Re: On Unpredictability II (was Re:Score

MW said:

>>I've heard this argument
often, and I've never been able to put my finger on what
I found wrong with it. Now, I think I've found the
words.

>>An "upset" as in the team less expected to win
pulling out the victory is not bad in and of itself. An
"upset" as in the team with less academic knowledge
winning is definitely bad.

Interesting point of
view. I played on the Berkeley C team at Cardinal
Classic 12, and the only time we played Berkeley A, we
beat them (by a meager 20 points). That was one of
only two losses that Berkeley A had in the entire
tournament. Now, in 99 of 100 matches, Berkeley A would have
demolished us, but what happened was that the packet
contained questions that favored us, not because the packet
writer had intended it to be so, but just because that
was the situation. Now, I will readily concede that
Berkeley A has far more academic knowledge than Berkeley
C, but on that particular packet, the questions
didn't favor them. The point of this longwinded reply is
that sometimes the questions go your way, and
sometimes they don't. In the same tournament, my team
played Chicago, and after the first half, I was
basically a warm body because nothing that was coming up
was in my field of knowledge.

In short: No one
writes to create upsets, they just happen because
sometimes the knowledge in a packet is skewed towards one
team.

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