Mid-Atlantic Season Opener (9/15/07)

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Mid-Atlantic Season Opener (9/15/07)

Post by Kechara »

As a reminder, since the registration deadline is coming soon....

Academic Initiative is pleased to announce the 2007 Mid-Atlantic Season Opener, a high school quiz bowl tournament to be held on Saturday, September 15, 2007, at Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville, Maryland.

This tournament will follow the game format used on the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore area television show It's Academic as closely as is reasonably possible. Each game will feature two teams competing against each other and will consist of 5 rounds:

Round 1: 8 tossup questions, all related to a common topic (such as the 19th century), worth 10 points each
Round 2: 5 team questions for each team worth 20 points each
Round 3: 8 tossup questions, all based on accompanying visuals, worth 10 points each
Round 4: 8 team questions for each team worth 20 points each (25 point bonus for all 8 correct)
Round 5: 15 tossup questions worth 20 or 30 points each
All of the questions for this tournament are written and edited by Academic Initiative, and each school competing in the event will receive a free electronic copy of all of the questions used following the tournament. For teams not competing in this tournament, the questions will be available for purchase from our website.

The tournament entry fee structure is as follows:

Base entry fee: $50 per team
Buzzer system discount: $10 per fully functional buzzer system
Minimum entry fee: $0
Other discounts may apply to schools designated under Title I. All payments by check should be made payable to Academic Initiative.

Capacity for this tournament is limited to the first 48 teams to register, and as such, it is anticipated that each team will receive between 5 and 7 preliminary matches with the top 16 teams advancing to the playoff rounds in the afternoon. As this event is particularly designed to help prepare teams who have early taping dates for the 2007-08 It's Academic season, we would like to accomodate as many different schools as possible. Therefore, a maximum of two teams from each school will be accepted into the tournament field. Any teams beyond that number will be placed on a waiting list and will only be added to the field if there is available space after the registration deadline of September 8.

If you are interested in registering for this tournament, there are several options available to you:

Completing the online registration form at http://www.aiquizbowl.com (most recommended method)
E-mailing the tournament director, Jessie Bykowski, at [email protected]
Contacting Academic Initiative by phone at (301) 379-1570
Returning the registration form sent by mail to:
Academic Initiative
9106-B Town and Country Boulevard
Ellicott City, Maryland 21043

We look forward to seeing you on September 15!

Sincerely,
Jessie Bykowski
Vice-President for Recruiting, Academic Initiative
Tournament Director, 2007 Mid-Atlantic Season Opener
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Post by Howard »

I'm getting ready to do permission slips and make plans, and since this is a new tournament, I don't have any historical knowledge of a typical start time. Have you established a time for at-site check-in?
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Post by NoahMinkCHS »

Why does this thread get "Announcement" status?
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Post by Kechara »

Howard wrote: Have you established a time for at-site check-in?
Registration will begin at 8, team meeting at 8:45, Round 1 will begin at 9.
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Post by Kechara »

NoahMinkCHS wrote:Why does this thread get "Announcement" status?
Because I apparently don't spend enough time on here or know enough about this type of message board. My mind, in its infinite (lack of) wisdom, goes "it asks me what I'm posting. well, it is an announcement..." PACE may run this board, but there's a very good reason I'm not one of the moderators!
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Post by gonzagaeagleahy »

Whichever Bykowski may so respond, Father is earnestly expecting an e-mail from either of you and wanted me to post asking one of you to email him about more information for the tournament. [sigh] His email is [email protected]
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Post by Kechara »

gonzagaeagleahy wrote:Whichever Bykowski may so respond, Father is earnestly expecting an e-mail from either of you and wanted me to post asking one of you to email him about more information for the tournament. [sigh]
Yeah, some people get antsy like that. :roll: The email went out to all the coaches coming last night.
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Post by Byko »

Here is the current field for this weekend's tournament:

Blake
Calvert Hall
Centennial x2
Charter
Georgetown Day x2
Gonzaga
Hammond
Howard
Kellenberg x2
Langley
Perryville x2
Richard Montgomery x2
Seton Hall
Springbrook
Walt Whitman x2
Walter Johnson x2

Total: 23

We'd like to have 24 teams, so if there is anybody already registered who wants to bring another team at NO cost, send me an e-mail to dbykowski AT aiquizbowl.com. It's first come first served, so the first person to get in wins.

That's it for now. Final updates have been e-mailed out to all of the coaches, though if you have any questions, please e-mail or call me. We look forward to seeing you on Saturday!
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Post by Howard »

I'm currently expecting five students, but a sixth may show. If so, we'd even prefer to break into two teams of three if you'd allow.

Also, would you be willing to give me the official contact for Hammond? Their website currently lists no coach. Please don't post it here for spambots, however. You can e-mail to howitsac at hotmaildotspamtrapcom.
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Post by aestheteboy »

which charter is this? in any case, it looks like a pretty solid field.
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Post by Byko »

Howard wrote:I'm currently expecting five students, but a sixth may show. If so, we'd even prefer to break into two teams of three if you'd allow.

Also, would you be willing to give me the official contact for Hammond? Their website currently lists no coach. Please don't post it here for spambots, however. You can e-mail to howitsac at hotmaildotspamtrapcom.
No problems with that idea in my mind. I know there's one school bringing two teams and using their 3-person TV team as their A team and the other 4 as their B team.

As for a contact at Hammond, there isn't an official one yet. I've been communicating with their captain over Facebook. It's quite possible that I might be helping them some in a coaching capacity--that's uncertain at this point, however.
aestheteboy wrote:which charter is this? in any case, it looks like a pretty solid field.
It's Charter from Wilmington. And yes, although I was hoping for more teams after all the interest I got when mentioning it last season, what the field lacks in quantity, it more than makes up for in quality.
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Post by Howard »

Byko wrote:As for a contact at Hammond, there isn't an official one yet. I've been communicating with their captain over Facebook. It's quite possible that I might be helping them some in a coaching capacity--that's uncertain at this point, however.
Not to completely derail the thread, but you're welcome to use me as a reference for the coaching position if you'd like. I've been coaching in the school system for 16 years now, and am a graduate of Hammond, so there are still a few teachers around there who know me. Unfortunately, I don't recognize any of the administration's names.
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Post by The Atom Strikes! »

aestheteboy wrote: in any case, it looks like a pretty solid field.
Damn straight. I'm looking forward to this tournament
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Post by Nine-Tenths Ideas »

Let me be the first to say that this was a very well-run tournament. The system seemed odd at first, but it worked perfectly. Well done!
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Post by aestheteboy »

The moderators were good and the tournament was fairly well-run. The questions emulated it's academic really well. I guess that's both good and bad.
From what I saw, Seton Hall and Kellenberg were pretty good.
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Post by Nine-Tenths Ideas »

We played Kellenberg, and, quite frankly, they owned us. Gonzaga was also quite good.
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Post by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) »

Can somebody give actual info, like, results or something?
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Post by segregold »

RM won, with Whitman coming in second. I don't know other results, but WJ came in something like fifth and Wilmington Charter third or forth.
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Post by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) »

Thank you.
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Post by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) »

Delete stupid 500 error created double post.
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Post by aestheteboy »

Ranking after prelims: RM, Whitman, Seton Hall, WJ, Charter, GDS, Kellenberg, Gonzaga
Final ranking: RM, Whitman, Charter/GDS (I don't know which team won).
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Post by ieppler »

1. RM A
2. Whitman
3. Charter
4. GDS A
5-8 (in no particular order)- Seton Hall, Kellenberg, WJ A, Gonzaga

This was about as good as a tournament run on It's Ac style questions could have been. Questions did an excellent job of imitating the TV show, moderators were good, and the final was over by 3:00. One thing I noticed was that both our A and B teams had repeat opponents. Is this a quirk of using the card system with a small field?
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Post by gonzagaeagleahy »

I agree with the others in saying that the tournament was indeed very well run, fairly well moderated (we had one moderator who wasn't above average), and very well emulated the TV show, which was the goal. My only complaint is about the card system. I understand how it works well for lots of teams, but we were screwed in the prelims at HSNCT this year because of it and also suffered a setback at this tournament because of it, i feel.
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Post by The Atom Strikes! »

I would say that this tournament is one of the most efficiently run ones that I've been too. Also, while I didn't really like the format of the questions, I imagine (though I'm not actually in the area), that it does simulate the show fairly well. However, it's quite possible that the "Early loss advantage" did play in somewhat here, as the tournament was based on NAQT nationals' card system, which also seems to have had a similar problem.
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Post by Nine-Tenths Ideas »

We started as 12 [whoo!] and ended up at 10. But it worked out as planned, because our record was 3-3 and, indeed, we did not make the playoffs.
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Post by Stat Boy »

RM won, with Whitman coming in second.
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Post by Byko »

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who helped to make this tournament possible:

- The teams in attendance. Although we hoped for a larger field, that was more than made up for in field quality.

- The moderators. Many thanks to the Maryland team for coming through with 4 very good moderators for us.

- The question writer not named David Bykowski who helped make this set possible. Without your help in writing the opening rounds and many of the visuals, this tournament would not have happened.

In response to a couple of comments that were made:

- First, thank you for the compliments on the tournament set. As was noted, the intent was to emulate the format of the television show as much as possible but with good questions. Your comments tell me that this was definitely achieved.

- The main reason we went to the swiss paired card system for this tournament was because we didn't want possible errors in grouping teams into round robin pools for the prelims to end up preventing someone from making it into the playoffs. 24 teams = 3 pools of 8 teams, but one of those groups would end up qualifying only 2 teams. With no data to work with, I can say with confidence I definitely overestimated and underestimated some teams coming into this tournament, and I definitely would have made this mistake without using swiss pairs.

- I didn't have as much time to analyze the swiss pairing as I would have liked, but I will say this much for certain. One thing that NAQT's algorithm does is almost reward a team for a first round loss by guaranteeing avoiding the top teams for the next 6-7 rounds. In this case, that only happens through round 3. After round 3, there are some matchups between teams that started WWL and those that started LWW. In fact, teams that start WLL are actually in a slightly better position to make it to playoffs than those who start LWW, which can't be said about how NAQT's system works. (At some later point, if there's interest, I can go into this more in the Theory section.)


One final note: if anyone in any other part of the country is interested in running a tournament on these questions, please let me know and I'll be happy to work with you. Also, if you're interested in purchasing this set, it will be available soon for a low price and would be a good warm-up set for the season.
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Post by btressler »

Byko wrote:I didn't have as much time to analyze the swiss pairing as I would have liked, but I will say this much for certain. One thing that NAQT's algorithm does is almost reward a team for a first round loss by guaranteeing avoiding the top teams for the next 6-7 rounds. In this case, that only happens through round 3. After round 3, there are some matchups between teams that started WWL and those that started LWW. In fact, teams that start WLL are actually in a slightly better position to make it to playoffs than those who start LWW, which can't be said about how NAQT's system works. (At some later point, if there's interest, I can go into this more in the Theory section.)
I had a conversation with R about this, and I think I've persuaded him that the "early loss" is a valid criticism and is fixable.

The easiest fix is in Round 3 to have team that went W-L play teams that went L-W. Similar combinations are possible in almost all later rounds.

At both of last year's Delaware tournaments this system was in use for the first four rounds (since our tournaments tend to have between 16 and 32 teams). After that, I go to a computer program or index cards to avoid repeat matches.

You do have to be careful with doing this with small fields. I once did it when we had 9 at the DE state championship. That was a bad idea because by round 5 the team in first place had already played teams 2, 3, 4, and 5.
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Post by segregold »

I would say that this tournament is one of the most efficiently run ones that I've been too. Also, while I didn't really like the format of the questions, I imagine (though I'm not actually in the area), that it does simulate the show fairly well.
Very, very well run tournament; I especially loved the part where we were all home by 3:30. I also hate the format, but it did an excellent job of emulating the TV show while somehow managing to be somewhat less stupid. God bless David Bykowski.
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Post by The Infanta »

Great tourney. Fast-paced, fun, and lots of great teams. Thank you, Mr. Bykowski!
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Post by Judson Laipply »

Yes, the tournament was amazing, fast-paced, and extremely well organized.
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Post by gonzagaeagleahy »

Are the stats from this tournament going to be used in the overall stats collected despite it being the It's Academic format?
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Post by The Atom Strikes! »

gonzagaeagleahy wrote:Are the stats from this tournament going to be used in the overall stats collected despite it being the It's Academic format?
They already have been. take a look at the ratings
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Post by gonzagaeagleahy »

Thanks Henry
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Post by Byko »

gonzagaeagleahy wrote:Are the stats from this tournament going to be used in the overall stats collected despite it being the It's Academic format?
The game-by-game results will also be on our website, http://www.aiquizbowl.com, within the week.
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