room carpeting might just accidentally happen.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Rufous-capped Thornbill »

fleurdelivre wrote:As much as I hate to say it, a team from El Paso in my room for Round 13 of HSNCT said the same thing. They'd been losing, mostly badly, over the course of the day, and felt exhausted at the quantity of stuff coming at them full-speed, it seemed. They were still a friendly bunch, but it seemed their experiences had pushed them to prefer a format on which they could win regularly rather than study hard to win at a format at which they would need a good deal of work to return as an upper-middling team the next year. It's not the response we want people to have to good quizbowl, but then again, an event like HSNCT is probably pretty demoralizing for about half the field, and some of them will respond this way - who wants to start their quiz bowl season with "well, we're going to put in some long, long hours and we MIGHT break the top 40 if we give it our all" when there's Plan B - go to this other, friendlier thing where we might have a chance?
And I can understand this line of reasoning, but I cannot understand how that can be deemed legitimate in a player or coach's mind. I would much rather finish in the top-100 at the HSNCT than in the top-10 at the NAC, otherwise I would feel cheapened. It would not be satisfying at all. But then again I guess that depends on how serious a team is about Quizbowl.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Down and out in Quintana Roo »

Inkana7 wrote:
fleurdelivre wrote:As much as I hate to say it, a team from El Paso in my room for Round 13 of HSNCT said the same thing. They'd been losing, mostly badly, over the course of the day, and felt exhausted at the quantity of stuff coming at them full-speed, it seemed. They were still a friendly bunch, but it seemed their experiences had pushed them to prefer a format on which they could win regularly rather than study hard to win at a format at which they would need a good deal of work to return as an upper-middling team the next year. It's not the response we want people to have to good quizbowl, but then again, an event like HSNCT is probably pretty demoralizing for about half the field, and some of them will respond this way - who wants to start their quiz bowl season with "well, we're going to put in some long, long hours and we MIGHT break the top 40 if we give it our all" when there's Plan B - go to this other, friendlier thing where we might have a chance?
And I can understand this line of reasoning, but I cannot understand how that can be deemed legitimate in a player or coach's mind. I would much rather finish in the top-100 at the HSNCT than in the top-10 at the NAC, otherwise I would feel cheapened. It would not be satisfying at all. But then again I guess that depends on how serious a team is about Quizbowl.
You have a great attitude (and welcome to the forums!). But unfortunately a lot of school admins, school boards, and communities don't agree with you... all things equal, knowing nothing about the competitions, what sounds better: 10th place at NAC or 72nd place at HSNCT? When Comcast dropped its sponsorship of the local :chip:-event here in Delaware, all schools except us, Charter, and a few others (sometimes) stopped caring about "quizbowl" completely since they weren't recognized for their efforts anymore locally.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Angry Babies in Love »

I feel making the jump from :chip: to NAQT would be really tough. It would take a few like-minded team members and a coach willing to change his/her ways. NAC is primarily general knowledge and hose-evasion, while NAQT is, in comparison, a Noah-esque flood of words. I'm glad I was "brought up" in a culture where NAQT is played, but if someone's quizbowl universe is :chip:- based and they go to NAQT, I can imagine them being overwhelmed and going back to NAC. We were totally out of our comfort zone there, so I can imagine the same going for a pyramidal team playing NAC
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Rufous-capped Thornbill »

Caesar Rodney HS wrote:
Inkana7 wrote:
fleurdelivre wrote:As much as I hate to say it, a team from El Paso in my room for Round 13 of HSNCT said the same thing. They'd been losing, mostly badly, over the course of the day, and felt exhausted at the quantity of stuff coming at them full-speed, it seemed. They were still a friendly bunch, but it seemed their experiences had pushed them to prefer a format on which they could win regularly rather than study hard to win at a format at which they would need a good deal of work to return as an upper-middling team the next year. It's not the response we want people to have to good quizbowl, but then again, an event like HSNCT is probably pretty demoralizing for about half the field, and some of them will respond this way - who wants to start their quiz bowl season with "well, we're going to put in some long, long hours and we MIGHT break the top 40 if we give it our all" when there's Plan B - go to this other, friendlier thing where we might have a chance?
And I can understand this line of reasoning, but I cannot understand how that can be deemed legitimate in a player or coach's mind. I would much rather finish in the top-100 at the HSNCT than in the top-10 at the NAC, otherwise I would feel cheapened. It would not be satisfying at all. But then again I guess that depends on how serious a team is about Quizbowl.
You have a great attitude (and welcome to the forums!). But unfortunately a lot of school admins, school boards, and communities don't agree with you... all things equal, knowing nothing about the competitions, what sounds better: 10th place at NAC or 72nd place at HSNCT? When Comcast dropped its sponsorship of the local :chip:-event here in Delaware, all schools except us, Charter, and a few others (sometimes) stopped caring about "quizbowl" completely since they weren't recognized for their efforts anymore locally.
First off, thank you.

And secondly, I think what you said summarizes the situation that quizbowl faces, at least in Ohio, perhaps nationally. I am not in this opinion, but there is a school of thought that the game may have been brought as far as it can by quizbowl authorities and the ball now lies in the hands of coaches, players and schools. I know in Ohio that our league has recently been weened off of that terrible formate known as OAC(Although from everything I've read it's about 100x better, not to mention not as tainted, as the Chip), but most of the schools in our league, sans mine, are not willing to do any sort of extra work or traveling, when it is that traveling and extra work that made the game so much more fun and intense for me. That's why besides my team this year, every Mahoning County team has went 3-7 and for the most part, looked terrible, at the HSNCT, and that's why they have perhaps a negative view of NAQT compared to the old OAC format.

It's now time to hope and pray that individuals and schools can be influenced enough to choose TU/B formats like PACE and NAQT and stop giving their time and money to things such as the Chip or the PAC(or whatever it's called). Only then can the scene proceed into the future, and become a bigger, more competitive, and more fun enviroment. I believe that a balance can be found between learning, competing, and having fun. However the NAC isn't doing anything to advance this.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by sir negsalot »

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_fda_tobacco
" It prohibits use of candied and flavored cigarettes popular among young people "

The poster found this link and phrase quite humorous. -- Mgmt.
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Captain Sinico »

First Chairman wrote:With all due respect... some of the pictures are pretty scary of some of these kids.
Yes, let's make fun of how middle schoolers look.

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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by First Chairman »

Captain Sinico wrote:
First Chairman wrote:With all due respect... some of the pictures are pretty scary of some of these kids.
Yes, let's make fun of how middle schoolers look.
I didn't make fun of them. Just commenting about some of the pictures. In a generation where pictures of just about every youngster less than 10 can likely be found on the internet, I'm just commenting how it just seems awkward for me to see. Not like there aren't pictures that I think are on the QU site that aren't creepy...
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by Rococo A Go Go »

Maybe :chip: should just hand out real cigarettes as prizes. That way kids will have a way of dealing with the stress of suffering through a weekend of NAC. :wink:

Anyway, the last stage of this thing starts tomorrow in Chicago. Is there anybody here even going? For that matter, does anyone here have any idea who might take home the "national" "championship" "prize"?
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Re: NAC schedule info/tournament thread

Post by jonah »

soaringeagle22 wrote:Anyway, the last stage of this thing starts tomorrow in Chicago. Is there anybody here even going? For that matter, does anyone here have any idea who might take home the "national" "championship" "prize"?
I am going with two other people who I won't identify here; they can out themselves if they like. I will be recording the matches we watch and probably liveblogging.
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