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Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 11:16 pm
by alkrav112
Hullo quizbowlers,

Michigan Academic Competitions is pleased to announce it will be hosting a mirror of the Penn Bowl Trash Tournament on Sunday, January 18th, 2009. This will take place the day after our ACF Winter mirror (see the announcement at: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=6831).

PRICING:
$90 per team base fee
-$5 per working buzzer per team
-$10 per traveling more than 200 miles one way per team
-$10 per competent moderator per team
Minimum fee per team: $50

We would also appreciate laptops (though I think we will probably have enough).

LOCATION/TIME:
I don't have the rooms reserved quite yet, but expect the tournament to take place at the same time and place as the day before (3rd floor of Mason Hall, registration between 8:30 AM and 9:00 AM). More details to come, probably.

REGISTRATION:
To register a team, please contact me - Andy Kravis - at [email protected]. I'll post a field update soon, and if you think you have already registered but don't see your name on the list, remind me. I'm only human. In addition, please indicate how many teams you're bringing and if you qualify for any discounts.

ELIGIBILITY:
This tournament is open to all teams, regardless of school/university affiliation.

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 12:03 pm
by BobGHHS
Andy,
I already told you we're coming, I'll have a moderator and we get the travel discount.

If Rom has buzzers, we'll probably get a discount for that, otherwise I think that's all.

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 1:52 pm
by glorious achievement
Pitt will be there. I'll know for sure how many teams we'll be bringing after practice tonight, but I think we've got somewhere in the neighborhood of three to four teams' worth of people interested. We can bring one buzzer set, I'll ask about moderators tonight, and I'm pretty sure we get the travel discount.

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 9:50 pm
by EncyclopediaCDRom
Like Bob Kilner and my other teammates, we all apparently live > 200 miles from Ann Arbor. I will bring my CPS laptop. UIC classes resume Monday, and I spoke to our UIC sponsor this week, learning of no travel funding for the Spring 2009 semester, alas. He did say that I could still borrow the 1-2 lockout systems, though. During a professional development day next Monday, I will see what is available, working, and carryable. Hopefully next weekend, I could recruit some local Chicagoans for the March 1 GARBAGE Mirror at the University of Chicago.

Go Philadelphia Eagles,
Rom Masrour
CPS/UIC

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 1:31 pm
by Demonic Leftovers
Chicago should have two teams for this.

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 3:48 am
by swwFCqb
Case will be there with a team. More specific details will be emailed shortly (probably tomorrow).

Also, will there be a discount for attending both events?? I know Maryland had one for attending IO and TRASH regionals, so I just want to make sure that you didn't mistakenly forget to mention it if you did intend to have one.

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 9:55 pm
by alkrav112
First of all, to answer Steven's question, I hadn't planned on having a discount for playing both ACF Winter and the Penn Bowl Trash mirror. Sorry for not making that more clear.

Here is the field I have:
Kilner et. al.
Pitt (x4)
Chicago (x2)
Case Western
House Team?

Total: 8 or 9

I understand that, aptly, many people will want to play this at a Penn Bowl site. Of course, I urge teams to play our mirror of this wonderful trash tournament, but I need registrations ASAP if teams want to play here.

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 9:56 pm
by alkrav112
Also, as I have stated many-a-time, I am terrible at keeping registrations straight. If you don't see your team on this list and had planned to come, just let me know.

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 12:01 am
by Captain Sinico
We'll probably field you another team, composition not currently certain (other than me.)

MaS

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 2:39 am
by alkrav112
Updated Final Field (1/15/09):
Kilner et. al.
Pitt (x3)
Chicago (x2)
Case Western
OSU (x2)
Illinois
MSU
House Team?
Total: 11 or 12

In my original e-mail, the final field tally was erroneous, but everything else should still stand. That said, the following text is copied, with a few minor alterations, from that e-mail:


Hello all,

Thank you, once again, for being a part of ACF Winter and/or the Ann Arbor Penn Bowl Trash mirror. I look forward to a weekend of stellar quiz bowl and beautiful friendships. Following are the administrative details for this weekend (feel free to e-mail me at [email protected] if this information is in some way unsatisfactory):

Two major points before I go into finer details:

1) Flying Spaghetti Monster forbid, IF THERE IS AN EMERGENCY THE MORNING OF EITHER TOURNAMENT, PLEASE CALL ME [my cell phone number is listed in the mass e-mail; if you need it for some reason, contact me privately by e-mail]. As I state below, there will be little leniency for teams that are just "running late," but if that is the case, it would be nice to know where you are. I will do my best to accommodate teams with true emergencies (e.g. vehicle troubles, road blocks, Montana-sized asteroids penetrating the atmosphere and hurtling toward Earth), but some emergencies will be sadly unaccommodatable. Please write my phone number in a safe, secure place, as I will not be posting it publicly to the forum.

2) For anyone bringing a laptop: please also bring the power cord. I hope the reasoning behind this is self-explanatory, but do note that it is very, very important. In addition, if there are password settings that would make it difficult for staffers to access necessary components of your computer (i.e. Microsoft Word and the Internet), please disable them, as it will make the tournaments go much more smoothly.

Now, for the heart of the matter:

Similar arrangements as Saturday's proceedings. Registration for the Penn Bowl Trash Mirror will begin at 8:15 am, in room 3437 of Mason Hall (for a map of buildings in the campus area, see the following link: http://www.umich.edu/~info/mapsAndDirec ... tralCampus). The nearest parking structure is on Maynard Street, between William and Liberty. Luckily, all parking on campus (structures, meters, and so on) is free on Sundays, so that will be less of an issue than on Saturday.

Registration will end at 8:45 am, and the informational meeting will begin at 8:50 am. I say this knowing that quizbowlers can be chronically late and fully expecting that teams will be running additionally late due to the massive amounts of snow in Ann Arbor in January. That said, I would like to run an efficient tournament, so please do make your best effort to be as early as possible, now having no excuse to be ignorant of Michigan's nightmarish weather. I am also setting this timetable in the hope that we can take care of monetary arrangements prior to the beginning of matches. When you arrive, it would be very helpful if you found Surya Sabhapathy (she will make herself very obvious) and took care of any and all financial business.

These two intentions made clear, I would like to issue two caveats: (a) any team arriving later than 9:00 am will likely risk forfeiting early matches, and (b) if a team does not pay its tournament fee before the start of matches, I reserve the right to hold some valuable team possession (e.g. buzzers) as collateral until it does pay.

I believe we have (EDIT: 11 or 12) teams as of now. I think, regardless of the number of teams, we will run a full round robin, followed by something like 12 v. 11, 10 v. 9, 8 v. 7, 6 v. 5, 4 v. 3, and a playoff sequence between 1 and 2 (either 1 wins by clearing the field by two, and 1 v. 2 happens for fun/honor/bragging rights; 1 plays an advantaged final against 2 with a one-game advantage; or 1 and 2 are tied, ignoring prior head-to-head, and play a one-game final to determine the winner). As before, I am amenable to alternative suggestions, but I think that this plan is a fine one, and I am not liable to change my mind unless there is a great public outcry. Again, there will be a small awards ceremony following the tournament (though I have not yet procured prizes for this event).

That's all for team info. Like I said before, if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to contact me (and Alex Grandstaff and Surya Sabhapathy) at [email protected]. I'm very much looking forward to this weekend!

Best,
Andy Kravis

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 3:14 am
by alkrav112
An amendment:

There will only be 10 packets in this set, so the previously described tournament structure will not work. I will come up with something more definite when I am less tired, but I'm thinking something like two prelim brackets of 6 teams each (full round robin, 5 games), then some sort of playoff restructuring (3 playoff brackets of 4 teams each? That sounds about right), leaving 2 packets for any finals mischief. I think that will work, but I will revisit this notion in some hours.

Thanks for your patience, all.

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 3:47 am
by Lapego1
alkrav112 wrote:There will only be 10 packets in this set, so the previously described tournament structure will not work. I will come up with something more definite when I am less tired, but I'm thinking something like two prelim brackets of 6 teams each (full round robin, 5 games), then some sort of playoff restructuring (3 playoff brackets of 4 teams each? That sounds about right), leaving 2 packets for any finals mischief. I think that will work, but I will revisit this notion in some hours.
This would work. You could also take one packet to break ties, so you have a half-packet for prelim ties and a half-packet for playoff ties. Unfortunately, that would leave you with only 1 packet for the final, so you'd just want to say clearing the top playoff bracket by at least one game means winning the tournament, but if the top two are tied, you play a one-game final. Everyone else can play a 1v2 and 3v4 match within their brackets on the last packet after you do whatever tiebreakers are necessary.

If no tiebreakers end up being used, you could just stick with what you say above. Either way, it's up to you.

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 7:14 am
by BobGHHS
Andy,
Are you going to play by any special rules like ABD always did? I know lames are pretty-much standard now in trash, but will you be using anything like 50-or-nothing, go it alone, etc. like Mike and Craig always came up with? Just curious.

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 2:07 pm
by Captain Sinico
BobGHHS wrote:...lames are pretty-much standard now in trash...
This doesn't happen to be true. I hope you'll just use the ACF rules myself.

MaS

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 6:22 pm
by BobGHHS
Really? I was under the impression almost every one played under that... huh. I don't particularly care either way really, standard ACF is fine by me.

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 7:30 pm
by alkrav112
Yes, my plan had been to use standard ACF-style rules. More to come shortly - the field size is possibly shrinking.

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 8:35 pm
by alkrav112
I have updated the above field - the field size now appears to be 11 teams. Obviously, a full round-robin still will not be feasible, and brackets of 6 and 5 hardly seem fair to whomever gets lumped into the smaller bracket. I don't even want to think about doing a 7-team round-robin bracket and a 4-team double-round-robin bracket.

Ideas?

Edit: If need be, I could always get rid of the house team, run two 5-team prelim brackets, then do the same thing again. That doesn't leave any packets for tiebreakers/finals, though. So... ideas?

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 8:38 pm
by dtaylor4
alkrav112 wrote:I have updated the above field - the field size now appears to be 11 teams. Obviously, a full round-robin still will not be feasible, and brackets of 6 and 5 hardly seem fair to whomever gets lumped into the smaller bracket. I don't even want to think about doing a 7-team round-robin bracket and a 4-team double-round-robin bracket.

Ideas?

Edit: If need be, I could always get rid of the house team, run two 5-team prelim brackets, then do the same thing again. That doesn't leave any packets for tiebreakers/finals, though. So... ideas?
5/5
4/3/3
Finals

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 8:42 pm
by Lapego1
If you have 10 teams, I might suggest doing a full round robin, and then a finals for top two if there is a tie. Otherwise, declare the top team the champion and do something fun with the last packet.

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 9:59 pm
by swwFCqb
Lapego1 wrote:If you have 10 teams, I might suggest doing a full round robin, and then a finals for top two if there is a tie. Otherwise, declare the top team the champion and do something fun with the last packet.
Given the circumstances, I would support this route.

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 11:22 am
by BobGHHS
Luckily, all parking on campus (structures, meters, and so on) is free on Sundays, so that will be less of an issue than on Saturday.
So, we can park on the street (hopefully right in front of the building somewhere) and not worry about being ticketed then?

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 6:44 pm
by alkrav112
On Sunday, yes, this is highly encouraged.

See updated field above also.

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 7:06 pm
by Lapego1
Just a reminder as this mirror wraps up. This tournament will be held at two more sites, including the main Penn Bowl one in a week, so please do not discuss specific questions here. If you have criticisms of specific questions or general constructive comments, they are more than welcome. Send to [email protected]. Hope you all enjoyed the set!

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 8:23 pm
by Quantum Mushroom Billiard Hat

Re: Penn Bowl Trash Mirror at U of M Ann Arbor (1/18/09)

Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 4:11 am
by alkrav112
Quick results: House of the Raysing Sun (Chicago) cleared its playoff bracket at 3-0 (all teams went into the top playoff bracket at 4-1) to win the U of M Ann Arbor Penn Bowl Trash mirror. Thanks to everyone who staffed today, and thanks to all the teams for coming out.