CAT V - Chatham, NJ - May 14, 2011

ChathamNJ · Post by **ChathamNJ** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 12:29 pm

Chatham High School will host its fifth annual tournament using NAQT sets IS-102 (Premier and Main Divisions) and Speed Check 30 (Freshman Division) . For details and a registration form, please email my colleague Nicole Avery at naveryATchathamHYPHENnjDOTorg.

The field so far:
Premier Division (14)
Bergen
Bloomfield A
Columbia A
Demarest A
East Brunswick A
Great Neck South A
Kellenberg A
Livingston A
Millburn A
North Babylon A
Pingry A
Seton Hall Prep
South Plainfield
St. Joseph A

Main Division (36)
Ardsley
Bloomfield B
Bloomfield C
Colonia
Columbia B
Delbarton
Demarest B
East Brunswick B
Glen Rock A
Glen Rock B
Governor Livingston A
Governor Livingston B
Great Neck South B
Indian Hills A
Indian Hills B
JFK A
JFK B
Jonathan Dayton A
Jonathan Dayton B
Kellenberg B
Kings Park A
Kings Park B
Livingston B (provisional Premier)
Livingston C
MAST B
Middletown North
Millburn B
Morristown-Beard
Mother Seton
North Babylon B
Phillipsburg A
Phillipsburg B
Pingry B
Pingry C
Secaucus
St. Joseph B

Freshman Division (11)
Brother Fox Latin
Eastern Christian
Great Neck South
Kellenberg
Kings Park
MAST
North Babylon
Phillipsburg
Pingry
Seton Hall Prep
St. Joseph

Edward Powers · Post by **Edward Powers** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 3:22 pm

Steve,

i was wondering when you were going to post an announcement. We will of course formally register ASAP, but we will also "register" here as well, since this is always one of our favorite tournaments of the year due to your efforts to divide teams as you do, creating a Premier Division, a Main Division and a Freshman one as well. So put St. Joe's A down for your Premier Division, St. Joe's B for your Main Division and St. Joe's Frosh for your Freshman Tournament.

Down and out in Quintana Roo · Thu Apr 14, 2011 6:20 pm

Edward Powers wrote:Steve,

i was wondering when you were going to post an announcement. We will of course formally register ASAP, but we will also "register" here as well, since this is always one of our favorite tournaments of the year due to your efforts to divide teams as you do, creating a Premier Division, a Main Division and a Freshman one as well. So put St. Joe's A down for your Premier Division, St. Joe's B for your Main Division and St. Joe's Frosh for your Freshman Tournament.

I guess this means you're officially not coming to Rider Bowl then?

Edward Powers · Post by **Edward Powers** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 9:00 pm

Sorry Coach---we've developed a tradition of going to Chatham's CAT at the end of the year; my Freshmen especially look forward to it because it is the only tournament of the year where Frosh play Frosh. I wish we could go to both, but a secondary consideration is bus costs, and because we are going to the NHBB we have taxed our budget to the limit.

Naturally you know we wish you well, for your tournament last year was first class all the way and we are sure it will be so again.

gnshsqb · Post by **gnshsqb** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 12:40 am

Great Neck South will most likely be attending, with probably two teams, one main and one premiere division.

I would like to ask, though, if only freshmen (or just novices in general) are eligible for speed check and how main and premiere divisions are split up.

Looking forward to it, we had a great time last year!

ChathamNJ · Post by **ChathamNJ** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 1:09 pm

gnshsqb wrote:Great Neck South will most likely be attending, with probably two teams, one main and one premiere division.

Sounds great! Please do fill out the registration form (email is fine) so we have a consistent record for each team.

I would like to ask, though, if only freshmen (or just novices in general) are eligible for speed check and how main and premiere divisions are split up.

Looking forward to it, we had a great time last year!

For the speed check, it is freshmen only (but experienced frosh are welcome to compete in the other divisions). The question of who's a novice and who isn't is very difficult to answer cleanly, so we ask that only 9th grade or younger enter in that division.

The main and premier divisions are each split into round-robin groups for the prelims. All premier teams and some of the main teams (last year it was the top 2 in each group plus ties, likely to be the same this year) qualify for the combined playoffs. The playoffs are single-elim - I do understand that's considered less than ideal by many, but it's necessary in order to allow the premier division prelims and end at a reasonable time.

BroNi · Post by **BroNi** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 3:25 pm

Kellenberg will bring 3 teams....one for each division.

urbanpf · Post by **urbanpf** » Fri Apr 22, 2011 10:06 pm

Steve,

Millburn will be there - One team in Premier division & one in Main; two buzzers, too. Will fill out
& return registration form ASAP!

Peter

ChathamNJ · Post by **ChathamNJ** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 1:05 pm

The field is updated above - coming along quite nicely!

Br. Nigel and Peter -- I've added you to the field since you're both very reliable, but please do send in the form when you can so we have consistent records. Thanks!

Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill · Thu Apr 28, 2011 7:10 pm

Quick question: will you be taking individual stats this year? I remember a few people being annoyed about that not being done last year.

ChathamNJ · Post by **ChathamNJ** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 8:23 pm

rpond wrote:Quick question: will you be taking individual stats this year? I remember a few people being annoyed about that not being done last year.

This depends on the number of volunteers we have on hand. I agree that individual stats are fun to look at, but given the number of games per round that must be entered correctly we're likely to go with a simplified scoresheet again. Getting the last round of ~25 games into SQBS and producing the playoff pairings efficiently during lunch is a higher priority than individual stats. For this, it's vital that we don't get the scoresheets backed up - in a perfect world I'd have experienced scorekeepers in every game room or even a couple people in the stat room cleaning up the scoresheets for lightning-quick entry - but if staff is limited then I will allocate them to promote smooth tournament flow as a first priority.

A couple years ago we offered to post-enter individual stats if teams wished to give us their numbers. Only one team did this.

I hope this doesn't sound flippant, but IMHO the positive feedback I've received (off-board) about our efficiency far outweighs a couple gripes on hsqb. And I'm not willing to risk big delays for the sake of individual stats. If we have extra hands, then yes, but otherwise no.

AKKOLADE · Post by **AKKOLADE** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 12:25 am

ChathamNJ wrote:Speed Check 30 (Freshman Division)

If I may ask a question, with the assumption that the goal of the freshman division is to help players develop: wouldn't it help them better develop if they played something resembling full length questions?

Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill · Fri Apr 29, 2011 1:15 am

Alright, that's understandable. I'm planning on coming to moderate, anyhow.
Also, I don't like the idea of using speed checks either, but I at least don't think it's particularly world-ending. At the very least it exposes new players to the quiz bowl canon.

ChathamNJ · Post by **ChathamNJ** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 2:47 pm

Fred wrote:If I may ask a question, with the assumption that the goal of the freshman division is to help players develop: wouldn't it help them better develop if they played something resembling full length questions?

That's a fair point - I believe the difference lies in your premise. The goal isn't so much to help players develop but to give new players a chance to have fun competing about who knows stuff. Quiz-bowl lite, if you will. If they like it, they'll have to play with the big boys and girls next year and can do their developing during practice.

Of the teams that have entered, none have had serious objections but a few have commented on the question length - I think that if a novice or even middle school pyramidal set is available for next May I will definitely look into making that change. (I am aware of NAQT A-sets, but IMHO the benefit of Speed Check is that if we're using any HS set, there will be questions that are over the freshmen's heads; with 60 short questions they can move on to the next, hopefully accessible, question. With an A-set that property disappears. Now a pyramidal set expressly designed to be accessible to freshmen would be another story entirely!)

Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill · Fri Apr 29, 2011 5:57 pm

ChathamNJ wrote:Now a pyramidal set expressly designed to be accessible to freshmen would be another story entirely!

There are pyramidal tournaments written specifically for freshmen and sophomores. The only problem is they're mainly written in the fall.

ChathamNJ · Post by **ChathamNJ** » Mon May 02, 2011 10:02 pm

Bump -- the field is updated above.

SHP Pirate · Post by **SHP Pirate** » Tue May 03, 2011 11:43 am

SHP will be there. One "premier" division and one "freshman" division. Hard copy of registration to follow. (If I can add teams by Monday, I will do so.)

Three buzzers and one moderator.

- MTZ

ChathamNJ · Post by **ChathamNJ** » Thu May 05, 2011 9:20 am

The field is updated above - if any schools wish to change their number or designation of teams, please do so as soon as possible.

Since the registration deadline was yesterday, we're going to put any additional teams on provisional status based on the numbers in each division. Ideally we'd have multiples of 6, so there's still room but no guarantee.

Great Neck South - all I have from you so far is a "most likely", so you're not listed in the field update. Please confirm ASAP and send in your registration form and I'll be happy to add you to the list.

Millburn and Seton Hall Prep - you're listed because your responses in the thread were more definite - but please send in the form to make it official.

It looks like a record size for CAT, and I believe it'll be the largest buzzer-based tournament in NJ this year. Thanks to all for your support!

Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill · Thu May 05, 2011 11:07 am

ChathamNJ wrote:Ardsley

This is a pretty powerful statement if this is their legit team. White Plains' annual season-ender is held on the same day...

Down and out in Quintana Roo · Thu May 05, 2011 12:06 pm

How you can recruit this many teams is something i guess i just haven't figured out how to do yet. On the same day, we have about 10 teams coming down our way for our tournament.

Best of luck to all teams.

Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill · Thu May 05, 2011 1:55 pm

It helps that there's a pretty high density of teams in the Tri-state area.

ryanrosenberg · Post by **ryanrosenberg** » Thu May 05, 2011 5:50 pm

rpond wrote:
ChathamNJ wrote:Ardsley
This is a pretty powerful statement if this is their legit team. White Plains' annual season-ender is held on the same day...

It is shaping up to be our actual A team. However, White Plains pushed OMAR back a week, which is the only reason I could convince people to go to this.

Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill · Thu May 05, 2011 6:52 pm

Ah, cool. The only source I had for the date was a schedule written up by someone at Horace Greeley a few months ago.
Welcome to hsqb!

ryanrosenberg · Post by **ryanrosenberg** » Thu May 05, 2011 7:37 pm

Thank you!

Yeah, White Plains is pretty bad at keeping a date (and finding a decent question provider, but that's another story), but it turned out well. I'm excited to get the team to a non

tournament, basically because I can't take non-pyramidal questions and the antics of Les Roby anymore.

WSchneider · Post by **WSchneider** » Thu May 05, 2011 7:40 pm

ryanr345 wrote: I can't take non-pyramidal questions (...) anymore.

Congratulations, welcome to quiz bowl!

ChathamNJ · Post by **ChathamNJ** » Fri May 06, 2011 3:21 pm

Field is updated again - Bergen and Great Neck South, please give us a firm number of teams at the earliest possible opportunity.

Andrew - there are a few factors that I believe have helped us draw such a large field; unfortunately I don't know if they can transfer to other locations. Without a doubt, one is the large number of high schools in a small geographic area. And most of these are very good academically, meaning they can throw together a team of four smart kids without needing a dedicated club to practice hard.

Another factor is that we've been able to tap into the already-existing circuit of Jeopardy-style tournaments in the region. Our students, Mrs. Avery, and I are ambassadors for CAT - always talking up our tournament and being as friendly as we can so these schools won't be afraid of the buzzers. There are several schools at CAT that will only go to a couple tournaments a year, but that includes CAT. We've built our email list of coaches by pasting from everyone else's list - the teams are already out there though very few are on this board.

Additionally, we now have continuity on our side. For five years in a row we've hosted on the Saturday after AP exams end. That's a big help. I think we've done a good job at running the tournament efficiently (still making improvements, though - some visible, some not) so people know to save the date.

Another help is naqt.com. We always get a couple cold contacts in the winter saying "I saw your tournament listed on naqt.com; could you please send us information?" There's nothing wrong with questions from HSAPQ or good mirror sources, but the market penetration of NAQT certainly helps our publicity efforts.

But I think the biggest factor in our field this year is dumb luck. The forms have just been rolling in!

Good luck to you - small or large, the important thing is that the teams that attend are glad they attended. And on a personal note, I look forward to hearing you read more questions!

Down and out in Quintana Roo · Fri May 06, 2011 4:15 pm

Thanks for your kind words. We'll be alright but it's just the money-raising issue that we have troubles with. We don't get anything from our school so every little bit helps.

I do want to point something out...

ChathamNJ wrote:For five years in a row we've hosted on the Saturday after AP exams end. That's a big help.

We originally scheduled our tournament for April 16th as you may be aware, but had to change it largely because of the National History Bowl that almost nobody expected to be as popular when we first picked our date back in December. So we moved it to the only reasonable alternative, May 14th. Several schools, in fact, have told me that our tournament on this new date actually prevented them from attending, and that having our on the day after AP exams made their kids not want to attend. At least 5 or 6 schools replied in a message that this was the case. Why is this different in your area?

felix · Post by **felix** » Sat May 07, 2011 4:10 pm

Great Neck South would like to bring one premier team, one main division team, and one freshman team. Our coach will send you the registration forms.

ChathamNJ · Post by **ChathamNJ** » Tue May 10, 2011 3:05 pm

Carangoides ciliarius wrote:Several schools, in fact, have told me that our tournament on this new date actually prevented them from attending, and that having our on the day after AP exams made their kids not want to attend. At least 5 or 6 schools replied in a message that this was the case. Why is this different in your area?

Good question. Are you far enough south that school ends in late May/early June rather than mid-late June like it does up here? That might be a difference - we don't have graduation or prom (in most cases) to compete with. But I don't know.

At any rate, good luck Saturday!

ChathamNJ · Post by **ChathamNJ** » Tue May 10, 2011 3:24 pm

The field is updated above.

We are now closed EXCEPT for the freshman division - any team wishing to add a FREE freshman team, please email naveryATchathamHYPHENnjDOTorg. First team to commit gets the spot, but please don't claim it unless you are absolutely sure you'll field the extra team.

Down and out in Quintana Roo · Tue May 10, 2011 3:26 pm

ChathamNJ wrote:
Carangoides ciliarius wrote:Several schools, in fact, have told me that our tournament on this new date actually prevented them from attending, and that having our on the day after AP exams made their kids not want to attend. At least 5 or 6 schools replied in a message that this was the case. Why is this different in your area?
Good question. Are you far enough south that school ends in late May/early June rather than mid-late June like it does up here? That might be a difference - we don't have graduation or prom (in most cases) to compete with. But I don't know.

At any rate, good luck Saturday!

No, our school year ends June 15th; most Delaware schools are around the same time.

We're now down to 9 teams, total, coming to our tournament. Hope yours goes a lot better than ours!

IndyA · Post by **IndyA** » Tue May 10, 2011 6:28 pm

Is it too late to register? My school team would like to enter but would like to know if we still can. Thanks.

User was reminded to add a signature --Mgmt.

ChathamNJ · Post by **ChathamNJ** » Tue May 10, 2011 8:03 pm

Whoever you are, IndyA - we may have a spot opening up. Please send an email to the address listed above if you are able to commit.

Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill · Sat May 14, 2011 6:15 pm

I just got back from this tournament with Kings Park, the A team of which got the bottom slot in the play-in round (28 teams: the 14 in the Premier division plus the top 2 from each Main bracket including ties) and got knocked out by Seton Hall A. Kellenberg A had the number 1 seed after prelims, and Livingston B (or was it East Brunswick B?) led the main division. Eastern Christian and North Babylon won the two freshman brackets.
It seems the predominant issues with this tournament were that a few moderators just plain didn't pay attention to the rules at the beginning, and a couple of buzzers didn't function. In more minor issues, the bracketing was fairly inconsistent, though given how a lot of the field didn't have many easily found stats (particularly Ardsley) I can't blame them for that. I think that for the freshman division (though I did not read for it), 15 seconds for every question, followed by 15 seconds for each bonus AND an additional 15 seconds on bounceback may have been a little excessive. Other that that, it was a nicely run tournament, and I enjoyed my first experience as moderator.

ryanrosenberg · Post by **ryanrosenberg** » Sat May 14, 2011 6:27 pm

I think our bracketing was decent actually--our bracket was well balanced. If anyone's interested, that wasn't our full A team; our second highest scorer wasn't there. I thought the tournament was overall well run, but I agree that there were pretty dramatic inconsistencies in moderator speed. The seemingly endless lunch break also didn't help. Overall, though, the team had a great time, and hopefully we'll be here again next year.

ChathamNJ · Post by **ChathamNJ** » Sat May 14, 2011 9:28 pm

Quick results: St. Joe's topped Kellenberg in the finals. Other semifinalists were Millburn and Seton Hall Prep. East Brunswick A & B, North Babylon, and Bergen rounded out the final 8.

Results are at http://results.scobo.net/SQBS.aspx?org= ... =standings as they were posted live during the tournament, but there are some obvious stat errors that will be corrected soon.

Feedback is encouraged - if you'd like to let us know about specific moderators via email, I would like to know. I agree that lunch took way too long and is the #1 concern for what we need to improve in the future. Splitting the stats into multiple files to allow for >1 stat guy is going to happen, we'll see what else we can put into place to make stat entry, double checking, and playoff prep more efficient. It was not good, pure and simple.

Bracketing the main division was really a crap shoot, as there were so many B and C teams it was impossible to predict who'd show up. We went with random brackets, then made a few adjustments for groups that looked too tough or too weak. Same with the frosh - I was actually worried that Pingry, SHP, and St. Joe's frosh were too much in one bracket but that turned out to be the wrong concern.

More in a few days...

Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill · Sat May 14, 2011 9:39 pm

ryanr345 wrote:I think our bracketing was decent actually--our bracket was well balanced. If anyone's interested, that wasn't our full A team; our second highest scorer wasn't there. I thought the tournament was overall well run, but I agree that there were pretty dramatic inconsistencies in moderator speed. The seemingly endless lunch break also didn't help. Overall, though, the team had a great time, and hopefully we'll be here again next year.

Your PPG ended up higher than every team in the main division except two. One of those two was in your own bracket. Personally if I was in that position I'd be a little annoyed.

Down and out in Quintana Roo · Sat May 14, 2011 9:44 pm

I honestly do not understand what is going on with these PPB numbers at all.

Congrats to St. Joseph's and Kellenberg. Hopefully next, our tournaments won't coincide and you can attend both!

Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill · Sat May 14, 2011 9:53 pm

The freshman division was held on speed checks with bounceback bonuses, and it looks like most of the matches did not have the number of bonuses recorded. There are a few matches in the main and premier divisions that have bonus scores ending in 5, but that isn't much of a problem.

ryanrosenberg · Post by **ryanrosenberg** » Sat May 14, 2011 10:32 pm

rpond wrote: Your PPG ended up higher than every team in the main division except two. One of those two was in your own bracket. Personally if I was in that position I'd be a little annoyed.

I guess, and getting one of those cups would have been cool. But for the crapshoot that it was, it wasn't disastrous.

I honestly do not understand what is going on with these PPB numbers at all.

Some matches are entered oddly. Our match against Pingry C is reported as us having scored 290 points without getting a single tossup or hearing a single bonus--obviously this throws off overall stats. Hopefully the scoresheets are intact and it's a fixable problem.

Edward Powers · Post by **Edward Powers** » Sat May 14, 2011 10:34 pm

It seems that for some teams the PPB stats are skewed because in some matches teams were given a 0-0-0 stat for 15's, 10's and Neg 5's, so the SQBS makes up for this loss of points there by erroneously placing them in the Bonus Points Column.

For example, in our match with Great Neck South, this stat of 0-0-0 is given to St. Joe's. But we went 5-5-2 in that match, earning 115 TU points and therefore only 220 bonus points in that match, reducing our overall total for all matches in the tournament from 2775 to 2660. Additionally, the 10 extra Bonus Opportunities in this match means we must divide our 2660 Bonus Points by 124 Bonuses Heard, not by he 114 number which currently exists. If my math is correct, this brings our PPB down from 24+ PPB to 21+ PPB.

If you look at Kellenberg's stat line, it too has a 0-0-0 line in one of its matches, and in the match it defeated my SJHS squad, it was given credit for only 5 TU's when it had 11 or 12 ( I do not have a stat sheet for that game but the missing TU's might all be 15's as well). But if the TU columns are corrected in these and other matches where similar errors might have occurred, I believe the PPB stat will be corrected and thus make more sense.

EDIT: And thanks for the well-wishes, Coach Chryz, and, of course, I trust you know that we missed your tournament this year but we would love to go your CRRB III next year. Hopefully the scheduling gods will help with this in 2011-2012.

ChathamNJ · Post by **ChathamNJ** » Sat May 14, 2011 10:36 pm

PPB numbers are very screwy - as the day went on, our stat guy was told by me to emphasize speed in getting those scores in and if the stats weren't right, they could be fixed later. Teams caught a few W-L errors before we had an official playoff bracket, which helped. As I mentioned, there are some obvious problems in the PPB numbers, especially if you look at the games played. That will be fixed, but not today and not tomorrow.

dtaylor4 · Post by **dtaylor4** » Sat May 14, 2011 10:56 pm

ChathamNJ wrote:PPB numbers are very screwy - as the day went on, our stat guy was told by me to emphasize speed in getting those scores in and if the stats weren't right, they could be fixed later. Teams caught a few W-L errors before we had an official playoff bracket, which helped. As I mentioned, there are some obvious problems in the PPB numbers, especially if you look at the games played. That will be fixed, but not today and not tomorrow.

With sixty teams, would it not help to have one person per division entering stats into SQBS? It is nigh impossible for a single person to enter 30 games into SQBS in the space of a single round with any semblance of consistency and accuracy.

BroNi · Post by **BroNi** » Sun May 15, 2011 7:40 am

Here are the corrections for Kellenberg A, if needed.
Kellenberg A 430 v. Livingston A 190: we got 5 powers, not 4 - so BHrd is 13 and P/B is 21.54
Kellenberg A 505 v. E. Brunswick A 120: Stat line is 8-7-1, not 0-0-0 - BHrd is 15, P/B is 21.33
Kellenberg A 405 v. St. Joseph A 280: 6 powers, not 0 - BHrd is 11, P/B is 24.54 (St. Joe's Stat line was 2-7-2)
bringing our final stats to 53-66-18 (5.3 powers/game), BHrd 119, P/B 21.60

Math TU's and Bonuses were used.
We were slightly undermanned with 2 players on A.

And congrats to St. Joe's, who on any given set of questions, has played us neck and neck all year long!

Edit: Fixed some labeling

BroNi · Post by **BroNi** » Sun May 15, 2011 7:59 am

....and for those interested, here is how the single elimination playoffs went....

1 St. Joe A. d. 16 Demarest A
2 Kellenberg A d. 15 Livingston C
3 Bergen A d. 14 Pingry A
4 Millburn A d. 13 Delbarton
12 N Babylon A d. 5 MAST B
6 Seton Hall A d. 11 Millburn B
7 E Brunswick A d. 10 GNS A
9 E Brunswick B d. 8 Livingston A

1 St. Joe A d. 9 E Brunswick B
2 Kellenberg A d. E Brunswick A
6 Seton Hall A d. 3 Bergen A
4 Millburn A d. N Babylon A

1 St. Joe A d. 4 Millburn A
2 Kellenberg A d. Seton Hall A

1 St. Joe d. 2 Kellenberg A

Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill · Wed May 18, 2011 1:37 pm

Another thing I'd like to bring up: based on South Plainfield's abysmal performance (having a total score of 150 with a PPB of about 3), I think there should be some kind of requirement to register for the Premier division. It doesn't have to be much, just something to keep wholly unprepared teams out of the division.

ChathamNJ · Post by **ChathamNJ** » Wed May 18, 2011 4:02 pm

Stats have been updated at http://results.scobo.net/Chatham - please let me know if you catch any more errors. As has been discussed, the main problems were that as we rushed, some games got a 0-0-0 scoreline which had the effect of more bonus points and fewer bonus opportunities. Some errors were on the sheets themselves; if the scorekeeper filled out the totals incorrectly or a six looked like a zero, that error made its way into the file but should be correct now.

Frosh division stats have been zapped for now - because the questions weren't specifically designated as tossup or bonus, it's a lot more difficult to get those right. That will be a longer term project.

To address some of the other comments:

dtaylor4 wrote: With sixty teams, would it not help to have one person per division entering stats into SQBS? It is nigh impossible for a single person to enter 30 games into SQBS in the space of a single round with any semblance of consistency and accuracy.

You're absolutely right, and that's the first structural change we'll make for next year. We lost many of our members to a music department trip to Gettysburg/Hershey, and chose to put as many as we could in the game rooms. Alas, the one guy we had entering stats proved to be a mere mortal; he did yeoman's work but it's not a job for one. So we will be splitting the job next year if our field is anywhere close to this, and that will hopefully allow for individual stats as well.

rpond wrote:I think there should be some kind of requirement to register for the Premier division. It doesn't have to be much, just something to keep wholly unprepared teams out of the division.

This is something we considered, but the question becomes one of where to draw that line and there's no easy answer. So self-selection was our answer in the past, then of course it depends on the coaches and teams to decide whether they're ready for battle or not. We did give teams the opportunity to change divisions after seeing the field.

On the other hand, top teams entering the Premier Division have a right to expect as many top-notch opponents as possible - after all, that's why they made that choice. We did keep this in mind, and set up the schedule so that no team had both of the (in our judgment) two least talented opponents.