Postponed: Trojan Wars (12/06/08), USC (Los Angeles, CA)

[MissChief]

Hi there!
This is a preliminary announcement in order to alleviate any worries that Trojan Wars might not be happening this year---
USC Quiz Bowl may have had a change in leadership, but Trojan Wars is still on! As in years past, the tournament will (regrettably) be held on the day of the UCLA/USC football game, December 6th, which also happens to be the next SAT testing date. (Sorry!) Questions, tournament format, and fee structure will be similar, if not identical to what they have been in the past, with more details to follow in a subsequent post as soon as I have more information for you. Thanks for your patience, and stay tuned!

~Carolyn Getschow~
President, USC Quizbowl
[email protected]

[ihavenoidea]

Could you let me know if this is going to be an IS or IS-A set tournament as soon as possible?

[MissChief]

I have been informed that the packet will be IS-80A.

[ihavenoidea]

EDITTED FOR STUPIDITY

[tracyclee]

No, Caltech used IS-78A. Nice one, Zhao. Good attempt to try HSAPQ though.

[ak47]

EDITTED FOR STUPIDITY

True dat, brother.

[MissChief]

Hello All!

I realize I'm not giving very much notice, and for that I apologize; forgive me! With that, I am pleased to welcome any high schools in the area to participate in our 6th annual Trojan Wars! Unless there is an outcry for us to move this to January, the tournament will take place as announced, on December 6th, 2008.

Tournament Format: We will be playing with NAQT A-level series IS-80A, with timed rounds consisting of two 9-minute halves, as per NAQT rules. There will be 7-8 prelim. rounds, followed by 4-5 playoff rounds, and the top 15% of teams will qualify for the 2009 HS NAQT in Chicago, May 29-31.

(Tentative) Schedule:
9:15am-9:45am check-in at SGM room 101
10am, gameplay begins in Kaprielian Hall (KAP)
12:30-2pm, break for lunch (may be shortened to one hour if necessary)
2:00, gameplay continues
3:30, prelim results announced
6 pm, awards

Locations/Directions:
Directions to USC's campus may be found here: http://www.usc.edu/about/visit/upc/driving_directions/ , as well as a campus map you can print out. Gates 1, 3, and 5 are open on weekends, but I recommend Gate 5 to get to Parking Structure A, which is the closest parking to both SGM & KAP. Parking is $8 for the day in the parking structures, but there is a little metered parking around too.

Places for lunch within walking distance (in order of closest to furthest) are:
ON CAMPUS--The "Lot", across from SGM, houses Submarina, Baja Fresh, Red Mango, and a small convience store, open from 11am-5pm Sat. Please note: The Student Commons, which once had several places to eat, does not exist anymore; the new Ronald Tutor Center is currently under construction and is projected to be completed in May 2010.
West of USC--Taco Bell, Togo's
North of USC--Burger King, Subway, Yoshinoya, University Village International Food Court, Baskin Robbin's, Wendy's
South-East of USC--Quizno's, Chipotle, ColdStone Creamery

Costs/Fees:
$100 base fee for a single team
$90/team if bringing two or more teams
-$10 for each working buzzer & timer combo, limit 2 per school
-$20 for each adult who can moderate; in the interest of fairness, moderators will not be placed in rooms where their native teams are playing.
$60/team minimum
One printed copy of the packet set will be made available to each participating school at the end of the tournament.

Please reply either on this forum or to [email protected] by 11:59pm Friday, December 5th with the following: School name, Coach's name, contact information, # of teams, buzzers, and moderators. Thanks! See you there!

~Carolyn Getschow~

[ihavenoidea]

Is this still happening? Any field updates?

[MissChief]

***TROJAN WARS HAS BEEN POSTPONED***

To All Whom It May Concern:

I regret to inform you that, due to staffing problems and the low number of teams who have responded, USC's high school quiz bowl tournament, Trojan Wars, will have to be postponed until late January. If your team has already mailed your check, I will be sure to void it as soon as I receive it. I'm sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused, but hopefully this will be better for those students who wanted to participate but couldn't because of SATs and also better for other teams who needed more time to prepare. Again, I offer you my most sincere apologies.

[Commodore]

Aw. I was looking forward to it.

[Mechanical Beasts]

Years from now, I feel like anthropologists will be perplexed by this SoCal quizbowl circuit that, so far as I can tell, never actually plays quizbowl tournaments.

Let me know if I can... help somehow? I'm at a bit of a loss.

[Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)]

What, Andy?

[Mechanical Beasts]

What, Andy?

I'm just remarking upon how frequently tournaments get canceled. It's rather tragic.

[cvdwightw]

Let me know if I can... help somehow? I'm at a bit of a loss.

Andy:

I have done the following in an attempt to increase awareness of quizbowl/tournaments and get more people to go to things:
1. Attempted to fix the stupid googlegroups screwup that is causing several coaches not to get tournament announcements.
2. Sent out a survey to the members of that group regarding their preferences for the circuit.
3. Campaigned for lower entry fees so that more teams can attend more tournaments.
4. Contacted the OC Department of Education about a joint tournament.

Where I am now:
1. Out of 38 e-mail addresses (listed as group members) that the group wasn't delivering e-mail to, 35 existed. 1 of those had a full mailbox. Out of the remaining 34 addresses, I have received 3 replies from coaches indicating that they were not getting mail; only one of those coaches has actually followed my directions to sign back up.
2. I have received a response from Zhao, Anurag, the Torrey Pines Coach, and like half the Arcadia club.
3. Tournaments are still being announced with base fees of $100 or more.
4. The OC Dept. of Ed. can't do anything about it this year but is intrigued by the idea and has invited me to come meet with them sometime this month to discuss plans for the future.

Where I can go:
1. Wait for coaches to respond, maybe send another e-mail out in January.
2. The same as #1, I guess
3. We will see what happens once new tournaments for next semester are announced, but by far the most-given response on the survey is that SoCal tournaments should have a base fee of $65-$80. I know that teams are running out of budget money quickly with these expensive tournaments.
4. We will see what directions (if any) can be taken for an all-Orange County Saturday tournament in future years at our meeting.

If you see anything that can help with any of these things, outside of telling me I'm not crazy, or you see something that I'm not doing and I probably should be doing, you're welcome to let me know. Also, you could contact Auroni about trying to figure out what's going on in San Diego County.

[Mechanical Beasts]

Yeah, I've no idea. Feel free to employ me to make things better if you need gruntwork done.