Trophy whore

Trophy whoring is the act taken by a team/coach to intentionally attend a tournament for the purpose of increasing their odds of placing or winning (a trophy) over a weaker field of teams, rather than attending a tournament with a stronger field of teams that might be more commensurate with the team's ability or readiness to improve.

This practice is greatly frowned upon in the good quizbowl community.

Similarly, players or coaches can engage in stats whoring. This is a practice where a player may decide (or a coach may decide for the player) to play an easier tournament, or to intentionally play down a level (B instead of A team or JV instead of Varsity) for the purpose of improving their season statistics for one reason or another. Like with trophy whoring, this practice is frowned upon in the good quizbowl community.

However, it should be noted that in an attempt to make a team more well rounded, it is not uncommon for a program to play a very good player on their B team in order to move up a player who may, after-the-fact, convert fewer tossups, but will make the A team more well rounded and more successful. This is especially the case if two good players have a strong overlap in knowledge base. This is not considered stats whoring.