Ah, what fun... I cone back after six days of no computer access and I find oh, about, 150 new quizbowl posts... 1) I think the major fallout from the LA selection will not be that the top quality of play will decrease; the established teams, the Div 1 powerhouses and perennials, will find a way to go to LA. However, I worry somewhat about less established teams that don't have a strong support network (quite possibly many of the Div 2 teams). We're lucky, because if we do qualify (a very, very, big if- we're in somewhat of a rebuilding phase this year), the budget committee will probably fund us. However, this won't be the case for newer, up-and-coming programs that haven't really established themselves yet. That being said, I think an occasional West Coast ICT is one of the best things possible for quizbowl for exactly the reason I've outlined. The porblem of transportation has stymied quizbowl growth in the West for years, and this might provide the impetus for some true cross- country growth. (It won't hurt East Coast growth, because there are already a million tournaments here.) 2) About the HS tournament in Myrtle Beach, I have to agree with the poster (I forget his/her name) who posited that NAQT chose a non- college location because it was "sexy". When I was in high school, we placed second at a pretty big NAQT tournament, and by virtue of that, got invited to the NAQT championships and Chip-bowl. We only had the resources to go to one, and we chose Chip-bowl because, frankly, New Orleans seemed far more appealing than the University of Michigan. And you know what? Despite the fact we only played five crappy rounds, it was the right decision- it was a great vacation (and still the only time I've ever been west of the Mississippi). Chip didn't let the academics get in the way of the tournament, and I suspect that most HS teams prefer it that way. (Of course, if ACF sponsored a high school national tournament, it would probably be held in CERN or something...) Chris White, not speaking as the Swarthmore College Bowl president...
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