ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Howard »

DumbJaques wrote:I think there actually might need to be a discussion about the whole hybrid team when it's going to see putting some of the top players from two NSC-attending teams together for a regular high school invitational. That seems like a silly idea to me, and I don't think it has much precedent in high school quizbowl (which is likely related to why it is not qualm-inducing to Jeremy, as his experience with actual quizbowl is pretty much exclusively collegiate, where such things are no big deal at all). So, don't count on it right now, but that doesn't mean scab teams can't be arranged to prevent people from playing solo or anything like that.
Don't have final numbers at the moment, but I may have one slot on my team available. Considering who we'll be bringing to the tournament, it's possible that either Blake player could be the best player on the combined team. Instead of trying to set up teams beforehand, why not just come to the understanding that the TD will try to combine one- or two-person teams attempting as much as possible to not create all-star teams.
DumbJaques wrote:I wish that the MARYLAND SCHEDULING DEPARTMENT had allowed us to hold this event a bit later in May, so that we could produce more rounds for a tournament many teams are using for nationals prep.
This tournament is already on a non-ideal SAT date. Traditionally, it's been scheduled earlier in the year and had large turnouts. A later tournament, while perhaps drawing a stronger field, will almost certainly draw a smaller field. May is frequently a very busy time, especially for seniors, with special events and graduations. I'd be interested in hearing others' thoughts on this, though.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by btressler »

Howard wrote:This tournament is already on a non-ideal SAT date. Traditionally, it's been scheduled earlier in the year and had large turnouts. A later tournament, while perhaps drawing a stronger field, will almost certainly draw a smaller field. May is frequently a very busy time, especially for seniors, with special events and graduations. I'd be interested in hearing others' thoughts on this, though.
I managed to convince Henry and Neeraj to go, but I'm having trouble filling out one team. Last time we went to Maryland I think I brought eight.

Most common response: "I have to study for APs".
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Nine-Tenths Ideas »

Howard wrote:Don't have final numbers at the moment, but I may have one slot on my team available. Considering who we'll be bringing to the tournament, it's possible that either Blake player could be the best player on the combined team. Instead of trying to set up teams beforehand, why not just come to the understanding that the TD will try to combine one- or two-person teams attempting as much as possible to not create all-star teams.
Yes, but giving players to different teams that need one sort of invalidates the whole point of why this team was going to exist in the first place: to add more teams to the field.
Also, while Doug is good and I am okay, compared to some of the other teams attending, I don't think we qualify as an "all-star team." Paul says that he sucks.
Bad Boy Bill wrote:Most common response: "I have to study for APs".
This is why we have no seniors attending this.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Down and out in Quintana Roo »

Johannes Climacus wrote:
Bad Boy Bill wrote:Most common response: "I have to study for APs".
This is why we have no seniors attending this.
Our one senior can't go because of prom. The others know that i'm not taking them to any other competitions until PACE-NSC, so this is their last shot to "practice" against the big boys, so to speak. So, i'm kinda forcing everyone else to go. Plus, it's been a long time (since Blue Hen actually) since the A Team has been to a competition.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Down and out in Quintana Roo »

So... are we going to get any more specific information on this? Like...

a) in which building we are holding the opening meeting,
b) if said building will also house the matches,
c) the best way to travel to previously stated building,
d) where we may be able to park on this day,
e) what time registration will open,
f) what time the opening meeting will be held, or
g) the format/schedule of the tournament itself?

EDIT: additionally, an address that can be plugged into a GPS for navigation?
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Jeaton1 »

Registration will begin at 8:15am in the Reckford Armory (http://www.parking.umd.edu/themap/). At 9 we will have the opening meeting/rules/etc and shortly after we will go to rounds in the same building. These will be announced along with the schedule Saturday morning.

I would suggest parking in the Regents Drive Garage or in Lot 1 (see above map) as both are usually widely available on weekends and within walking distance.

The format will be 10 rounds of 20 tossups and 20 bonuses.

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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Down and out in Quintana Roo »

Reckord Armory, i suppose you mean.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Jeaton1 »

Actually, that map is the one with the typo. Go figure.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Jeaton1 »

Hey, due to some of our laptop owning members being away this weekend, we may be at shortage of laptops. If there is anyone willing to bring an extra laptop just in case, we will add a $5 discount to your fee and be sure to treat it with utmost care.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by aestheteboy »

I'm also interested in the side-event thing since I will most likely be stuck on the Maryland campus until 5:00 or so. Is this going to actually happen? And where will the questions come from?
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Nine-Tenths Ideas »

If the event is doubles, Paul and I express interest.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by at your pleasure »

I'm tentatively interested, but I'd have to know the probable start and finish times.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Jeaton1 »

Here is the tenative final field,

Caesar Rodney
Gonzaga A
Gonzaga B
Kellenberg
GDS A
GDSB/Howard
Churchill B
Pikesville
Whitman/Blake
St. Anselm's
Charter A
Hunter
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Centennial

The GDS B/Howard team was constructed from both team's newer players who did not wish to play without their respective stronger members who could not make it.

I'm still waiting to hear from Churchill B to see if they will make it or not. If they do attend the tournament, I will need to ask the potential Whitman/Blake 'superteam' to split up in order to make a balanced schedule with no byes.

Field looks good -- nice and competitive.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by paulsausville »

I also need the approximate end time both without the possibility of a doubles tourney and with the possibility of a doubles tourney.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by BroNi »

Um.....perhaps Kellenberg should be designated "B" as all of our seniors are in Disney World and all our juniors are taking the SAT. So only 1 member of our A team, a sophomore, will be there, plus assorted members of our other teams, all sophs and younger.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by DumbJaques »

Generally speaking, when there's just one team from a school we don't use lettering, so no one will be mislabeled as Kellenberg A.


As for the doubles, I've not really heard much interest here, but I suspect a lot of people are going to want to do it tomorrow. I would imagine that the tournament would end by 4-5 (earlier if we can move as fast as I'd like to), and the doubles event would probably last 2-2.5 hours, depending on what people want.

I'm trying to track down some packets that Maryland owns the rights to that are not publically available, but failing that we'll just do something far less official and play the best questions we can find that nobody has heard (obviously, there would not be any sort of a fee if we do this). My interest is getting people some good games before nationals, so that will be the first priority. We'll see who's there and interested tomorrow.

For anyone who's interested, we'll actually be doing round robin prelim brackets of 4 and 6 playoff crossover rounds, because I know teams are interested in maximizing games against similarly-skilled opponents at this point in the year.

I have also just heard that we have a 15 team field, so I think we'll need to split the Blake/Whitman hybrid. Sorry guys. If anyone would like to bring scab players to add to those teams, feel encouraged.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by aestheteboy »

DumbJaques wrote:For anyone who's interested, we'll actually be doing round robin prelim brackets of 4 and 6 playoff crossover rounds, because I know teams are interested in maximizing games against similarly-skilled opponents at this point in the year.
Do I see four brackets of 4 followed by double round-robin in four playoff brackets of 4? That would be quite exciting, although I don't know how the 5th and 6th best team in this tournament would feel about it.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Frater Taciturnus »

aestheteboy wrote:
DumbJaques wrote:For anyone who's interested, we'll actually be doing round robin prelim brackets of 4 and 6 playoff crossover rounds, because I know teams are interested in maximizing games against similarly-skilled opponents at this point in the year.
Do I see four brackets of 4 followed by double round-robin in four playoff brackets of 4? That would be quite exciting, although I don't know how the 5th and 6th best team in this tournament would feel about it.
This would also make a small seeding error into a huge discrepancy, as the 2nd best team could finish in 5th and be eliminated with one loss.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Ziggy Stardust »

Gonzaga A will most likely play without Dan (he's 99% sure he is stuck out of town on Saturday). Just a heads up in terms of seeding. And people study for AP tests now?
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by jonpin »

aestheteboy wrote:
DumbJaques wrote:For anyone who's interested, we'll actually be doing round robin prelim brackets of 4 and 6 playoff crossover rounds, because I know teams are interested in maximizing games against similarly-skilled opponents at this point in the year.
Do I see four brackets of 4 followed by double round-robin in four playoff brackets of 4? That would be quite exciting, although I don't know how the 5th and 6th best team in this tournament would feel about it.
Sounds more like 4x4, with top two and bottom two going to playoff brackets (6-game crossover). I think 2x8, followed by 4/4 splitting would work better (but be two more game); 3/3/2 splitting for playoffs would extend the length of the tournament by one game.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by DumbJaques »

It will be crossover games, not a playoff round robin, so you'll play the top/bottom two teams in each of the other prelim brackets during the playoffs, as you've already played the teams in your own bracket.

I'm all for unsolicited advice on how to bracket tournaments because god I suck at it, but unless your suggestion to extend the tournament by two rounds comes with the gift of two freelance packets, it's not going to happen.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Adventure Temple Trail »

I'm interested in the Saturday evening thing, should it happen.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by BroNi »

Kellenberg might in interested in the doubles side event....if it doesn't go too late.

I will bring a laptop if you still need it.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Down and out in Quintana Roo »

Just a reminder that i'm ready, willing, and able to be a moderator or something for this tournament, so please allow me to help out if you have even one open spot for that.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Jeaton1 »

Bro. Nigel, we would be thankful if you would be kind enough to lend us the laptop. Thanks in advance.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Adventure Temple Trail »

GDS beats Charter 320-270 in the final and wins the tournament with a 9-1 record.

Comments: Thanks to Maryland for writing and running a fun tournament. The harder-than-normal difficulty was a pleasant surprise, while the fluctuation between games (probably due to a late start on editing) wasn't expected. There were some blunders in answer selection (I'm pretty sure this isn't getting mirrored, so - "paradoxes" and a trash tossup on Flavor Flav's girlfriend "New York" come to mind as particularly bad), but overall the set was fun and games were competitive for the vast majority of the day.

(How) Are doubles going?
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Nine-Tenths Ideas »

RyuAqua wrote:GDS beats Charter 320-270 in the final and wins the tournament with a 9-1 record.

Comments: Thanks to Maryland for writing and running a fun tournament. The harder-than-normal difficulty was a pleasant surprise, while the fluctuation between games (probably due to a late start on editing) wasn't expected. There were some blunders in answer selection (I'm pretty sure this isn't getting mirrored, so - "paradoxes" and a trash tossup on Flavor Flav's girlfriend "New York" come to mind as particularly bad), but overall the set was fun and games were competitive for the vast majority of the day.

(How) Are doubles going?
Doubles did not happen. The other fellow on my two-man team points out that "New York" is the only thing he powered, thank-you-very much.
Yes, this was a very well-run tournament. I thought some bonuses were exceptionally difficult compared to other bonuses, while others were good hard clue, medium clue, easy clue bonuses. Overall, difficult questions, definitely.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Kouign Amann »

RyuAqua wrote:GDS beats Charter 320-270 in the final and wins the tournament with a 9-1 record.

Comments: Thanks to Maryland for writing and running a fun tournament. The harder-than-normal difficulty was a pleasant surprise, while the fluctuation between games (probably due to a late start on editing) wasn't expected. There were some blunders in answer selection (I'm pretty sure this isn't getting mirrored, so - "paradoxes" and a trash tossup on Flavor Flav's girlfriend "New York" come to mind as particularly bad), but overall the set was fun and games were competitive for the vast majority of the day.

(How) Are doubles going?
Doubles was cancelled due to half the field dropping. I'll echo what Matt said above: even though I was only there to judge the second half of it, I thought this tournament was well run and just challenging enough to be pretty cool to play. It wasn't insanely hard, but it certainly felt harder than normal. Some answers were poor choices, but they were few and far between. And this just may be me, but it seemed that in the beginning rounds of the playoff there was quite a lot of visual arts, but that seemed to change to a preponderance of music and opera towards the end of the day. Did anyone else feel this?
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by master15625 »

Don't know if this has been asked, but will the tournament's questions be posted?
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/10/09)

Post by Down and out in Quintana Roo »

Jeaton1 wrote:And yes for the record, this tournament will be aimed at high school level difficulty.
These were almost certainly the hardest questions we've seen all year. It's hard to say they were the usual "high school level difficulty," but you would have had a huge amount of frustrated teams if more showed up and if half weren't the Nationals-caliber teams that did show. A couple packets (the third and the ninth in particular) were out-and-out just too hard.

The variability on bonus questions was really pronounced at times, with several categories having easy-to-30 answers by almost any team in attendance, and others with at least two answers that i've never heard of anywhere. Again, the "hard" part should be something that a very very good team can get... not something that the editor of the packet thinks is just cool and wants to show off that he knows.

Also, the bonus answer for "Compton" was incorrect. It is indeed the "Compson" family in The Sound and the Fury as our player said. This was one of possibly 300 typos that i saw in these packets, but this one mattered a little more.

Also, i noticed that the trash questions and bonuses tended to partially ignore sports... save for one hockey bonus, one basketball bonus, one incredibly difficult European soccer bonus, a possible-sports question about Mick Foley (pro wrestling isn't a sport), and one or two more. But that's a minor gripe; perhaps we're just used to NAQT.

We had a deceptively successful day though, and i want to thank our good moderators and good teams that we played for a nice time (especially those great games with Centennial and Walt Whitman, nice job guys). A 2-7 record isn't good, but when you look at to whom we lost, i suppose it's really not that bad. I'm pleased with how we did.

See whomever at Nationals soon.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by aestheteboy »

Hey, I'd like to get in touch with someone from UMD ASAP concerning our buzzer system. If someone sees this, can you e-mail me at izumickk at hotmail.com, aim me at aestheteboy, or contact me somehow? Thanks.

I'll post more about my response to the tournament later.

EDIT: btw, for those of you who are interested, WJ was 7-2 and Hunter was 6-3 after the official games. We agreed to play an advantaged third place game while the final was going on, and Hunter won both half-games to end up one game ahead of WJ.
Last edited by aestheteboy on Sat May 02, 2009 7:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/10/09)

Post by Adventure Temple Trail »

Caesar Rodney HS wrote:
Jeaton1 wrote:Also, i noticed that the trash questions and bonuses tended to partially ignore sports... save for one hockey bonus, one basketball bonus, one incredibly difficult European soccer bonus, a possible-sports question about Mick Foley (pro wrestling isn't a sport), and one or two more. But that's a minor gripe; perhaps we're just used to NAQT.
Huh...I seem to remember there being a surprising amount of FOOTBALL.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by DumbJaques »

I'm glad people liked the set, mostly. Clearly, it could have used more work, and I wish that I was able to find time to work on more of the set than I did - I'm sure Jeremy feels the same. Writing a college tournament in January, doing the almost endless tournament march toward ACF Nationals (which were just last week), and this tournament occurring earlier than we had originally conceived all cut into the time spent on this set. I think it resulted in some problems (Matt very correctly identifies the tossup on "Paradoxes" as quite poor indeed), mainly a smattering of misplaced leadin clues, some bonus balancing, and a few poorly-conceived tossups. I don't think too many questions were geared to not reward knowledge, and I think the teams looking forward to nationals probably got some good prep in from this set, despite it's very clear issues.
Flavor Flav's girlfriend "New York" come to mind as particularly bad
Really? I'm sort of surprised that of all the tossups in this set that were clearly poorly executed, you'd identify this - is it just the answer selection? New York is (regrettably) a pretty recognizable recent tv figure, and I know it was powered in multiple rooms. She has a show on right now in addition to two recent I Love New York seasons - most of the question centered on these rather than Flavor of Love episodes, which you should realize took a great amount of personal strength because my roommate at ASU had that show on television CONSTANTLY, resulting in my ability to write that portion of the tossup from a memory I wish I could claw away from my soul. But really, this doesn't seem like a question you wouldn't encounter at HSNCT or something.
These were almost certainly the hardest questions we've seen all year. It's hard to say they were the usual "high school level difficulty," but you would have had a huge amount of frustrated teams if more showed up and if half weren't the Nationals-caliber teams that did show. A couple packets (the third and the ninth in particular) were out-and-out just too hard.
I'd be interested in seeing what you found to be "out-and-out" too hard. We tried to write this tournament at the hs level, though with the realization that it's May, nationals are in a few weeks, and teams don't have much use for the season's 30th tossup on Ethan Frome that begins by talking about a red pickle jar. I tried to solve this problem by asking a question on Edith Wharton that devoted a majority of the question to her none-ubiquitous works, but in some cases this approach is going to lead to harder tossups. I don't think this is a bad thing - some teams in the field who I know do no competitions beside the local tv show put up fine numbers at the event. My initial reaction to your comment is that, well, it's May - these SHOULD be the hardest questions you've seen all year, assuming your interest here was to prepare for nationals.
The variability on bonus questions was really pronounced at times, with several categories having easy-to-30 answers by almost any team in attendance, and others with at least two answers that i've never heard of anywhere. Again, the "hard" part should be something that a very very good team can get... not something that the editor of the packet thinks is just cool and wants to show off that he knows.
This is an obnoxious way to ruin a valid point by making it sound foolish; if you actually think anything like people trying to show off through third bonus parts was going on at this tournament, you're deluded. I know that the editors who worked on this set operated from the philosophy that third parts should be challenging and interesting, pushing even good teams but remaining accessible for those who know things about the subject. Editors missed this mark at times, but the idea that it was some kind of egotistically-driven crusade to screw out players is, again, silly.

Bonus variability was an issue at this tournament, but once again I think you're displaying the fact that you don't really understand these things here. I do not believe that many bonuses were of the free 30 for everyone variety - I think way too many were free 30s for pretty good teams, and more were free 20s for a lot of people. The primary problem with the bonus variability was on the other end, though - we were not successful at finding middle and hard parts which really differentiated between two good teams who each know a basic amount about a certain topic. Either these teams would both get a question or neither would, most of the time, even if one really did know more about the topic than the other, and that was the main problem. You're misguided if you're going to run your arguments from the premise that the (non-outlier) bonuses in this tournament had one or two parts on things that are crazy hard or not important. Forgive me if I find your metric of "I've never heard of two things in this bonus, so it's impossible" to be unconvincing - I know what I'm talking about when I astonishingly say "jesus, I've never heard of this bonus I've just read to you," but based on the things that reportedly prompted you to say that, it doesn't seem like you do. It's not like you can hope to to do well at nationals and be astonished that someone has heard of this Hokusai guy who came up in a bonus.
Also, the bonus answer for "Compton" was incorrect. It is indeed the "Compson" family in The Sound and the Fury as our player said. This was one of possibly 300 typos that i saw in these packets, but this one mattered a little more.
Yeah, this tournament had an unacceptable amount of typos, and I usually don't even care about that kind of thing. It had even more than you thought, because I caught a great deal on the fly in every round I read. We'll definitely be devoting more time to fixing this next year.
Also, i noticed that the trash questions and bonuses tended to partially ignore sports... save for one hockey bonus, one basketball bonus, one incredibly difficult European soccer bonus, a possible-sports question about Mick Foley (pro wrestling isn't a sport), and one or two more. But that's a minor gripe; perhaps we're just used to NAQT.
This tournament had something like 9/9 trash (not all the trash slots were used for trash, but most were). Assuming some kind of a breakdown where 75-85% of this is the big 4 from trash (music, tv, movies, sports), sports should be something like 3-4 questions, which it was (you also didn't hear a football tossup in the finals). I hardly found the trash at this tournament to be memorable, but I'm not sure what the complaint is here. If it's "there should be more then 1/1 trash each round so we can have more sports," well. . . no.

Really, Andrew does tangentially identify some issues with this set, but I'd be depressed if teams came away feeling like the central issue with the questions was that they were too hard, particularly if those teams are going to nationals - I would be blown away if either nationals could be described as noticeably easier across the board than this set.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Nine-Tenths Ideas »

I would also like to point out a minor annoyance in this set: the constant editorializing. In at least one tossup or bonus per game, a work was derided as "awful" or praised as "underrated," or having someone's favorite area to vacation helpfully pointed out. On trash questions it's not so bad, but on literature, where this mainly occurs, it quickly becomes irritating.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by DumbJaques »

I would also like to point out a minor annoyance in this set: the constant editorializing. In at least one tossup or bonus per game, a work was derided as "awful" or praised as "underrated," or having someone's favorite area to vacation helpfully pointed out. On trash questions it's not so bad, but on literature, where this mainly occurs, it quickly becomes irritating.
Yeah, a certain member of our team is just really prone to that and priority wasn't given to picking those things out. I excised the more indulgent passages of that sort when I read, and I apologize for their proliferation in the packet set - not noticing that his occurred in tossups was particularly egregious, and whoever ends up editing will make this a priority.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Adventure Temple Trail »

DumbJaques wrote:
Flavor Flav's girlfriend "New York" come to mind as particularly bad
Really? I'm sort of surprised that of all the tossups in this set that were clearly poorly executed, you'd identify this - is it just the answer selection? New York is (regrettably) a pretty recognizable recent tv figure, and I know it was powered in multiple rooms. She has a show on right now in addition to two recent I Love New York seasons - most of the question centered on these rather than Flavor of Love episodes, which you should realize took a great amount of personal strength because my roommate at ASU had that show on television CONSTANTLY, resulting in my ability to write that portion of the tossup from a memory I wish I could claw away from my soul. But really, this doesn't seem like a question you wouldn't encounter at HSNCT or something.
I suppose it was pyramidal and not a bad tossup per se; I was just confused about whether the answer was well-known after it went dead (and was very glad that it turned out not to be a tossup on Ann Coulter). Well, I take that back.

Will questions and stats be available soon?
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Self-incompatibility in plants »

Chris,

I think the issue that Mr. C expressed concern over was not for the sake of our team. We as a team felt the difficulty wasn't terribly unreasonable, and relished the opportunity to practice for our National competitions. However, roughly half of the teams there are not going to any such tournaments, which is what he was concerned about. It seems likely that in some rooms many questions would have gone unanswered, and in this arises his concern over the difficulty level.

In general though, I have to say that i did enjoy this tournament. It was well run, and the being able to play 9 games and still get home by 6:00 is really nice. I really enjoyed being in the top bracket and playing some of the top teams in the nation, and, regardless of our record, I think we did pretty well and held our own against some really good teams, Whitman and Centennial in particular. So, overall, minus the issues that have already been raised, this was a pretty good tournament, thanks.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Self-incompatibility in plants »

I suppose it was pyramidal and not a bad tossup per se; I was just confused about whether the answer was well-known after it went dead (and was very glad that it turned out not to be a tossup on Ann Coulter). Well, I take that back.
I'm glad I was not the only thinking it might be the Coulter!!! Also, I've never heard of her before either, but then again, I would not consider my self to be well informed about modern pop-culture figures, so I don't know.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by at your pleasure »

I didn't find that the questions were too hard, but the set did have a bit of an odd flavor, probably because of the difficulty fluctuations.
Also, could someone post the Giotto tossup?
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Jeaton1 »

I hope everyone enjoyed the tournament yesterday. Yes, the questions were tweaked a little bit on the harder side; however, I think it was balanced by enough easier question so that all teams could have answered them at least by the giveaway. I'd like to apologize for the excessive repeats and typos -- something that could have easily been fixed I had more time -- I'll make sure to put this higher on the priorities list for future tournaments.

I'd also like to thank all of the coaches and players who came down for the event as well as those who helped to moderate or supply laptops.

Stats are posted here: http://results.scobo.net/SQBS.aspx?org= ... =standings
They would have been up earlier last night -- but I fell asleep in the middle of entering Round 2.

I'll try and get in contact with Christian Carter to get him to post the set early on this week.

Thanks again for making by first time as chief editor a mostly successful one.

P.S. -- Here's that Giotto tossup:
4) Late in life, this artist began a series of experiments in color that can be seen in his work in the Peruzzi and Bardi Chapels. He painted Homage of a Simple Man in the St. Francis Church in Assisi. Another painting by this artist depicts Jesus below chapel windows and before throngs of angels as he casts the wicked to hell. Perhaps his most famous work is a depiction of the virgin Mary with child before angels, similar to his master's. For 10 points, name this student of Cimabue who depicted the Last Judgement and Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints in a Scrovegni family building in Padua, the Arena Chapel.
ANSWER: Giotto de Bondone
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by master15625 »

Wow, that is a great tossup. It provides great information on Giotto and has very good details regarding him too. Awesome.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by BroNi »

Because the Stats alone could be misleading...

The tourney started out with 4 brackets of 4 teams. After round 3, brackets results were as follows...

Bracket LD
1. Hunter (3-0)
2. Kellenberg (2-1)
3. Pikesville (1-2)
4. Gonzaga A (0-3)
Bracket GH
1. W. Johnson (3-0)
2. C. Rodney (2-1)
3. St. Anselm's (1-2)
4. Churchill B (0-3)
Bracket DK
1. Charter A (3-0)
2. Centennial (2-1)
3. Blake (1-2)
4. GDSB/Howard (0-3)
Bracket NS
1. Whitman (3-0)
2. GDS A (2-1)
3. Mt. Vernon (1-2)
4. Gonzaga B (0-3)

For the remainder of the 6 games, all the #1 and #2 ranked teams played each other, while the #3 and #4 faced off. As mentioned earlier, a 10th game was played for the championship and for 3rd and 4th.

Final Ranking, IMO
1. GDS A
2. Charter A
3. Hunter
4. W. Johnson
5. Whitman
6. Centennial
7. Kellenberg
8. C. Rodney
9. St. Anselm's
10. Pikesville
11. Gonzaga A
12. Blake
13. GDSB/Howard
14. Mt. Vernon
15. Gonzaga B
16. Churchill B

Remember a number of teams did not have their full complement.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Down and out in Quintana Roo »

Jeaton1 wrote:Stats are posted here: http://results.scobo.net/SQBS.aspx?org= ... =standings
Doesn't matter much... but, naturally, our school name is spelled wrong in the stats.

As for my original post, it was somewhat of a knee-jerk reaction to the day, but i still stand by most of my points.

I will point out the "too hard" packets/questions once they are posted.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Mechanical Beasts »

Unless there were really 24 tossups in the Hunter v. Caesar Rodney packet, Hunter couldn't have gone 5-8-11. My guess is that Guy's nine negs should really be zero.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Down and out in Quintana Roo »

I had no idea what Chris was doing while reading/scorekeeping the two rounds we played in his room. They were the two rounds that took the longest to play of our day. He often missed announcing whether a question earned a 15 or 10 (unless it was obvious) and on both games, the score that i kept was different from his. But i decided not to argue, considering that it pretty much didn't matter.

So, yeah, it was just your regular old 20-question round. I believe they had one neg, or at least, that would make more sense (considering we got 6 TUs and they got 13 i believe).
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Mechanical Beasts »

Two negs makes the most sense, unless one of Guy's teammates was also entered incorrectly that round (and in a less likely way).
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Sir Thopas »

Caesar Rodney HS wrote:
Jeaton1 wrote:Stats are posted here: http://results.scobo.net/SQBS.aspx?org= ... =standings
Doesn't matter much... but, naturally, our school name is spelled wrong in the stats.
Yeah, come on Jeremy, everyone knows it's spelled "Wolpert".

On that note, York's name is spelled as Yorn, not Jørn, as it should be.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Sir Thopas »

everyday847 wrote:Two negs makes the most sense, unless one of Guy's teammates was also entered incorrectly that round (and in a less likely way).
For that round I had:
Guy 3/6/2
Maggie 1/2/0
Lily 1/0/1
York 0/0/0

Final score 395-175.
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by Mechanical Beasts »

Five powers, three negs means +10. Did you get 15 or 25 on some bonus?
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Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Maryland Spring Invitational (5/2/09)

Post by at your pleasure »

I'm not that happy with the Giotto tossup. First of all, I would be wary of citing the Assisi frescos in a tossup on his work, since their authorship is heavily contested and a lot of other artists worked there. The other problematic clues are in the giveway. There's no Madonna and Child in the Arena chapel(the Ogissanti Madonna, the one I assume you are describing, was painted for a Florentine church and is in the Uffizi) and the Lamentation,not the Last Judgement, is probably the best-known fresco there. Also, while it's good to describe works, the discriptions in this question could apply to many, many other works. In general, try to find things that distinguish a painting from other depictions of the same subject( For instance, a clue on the Ogissanti madonna should single out the architectural canopy, which is fairly novel).
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