Re: This Tournament Goes to Eleven 2006 to be held the weekend of October 21.

dr_pookman <*dr_pookman_at_dr_pookman.yahoo.invalid*> · Fri, 16 Jun 2006 19:07:47 -0000

--- In quizbowl_at_yahoogroups.com, suds1000 <no_reply_at_...> wrote:

Will TTGT11 2006 once again feature a disproportionate amount of
trash, namely a percentage in each packet much higher than promised by
the tournament director?

Will there again be an audio non-popular-country-music round in which
each of the audio clips contains the answer to the question, resulting
in teams buzzing off of no knowledge with random words in the song as
their guess?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear "suds1000",

First, let me say I in no way officially speak for the U of Iowa, 
UIAQC, or in any capacity as a possible TD for the upcoming TTGT11; 
but I wish I did.

TTGT11 is a hybrid tournament.  It has wholly trash and wholly 
academic packets, and it also has packets that are a mix of the two.  
Claiming that there is a "disproportionate amount of trash" in each 
packet grossly misreports the basic format of the tournament.

In my experience, some players who like academic play much more than 
they like trash play will openly bitch about the amount of trash at 
TTGT11.  In contrast, some players who like trash much more than they 
like to play academic quizbowl will openly bitch about the amount of 
academic questions.

Players who enjoy their teammates, like being challenged, and aren't 
complete fucking assholes usually just shut up and have a good time.

"suds1000", I do not care who you are, and I will not bother to look 
into it, as my suggestions to you after reading your e-mail would 
have been the same: 

1) Go fuck yourself.

2) If you have grievances with a particular tournament, and the TD of 
that tournament asks for feedback, and you don't voice your 
grievance, then you no earthly reason to bitch when what you see as a 
problem isn't addressed.

3) If you're going to post to this board, perhaps you'd do better to 
make suggestions for the upcoming tournament, rather than bitch about 
tournaments that were held 7-20 months ago.

4) If you're going to make an accusation that there is 
a "disproportionate amount of trash", please provide something to 
back it up, as well as just what is constitutes "disproportionate".  

====================

Let's look at point 4, shall we?  It'd be rude of me to tell you to 
back something up without first attempting to myself, so I guess I 
will.

I have unearthed to informational e-mails sent to teams that came to 
TTGT11 the two years I was TD (2003 & 2004), which are very much the 
same, as the second was generated from the first, and they both read:

"We were shooting for a 70/30 academic/TRASH tournament; hopefully 
higher (75/25), but no lower than 60/40."

Looking into the UIAQC archives, this is what I find*:

~~~~~~~~~~

TTGT11 2003 (TD: Andrew Juhl): 

w/o lightning rounds 13.5 academic and 10.5 trash packets, 
or a 56/44 split 

w/ lightning rounds 15.9 academic and 11.1 trash packets, 
or a 59/41 split

(You're right!  My distribution was off in 2003; thanks for telling 
me now.  Kudos.)

~~~~~~~~~~

TTGT11 2004 (TD: Andrew Juhl): 

w/o lightning rounds 20.0 academic and 12.0 trash packets,
or a 63/37 split 

w/ lightning rounds 22.4 academic and 12.6 trash packets,
or a 64/36 split

(A little close, but within what I promised.)

~~~~~~~~~~

TTGT11 2005 (TD: Zach Sanderson): 

w/o lightning rounds 17.0 academic and 11.0 trash packets, 
or a 61/39 split 

w/ lightning rounds 19.4 academic and 11.6 trash packets,
or a 63/37 split

(Keeping the tradition alive!)

~~~~~~~~~~

"suds1000", you are not a God_of_Quizbowl.  If you want to give 
TTGT11 another chance, please feel free to come, and if you don't, 
then don't.  I'm sure UIAQC will gladly take your registration fee, 
either way.  They need to money to go to other tournament and HAVE 
FUN.

After all, maybe you'll host a tournament soon, and the way you treat 
your fellow quizbowlers sure as shit'll make me wanna be there.  
*thumbs-up* 

++Andrew R. Juhl
(Once again, on his own behalf.)

*For the purposes of this e-mail, I figured a lightning round was a 
packet long, and there are three lightning rounds at TTGT11.  My 
lightning rounds were around 80/20 (academic/trash), which I 
generalized to 2005's tournament.