Re: ACF Regionals thoughts

glennallenbobo <*no_reply_at_yahoogroups.com*> · Mon, 16 Feb 2004 17:44:15 -0000

Lee... It appears to me that Charlie was "less than genial" toward 
Chris White... who replied to your original message of this thread 
and said that "If rounds last an hour, it's the fault of the 
moderator, not the questions."

GAB

--- In quizbowl_at_yahoogroups.com, "quizbowllee" <charolee_at_h...> wrote:
> Charlie, 
> 
> I hope you know that I had no complaints about moderators (except 
> one who kinda pissed me off when he made a rude comment about our 
> team).  As always, I think UTC tournaments are the best.  I was 
> attributing the length to the longer questions which - and I thank 
> you for doing so - you PROVED by doing the word count.  
> 
> When I said "14 hours of quiz bowl" I was referring to the fact 
that 
> we arrived a little before 9:00 am and left around 11:00 pm.  
That's 
> 14 hours.  I failed to include wait time for late teams and lunch.  
> 
> So, what I'm trying to say is: Moderators were great as usual.  
> Charlie did a great job.  Wally kicked ass at entering stats (no 
> wait at all between the end of the last round and the awards).  I 
> apologize if earlier comments insinuated that Charlie or the UTC 
> staff did a bad job.  They did not.  I was merely commenting on the 
> ridiculous length of some of the tossups which, whether you like 
> ridiculously long winded tossups or not, obviously caused the 
> tournament to run longer.
> 
> -Lee
> 
> 
> 
> --- In quizbowl_at_yahoogroups.com, Charlie Steinhice <steinhic_at_b...> 
> wrote:
> > At the risk of sounding not-so-genial: bullshit.  And I can prove 
> it.
> > 
> > Our rounds did not last an hour; they lasted 45 minutes.  I know; 
> I was 
> > keeping close tabs on it all day long.  We began play at 10:10 
> (due to 
> > two late teams), took a lunch break of just under an hour and a 
> half, 
> > and finished the last round at almost exactly 11 PM.  Guess 
what?  
> 15 
> > rounds at 45 min. per round = 11.25 hours, which fits almost 
> exactly 
> > within the times stated.  Say anything you like about me, but 
> don't 
> > insult my moderators.  We had a veteran crew, a house reader in 
> every 
> > room, the least experienced of whom has been a full-time reader 
in 
> at 
> > least 10 tournaments.  I had exactly zero complaints about our 
> readers 
> > Saturday.
> > 
> > As one of the few people who has both this year's and last year's 
> ACF 
> > Regionals questions on my computer, I checked.  I used MS Word to 
> do a 
> > word count of each round from both sets of regionals.  Here are 
> the 
> > stats (anyone who wants to see round by round numbers can e-mail 
> me 
> > privately:)
> > 
> > Mean words per round
> > Tossups 1-20, 2003 Regionals: 1936.67
> > Tossups 1-20, 2004 Regionals: 2125.47
> > 
> > Bonuses 1-20, 2003 Regionals: 1923.47
> > Bonuses 1-20, 2004 Regionals:  2134.07
> > 
> > I leave it to others to debate whether the increased length was a 
> good 
> > thing or a bad thing, but there's no denying its existence.
> > 
> > Chris White wrote:
> > 
> > > I thought that the tossups were mostly accessible, though I 
> agree that
> > > the boni were tougher than expected.  Our team's bonus 
> conversion this
> > > year was virtually the same as last year, even though we've 
> improved
> > > quite a bit since then.  It was frustrating for the first few 
> rounds,
> > > but then you just get used to it and know what to expect.
> > >
> > > But, (and this is the main reason I'm replying), I really have 
to
> > > disagree with your condemnation of tossup length; your 
> Regional's late
> > > running time was not the fault of the questions.  We played 12 
> rounds
> > > at Rutgers and got to leave at 5:30, while it was still light 
> out.  If
> > > rounds last an hour, it's the fault of the moderator, not the
> > > questions.  (Excellent job, Rutgers.  Probably the smoothest-run
> > > tournament I've ever attended.)
> > >
> > > -Chris, speaking only for himself
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > -- 
> > ******************************************************************
> > Charlie Steinhice                 "Come, come!  Why, they couldn't
> > Chattanooga, TN	                  hit an elephant at this 
> dist..."
> > (center of the known universe)              --  Gen. John Sedgwick
> >    
> > ******************************************************************