Glad quizbowl's finally getting a discussion here. These points aren't in the order of their writing. "Ability outside of ACF and NAQT is generally discounted, and it shouldn't be because American teams would get massacred in Australia or Canada or England if the "other country" got to control what questions were asked." I think that there's an assumption of most poll voters that success at NAQT, ACF, CBI, and HCASC, as well as circuit US tournaments, is the determining factor - who would place where at the above. Canadian tournaments may get some consideration (OK, who's the best Canadian team), but I think that US performance is the most important. The reason that this may be so is the fact that most poll voters are curious as to how their team will do at CBI, NAQT, and ACF. Since the US circuit has its own rules, it seems that a poll of such teams is inherently fair. It would therefore seem logical to base all competitors on the US circuit standard when considering a poll of the US circuit. Since Canada really doesn't have its own circuit yet, it seems legitimate to consider them in the US poll because they participate in it to a large degree. Too much meaning may be placed on the poll - I think that it simply tries to answer the traditional question of "who's number one" on the circuit at large, rather than making grandiose assumptions about their dominance over the world in general. "But hey, the three point line is at different locations in every league and the key is never the same shape. It's _not_ the same game everywhere. Same with football - how many variations are there?" The University of New South Wales and the University of Toronto aren't ranked in the NCAA football's Top 25, because they don't participate in a standardized rules system run by the NCAA, and Canadian or Australian teams never play US ones (save possibly Simon Fraser, which may play American football). Since CBI, NAQT, and ACF are relatively similar in focus, it seems redundant to give each its own poll. "So why then did Imperial College not crack the top 25 ever? Did they even get any votes? They took a large number of top 25 teams behind the prototypical woodshed." Imperial College still isn't considered a circuit team, and their exploits are never reported here or on qb. Even though I'm from the Mid-Atlantic, I still see reports of tournaments throughout the US and Canada. "And wouldn't a team drawn from 50 million frenchmen be able to kick your ass if the questions were in french????" C'est probable, mais, parce que je puis parler un peu de francais, ma cause n'est pas perdue. Je pense que je puis repondre vraiment et souvent sur les subjets du rugby, du football et du basket, des affaires etrangeres, de la geographie, et de l'histoire du monde.
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