Unfortunately Andy's Second Inherent Advantage
has an inherent problem. There were at least five
teams at the Terrapin with former or current Maryland
players --- Maryland A, Maryland B, Cornell, Michigan,
and the open team Who Wants To Be A Dinosaur. (In the
interests of disclosure, I played on the latter). Are all
of these teams to be excluded from playing against
Chicago, Virginia A, or Illinois (three of the other top
teams in attendance) on each other's
packets?
This scheduling nightmare ignores the fact that anyone
who has played on the circuit long enough becomes
familiar with the question-writing styles of members of
not just their own but _other_ teams. Should Virginia
A not play Michigan on Chicago's packet because, by
virture of geography, Michigan has heard scores of
Yaphe's questions over the years?
This issue is
one of boundaries and, as in other cases, the
demarcation is not clear. The QB community has decided that
playing a team from a school on a packet from another
team at that school is to be frowned upon (although
even this stricture is not always followed). Further
expanding the restrictions will quickly lead to
paralysis.
Marc Swisdak