--- In quizbowl_at_yahoogroups.com, "Samer Ismail" <stipenn_at_y...> wrote: > > 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")? As a relative trash neophyte, I don't particularly find this idea attractive. Over the three years I have competed, I have found that the only way I or my team has gotten better has been through playing the players and teams which are significantly better than ourselves. Sort of taking our licks and learning from it kind of philosophy. Splitting it off would not necessarily correct the problem because if the effort is to cater to younger players by a "collegiate" division, how does this account for older graduate students who are not necessarily new, can be extremely experienced, and can administer the smackdown just as effectively as the "dinos" ? > 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 I think if you just fiddled with the boni so that there wasn't 4 ppb between the top team and the 28th ranked team then THAT would be a more appropriate solution than denying the younger teams and players the ability to compete against the best teams in the country. Looking at the stats from this year when 31 of 34 teams got more than 15 ppb, I don't see how you can ratchet difficulty down any more, without reducing the tournament to below-national caliber. It seems to me that a lot of these problems would not be addressed with breaking up the feild, which is part of the reason I personally look forward to TRASHionals. Sean Phillips Irked that the first instinct some people have is to keep people like me from getting my ass kicked by someone who is *gasp* experienced.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0: Sat 12 Feb 2022 12:30:47 AM EST EST