TRASHionals thoughts

• From: KennyPeskin
• Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2001 15:58:28 -0700
• Message-ID: <000TCI10K.001ELLGRO.12170551-quizbowl_at_...>

I liked these TRASHionals--up until the
part
where I was driving back from the Rochester airport and
produced an interesting physics experiment ((Chevy Blazer
x 55mph) + 2 deer = loads of fun on a deserted
country road at 2am). Other than that, I had a very good
time. Kudos to the TRASH writers and editors and all
the Northwestern, Univ. of Chicago, and
community
volunteers for a job well done.

Overall I thought the
questions were quite good. There are always a few minor
quibbles but nothing too bad. I am sure certain subjects
were underrepresented, but I think that is somewhat
inevitable

As a (primarily) sports player, I wanted to comment
on one unusual thing about the questions that I
perceived. Typically, sports such as auto racing, soccer,
football, fighting sports tend to focus on the
author/editor's particular interest at the expense of others
(European soccer vs. MLS, NASCAR vs. champ cars,
heavyweight boxing vs. other weights). I thought Anthony did
an
excellent job of balancing the breakdown. I can remember
questions focused on European club, World Cup, NASL and
MLS; NASCAR, CART, IRL, F1; welterweights,
lightweights, pro wrestling, and UFC; NFL, NCAA, and XFL just
to name a few. As I told Anthony, this weekend was
the first tournament I can ever remember being asked
a non-Indy 500 IRL question (other than ones I have
written). And whoever wrote two alt-country questions, good
job (though we didnt get either bonus).

I was
wondering if, in the future, TRASH could better announce
playoff procedures and rules. While I know that TRASH
announced at the opening rules meeting that the top 3 teams
per bracket would make the playoffs, at an earlier
time the
top 4 were announced, and I was still
somewhat
confused. Also, I felt that the playoff
tiebreaker
procedures were confusing. When rankings are based on the
NASL points system, announcing "total points" as a
tiebreaker doesn't specify between NASL points or points
scored in matches. And, I thought I was told--though I
may
very well be mistaken--that for the top bracket, total
points was the first tiebreaker, followed by H2H. (And
for other brakets, H2H came first.) But our fourth
place tie (Gerbils/Steve McQueensryche) was resolved on
the basis of H2H, not total points. It seems
irrelevant, since I have no desire for NKOTB wax packs,
canned meat products, or NFLPA merchandise, but I feel
that
it could be important in a future
situation.


Kenny Peskin