While I welcome news of another trash tournament (even one which is likely too far away to attend), I would like to take issue with the notion of skewing questions toward more recent events in an attempt to bias the playing field toward younger players. The question of how well-advised it is to run a tournament that advertises up front that it wants its questions to benefit one group or another of players is one for a later time; what I'm going to focus on now is the question of how exactly a bunch of questions on things that happened in the '80s benefit the undergraduate player. Take, for example, two players: -- Mark Coen, the World's Largest Gerbil -- graduated from college in 1991, so without access to carbon-dating, I'll assume he was born circa 1969. In other words, your typical Masters Team player. -- Erik Nielsen, college senior, born in 1981. Your typical undergrad. And let's give them a series of questions. The first question is on something that happened in 1965. According to your manifesto here, Mark would have the advantage on this question, but in actuality, Mark was no more born than I was at that time. Advantage: nobody. Next up, a question on something that happened in 1982. Mark was 13 at the time, so it's plausible that he could have remembered it. For my part, unless the question addresses the strained vegetables of the era, I honestly have no chance of remembering it from when it happened. Advantage: Mark. And finally, a question from 1996. I was 15, and Mark was 30 -- but, may I point out, Mark is a trash player. He's probably got at least one eye on the progress of pop culture. Sure, I might remember what was going on, but the same is true of Mark. Advantage: meh. Could be me, could be Mark -- depends on what the question's about. So basically, what I'm saying is that the theory that questions on the 80's are going to help undergrads is faulty. For may part, I don't know a thing about crap that happened before, say, 1989, unless I happened to take an interest in it later -- and much of the early 90's is not my strong point either. For a freshman, I'd adjust that time frame three years forward, and find Mark with a distinct advantage on everything from 1980 to 1995, and a minor disadvantage (if any) on things after that. I think the advantage in eras is a function of personal preference more than one of age. Heck, for my part, I'd _rather_ have questions on things that happened before 1980. And if I were playing in this tournament, I'd be worried that this skewing would create a shift towards the minutiae of the '80s and '90s, and I'd be left wondering what the hell these questions were about. I'm not sure whether the lack of questions about the cheesy pop music, boneheaded TV, and deservedly unwatched movies of today is in fact a "common complaint" among undergraduates, but if I were to complain, it would be that there's too much of that stuff in tournaments already. I'd rather hear a tossup on Elvis Costello, the Yardbirds, or even the Monkees than one on Britney Spears, Def Leppard, or Gerardo (rico and/or suave though he might have been). Not sure whether my opinion is a minority one, or even an insignificant minority one, but I'm suffering from insomnia and thought I would get it out there anyway.
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