The Grail Achieved

• From: ehillema <no_reply_at_yahoogroups.com>
• Date: Thu, 07 Nov 2002 17:49:03 -0000
• Message-ID: <aqe92f+is71_at_...>

--- In quizbowl_at_y..., arsaces_i <no_reply_at_y...> wrote:
> You know, lost amidst the usual spellbinding streams of conversation 
> occasioned by this inquiry, something hasn't yet been said, so I'll 
> say it: Congratualtions!

Yes, absolutely!  It is surprising that "the Grail" did elude teams 
above the high school level for so long, and congratulations to the 
first team finally to do it.  The closest I ever came was on the only 
team I've ever played on where I was the #4 player:  Tom Waters, Rob 
Hentzel, Tom Drucker, and me.  One of our last matches at that 
Philadelphia Experiment masters was against the clear weakest team in 
the tournament, and we actually discussed (privately!) going for all 20 
before the match, which was arrogant but not unrealistic -- and our 
intentionally wanting to go for it was prompted by the notoriety then 
of the fact that while teams had come close, it had never been done.  
We got 19, and it was Tom W. himself (thankfully, for the rest of us 
not having any guilt feelings about being the one to blow it for Tom) 
who went in early with one wrong answer late in the game - not the last 
tossup, but a late one.

Nice work, Illinois!