Devil's Advocate, #002

Durham_Devil · Thu, 18 Oct 2001 16:26:02 -0700

I don't want to go off on a rant here, but the
problem of teams crushing teams exists also at the high
school level. Of course, at some point the players
leave; however, Georgetown Day A will crush Banneker's
freshman team 99 times out of 100, regardless of whether
it's Owen Lipsett, Ben Cooper, Dan Suzman, or anyone
else leading the squad.

In high school, I was
on both ends of it at different times. Julie Singer
and Eleanor Roosevelt A would kick my tail as a
freshman; likewise, I'd do the same to Lake Braddock C as a
senior. While neither set of games was any fun, no one
ever suggested partitioning the tournament into two or
three fields. It was understood that there was one
winner.

Of course, high school and college quizzing are
different in one respect: you leave high school after four
years, to rotate in fresh blood. This is why
undergraduate or JV tournaments should exist -- so that (in
theory) you're going against people of your strength.
Now, I also wouldn't mind it working the other way,
and there being an uber-tournament for grad students
(particularly with a cash prize), but that ain't gonna
happen.

As good as separate fields for rookies (NAQT) or
undergrads (Case) can be, the problem becomes when the award
given is akin to NAQT's undergrad title -- a tournament
within a tournament. Every field at a tournament should
have ONE winner. Period. I mean, if the top Division
II team finishes with a 5-8 record because it lost
to all eight DivI teams and beat its five foes in
Division II, do they feel like
"winners"?

Meanwhile, in the Division II universe, if you're so worried
that playing on a lesser question scale causes player
retardation, then don't make the entire question scaled down.
A "question" is, in theory, only as hard as its
giveaway. It won't kill anyone if the DivII questions are
like the DivI group's, but with an extra clue at the
end that would be deemed "beneath" Division I
(whatever that means). The Division II players will be
hearing all the clues Division I does, and through
hearing them, may learn them. In addition, they still get
points, which is a good thing.

Meanwhile, the
biggest thing we can do to encourage people to play who
are new to this isn't to put them in a training pool
or to throw them to the sharks. It's to be NICE.
First-time players are generally there to see if it's a fun
way to spend a Saturday. If we all behave
condescendingly to them during registration (or even before
rounds), they won't come back. Start a conversation. Be
nice. It won't hurt you. And it just may make you a few
new opponents and friends.

Of course, that's
just my opinion. I could be wrong.