Splitting TRASH?

• From: Samer Ismail <stipenn_at_stipenn.yahoo.invalid>
• Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2003 23:09:58 -0000
• Message-ID: <b81to6+lnv6_at_...>

I'll simply throw this out to the floor--

Much as there is something to be said for playing against the grizzly 
dinosaurs, do you think TRASH would be better off splitting the field 
into two divisions ("Open" and "Collegiate")?

I applaud TRASH in their attempt to keep the questions accessible for 
the younger players. OTOH, the job seemed to be rather incomplete: 
while there were numerous boni in each packet that most of the top 12 
teams could 30, there were some that essentially no team was going to 
30 (e.g., some of the lit boni). Especially in close matches, the 
game seemed to hinge not on how much the teams knew, but who got 
which boni.

The other problem is that, with the current 3x12 format, almost any 
playoff method is going to be unfair to several teams. For example, 
by taking only the top two teams in each bracket--in a field with 
several good teams--almost inevitably results in one or two teams 
getting robbed of a chance to win the tournament, and a "lucky" team 
getting clobbered in the playoffs.

Also, counting only the match among the top teams doesn't seem 
particularly fair: you could easily argue that a team that goes 9-2 
should not have a one-game advantage over a team that goes 10-1. 

I think that by splitting the field into two smaller divisions, there 
would be more time to differentiate among the top teams, and fewer 
clobberings as well; also, it would be possibly to ratchet the 
difficulty--either up or down--to make the questions suitably 
challenging for the more experienced teams and suitably accessible 
for the younger teams.

--STI