The lie seems to be something interesting on a theoretical perspective which requires some creative skill if used in practice. At its heart, the idea seems to want questions to both have entertainment value and encourage thinking skills. The strongest critics of the lie will probably be those who think that quizbowl should do neither. My own problems with the idea is that I would rather have teams pour such creative energy into the actual facts of the question than into a lie, a task with which some teams struggle. The same goes for the linked bonus. Although it's something that I think I can pull off (and have in the past), it's not something which is necessarily easy. Writing solid questions is a skill as attainable as the ability to write better than mediocre poetry. Not everyone can do it. I don't expect everyone to do it. That being said, I cringe at the suggestion that all innovations somehow belong to trash. I would say that the power tossup came from the same well of ideas as the lie or the 40-30-20-10 bonus. (We'll avoid the topic of what some people think of power tossups, for now.) I'm also not sure that I buy into your suggestion of serious competitions, with implies the existence of "non-serious" tournaments, with the possible connotation of frivolity. Perhaps we should just have more special tournaments, and less "serious competitions." While I don't want to create some sort of gimmick bowl, I'm all for the Balkanization of quizbowl into all sorts of flavors where everyone can find something they want, with the basic forms out there so that one can feel some solidarity with fans of a different style (if one chooses not to take a stance of moral superiority of one's own personal tastes). Within each flavor, there are some who take things quite seriously and others who don't. Anthony P.S. TRASH(uppercase) and trash(lowercase) are two different things, although the confusion is understandable. TRASH(uppercase) is an organization which provides questions for particular trash(lowercase) tournaments. Trash(lowercase) existed before TRASH(uppercase). I'm not quite sure who invented trash(lowercase). Darrell! Frye of Vanderbilt claims to have done so. I recall at least one competing claim, but I forget who that is.
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