Delaware 09-10

[Self-incompatibility in plants]

Could people check this for accuracy, etc.

http://www.charterschool.org/clubs/acad ... esinfo.php

I will send it out by next Monday to coaches.

Addendum: Is everyone good with using set 92? Close tournaments using the set are the William and Mary event on 2/13 and Pittsburgh on 3/20.

That letter looks good to me, though you might want to consider mentioning the specific set we will be using, even though having that knowledge probably isn't a big deal for most DE teams. Also, we didn't plan on going to any tournaments using IS-92, so that set works for us. I'm excited to see Mount was able to work things out and host the tournament, and I can't wait to compete on the 20th. Thanks, Mr. Tressler and Peter for your efforts in getting all of this together!

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

Yep, Trey said it all, this is really great, guys. Thanks a bunch for taking the initiative, Peter, and of course thanks to Mr. Tressler for everything he does.

I've got about 20 kids (maybe more!) excited for this one.

[Self-incompatibility in plants]

I've got about 20 kids (maybe more!) excited for this one.

lol, it will be interesting to see how many actually make it, but I hope they all do... I'm just doubtful is all.

[btressler]

My team C would really like to earn a berth to Chicago (not that I'm sure they would actually go, but..)

So we want 27 teams at this tournament cuz 27 * 0.15 = 4.05. That should be enough room for CR A, MP A, Charter A-C.

Addendum: I put in that we are using 92. Anything else?

[Sacapuntas]

I wouldn't count out AI, they looked pretty good in December. But I think 27-30 teams is good to aim for.

Mr. T -- did MP A qualify for NAQT Nationals through the Charter Fall Open?

[Frater Taciturnus]

Mr. T -- did MP A qualify for NAQT Nationals through the Charter Fall Open?

Survey Says: Yes!

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

I wouldn't count out AI, they looked pretty good in December. But I think 27-30 teams is good to aim for.

Mr. T -- did MP A qualify for NAQT Nationals through the Charter Fall Open?

Yep, once again, we were one spot from qualifying (even though we tied for that spot actually, but whatever).

[btressler]

This went out to all coaches today:
_______________________________

Friends of Delaware Quizbowl,

This is a note to let you know about the upcoming tournaments in our area.

The NAQT Delaware State Championship will be Saturday, Feb 20th at Mount Pleasant High School. Details are located here:
http://www.charterschool.org/clubs/acad ... esinfo.php I will be keeping the teams list, so you can send registrations to me.

The Delaware Winter Invitational will be Saturday, March 6th at the University of Delaware. This is a specialty tournament with question difficulty aimed at the best high school players and college undergraduates. The format is unique: each round will feature two subject and/or theme packets. Your group of 6-8 players will divide up and play the packets based on individual strengths. For more information, contact the Delaware ACC President, Rob Poirier, at rpoirierATudelDOTedu

Blue Hen XII is scheduled for Saturday, March 20th at the University of Delaware. Details are not finalized, but will likely be similar to last year. I will be keeping the teams list, so you can send registrations to me.

Caesar Rodney Rider Bowl will be Saturday, April 17th at Caesar Rodney High School. They are using a set of questions from High School Academic Pyramidal Questions. Contact coach Andrew Chranowski at andrew.chrzanowskiATcrDOTk12DOTdeDOTus for more information.

Good luck at your competitions this spring.

[btressler]

This is where the field stands for Saturday at the moment:

http://www.charterschool.org/clubs/acad ... sfield.php

I also sent a note to A.I., Concord, Delcastle, Delmar, Saint Marks, and Ursuline asking them if they hope to attend.

How do we feel about the schedule? I would like to get to the meaningful matches as quickly as possible. I would propose something like the card system, but that would cause CR A and MP A to play lots of Charter teams.

Would it be unreasonable to do only three rounds and then go to lunch? Then do a top twelve (2x6 round robin). You'll still have to play lots of Charter, but it will be delayed until the second set.

[Sacapuntas]

Hmm... looks like we'll be around 24 teams for Saturday. I think three rounds might be too few before lunch--maybe four would be more reasonable? Then after lunch the round-robin would be five rounds, total of nine matches for each team?

Dr. Greenstone and I are pulling together the logistics on our end, we'll have the rooms set up in "quiz-bowl formation" hopefully by 8am Saturday. I'm also going to put together a map of the building and to the local eating joints for various teams.

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

There are so many conflicts for this Saturday for us... we might only have 4 teams instead of 5 (initially i thought we might have 6!). I can give you official word on that in a day or two, but i'm still figuring out who can come.

We would like to try 4 rounds before lunch. Why shouldn't we be able to do that? Do we have enough qualified moderators? Are people coming from UD to help like we expected?

And we would definitely like to have more matches. Last year we were only guaranteed 6 of them, so 8 or 9 would be great. At the least, please try to have this such that there is no more single elimination... or perhaps no single elimination until the top four teams are determined.

Peter, regarding lunch: are there places within walking distance? Our bus won't really be usable during the day after we're dropped off, and we might not have any way to get to eat otherwise.

[btressler]

We would like to try 4 rounds before lunch. Why shouldn't we be able to do that? Do we have enough qualified moderators? Are people coming from UD to help like we expected?

I'm working on the moderators, including contacting my alums at UD. We should have enough (he said hopefully).

How about four rounds before lunch, and we can do a partial round robin. That way the schedules can be diversified at least a little in terms of other schools each team faces. I bet a lot of teams will face one Charter, one MP, and one CR.

How long do we have the rooms? If I put the very fastest moderators in that group, do we have time for a top twelve after lunch, including the final crossover game?

No problem on not giving a final team count until later. When I administrate a tournament, the schedule is the very last thing I put together. In this case, I was even thinking about just writing it all on poster boards.

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

No problem on not giving a final team count until later. When I administrate a tournament, the schedule is the very last thing I put together. In this case, I was even thinking about just writing it all on poster boards.

We seem to work on the fly pretty well at these things, so that should be fine.

At any rate, we're looking forward to this, and we're excited to go to a new school for this tournament. I'm sure Peter and the rest of Mt. Pleasant will do a great job. I am curious about those lunch options, though.

[Sacapuntas]

Peter, regarding lunch: are there places within walking distance? Our bus won't really be usable during the day after we're dropped off, and we might not have any way to get to eat otherwise.

'

Absolutely. The best option in my opinion is clearly WaWa, an easy 5 min walk. WaWa is at one end of a series of shops/restaurants that includes a Chinese place (good, fast, and ultra-cheap) and Mazzella's, a pretty standard Italian restaurant. Nick's Pizza is across the street from these options; it features, well, pizza. There's also a Dunkin Donuts up the street. All of these places are easily walkable (which is why I was comfortable telling everyone to go out for lunch).

One minor change in plans: we'll be gathering in the library rather than the cafeteria--if you enter through the main building doors make a left turn and the library is down the hall--this will all be clearly marked.

We have the library and up to 15 rooms until roughly 3:30, though I think we're not going to be forcefully kicked out at that time if we're not quite done.

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

Cool, lunch options sound good.

3:30? Cutting it close? Remember last year with terrible readers (COUGHothercoachesCOUGH) we finished like SIX games by 3 or 3:30. So i just hope our moderators do a better job this time around and really move the games along.

Perhaps I and Mr. Tressler will hold a brief moderator meeting before we get things started to encourage speed and efficiency.

[Self-incompatibility in plants]

We would like to try 4 rounds before lunch. Why shouldn't we be able to do that? Do we have enough qualified moderators? Are people coming from UD to help like we expected?

How about four rounds before lunch, and we can do a partial round robin. That way the schedules can be diversified at least a little in terms of other schools each team faces. I bet a lot of teams will face one Charter, one MP, and one CR.

This way is certainly my preference. I always enjoy playing a variety of Delaware teams other than Charter and Mount, and I think this schedule will allow that to sufficiently occur.

This is where the field stands for Saturday at the moment:

http://www.charterschool.org/clubs/acad ... sfield.php

I also sent a note to A.I., Concord, Delcastle, Delmar, Saint Marks, and Ursuline asking them if they hope to attend.

What about Tatnall, and Caravel? Haven't they gone to things in the past?

[Sacapuntas]

What about Tatnall, and Caravel? Haven't they gone to things in the past?

I forwarded the registration info to Phil Drexler on Tatnall's team, who Ryan (Leonard) and I met at Boys State, but I've received no response from him.

As far as timing goes -- last year my team played 8 rounds and we were off school grounds by 3:15, if my memory serves me correctly. I think getting the moderators up to speed is an excellent idea, but I don't think we need to be overly worried about time. I'm not expecting to be kicked out of the building at 3:30 if we have a match or two more that needs to be played.

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

Just a heads up: it's looking a lot more likely that we'll be bringing 4 teams instead of 5. I can confirm that hopefully tomorrow.

We never determined whether we're using math computation tossups at this tournament did we?

We vote an emphatic NO here. We haven't been to a single tournament that's used them all year and haven't practiced a single one all year. It's something we're just very happy not to see anymore. I really hope that we can skip them, especially since NAQT has officially eliminated them from their distribution for the Nationals at the end of the year.

[btressler]

I haven't heard from anyone else, so I think this is the team count.

http://www.charterschool.org/clubs/acad ... sfield.php

I will make sure that we have a 21st team so that the fourth berth to nationals exists, even if Charter K has to be entered. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to 27 teams. (In reality, whomever finishes 5th, I bet they'd let us wildcard in anyway.)

I will send a note out to coaches telling them to show up at the library instead of the cafeteria.

I am going down to UD's meeting tonight to find some more readers.

With respect to computation, if it's up for a vote I suspect that the "no's" would win. As a compromise, could we let the two teams competing decide at the beginning of the match? (If we do that, what should the default be if there's one yes and one no? A coin flip?)

[Self-incompatibility in plants]

Heh, we actually will now have 5 teams. Sorry about the confusion.

[Self-incompatibility in plants]

With respect to computation, if it's up for a vote I suspect that the "no's" would win. As a compromise, could we let the two teams competing decide at the beginning of the match? (If we do that, what should the default be if there's one yes and one no? A coin flip?)

I'm really against this. Whatever it is we end up doing, we need to do it uniformly. I was hoping it wouldn't even need to come to this, but if we need to have a vote to decide what we do then so be it. If we do a vote, I think having each school have as many votes as they do teams would be the best option, then that way they could turn in their votes on their team rosters.

[Sacapuntas]

If we do a vote, I think having each school have as many votes as they do teams would be the best option, then that way they could turn in their votes on their team rosters.

I agree that we should take a vote; however, I would say each school should receive one vote. Under your proposal, it would be a near certainty that the "no" votes would be successful, as the combined attendees from CR and Charter make up a majority of the voting teams present at the tournament... It is best for us as a state, I believe, to give equal respect to the opinion of each academic club regardless of size / number of attendees.

The Archmere coach emailed me to say that his two teams will not be participating due to scheduling issues.

If anyone has any other questions / suggestions about the tournament, you know how to get in touch with me. I'm really looking forward to Saturday's events.

[Self-incompatibility in plants]

If we do a vote, I think having each school have as many votes as they do teams would be the best option, then that way they could turn in their votes on their team rosters.

Under your proposal, it would be a near certainty that the "no" votes would be successful, as the combined attendees from CR and Charter make up a majority of the voting teams present at the tournament

Uh... so what? If the majority of the players don't want math, then we should not have math, and the same holds true for the converse. The majority of attendees should decide. It simply wouldn't be right if 4 people have an equal say as 20 people. "If we took a vote your way, you guys would win, so let's not do that" isn't a good enough argument, sorry.

Also, I don't think we have fully heard you're reasoning for why you think we should have math. Would you mind elaborating on that a little more?

edit: grammerz

[Sacapuntas]

"If we took a vote your way, you guys would win, so let's not do that" isn't a good enough argument, sorry.

Literally the exact same argument could be made against your initial suggestion. You've also ignored my broader point, which is that I believe that each individual club should have the same weight in any vote, regardless of their size or skill level.

I am in favor of playing math at this tournament because I have teammates who enjoy playing math and are good at it. They look forward to computation tossups and are disappointed that we have not played any at all this year (I don't read NAQT sets in practice anymore). I have many teammates who will only attend this competition this year, and I do not want to intentionally make the set less accessible to them. I am aware of the arguments against math computation, and I recognize that that is the superior perspective from a logical standpoint. Regardless, if it were to be a vote, I would vote to include mathcomp for my own purely selfish reasons.

I will defer to Mr. Tressler as to how to resolve this issue; I know he has considerable experience in quiz bowl, substantially more than I, and I would prefer not to spend more time than necessary hashing out mathcomp. My focus will continue to be making sure that everything runs smoothly Saturday.

[Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)]

Regardless, if it were to be a vote, I would vote...for my own purely selfish reasons.

Then I think anyone sane has every reason to want to make this decision in a way that minimizes your opinion affecting the outcome.

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

"If we took a vote your way, you guys would win, so let's not do that" isn't a good enough argument, sorry.

Literally the exact same argument could be made against your initial suggestion. You've also ignored my broader point, which is that I believe that each individual club should have the same weight in any vote, regardless of their size or skill level.

I am in favor of playing math at this tournament because I have teammates who enjoy playing math and are good at it. They look forward to computation tossups and are disappointed that we have not played any at all this year (I don't read NAQT sets in practice anymore). I have many teammates who will only attend this competition this year, and I do not want to intentionally make the set less accessible to them. I am aware of the arguments against math computation, and I recognize that that is the superior perspective from a logical standpoint. Regardless, if it were to be a vote, I would vote to include mathcomp for my own purely selfish reasons.

I will defer to Mr. Tressler as to how to resolve this issue; I know he has considerable experience in quiz bowl, substantially more than I, and I would prefer not to spend more time than necessary hashing out mathcomp. My focus will continue to be making sure that everything runs smoothly Saturday.

So, here's what i've figured out so far.

Peter, you're in favor of math computation because you have "teammates who enjoy playing math and are good at it," and they "look forward to computation tossups." In other words, you want math because your team is good at it and because your teammates like hearing it.

We (and many members of the larger "good quizbowl" community") are not in favor of it because the questions are not written pyramidally, assess knowledge of "tricks" and not actual math knowledge, and are not going to be in the NAQT Nationals packets that this tournament will qualify a few teams for (i.e., the purpose of this tournament in the first place). In other words, many people are against it because it does not fit with "good quizbowl."

To to wrap this up, you are in favor of math because you're "good at it" and it will help your team win games.

Many others oppose it because we think it's a detriment to the overall game, and have said nothing about being good or bad at it whatsoever. (I personally really enjoy math, which is why i was on Math League teams for as many years as i possibly could, including in middle and junior high school, but i've come to this decision because i see math tossups as bad quizbowl. See how i can separate my personal preference for a subject from a quizbowl distribution?)

Charlie pretty much summed up my other thought as well.

Whatever we decide will annoy some people. Hopefully we can just annoy the least amount possible.

[Self-incompatibility in plants]

"If we took a vote your way, you guys would win, so let's not do that" isn't a good enough argument, sorry.

Literally the exact same argument could be made against your initial suggestion. You've also ignored my broader point, which is that I believe that each individual club should have the same weight in any vote, regardless of their size or skill level.

I will repeat my original point: if the majority of attendees don't want computational math, then we should not have computational math. If the fairest method of voting would mean that we would end up having computational math, then I would accept that fact. We should try to make as many people's experiences as positive of an experience as possible, and allowing each person equal opportunity to voice their preference would allow that to happen best. The expected outcome of particular voting methods should not have any impedance on choosing the method that allows the most people to have the best quizbowl experience possible.

Also, I didn't say anything about your broader point because I didn't really understand your argument behind it. You simply stated an opinion with out providing any foundation for it, so I really had nothing to say. If you provide some reasoning behind why you hold that belief (other than the fact that if would give computational math a greater chance of being played), then I would be happy to comment on it.

[AKKOLADE]

Peter Andrews and Trey Taralia are William Paterson and Edmund Randolph, respectively, ITT.

[Sacapuntas]

All I will say, in closing, is that my statements should not be taken as someone who is speaking as a tournament director -- I am simply stating how my club feels on the topic and how we would vote in a situation where each club had one vote. I have been nothing but honest when I say that my vote would be based on self-interest because that is where my primary responsibility lies as team captain. I think that Coach C and Trey both have valid points (though I disagree with some parts of your analysis of my statements)... and Charlie is right. If I had all the power and this was my line of reasoning, then that would be a terrible rationale for decreeing mathcomp to be the law of th land. As it is, I have no more power to decide this issue than any of the other clubs that come to this competition.

As it is, it seems more than likely that we won't be playing math tossups tomorrow. Whether this is or is not the case, I continue to look forward to competing with everyone.

Also, Fred, that's awesome. Now all we need are Sherman and Ellsworth to ride in and save the day.

[Self-incompatibility in plants]

All I will say, in closing, is that my statements should not be taken as someone who is speaking as a tournament director -- I am simply stating how my club feels on the topic and how we would vote in a situation where each club had one vote. I have been nothing but honest when I say that my vote would be based on self-interest because that is where my primary responsibility lies as team captain. I think that Coach C and Trey both have valid points (though I disagree with some parts of your analysis of my statements)... and Charlie is right. If I had all the power and this was my line of reasoning, then that would be a terrible rationale for decreeing mathcomp to be the law of th land. As it is, I have no more power to decide this issue than any of the other clubs that come to this competition.

As it is, it seems more than likely that we won't be playing math tossups tomorrow. Whether this is or is not the case, I continue to look forward to competing with everyone.

Also, Fred, that's awesome. Now all we need are Sherman and Ellsworth to ride in and save the day.

I completely understand that you are only doing what you think is best for your team, which is very respectable, and is something that I don't at all fault you for, Peter. Either way, math or no math, tomorrow is sure to be a great day at Mount Pleasant and I'm really looking forward to seeing some DE teams.

I also want to add that, after having read back through my posts, I may have come across as being a little more abrasive as I probably should have been, and for that I apologize. I hope nothing was taken personally, as I really did not intend to offend or upset anyone. I wholeheartedly look forward to seeing all of our good friends at Mount tomorrow, regardless, of course, of their stance on math computation.

[Mechanical Beasts]

I completely understand that you are only doing what you think is best for your team, which is very respectable, and is something that I don't at all fault you for, Peter.

Making the integrity of the game take a back seat to your team's personal success is, in fact, something to fault someone for. (Peter clearly understands that mathcomp is not quizbowl and only argues in its favor because his teammates enjoy and are good at it. If Peter thought that mathcomp was a valid form of quizbowl and supported its inclusion because his teammates enjoy and are good at that, then he wouldn't be (knowingly) threatening the integrity of the game.)

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

Quick results from the Delaware NAQT Championship today at Mt. Pleasant High School:

Charter A defeated CR A in a one-game final after both teams went 4-0 in preliminary play and 5-0 in playoff bracket play, with Charter A winning by a score that wasn't all that close, i wrote it down but forgot and don't feel like looking at the moment. It's the first time we've ever gotten second place at this tournament, and the nth year in a row (n=number of years this tournament has existed) that some Charter team has gotten first. Charter something (probably B or C or D) tied for third place, and i think they didn't feel like playing a game for that position.

Stats will be coming, but nothing was entered into any computers since we needed all competent staffers to read today. We used paper and posterboard instead. It works. Mr. Tressler may be entering them soon, and we preemptively thank him for whenever has feels the desire to do that.

The set (IS-92) was actually quite decent, and of acceptable difficulty, but i have minor issues i may e-mail Jeff about.

We had fun. Thanks a lot to Mt. Pleasant for hosting. You have a really nice school and it was great to come to a new place.

[Self-incompatibility in plants]

Some results that are a little more detailed, though possibly not entirely accurate(...):

1st- Charter A
2nd- Caesar Rodney A
Tied for 3rd- Charter C and Charter B
Tied for 5th- Charter F and Mount Pleasant A

Also in the Playoffs (maybe...), in no particular order:

Charter D
Charter E
Charter G (I think)
A.I. Dupont
Sanford
Caesar Rodney B

[btressler]

Results:

1st - Charter A
2nd - Caesar Rodney A
3rd - Charter B
4th - Charter C
5th - Mount Pleasant A and Charter G
7th - Charter E and Caesar Rodney B
9th - Charter F and Charter D
11th - A.I. Dupont and Sanford

The 3rd place game was indeed played. Charter B trailed most of the match, at one point by 135, but caught up on tossup 17. I found it interested that in both the final and 3rd place games that 645 points were scored.

If I'm understanding the policy correctly, since Charter A, Caesar Rodney A, and Charter B were all already qualified to HSNCT, then Charter C gets a berth.

Morning Results

Playoff Brackets

Everything Combined

Sorry if anyone's morning schedule was too hard or too easy. Redoing a schedule on the fly is always fun.

I would also like to thank Mount Pleasant for hosting.

With regard to the set, there were minor issues. But I have a new pet peeve: I am quite tired of 80%+ of the literature tossups being "This author wrote..., and this author wrote..., and he also wrote about...". (Is this what Matt Weiner refers to as the mad lib tossups?) I was already annoyed about it, and then a packet came up where all five of the lit tossups were in this form. Could we please have more balance between authors, titles, characters, and in lesser doses, common links and literary terms and movements?

[Important Bird Area]

and then a packet came up where all five of the lit tossups were in this form.

Let me know what round this was, and I'll switch some questions.

[btressler]

It was round three, and I have to modify my remark slightly. The fifth tossup was a philosopher tossup of the same form, because they too also write things.

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

Jeff, if you don't mind, i'd like to send you a message too. Do you prefer e-mail or Facebook?

[Important Bird Area]

Doesn't matter, either is fine. (And I just switched the literature around so authors and works are more evenly distributed across the set.)

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

Well the season is over and i think we've come to some conclusions about teams in Delaware.

Charter A is still the best team in the state. I think they proved that, while they lost a lot from Henry and Neeraj last year, Alex and David and Meg can carry the team and when they're all playing at their potential, they can beat some of the best teams in the country.

CR A caught up a lot, and i'm pleased with our work this year (including our much-heralded victory against Charter), but they were still a superior team in just about every way, and we beat them because we finally got "our packet" against them. We almost pulled another one at UMCP in May but it was not to be. Still, there's no other team in the state that could match us for number two.

Charter B and Mount Pleasant A might have been comparable, and Mount might be better, but they had other obligations that made ranking this team tough. Charter B pulled off some good upsets this year (including us at HSNCT) but largely didn't get a lot of big wins. These are clearly the 3rd and 4th best teams in the state though, just not sure which is better than which.

I'm not even sure if it's worth it to rank the rest of the schools, other than maybe Charter C, the only one probably good enough to beat another semi-decent team from elsewhere. It just shows how fall Delaware has fallen off the quizbowl map... if not for CR and Charter, we basically wouldn't exist.

Here's what i'm curious about for next year:

~Will Charter continue their dominance with Mr. Tressler apparently leaving the school? Can their A (or B) teams continue to be vastly superior to the rest of the state? Will they be nationally competitive?
~With CR losing 90% of its scoring, can we remain competitive at all in any non-Delaware tournament? Will Alexa be able to inspire her teammates to actually do the work to improve, or will we just be mediocre like we were 1-2 years ago? Which Charter team will be our equal? B? C? D?
~Is Mount Pleasant going to come to anything with their captain and driving force Peter graduating? Can his sister pick up the reigns and can their coach show them "good quizbowl" and actually take them to tournaments?
~Will schools like Salesianum, Tatnall, St. Mark's, Sanford, and all the rich private/parochial schools in northern Delaware ever be anything but incredibly mediocre at quizbowl? Will these schools take the game seriously and attend more than 2 tournaments a year?
~What tournaments will exist in Delaware next year at all? Will i have the free time (or the drive) to host more than one tournament at CR (hint: no)? Will the University of Delaware step up and host more than one tournament?

There are a lot of questions for the state and i don't know most of the answers. The ones i do know aren't good ones. Delaware is in an important state of flux right now and could lean one direction or another, and i sure hope i/we can convince more schools to play good quizbowl, but it's not looking very likely.

[mastaloo]

~ Will the University of Delaware step up and host more than one tournament?

Well, I can't speak for UD just yet, but I'd totally be up for running multiple tournaments. I think that with a little more effort and outreach, we could help build up DE quizbowl so that it becomes more than a 3 school affair.

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

~With CR losing 90% of its scoring, can we remain competitive at all in any non-Delaware tournament? Will Alexa be able to inspire her teammates to actually do the work to improve, or will we just be mediocre like we were 1-2 years ago? Which Charter team will be our equal? B? C? D?

To help answer this question, i will tell you now that i am sitting at my desk with no quizbowlers in the classroom. We were supposed to have practice today (and an informal meeting on our upcoming plans) and NO ONE showed up other than Alexa who will be returning after her piano lesson.

It's going to be a great year.

[mpellegrini]

~ Will the University of Delaware step up and host more than one tournament?

Well, I can't speak for UD just yet, but I'd totally be up for running multiple tournaments. I think that with a little more effort and outreach, we could help build up DE quizbowl so that it becomes more than a 3 school affair.

Our biggest problem where hosting tournaments is concerned is that UD has an extremely long winter break (roughly Dec 20 through Feb 10, give or take a couple days), and historically the University hasn't been terribly cooperative in helping us reserve buildings for tournaments more than a few weeks in advance. But if there are more people willing to pitch in to host, I think it shouldn't be too hard to host more tournaments a year.

[Self-incompatibility in plants]

~ Will the University of Delaware step up and host more than one tournament?

Well, I can't speak for UD just yet, but I'd totally be up for running multiple tournaments. I think that with a little more effort and outreach, we could help build up DE quizbowl so that it becomes more than a 3 school affair.

This. Alex and I have been speaking a fair amount about what our goals are next year for the state, and about what we are willing to do to see these goals come to fruition. It seems that Delaware will at the very least have 2 dedicated players (and I'm sure there will be many others too) who are intent upon improving quizbowl in the state.

Our biggest problem where hosting tournaments is concerned is that UD has an extremely long winter break (roughly Dec 20 through Feb 10, give or take a couple days), and historically the University hasn't been terribly cooperative in helping us reserve buildings for tournaments more than a few weeks in advance. But if there are more people willing to pitch in to host, I think it shouldn't be too hard to host more tournaments a year.

Well, there certainly are more people willing to pitch in to host, so hopefully we can host a few more tournaments.

[jonah]

~ Will the University of Delaware step up and host more than one tournament?

Well, I can't speak for UD just yet, but I'd totally be up for running multiple tournaments. I think that with a little more effort and outreach, we could help build up DE quizbowl so that it becomes more than a 3 school affair.

This. Alex and I have been speaking a fair amount about what our goals are next year for the state, and about what we are willing to do to see these goals come to fruition. It seems that Delaware will at the very least have 2 dedicated players (and I'm sure there will be many others too) who are intent upon improving quizbowl in the state.

Our biggest problem where hosting tournaments is concerned is that UD has an extremely long winter break (roughly Dec 20 through Feb 10, give or take a couple days), and historically the University hasn't been terribly cooperative in helping us reserve buildings for tournaments more than a few weeks in advance. But if there are more people willing to pitch in to host, I think it shouldn't be too hard to host more tournaments a year.

Well, there certainly are more people willing to pitch in to host, so hopefully we can host a few more tournaments.

My former teammate Robert Sido (Delaware '12) would probably be willing to pitch in for others' efforts, though he probably doesn't have the time to lead them himself. I believe he's with the team to some extent already, but if not, let me know and I can try to get him to do stuff.