Jordan Brownstein
| Jordan Brownstein | |
| |
| Noted subjects | Literature, History, Dijkstra's algorithm |
| Past colleges | Maryland (2013–2017) |
| High school | Plymouth Regional (2013) |
| Stats | HDWhite • NAQT |
Jordan Brownstein played quizbowl at Maryland. During his undergraduate career, he was widely recognized as the best active player in quizbowl, and, after being the top scorer while winning the 2016 Chicago Open and 2017 ACF Nationals, as one of the greatest college quizbowl players of all time.
As early as his freshman year, Jordan was notable for his extremely deep specialism in literature and history (despite being a computer science major) and for coming out of relative nowhere – namely Plymouth, New Hampshire, where his only exposure to "good quizbowl" was one or two History Bowl events – to establish himself nearly immediately as an elite collegiate player. After a year playing alongside (and sometimes outscoring) Chris Ray, Jordan became lead scorer of the Maryland team that finished 4th at 2015 ICT and 3rd at 2015 ACF Nationals. He led the 2nd-place team at the 2015 Chicago Open, where he was the top scorer overall at the main event, literature side event, and history side event.
Prior to teaming up at 2014 Chicago Open, Mike Cheyne gave Jordan the nickname "The Viper," a reference to a particularly sadistic WWE wrestler. The name has stuck. Noted misanthrope Tommy Casalaspi has referred to Jordan as "the nicest person in quizbowl."
Writing
Since 2014, Jordan has been one of quizbowl's most prolific and high-quality question writers. He has worked on dozens of sets, including 2014 NASAT, MYSTERIUM, 2016 NSC, 2016 Terrapin, 2018 ACF Nationals, 2018 Chicago Open, SMT, 2017–2019 Penn Bowl, 2019 Terrapin, 2019 ACF Nationals, 2020 ACF Regionals, and 2021 ACF Regionals. He also worked on the side events SHEIKH (history), Jordaens Visual Arts, and The Unanswered Question, and the high-school sets Maryland Spring, Maryland Fall, and 2018–2019 HFT.
| |||
| |
| ||
| |||
| |
| ||