Chip's Love of Pyramids! (renamed from NAC legitimacy)

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Chip's Love of Pyramids! (renamed from NAC legitimacy)

Post by AKKOLADE »

Ed McMahon is the best gimmick poster since the 2007 San Diego Padres.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by lasercats »

I'm leaving in a bout 2 hours for Sunny DC! If any of you are going, see you there, and I'll try my best to moderate your games with great efficiency.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by Tegan »

quizbowlben wrote:In spite of all the :chip:-bashing I've read here and elsewhere, it was a well-run tournament with good questions... none of the shenanigans of past years for which :chip: is regularly lambasted. Whether or not it was coincidence I guess I will find out in Chicago.
Ben,

I wasn't there, so I can't say anything for sure. I'll try and stop in to Chicago to get a feel for things.

As far as "more organized" .... perhaps .... but keep in mind, Chip never has more than 4(?) teams playing at once. NAQT has most of 176 playing at once. It may appear more organized though I would like to see the NAC pull off what NAQT does. My guess: they couldn't get the personnel, let alone work the logistics.

As far as efficient .... I think it takes a great deal of efficiency to pull off what NAQT does ..... in the space of a few hours, they check in 176 teams, deal with (about) 70-80 game officials, run everything on a card system that has few (not none) problems. Does NAQT >>look<< more chaotic than NAC .... absolutely! But, considering what NAQT is trying to pull off ..... run a tournament in as fair a way to all teams as possible ..... trying to get 10 matches in in such a small amount of time ..... all while keeping players at the focus of what is going on ..... I can't say that the NAC is more "efficient" ..... I think they just deal with things in smaller bite-sized quantities.
Last edited by Tegan on Thu May 29, 2008 1:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by Byko »

The DC phase of NAC is coming up this weekend. Time for my questions on who some of these teams are:

1. Middletown - I presume they're from New York?
2. Greensboro - Is this Greensboro Day from North Carolina?
3. Lincoln Prep - Are they from Kansas City, Missouri?
4. Lincolnton - Are they from North Carolina?
5. Saint Mary's - I have no idea which Saint Mary's team this is--are they from Ohio? West Virginia? Somewhere else?
6. Yorktown - Is this Yorktown from Indiana or Virginia?
7. Wilson - I'm guessing this is Wilson from Pennsylvania and not from around Florence, South Carolina, yes?
8. Richlands - Are they yet another North Carolina team?

That's all for this one.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by AKKOLADE »

Byko wrote:5. Saint Mary's - I have no idea which Saint Mary's team this is--are they from Ohio? West Virginia? Somewhere else?
Well, it could be the WV team, but I believe they're attending PAC and it'd be very unusual for a WV team to attend two nationals in the same year.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by Howard »

Byko wrote:1. Middletown - I presume they're from New York?
There's also a Middletown in Frederick County, MD, but I'd be surprised to see them at a national tournament. I don't recall ever seeing them anywhere other than It's Academic, though.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) »

The closest to quizbowl that I've ever seen Lincoln prep get is French language Jeopardy at UMKC foreign language day, so either Chip has duped them into attending that or it's another Lincoln prep.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by jbarnes112358 »

Deesy Does It wrote:The closest to quizbowl that I've ever seen Lincoln prep get is French language Jeopardy at UMKC foreign language day, so either Chip has duped them into attending that or it's another Lincoln prep.
Well, I received a phone message from QU saying I had a team qualify for NAC jr. (or whatever it's called) by virtue of our ninth grade team doing so well at KMO Jr. High division. So, things other than quizbowl apparently can "qualify" you for NAC.

The fact that we are having such a hard time identifying these teams is because they are not exactly household names in quizbowl circles. This does not necessarliy mean they are not good teams, however.

There is a St. Mary's in Raleigh, NC that has a quizbowl team. Maybe that's the one. Though, there are probably dozens of St. Marys around the country.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by evilmonkey »

Byko wrote: 6. Yorktown - Is this Yorktown from Indiana or Virginia?
I didn't even realize there was a Yorktown Indiana. Chances are very good that this is not them.
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Re: NAC Schedules

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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by Byko »

Ah, you saw that too. Sure, it's cute, but it shouldn't be a question, especially at a tournament that emphasizes "significa, not trivia."
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by Auks Ran Ova »

QU wrote:[...] the judges had to decide whether to accept Jackson's answer of "an arrow" on a 60-Second question that asked what the eagle on the dollar bill is holding in its right claw (Ans. "arrows.")
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by scquizbowl »

Well, at the tournament, James Island was 6-0, along with Booker T. Washington (from Tulsa, OK), and perhaps one other team, as Booker T played in a great game against Byram Hills, determined by one toss-up, probably one of the best games of the tournament.

The readers were pretty good, as Mr. Beall was his normal self, but there were others that were enjoyable, as it was well-run except for a few technical difficulties.

Several of the computers malfunctioned, so there was an hour delay in one room, but it got pared down pretty quickly. Also, in the match before the Booker T. match, the computer malfunctioned, and the rest of the match had to be run by Mr. Beall. They haven't announced the playoff pairings yet, because the last match didn't finish until around 8:15.

Several of the matches were exciting, with close games abound in the six rooms.

The playoffs start tomorrow, with the first matches at 8:30. Teams that are 4-2 or better make the playoffs.

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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by SHP Pirate »

How did New Rochelle (NY) fare? I have had the opportunity to read for them several times this year and they can be a very strong team.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by lasercats »

The game just finished a few minutes ago. I am proud to announce that my team, Booker T. Washington, won the DC leg and wil advance directly to the final match in Chicago. They beat New Rochelle 340-235 (I think).
Captain Dylan Hames was awarded MVP.

:party:
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Re: NAC Schedules

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Let's not forget the Junior Nationals where we heard: "Disney announced that rights of High School Musical will be released so what places can do their own performance at the local level?" (Ans. High schools)

Booyah! to Bate Middle School (Danville KY).

Oh yeah, the High School Nationals wrap-up continues.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by Auks Ran Ova »

NAC continues to astound me by asking middle schoolers about The Myth of Sisyphus and high schoolers about the, like, fifth-most-famous work of William Hogarth.
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Re: NAC Schedules

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NAC wrote:What symbol is used for the Logical Not function in C++? (Ans. !)
This is the type of CS I'm talking about!
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by Auks Ran Ova »

Bentley Like Beckham wrote:
NAC wrote:What symbol is used for the Logical Not function in C++? (Ans. !)
This is the type of CS I'm talking about!
CATEGORY: FUTURE IS SET BONUS PARTS
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by evilmonkey »

PICKMENEXTTIMEJERK wrote: Oh yeah, the High School Nationals wrap-up continues.
NAC Write-up wrote:New Rochelle next answered the following pyramidal tossup after only the first part of the pyramid:
I noticed that, of the questions they featured in the write-up, most were pyramidal. Should we take this as a sign that Chip is starting to write harder questions, or just enough to try to look legitimate? That analysis from the field trip would be helpful...

EDIT: I lied. Only the ones in the paragraph I read were pyramidal
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by Matt Weiner »

evilmonkey wrote:I noticed that, of the questions they featured in the write-up, most were pyramidal. Should we take this as a sign that Chip is starting to write harder questions, or just enough to try to look legitimate? That analysis from the field trip would be helpful...
I can't talk about specific questions until the NAC is completely done, but let me assure you, based on my observations, that the NAC is worse than ever, the people claiming anything about it has improved are on crack, and that everyone, including our new NAC moderator poster, who is involved in any way with putting on such a nonsense excuse for a tournament should be ashamed of themselves.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by cdcarter »

Ukonvasara wrote:
Bentley Like Beckham wrote:
NAC wrote:What symbol is used for the Logical Not function in C++? (Ans. !)
This is the type of CS I'm talking about!
CATEGORY: PAST IS SET BONUS PARTS
Fixed for truth
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by SHP Pirate »

Interesting write-up from DC ... So, Booker T. Washington, because they won in DC, automatically advance to the championship game? I guess that the finalists from Chicago will play for the chance to play against the Dallas winner? Why not wait until the Chicago phase is over before seeding the final four? (No disrespect meant toward Booker T. Washington. I am just curious why Chip would award the number one seed after just two-thirds of the tournament.)

Well ... see you in Chicago!
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by Matt Weiner »

SHP Pirate wrote:Interesting write-up from DC ... So, Booker T. Washington, because they won in DC, automatically advance to the championship game? I guess that the finalists from Chicago will play for the chance to play against the Dallas winner? Why not wait until the Chicago phase is over before seeding the final four? (No disrespect meant toward Booker T. Washington. I am just curious why Chip would award the number one seed after just two-thirds of the tournament.)
Because the tournament is a corrupt farce and the teams Chip wants to win get a large advantage.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by Stained Diviner »

According to that summary, BTW gets the #1 seed because they won the site with the most teams.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by SHP Pirate »

With Wilmington (Byko # 5), Center Grove (Byko # 23), Chaska (Byko # 35) and SHP (Byko # 49) all playing in Chicago, it would seem wise to wait and see the final results before seeding. Granted that Booker is # 42 in Byko rankings. (It would be great if Chip would post all of the scores for comparitive purposes.)
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) »

See, you don't really need to pay attention to the Byko rankings there because they are much better at predicting results on well edited pyramidal sets that go out of their way to reward depth of knowledge. Just because Wilmington Charter is clearly the most talented of the teams in the field doesn't mean anything here.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by SHP Pirate »

Agreed. But as Booker T's reported results are scanty at best, I am using the tools available. The "X" factor becomes the re-use of questions from previous sets. At a recent local event (using QUnlimted questions) there were verbatim repeats from the QuizNet tournaments and last year's NAC set.

Having seen Charter A many times this year, I would have to assume that it is their tournament to win. (But, as Bill has stated, they have never fared better than 4-2 in this format ...)
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Re: NAC Schedules

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Isn't it because W. Charter isn't willing to pay thousands more cash-money on practice questions that would most likely (re)appear at the NAC? :wink:
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by lasercats »

Matt Weiner wrote:
evilmonkey wrote:I noticed that, of the questions they featured in the write-up, most were pyramidal. Should we take this as a sign that Chip is starting to write harder questions, or just enough to try to look legitimate? That analysis from the field trip would be helpful...
I can't talk about specific questions until the NAC is completely done, but let me assure you, based on my observations, that the NAC is worse than ever, the people claiming anything about it has improved are on crack, and that everyone, including our new NAC moderator poster, who is involved in any way with putting on such a nonsense excuse for a tournament should be ashamed of themselves.

You're right: I should be ashamed of myself for accepting a job, having a great time, and getting the opportunity to read questions for high school teams at the national level. I don't think I'll be able to show my face tomorrow.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by lasercats »

SHP Pirate wrote:Interesting write-up from DC ... So, Booker T. Washington, because they won in DC, automatically advance to the championship game? I guess that the finalists from Chicago will play for the chance to play against the Dallas winner? Why not wait until the Chicago phase is over before seeding the final four? (No disrespect meant toward Booker T. Washington. I am just curious why Chip would award the number one seed after just two-thirds of the tournament.)

Well ... see you in Chicago!
Because the combined number of teams at Dallas and Chicago will equal the teams at DC. DC Has always been a bigger tournament, so the win there is more important.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by Matt Weiner »

lasercats wrote:You're right: I should be ashamed of myself for accepting a job, having a great time, and getting the opportunity to read questions for high school teams at the national level. I don't think I'll be able to show my face tomorrow.
If you actually want to talk about this I'd be happy to explain why the NAC is so bad as to make it unacceptable for anyone to associate herself with it, but I'd like some assurances in advance that you want a serious discussion so I don't waste my time on someone who's just going to say "I had a lot of Funn at the tournament therefore it's OK to steal questions and put forth eight-word tossups on non-academic subjects in exchange for the exorbitant entry fees."
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by The Time Keeper »

lasercats wrote:getting the opportunity to read questions for high school teams at the national level.
Unless you moderated at the PACE NSC or NAQT HSNCT you didn't get this opportunity. I wouldn't have posted otherwise, but referring to the NAC as being on the "national level" is a, albeit unintentional I'm sure, slap in the face to everyone involved in the creation and playing of the real national tournaments.
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Re: NAC Schedules

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Clearly, I am too stupid and unworthy of being at this board because I happen to enjoy a certain competition. Every post made about me has been ridden with assumptions that are false. Just because I worked there and liked what I did and will do next weekend in Chicago does not mean that I think it is perfect; far from it. However, I have the integrity to stand up for my belief that NAC is a valid and rewarding competition. It may not be as "perfect" as NAQT and PACE apparently are, but I like to root for the underdog. And what happened yesterday? The underdog, rated 42 in the Byko won. Regardless of what you brats think about it I am beyond proud of what my former team accomplished yesterday, along with the other teams who did not take the title.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by SHP Pirate »

Maggie,

Just ignore the vitriol. If you enjoy the game ... good for you. Matt ... give the kid a break. We know. Chip sucks. NAC sucks. You have made your point. We play more NAQT than anything else. We also dabble in NAC style. We even played PACE format at Gonzaga. For whatever reason, there are a number of schools that enjoy the format. Let them. There are also several teams that play multiple formats. Does the fact that Charter is playing in Chicago this weekend lessen their accomplishments any? What about Chaska, who also played at HSNCT? I did not read Maggie's comments as an apology for NAC over NAQT/PACE. If she thinks it is rewarding, then that is fine.

And finally, Maggie ... to come onto this board which is clearly anti-Chip/NAC and defend it is a bit foolhardy. The feelings here are WELL known. I would just advise you to get to know your audience a little better. Last year, my SHP team lost to Harrison in the semifinal of DC. Harrison (from DC) and Greeley (from San Antonio) both had to play-into the championship game in Orlando. The size of the field should have nothing to do with playoff seedings. Quality of competition/wins should rule the day.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by AKKOLADE »

professional discussion itt
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by Matt Weiner »

lasercats wrote:However, I have the integrity to stand up for my belief that NAC is a valid and rewarding competition. It may not be as "perfect" as NAQT and PACE apparently are, but I like to root for the underdog.
1) Your belief is wrong and there is something wrong with you for holding it.

2) The staff at the tournament "rooting" for anybody is a perfect example of why the NAC is illegitimate. Your crowing post about "my team" winning the tournament was supremely inappropriate. Is it any big mystery why Chip has a hard time hiding the fact that he fixes the tournament, when you are making posts like that?
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by Frater Taciturnus »

After being a part of the NAC field trip, I stand by my axiom of "All things considered, setting yourself on fire is a better use of one's time, money, and gasoline than attending NAC."
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by The Atom Strikes! »

lasercats wrote:Clearly, I am too stupid and unworthy of being at this bored because I happen to enjoy a certain competition. Every post made about me has been ridden with assumptions that are false. Just because I worked there and liked what I did and will do next weekend in Chicago does not mean that I think it is perfect; far from it. However, I have the integrity to stand up for my belief that NAC is a valid and rewarding competition. It may not be as perfect as NAQT and PACE apparently are, but I always root for the underdog. And what happened yesterday? The underdog, rated 42 in the Byko won. Regardless of what you brats think about it I am beyond proud of what my former team accomplished yesterday, along with the other teams who did not take the title.
Please read this article, this article, and this article, before making this kind of statement again-- before you make a post of this sort defending a tournament and calling Matt Weiner a brat, you should probably make sure that you know a bit about its history.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by The Time Keeper »

It's reassuring to know that if I created a national and ran it on questions stolen verbatim from the 1999 HSNCT and audio questions consisting of "What rock is this?!" I could find at least a few people to defend it.

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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by First Chairman »

lasercats wrote:Clearly, I am too stupid and unworthy of being at this board because I happen to enjoy a certain competition. Every post made about me has been ridden with assumptions that are false. Just because I worked there and liked what I did and will do next weekend in Chicago does not mean that I think it is perfect; far from it. However, I have the integrity to stand up for my belief that NAC is a valid and rewarding competition. It may not be as "perfect" as NAQT and PACE apparently are, but I like to root for the underdog. And what happened yesterday? The underdog, rated 42 in the Byko won. Regardless of what you brats think about it I am beyond proud of what my former team accomplished yesterday, along with the other teams who did not take the title.
Maggie, please email me. Don't consider it a call from the principal's office. :)

To others... please play nice...
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by Matt Weiner »

I AM A BRAT PUT ME ON A BUN AND COVER ME WITH MUSTARD
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) »

Maggie, did you notice that Matt Weiner offered to talk to you about this in a civilized way? Responding with that kind of ad hominem shut-down to everything you're hearing is exactly why he is said what he did to you. We are fully capable of explaining to you in a real substantial way why the NAC is a tournament that is not a legitimate national title, but you have to actually be involved in a dialogue and not call people brats for thinking you are wrong.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by SHP Pirate »

I will make everyone reading this thread a promise. I will post regular updates from Chicago.
Byko (and numerous others on this board) can vouch for me. Let me see if this is the same old game or, if as claimed, Chip has made improvements. I am, admittedly, not optimistic, but I am willing to give an honest opinion.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by First Chairman »

Slight disagreement with the crowd here. Singling out Maggie specifically in saying that she and everyone else affiliated with NAC should be ashamed of being associated with that event... I personally think is out of line. In terms of English, yes, the words are fairly tame, but the intent is provocative. I don't think it's fair to do that to a 19-year old who is -- by Matt's own description -- new to this forum. We should not try to make people feel less important by association, especially when we force the issue hiding behind an argument that "we weren't really targetting you" when clearly you were. You elicited her emotional response to call you "brats" because you forced her to being ashamed (also an emotional "command"). Again, if she started a whole new thread calling us names, all bets are off. But that is not what happened, in my perception.

Thank you Henry for doing the right thing.

I've said my peace on this.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by Matt Weiner »

ILoveReeses wrote:Slight disagreement with the crowd here. Singling out Maggie specifically in saying that she and everyone else affiliated with NAC should be ashamed of being associated with that event... I personally think is out of line.
That's funny, because I think offering teams execrable questions and substandard ethics is out of line!
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by Maxwell Sniffingwell »

On a bit lighter note...
NAC wrote:What symbol is used for the Logical Not function in C++? (Ans. !)
You could, in fact, just buzz in anywhere in this question and yell, "BANG!," right? That's kind of awesome... though getting Chip to take your answer would be another issue.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by Mechanical Beasts »

Matt Weiner wrote:I AM A BRAT PUT ME ON A BUN AND COVER ME WITH MUSTARD
Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to announce a side tournament to the Harvard Open, with a 1/1 distribution: PHYSICAL CHALLENGE. (The tiebreaker will be the PHYSICAL CHALLENGE from an earlier thread about the place of driver's ed and sex ed in quiz bowl; to maintain the mystery (mystery round lol) it will either involve spark plugs or a condom.)
lasercats wrote:It may not be as "perfect" as NAQT and PACE apparently are, but I like to root for the underdog.
NAQT and PACE aren't perfect, and we've never argued that. In fact, we're highly critical of some of the things NAQT does wrong, like element tossups and terrifyingly bad CS bonuses. Note that one of these criticisms actually appears in this thread! In a thread only a few inches away, there are a couple of criticisms of the PACE nationals set; these are things people pulled up from memory, not with the set in front of them. It's not that we think they're perfect and the NAC is less than perfect, but we can only accept perfection. We think that NAQT and PACE are very, very good, and the NAC has never given us any evidence to hold it anywhere better in our esteem than beneath contempt.

There are two problems with you rooting for the underdog. First, rooting for anyone is inappropriate for a moderator. Second, one should never hope that a team win unless that team is the best at the tournament. It is appropriate to root for a team you think is an underdog because it is underrated, but not otherwise. Chip does not provide quiz bowl; therefore, he produces random results (and often worse than random results), where bad quiz bowl teams beat good ones, either because the questions suck or because the matches are fixed. It is inappropriate to celebrate that.

Granted, earlier you said that you'd unabashedly champion your belief that Chip provides valid quiz bowl. I'd appreciate it if I could hear some of your arguments to that end, because they might be the first good ones I hear; one of us would learn a lot, either from your arguments or from my refutation thereof.
lasercate wrote:You're right: I should be ashamed of myself for accepting a job
This one time, a con man paid me to fleece underfunded high school programs by lying about the quality of a product; I even helped him produce his wares. I wasn't bothered a bit my his plagiarism issues, either!
lasercats wrote:having a great time
Having a great time running the NAC is kind of as sadistic as the Maddox page where he mocks the artwork of little kids, except for real.
lasercats wrote:questions
Questions, yes, sort of like "What is your name?" or "Did you attend this senior prom?" are questions; not the sort of questions that are good.
lasercats wrote:for high school teams
Intended for HS teams, sure; lawsuits are also intended for those who plagiarize from NAQT. Beneficial to high school teams? Not really.
lasercats wrote:I don't think I'll be able to show my face tomorrow.
That's probably an overreaction since you don't know any of us in real life, and since we're not hostile towards you, just your idea that Chip is good--or, specifically, why you will proclaim it enthusiastically without defending it.

Again, I want to hear your arguments why Chip is good, seeing as at the end of things, if you are convinced otherwise, you could be of service to a legitimate organization.

Also, generally speaking, people one calls brats are usually people substantially less than one's own age.

(To follow up on what's been said about singling you out: I fully and openly acknowledge that we're doing it, and I maybe don't think it's such a bad thing. All NAC volunteers have done a bad thing by making it possible for a bad thing to exist. It's an unfortunate situation, but morally, unless Chip is vindicated somehow, it's not too ambiguous. If Maggie can acknowledge that, move on, and start doing good things (like helping to run NAQT or PACE) then that's good. Otherwise, she will be continuing to do things that are bad.

I don't mean to make her less important by association; in fact, this makes her extremely important--because her bad action IS meaningful, and I have a vested interest in it being otherwise.)
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by The Logic of Scientific Disco »

cornfused wrote:buzz in anywhere in the question and yell, "BANG!"
I wish I had gone to NAC in high school just so I could have done this.
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Re: NAC Schedules

Post by Maxwell Sniffingwell »

lasercats wrote:However, I have the integrity to stand up for my belief that NAC is a valid and rewarding competition. It may not be as "perfect" as NAQT and PACE apparently are, but I like to root for the underdog.
I'm pretty sure the "underdog" in her statement refers to the NAC itself, guys.
lasercats wrote:And what happened yesterday? The underdog, rated 42 in the Byko won.
This is a failed witticism and the "underdog" here is different than in the previous quote - seriously, the "underdog" must've referred to the NAC. Right?

lasercats wrote:I don't think I'll be able to show my face tomorrow.
Sarcasm, Andy.
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