Some people intentionally run against other tournaments. (See Duke's ill-fated De-Aff Bowl the weekend of College Bowl Regionals and Delaware's intentional scheduling of a junior bird on the same weekend of the inaugural ACF Fall.) Some people would rather run a tournament with diminished attendance because logistics force a conflict rather than not run a tournament at all. Too many tournaments is a symptom of a lot of teams becoming more competent to the point that they can run a tournament or having the desire to get better that they want to run a tournament, knowing that the process often imparts rewards less tangible than money in the bank. There are two solutions. One is to enlarge existing teams. The other is to encourage new teams to enter the circuit. And a lot of these teams will be not very good. I have always preferred harder questions to play on, but I am also a proponent of divergent levels of difficulty. I always liked the idea of ACF as a hardcore, elitist thing that's not for the masses. I can't think of anyone I consider a no-brainer to be on this proposed panel who would be universally acclaimed. I think the main problem has been an over-reliance on this forum, and on the internet in general, as the primary (and some cases only) means of communication. Handing out a URL and an email address is not the most effective method of circuit expansion. But, let's face it, most of the people who are deeply involved in quizbowl want to be players first, and few out there prefer organizing aspects to playing. I don't think most people try to recruit and retain people who fit that bill. Trying to force an economic analysis on the actions of quizbowl players is to try to use a tool which works only on the assumption that a sufficient number of people are sufficiently rational for a sufficient number of predictions to be sufficiently accurate. Quizbowl is an activity most enjoyed by people who are perhaps irrationally obsessive with doing it. It's no more rational than being sufficiently a fanatic or smoking enough weed to follow the Dead, Phish, or whatever band tourheads follow now. It's no more rational than spoiling a walk every weekend with a game of golf, or watching soap operas incessantly. Blah blah blah, utilty, happiness, whatever floats your boat. Finally, no one has the authority to make people follow this scheduling body. It'll be slightly more effective than voluntary corporate limits on environmental pollution. And the only way anyone will have the authority is if quizbowl becomes an activity that is run by an NCAA-like organization, which will run quizbowl about as well as the college football is run, on par with things like the BCS. Not trying to be negative, but nothing like this, not some bizarro quizbowl disciplinary board, not anything this organized would work unless someone has enough power to hold a gun to people's heads.
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