Difference between revisions of "Matt Bollinger"

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{{Infobox|Name =  Matthew Bollinger
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{{Infobox|Name =  Matthew Bollinger (right)
 
|Image = MattBo.jpg
 
|Image = MattBo.jpg
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|Subjects = General, Literature, Mythology, Music, Arts
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|Subjects = Generalism, Classics, Refrigerators
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|schoolcur = [[University of Virginia]] (2010-2014)
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|schoolpast = [[University of Virginia]] (2010-2015) [[Georgia Tech]] (2022-2024)  
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|schoolpast = N/A
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|highschool = [[St. Anselm's|Saint Anselm's Abbey School]] (2006-2010)
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|highschool = [[St. Anselm's|Saint Anselms Abbey School]] (2006-2010)
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|forums=[https://www.hsquizbowl.org/forums/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=4416 The King's Flight to the Scots]
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| }}
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}}
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'''Matt Bollinger''' played for the [[University of Virginia]], during which time he became the best active player in college quizbowl and won four national titles. He is widely considered one of the greatest players of all time (second or third only to [[Andrew Yaphe]] and possibly [[Jordan Brownstein]]). A member of the [[St. Anselm's]] class of 2010, he is proud to have been included among both the nicest and the meanest players in quizbowl, according to lists created by Ryan Westbrook.
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His undergraduate career featured numerous key matches against [[Yale|Yale's]] [[Matt Jackson]] as part of the [[Jackson-Bollinger rivalry]]. Outside of college competition, he has notably won or edited all but two [[Chicago Open]]s since 2012.
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In 2021, Matt announced that he would be eligible to play for [[Georgia Tech]] at the [[2022 ACF Nationals]].<ref>[https://www.hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=386767#p386767 Re: Where Are You Going Next Year? (Collegiate 2021)] by [[The King's Flight to the Scots]] » Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:06 pm</ref>
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Bollinger is also known as an editor, having produced widely-acclaimed sets like the [[2013 Chicago Open]], the 2015 [[VCU Open]], and the [[2017 ACF Nationals]]. He was the Editor-in-Chief of [[ACF]] for the 2020-2021 season and Communications Officer for 2019-2020.
  
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'''Matt Bollinger''' played for the [[University of Virginia]], during which time he became the best active player in college quizbowl. He was a member of the [[St. Anselm's]] class of 2010.
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==High school==
  
 
After his high school teammate [[Aidan Mehigan]] became good at quizbowl, Matt went on an enormous study binge over the summer of 2009, which paid off when he was the second highest scorer at the [[2010 NSC]] (where his team placed fourth). With [[Chris Ray]], [[Eric Mukherjee]], and [[Dominic Machado]], he played on a team that won the Saturday event of VCU Open 2010.
 
After his high school teammate [[Aidan Mehigan]] became good at quizbowl, Matt went on an enormous study binge over the summer of 2009, which paid off when he was the second highest scorer at the [[2010 NSC]] (where his team placed fourth). With [[Chris Ray]], [[Eric Mukherjee]], and [[Dominic Machado]], he played on a team that won the Saturday event of VCU Open 2010.
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==College Career==
 
==College Career==
  
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In his freshman year at Virginia, he played with Will Butler, Sarah Angelo, and David Seal on a dangerous team that won that year's Mid-Atlantic SCT and Penn Bowl. When a sundering of the fellowship resulted in UVA fielding depleted teams at both nationals, Matt led Virginia to a low finish at ICT and a better, top-bracket finish at 2011 ACF Nationals.  
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In his freshman year at Virginia, he played with Will Butler, [[Sam Luongo]], and David Seal on a dangerous team that won that year's Mid-Atlantic SCT and Penn Bowl. When a sundering of the fellowship resulted in UVA fielding depleted teams at both nationals, Matt led Virginia to a low finish at ICT and a better, top-bracket finish at 2011 ACF Nationals.  
  
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In the 2011-12 season, Virginia lost Will Butler but acquired two star recruits in Evan Adams and Tommy Casalaspi. Matt led this UVA team to a 1st place finish at the [[2012 ICT]] and a 2nd place finish at [[2012 ACF Nationals]]; the same year, he was the high scorer on the winning team at [[Chicago Open]]. When Virginia failed to take home either major title in 2012-13, he, Evan, and Tommy embarked on a successful program to avenge themselves on the quizbowl community. In the 2013-14 season, Bollinger led UVA in a national title sweep. In the process, Matt scored more powers individually than any other team at the [[2013 ICT|2013 ICT]]; he also led the field in scoring at the [[2014 ACF Nationals]].
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In the 2011-12 season, Virginia lost Will Butler but acquired two star recruits in Evan Adams and Tommy Casalaspi. Matt led this UVA team to a 1st place finish at the [[2012 ICT]] and a 2nd place finish at [[2012 ACF Nationals]]; the same year, he was the high scorer on the winning team at [[Chicago Open]].  
  
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Matt is a writer for, and the Chief Editor of, [[HSAPQ]]. His other editing experience includes assisting [[Kurtis Droge]] in editing [[ANGST]], being brought on to edit literature and mythology for the [[2011 NSC]], editing several subjects for [[MOO]], head-editing [[2012 ACF Fall]], and head-editing 2013 [[Chicago Open]].
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When Virginia failed to take home either major title in 2012-13, he, Evan, and Tommy embarked on a successful program to avenge themselves on the quizbowl community. In the 2013-14 season, Bollinger led UVA to a national title sweep. In the process, Matt scored more powers individually than any other team at the [[2013 ICT|2013 ICT]]; he also led the field in scoring at the [[2014 ACF Nationals]]. He was only the second person (after [[Andrew Yaphe]] in 1999) to both be the lead individual scorer and play on the winning team at both ICT and Nationals in the same year, as well as one of only three people to be the lead scorer at both tournaments in the same year at all and four to win both awards in a career.
  
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==JOKES==
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In August 2014, Bollinger surprised the community by announcing his return to Virginia for a one-year graduate degree from the School of Commerce during the 2014-15 year [http://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=16237&p=288848#p288848], extending his collegiate playing career for that long and leaving other contenders scrambling. During that year, he led UVA to a fourth-place finish at ACF Nationals and a fourth national title at ICT.
  
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Matt is the subject of a number of notable quizbowl running jokes, most of which were popularized by [[Mike Cheyne]]. These include:
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In 2015, Bollinger repeated as the leading scorer at the [[NAQT]] [[ICT]], becoming only the third player ([[Andrew Yaphe]] and [[Matt Weiner]]) to win multiple scoring titles at the ICT.
  
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* "That's a word, Mike Sorice!" -- Occurred during the NSC All-Star Round, when Bollinger responded to a bonus part on "hapticity" by inexplicably telling moderator [[Mike Sorice]] that it was a word.
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In spring 2022, after several years out of school, Bollinger enrolled in an online masters program at [[Georgia Tech]], which he led to a victory at [[2022 ACF Nationals]] while once again becoming that tournament's top scorer. He was ineligible to play [[2022 ICT]] due to his work on the questions as a set editor.  
  
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* "Zeppelins" -- Occurred after Matt insisted that a NASAT tossup on zeppelins written by Mike Cheyne was extremely difficult to answer. "Zeppelins" are now sometimes used facetiously as benchmark of absurd difficulty.
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==Writing and Editing==
  
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* "Rizzoli and Isles" -- A reference to the unpopular TNT program. Carsten Gehring and Mike Cheyne have begun referring to Bollinger (Rizzoli) and [[Evan Adams]] (Isles) by this name. Evan Adams' recent decision to attend UVA for law school ensures this joke will likely still have some mileage. (n.b. - the debut of the similarly-titled TNT show ''Franklin & Bash'' naturally led to a brief search for quizbowl figures to arbitrarily assign the roles to. Results were inconclusive.)
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Matt was a writer for, and the Chief Editor of, [[HSAPQ]]. Of the tournaments he has worked on, he is most proud of NASAT 2012, Chicago Open 2013, and VCU Open 2015.
  
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* "True knowledge of the Pig War" -- Resulted from a long and tortuous argument about a NASAT tossup on "the United States-Canada border", in which Matt hypothesized that his teammate [[Jacob Wasserman]] was somehow going unrewarded for his long years of studying a minor nineteenth-century border conflict, or something. Now used to refer to any hyperbolic complaint about a question's failure to reward "real knowledge".
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{{Player anecdotes}}
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{{Succession_box_(Carper)
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|year = 2021
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|previous = [[Alex Damisch]] and [[Mike Sorice]]
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|next = [[Matt Jackson]] and [[Chris Borglum]]
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|}}
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{{Succession_box_(Young_Cooper)
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|year = 2014
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|previous = [[Max Schindler]]
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|next = [[Nicholas Karas]]
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| }}
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{{Succession_box_(Individual)|Individual Honor = [[ACF|ACF Nationals Leading Scorer]]
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|year = 2011
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|previous = [[Andrew Yaphe]]
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|next = [[Ike Jose]]
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|}}
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{{Succession_box_(Individual)|Individual Honor = [[ACF|ACF Nationals Leading Scorer]]
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|year = 2014
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|previous = [[John Lawrence]]
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|next = [[Auroni Gupta]]
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|}}
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{{Succession_box_(Individual)|Individual Honor = [[ACF|ACF Nationals Leading Scorer]]
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|year = 2022
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|previous = [[Will Alston]]
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|next = [[Matt Jackson]]
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|}}
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{{Succession_box_(Individual)|Individual Honor = [[ICT|ICT DI Leading Scorer]]
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|year = 2014 & 2015
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|previous = [[Rob Carson]]
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|next = [[Jordan Brownstein]]
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| }}
  
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* Matt is also noted for his tendency to blush, a fact he was unaware of until an IRC conversation in which he claimed not to know what his own face looks like. He also once accidentally gave $11, rather than the $2 he presumably intended to give, to a panhandler at the Richmond Five Guys while staffing CULT; this resulted in an abortive, though highly amusing, attempt to chase the panhandler down the street to retrieve his ten-dollar bill.
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==References==
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<references/>
  
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[[Category: People]][[Category: High school players active in 2007]][[Category: High school players active in 2008]][[Category: High school players active in 2009]][[Category:High school players active in 2010]][[Category:Original QBWiki Page]]
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[[Category: Original QBWiki Page]]
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[[Category:St. Anselm's]]
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[[Category: St. Anselm's]]
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[[Category:HSAPQ]]
 
 
[[Category: Virginia]]
 
[[Category: Virginia]]
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[[Category: HSAPQ]]
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[[Category: People]]
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{{activehs|2007|2010}}
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{{active|2011|2025}}
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[[Category: Players on ICT Division I championship teams]]
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[[Category: Players on ACF Nationals championship teams]]
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[[Category:Question writers]]
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[[Category:Current ACF Members]]

Latest revision as of 17:36, 20 December 2025

Matthew Bollinger (right)
MattBo.jpg
Noted subjects Generalism, Classics, Refrigerators
Past colleges University of Virginia (2010-2015) Georgia Tech (2022-2024)
High school Saint Anselm's Abbey School (2006-2010)
HSQB profile The King's Flight to the Scots
Stats HDWhite • NAQT

Matt Bollinger played for the University of Virginia, during which time he became the best active player in college quizbowl and won four national titles. He is widely considered one of the greatest players of all time (second or third only to Andrew Yaphe and possibly Jordan Brownstein). A member of the St. Anselm's class of 2010, he is proud to have been included among both the nicest and the meanest players in quizbowl, according to lists created by Ryan Westbrook.

His undergraduate career featured numerous key matches against Yale's Matt Jackson as part of the Jackson-Bollinger rivalry. Outside of college competition, he has notably won or edited all but two Chicago Opens since 2012.

In 2021, Matt announced that he would be eligible to play for Georgia Tech at the 2022 ACF Nationals.[1]

Bollinger is also known as an editor, having produced widely-acclaimed sets like the 2013 Chicago Open, the 2015 VCU Open, and the 2017 ACF Nationals. He was the Editor-in-Chief of ACF for the 2020-2021 season and Communications Officer for 2019-2020.

High school

After his high school teammate Aidan Mehigan became good at quizbowl, Matt went on an enormous study binge over the summer of 2009, which paid off when he was the second highest scorer at the 2010 NSC (where his team placed fourth). With Chris Ray, Eric Mukherjee, and Dominic Machado, he played on a team that won the Saturday event of VCU Open 2010.

College Career

In his freshman year at Virginia, he played with Will Butler, Sam Luongo, and David Seal on a dangerous team that won that year's Mid-Atlantic SCT and Penn Bowl. When a sundering of the fellowship resulted in UVA fielding depleted teams at both nationals, Matt led Virginia to a low finish at ICT and a better, top-bracket finish at 2011 ACF Nationals.

In the 2011-12 season, Virginia lost Will Butler but acquired two star recruits in Evan Adams and Tommy Casalaspi. Matt led this UVA team to a 1st place finish at the 2012 ICT and a 2nd place finish at 2012 ACF Nationals; the same year, he was the high scorer on the winning team at Chicago Open.

When Virginia failed to take home either major title in 2012-13, he, Evan, and Tommy embarked on a successful program to avenge themselves on the quizbowl community. In the 2013-14 season, Bollinger led UVA to a national title sweep. In the process, Matt scored more powers individually than any other team at the 2013 ICT; he also led the field in scoring at the 2014 ACF Nationals. He was only the second person (after Andrew Yaphe in 1999) to both be the lead individual scorer and play on the winning team at both ICT and Nationals in the same year, as well as one of only three people to be the lead scorer at both tournaments in the same year at all and four to win both awards in a career.

In August 2014, Bollinger surprised the community by announcing his return to Virginia for a one-year graduate degree from the School of Commerce during the 2014-15 year [1], extending his collegiate playing career for that long and leaving other contenders scrambling. During that year, he led UVA to a fourth-place finish at ACF Nationals and a fourth national title at ICT.

In 2015, Bollinger repeated as the leading scorer at the NAQT ICT, becoming only the third player (Andrew Yaphe and Matt Weiner) to win multiple scoring titles at the ICT.

In spring 2022, after several years out of school, Bollinger enrolled in an online masters program at Georgia Tech, which he led to a victory at 2022 ACF Nationals while once again becoming that tournament's top scorer. He was ineligible to play 2022 ICT due to his work on the questions as a set editor.

Writing and Editing

Matt was a writer for, and the Chief Editor of, HSAPQ. Of the tournaments he has worked on, he is most proud of NASAT 2012, Chicago Open 2013, and VCU Open 2015.

Anecdotes

Full list: here

  • Matt is the best known user of the phrase "that's a word", which he directed towards moderator Mike Sorice while playing a bonus part on "hapticity" in the NSC All-Star Round.
  • The answerline of "zeppelins" was briefly a facetious benchmark of absurd difficulty after Matt insisted that a NASAT tossup on zeppelins written by Mike Cheyne was extremely difficult to answer.
  • At one point Carsten Gehring and Mike Cheyne referred to the duo of Bollinger and Evan Adams as "Rizzoli and Isles" respectively in reference to the unpopular TNT program - an attempt to find other quizbowlers to fit the similarly-titled TNT show Franklin & Bash was inconclusive.
Carper Award
Preceded by
Year
Succeeded by
Alex Damisch and Mike Sorice
2021
Matt Jackson and Chris Borglum
Benjamin Cooper Young Ambassador Award
Preceded by
Year
Succeeded by
Max Schindler
2014
Nicholas Karas
ACF Nationals Leading Scorer
Preceded by
Year
Succeeded by
Andrew Yaphe
2011
Ike Jose
ACF Nationals Leading Scorer
Preceded by
Year
Succeeded by
John Lawrence
2014
Auroni Gupta
ACF Nationals Leading Scorer
Preceded by
Year
Succeeded by
Will Alston
2022
Matt Jackson
ICT DI Leading Scorer
Preceded by
Year
Succeeded by
Rob Carson
2014 & 2015
Jordan Brownstein

References

  1. ↑ Re: Where Are You Going Next Year? (Collegiate 2021) by The King's Flight to the Scots » Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:06 pm
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