The Second Inherent Advantage

Durham_Devil · Mon, 08 Nov 1999 13:37:06 -0800

In previous posts -- which you really should read
to get the full story -- I mentioned that there were
two Inherent Advantages that Dave and Julie had in
being a house team for the Terrapin. I reiterate that
these Advantages are not UMCP-specific. ANY house team
has them; this is why Duke won't enter a house team
at any tournament it hosts (HINT HINT). I have
already mentioned the First Inherent Advantage -- that an
experienced house team knows the Tournament Director. The
Second Inherent Advantage is NOT house team specific; it
did, however, come into play when Maryland faced
Chicago.

Why are A and B teams from the same school often
given co-incidental byes? To prevent them from playing
on each other's packet. When's the worst time to
face an underachieving B team? On the A team's packet.
Simply put, it's a good idea not to have teams face each
other when the packet is from the school of one of the
teams. Familiarity seeps in, and the fact that the
packet is team-blind suddenly doesn't
matter.

This is the Second Inherent Advantage: knowledge of
the original authors of the questions. This knowledge
can be more outreaching than B team knowing A team.
If I were to play on a Carnegie-Mellon packet, I
would consider myself due for a big game since I know
Mike McElroy's writing style (unless, of course, Mike
didn't write said packet). On a Columbia packet, I could
pick off a few based on recognizing Ben Letzler's
favorite subjects, which I'm very familiar with after
playing alongside him for four years. At Capital
Punishment, I received fourth all-star despite never having
played a Trash tournament before because I learned Shawn
Pickrell's writing style. And that's just with me; numerous
examples exist outside my sheltered universe.

How
does this apply to the Maryland-Chicago game? Well,
Michigan has (and I believe had at the tournament) David
Goodman and Zeke Berdichevsky. Who was Dave Goodman's
teammate for four years? Hamilton. And whom did Zeke play
alongside for about that long? Julie. Hence, regardless of
whether the subject matter favored Maryland or Chicago,
the style of the questions was intangibly in
Maryland's direction. Depending on the closeness of the
score, that insider knowledge could have made the
difference.

Will I say Maryland's victory is tainted? No; Maryland
still had to beat Andrew, and Andrew can beat any team
on any packet not written by the opposing team. Did
they have an advantage? Yes; they had two previously
described. Were they the difference in beating Chicago?
We'll never know that. We can only do what we do best
-- surmise. Do I think Maryland didn't deserve to
win? Of course not. Will I sympathize with Chicago
should they cry foul? Yes.

Is this only a game?
Yes. Have we forgotten that? I hope
not.

Andy
(who would rather Maryland disqualified itself from
winning the tournament)