Impressions from the First year -Part II

cellist_1981 · Tue, 06 Nov 2001 21:19:21 -0800

I must say, before people start to get mad at me
for whatever reason, that I have thoroughly enjoyed
being part of the quiz bowl community for the short
period of time that I have. I always wanted to do this
in high school, but there isn't much of a quiz bowl
community in Hawaii. I love being able to be smart
(although sometimes these tournaments make me wonder) and
not have anyone make fun of me or call me a dork for
liking to study and learn things. I think that is a very
important part of quiz bowl that people seem to forget. You
all are very intelligent people, I can tell. Some of
you are too intelligent for your own good. Some of
you know you are very smart, and like to lord it over
people. That is when quiz bowl starts to lose its draw,
and stops being fun. There have been many people on
this circuit who have helped our team out a lot, in
many ways: ADJ, Dave Murphy, Dom Ricci, to name a few.
Their input has been invaluable. And I don't mind
losing to teams like Dave's or the Washington University
team that was at Illinois this weekend. They are good,
they know it, but they don't lord it over you like you
are a kindergartener on the first grade playground
during recess. I can handle losing to them. They make me
want to get better and be able to give them a run for
their money the next time we play them. However, there
are just as many, if not more people I have played
against who are rude and obnoxious and who make me want
to leave and never come back to quiz bowl again. One
such team that I have a vivid memory of was the
Illinois team we played this weekend. With the exception
of one person on the team, they were obnoxious
beyond belief. They felt the need to converse during our
bonuses, sometimes ABOUT the questions we were trying to
answer. They also felt the need to add in how great they
were in between every question. Finally, my temper got
the better of me and I had to tell them how
ridiculous their behavior was. All of the people on this
circuit are adults, and should act like ones. I went to
high school with many people much smarter than me,
many of whom had very large egos. I have not, however,
met anyone as rude and annoying and obnoxoius as the
guy everyone calls "Hairboy." If anyone who knows
him, or if he himself reads this, you should all be
incredibly ashamed of his behavior this weekend. Especially
since it was a tournament that his team was hosting. I
will refrain from making the rude comments that come
to mind because I like to think I am above middle
school behavior. One thing that I will say for the
DePauw team: we may not be the strongest team on the
circuit, but our players know how to win and lose
graciously and with decorum and decency. That is something
that is so much more important than a winning record
or any amount of knowledge a person may have. I
don't care how smart you are, intelligence is never a
good excuse for immature and rude behavior. Act your
age, for goodness sake, don't act like a 5 year old
who doesn't know any better. And don't be proud of
the fact that you are obnoxious, it is not a
desirable trait.