The Quizbowl Resource Center

Since our delightful, original, and inoffensive acronym of HO was appropriated by the Hoosier Open, the writers and editors of the tournament formerly called Harvard Open have agreed to rename it the Harvard International. Its name deliberately reflects the fact that it sits in between the two national tournaments, not to mention the fact that our registration will still be open--in fact, so open as to be international. Clever, no? Weiner's law number one responds: no. Ah, well.

Fees

We're going to go with:
$100 base fee for first team
$90 base fee for second team
$80 base fee for third and subsequent
-$5 for buzzers (please, please bring buzzers)
-$10 for a moderator (caveats about competence apply)

A school bringing three teams, with buzzer and moderator for each, would pay $225 total.

Side Tournaments

There will be ONE side tournament: fine arts doubles, written by Ted Gioia and a host of others. It will get its own tournament announcement later on, at which point dates and fees will be published.

As mentioned before, this tournament will be produced entirely in-house, with science and myth by me, lit and arts by Ted, geography by Kyle, and history by Bruce--other subjects are split. We plan on rebracketing for playoffs, at which point we will EDIT: run the same damn set of questions in both brackets, for the love of God.

Post any questions, comments or concerns, or else email them to me at [email protected].

everyday847 wrote:geography by Kyle

10/10 per round, right?

Kyle wrote:

everyday847 wrote:geography by Kyle

10/10 per round, right?

If you could, yup. If there are any objections, I could just shoehorn the extra into my (fun! not funn!) shitstorm of a side tournament, which will become even more entertaining as a result.

Would this be open for a Midwest mirror, Andy?

EDIT FOR CLARITY: ...at Lawrence.

Yes, it would be.

EDITED FOR CLARITY: Not at Lawrence.

Ooh, it burns. Just kidding. I'll have to talk to everyone, naturally, and it's early yet, but I don't immediately see a reason why not.

everyday847 wrote:Since our delightful, original, and inoffensive acronym of HO was appropriated by the Hoosier Open

Whoopsy stealie. I totally missed the Harvard Open pre-announcement thread. But I guess your new name is less Don Imus and more salutatational.

I would also be interested in a Midwest mirror. As long as it isn't at Lawrence oh tag-team burn.

OK, I'm planning to mirror this. Though that is admittedly only a tentative commitment until I can OK it with the Lawrence admins.

I edited the original announcement to reflect the fact that I'm now going to write zero wonky side tournaments (down from one) and that we're not going to use the stupid two-sets-of-questions thing.

This way we can also announce a difficulty for the tournament: hard. Probably "nationals" all the way through; certainly not "post-nationals" until the finals; perhaps a little bit easier than nationals early on. Consider this a warm-up for ACF Nationals.

A note: This is Easter weekend.

I don't imagine that'll really be a problem for anyone, but I figure the word "Easter" should be said in this thread at least once.

cornfused wrote:A note: This is Easter weekend.

I don't imagine that'll really be a problem for anyone

It is, for me at least. And I would've make every effort to be at this otherwise, given the promise of fine arts doubles.

Nothing's set in stone about the date. It just seemed to be kind of a consensus pick. Alternatively, we finish writing it by this date (hahahahahaha) and host it sometime in May nearer (but not during) finals.

If lots of people say things about the Easter weekend date, I'll think about moving it.

This is also occurring during Passover. I don't know how many people are actually going somewhere for more than the first and/or second days of the holiday, but it's something else to keep in mind.

Because people might choose to celebrate holidays instead of playing quizbowl, I've added a poll up top where people can pick a different date for HI, if a different date looks better for whatever reason. Note that dates in May tend to be during people's finals and are certainly during ours, so May dates will almost certainly require one or more rooms to be staffed by whoever's on bye.

I am a part of the April 11 works best voting bloc.

Oh, right. Would editing the poll to include "keep it the way it is" erase the results?

Yeah, it would, but I suppose one could just revote.

Hey, everyone revote (since that has, at the time of my posting, not happened yet).

SEE HOW POWERFUL THAT VOTING BLOC IS!

gkandlikar wrote:SEE HOW POWERFUL THAT VOTING BLOC IS!

Man, before that voting bloc, the majority wanted me to have a birthday party (BIRTHDAY PARTY). And also, er, an extra month to finish the tournament.

I could not figure out how to vote on this forum, but I could only revisit Boston on my CPS springbreak ending on Easter Sunday. Because Harvard sent three players to the 2008 Minnesota Open itself instead of a mirror at MIT mainly to face different quiz-bowlers than New England teams at least once in the fall, I would like to compete on the East Coast once this season even if a HI mirror is held in the Midwest. To be more competitive at the inaugural Harvard International on Saturday, April 11, 2009, I would need teammates, perhaps locals.

Enjoy the Golden Globes next Sunday evening,
Rom Masrour,
CPS/UIC

Brown will surely bring a team regardless of date.

I am almost certainly coming, and look forward to the fine arts event.

After consulting our team, May 9-10 works best, but we'd still send a team if the date remained as is!

Hey, I'm happy to report that we've all written some exciting, hard quizbowl so far. (I'm also happy to report that though we have a good bit left to write, we're also mostly on schedule.)

I'm especially happy to report that I just finished setting up a midwest mirror of this bad boy. I'm sure Charlie Dees will post an announcement when it's not really far from the date of the tournament, but one note I ought to make is that it'll be taking place the following weekend. Yay!

Hey, guys. It'd be really good to start hearing from some teams that plan to, you know, come to this fantastic tournament.

FIELD

1 Brandeis (Brandeis people)
1 VCU-ish (Evan Adams, Andrew Alexander, Matt Weiner, someone)
1+ Brown
1 awaiting comedy name (Rom Masrour, Bryce Durgin, other ND player, possible fourth unknown)

FREE AGENTS

1 Jonathan Magin
1 Doug Yetman
1 Cameron Orth

Brown is coming with at least one team.

I could either play solo for UIC if such a team would make the brackets more convenient, or I could be a free agent, perhaps finally reteaming with Jonathan Magin. By the way, I have been unable to find a thread about fine arts doubles/triples, but I would like to be drafted into such a Saturday night and/or Sunday morning event, like Albert Finney, minus his bender, of course.

Happy Pi Day,
Rom Masrour
CPS/UIC

RPI is considering attending this tournament, although I have to see what interest I have from my teammates

everyday847 wrote:Hey, guys. It'd be really good to start hearing from some teams that plan to, you know, come to this fantastic tournament.

FIELD

1 Brandeis (Brandeis people)
1 VCU-ish (Evan Adams, Andrew Alexander, Cameron Orth, Matt Weiner)
1+ Brown

FREE AGENTS

1 Jonathan Magin

Yeah, make me a free agent as VCU will actually be all VCU players...

Tower Monarch wrote: Yeah, make me a free agent as VCU will actually be all VCU players...

Ah, cool. This is new to me.

I thought I might as well repost the field and add a new category.

VAGUE VERBAL COMMITMENTS OR INTIMATIONS THAT ATTENDANCE IS POSSIBLE
Hunter College HS
Ike

FIELD

1 RPI
1 Brandeis (Brandeis people)
1 VCU-ish (Evan Adams, Andrew Alexander, Matt Weiner, someone)
1+ Brown
1 U. of Louisville (Monica Marks et al.)

FREE AGENTS

1 Jonathan Magin
1 Doug Yetman
1 Cameron Orth
1 Rom Masrour

Are Rom/Bryce/Others really planning on playing both FICHTE and HI together, or is this a misprint?

I am not really sure given its place in the email I received it in (it was right after something about a parking pass, and right before something unrelated about FICHTE) so I'll move him to free agents for the moment.

I am indeed committed to play as a free agent at HI. I would even be willing to play solo for UIC if that would make the field have an even number of teams if preferred by the editors and organizers. I will bring neither my CPS laptop nor my UIC lockout, though. Will there be any side tournaments that Saturday night? I had heard that science/poetry/economics doubles/triples have been postponed, but I have been hoping that fine arts triples/doubles still might run.

Go Western Kentucky Hilltoppers,
Rom Masrour
CPS/UIC

EncyclopediaCDRom wrote:I am indeed committed to play as a free agent at HI. I would even be willing to play solo for UIC if that would make the field have an even number of teams if preferred by the editors and organizers. I will bring neither my CPS laptop nor my UIC lockout, though. Will there be any side tournaments that Saturday night? I had heard that science/poetry/economics doubles/triples have been postponed, but I have been hoping that fine arts triples/doubles still might run.

Yeah, my ridiculous side event will happen some other time, probably, and might just be science but who knows. Fine arts doubles is happening, given that Ted and Guy and Aaron huddle up and talk about writing it at tournaments all the time, but I've yet to see an announcement thread for it. I have rooms reserved for Sunday if necessary, but I don't know when he plans on holding it/ our reservations become kind of tenuous after like seven pm because Harvard likes to give me a different ending time every time I ask them, so Saturday night might be in random rooms in the Science Center if they're unlocked, or else in various rooms in Lowell basement that are sketchy but otherwise unlocked. With any luck we just won't get kicked out by anyone, though.

It's looking pretty good that RPI will attend, although it may just be Matt and I going

Cheynem wrote:Are Rom/Bryce/Others really planning on playing both FICHTE and HI together, or is this a misprint?

I will not be attending HI. Sorry.

...in other news, I'm now committed to staffing, so you know that in addition to being an awesomely-written tournament, it's also going to be an spectacular piece of quizbowl theatre. If you haven't signed up yet, now's your chance. (I'm looking at you, my fellow New Yorkers - I want company on the Chinatown bus!)

I should mention that anyone considering signing up (I've gotten intimations from Maryland, for example) should do so, because a nice number like eight teams is immensely preferable to the six plus epsilon that we've got right now (with Hunter being either a team or 1-2 free agents, Ike being a possibility, five teams, and four other free agents). (Seven is, obviously, downright unfun.) We'd happily run a house team, of course, but the idea is for you, not us, to get a lot of quizbowl, so please sign up.

Yeah, I think we're coming up, but we might have an open spot on the team.

I thought I might as well repost the field and add intimations about the tournament format. There will be fourteen non-finals packets.

FIELD

1 RPI
1 Brandeis (Hannah, Vu, Ike, Yetman)
1 VCU-ish (Evan Adams, Andrew Alexander et al.)
2 Brown
2 Dartmouth
1 U. of Louisville (Monica Marks et al.)
1 Tufts
1 Billy Jo Bagin

FREE AGENTS

1 Orth
1 Rom
1 Guy

TOURNAMENT FORMAT SPECULATION

Right now there will be at least seven teams (one from each registered team, plus three free agents).

So I'm going to suppose that we are going to be able to finagle things so that we have eight teams. We'll either run a double round robin (14), then finals, if we happen to be able to put together a half-packet tiebreaker (don't count on it), or else we'll have a round robin (7) then a double round robin in the playoff brackets (6) then finals.

Do give me feedback on which seems more fair. (The latter certainly seems safer!)

So, there is a small hazard here in that Brandeis might only be sending me. If that's the case, I'd rather be a free agent than play as a hilariously terrible solo team. Will let you know about this soon.

I will be renting a car from Avis from Logan from 5 PM Thursday through 5 PM Sunday. Can anybody secure a three-day Cambridge street parking permit for me? Andy Watkins had said that he might be able to find one for me.

Good luck to those competing at NAQT ICT,
Rom Masrour
CPS/UIC

Hey, I just posted updating the field, which looks like eight teams, and information for teams playing.

everyday847 wrote: FIELD

1 VCU-ish (Evan Adams, Andrew Alexander et al.)

TOURNAMENT FORMAT SPECULATION

Right now there will be at least seven teams (one from each registered team, plus three free agents).

So I'm going to suppose that we are going to be able to finagle things so that we have eight teams. We'll either run a double round robin (14), then finals, if we happen to be able to put together a half-packet tiebreaker (don't count on it), or else we'll have a round robin (7) then a double round robin in the playoff brackets (6) then finals.

Do give me feedback on which seems more fair. (The latter certainly seems safer!)

First, it seems funny that two of four members are listed and then Matt Weiner becomes half of an "et al." For the record, VCU's notable Slavoj Zizek enthusiast is named Brennan Downey.
With respect to feedback, I certainly prefer the latter, as it seems like there might be a somewhat clear division between the top and bottom half, making the bracketed playoffs more enjoyable.

Tower Monarch wrote:First, it seems funny that two of four members are listed and then Matt Weiner becomes half of an "et al." For the record, VCU's notable Slavoj Zizek enthusiast is named Brennan Downey.
With respect to feedback, I certainly prefer the latter, as it seems like there might be a somewhat clear division between the top and bottom half, making the bracketed playoffs more enjoyable.

No one told me who the other dude was! Plus, I'm lazy.

That sounds fair; I'm definitely leaning towards the second option.

Hey, who should I email about fun stuff like parking permits and payment....?

O yeah, we're also going to be renting a car so some info on how to get to the tournament and park without exploding into a Vinokurovian assault on the city planners of Boston would be appreciated.

Matt Weiner wrote:O yeah, we're also going to be renting a car so some info on how to get to the tournament and park without exploding into a Vinokurovian assault on the city planners of Boston would be appreciated.

Talk about impossible requests!

Depending on where you're coming from, Harvard is pretty easy to get to. If you're coming from anywhere in the airport area, you'll want to find Storrow Drive and take that going west. Off Storrow, you take a left exit that T's into Massachusetts Ave. and then make a right on Mass. Ave. to cross the river. Take Mass. Ave. all the way north to Harvard Square. The best thing for parking is to have someone on the Harvard team buy you a day permit for $5; there's a lot on, I think, Ellery St. (you'll have to loop around since it's one-way) where you can park with such a permit.

Issue with rentals is that I would have to know your license plate number to get you a parking permit. I suppose if you rent the car, email me the plate number, stand by your computer, print out the pdf I email you shortly thereafter assuming it doesn't reject my debit card randomly, and then bolt, you'd be in a good position. But in general, with rentals, it's easier to park in the other lot Jerry mentioned.