De-Affiliation Bowl

De-Affiliation Bowl was a non-tournament that was supposed to be run by Andy Goss of Duke. Intended to be run the same weekend as College Bowl Regionals, its announcment included a request for "slams", encouraging the writing of questions that insulting a range of people that included Chip Beall, the University of North Carolina, and Andy Goss himself. However, De-Affiliation Bowl became known mainly for news of its cancellation not reaching UCF until they were already in transit.

Documentation

e-mail from Cory Edwards to qb@iastate.edu

"I was wondering if anyone had seen a cancellation or postponement notice for the De-Affiliation bowl at Duke. Otherwise, the only reason that I found out was because I checked my e-mail in Durham, and there was a personal message from the TD sent after we had left for the tourney. I was hoping that it was something I hadn't noticed rather than the TD's inability to inform participants when the event was cancelled. Please let me know."

reply from Andy Goss

"It's a shame this is public, but it is. I'm going to tell all of you the same thing I told Cory, and the same thing he'll find on his valencia account, since he's so diligent in checking his email.

Once it became obvious that not enough teams (for the record, 5) were attending the event, I sent something to the list. Usually, when I send something, I get a message from Iowa State's majordomo, indicating that things didn't get through as planned. Oddly, majordomo is usually wrong, and the message gets through anyway.

This time it didn't.

As a result, I received several emails from people asking for directions and such. I tried to answer these in between classes, meals, and the numerous power outages that my faulty circuit breaker is responsible for (such as the one forcing me to restart this message). I figured I got everyone's, until Cory sent word that he was about to leave and needed to know the building. I got this word when I woke up at 8:30. While reading other messages, I instantly pressed delete, assuming my mail program would delete the last one I read. Instead, the highlighted mail was the first one I read — his.

I had NO TIME to find his email and write a reply before a 9:10 physics exam. I have classes until 2:00 on Friday. When I got back at 2:20, I made every effort to find his email (god bless the Maize Pages) and write the reply. Much as I hoped it would arrive on time, it didn't.

Cory will find in the personal email my sincerest apologies. When we do run this tournament, if UCF wishes to attend — and frankly, I don't blame them if they don't — we will waive the entry fee. We will probably also throw in a free set of questions.

Yes, it should have occurred to me when the first email came in that NO ONE had heard of the cancellation, but it didn't. Being a TD isn't as easy as people make it out to be. I've learned from this, and next time — probably next year — I will be much more prepared.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled lives.

Andy Goss F***ed-up TD Duke University"