Re: Circuit Future- Tournament Announcement

bokonon90 <*no_reply_at_yahoogroups.com*> · Wed, 23 Oct 2002 01:09:47 -0000

--- In quizbowl_at_y..., user369_98 <no_reply_at_y...> wrote:
> The University of Montana- Billings would like to announce the 
first 
> annual Exclusion of Successful Players (ESP) tournament.  In 
light of 
> recent desires to develop the circuit for those who "can't quite 
cut 
> it" with quality players at the tournament, this invitational will 
> feature the worst of the worst teams.  

Very funny. 

I suppose I shouldn't choose to respond to this of all posts, but 
there is something in its attitude I wanted to comment on. 

I think we're doing a lot of discouragment, whether we intend to 
or not. 

What I have been seeing in the last two years, at least on the 
East Coast. The Mid-Atlantic is being hit hard, and I'm aware the 
Northeast is as well. 

Most submission tournaments - with the conspicuous exception 
of Penn Bowl - have increasingly resembled what used to be 
known as "hardcore ACF" difficulty (whether or not the 
tournaments bill themselves as ACF or as hardcore.)  Was it the 
so-called dinosaurs writing all these nasty questions? Not 
necessarily.  Some of it was newbies trying to fit in to this 
environment in the best way they can think of, or simply lacking 
in question-writing skills. Some of it was editors conditioned to 
cater to an elite clientele.   Some of it was tournaments written by 
one person or a group of people that helped ratchet up the 
expected level of difficulty. 

I am seeing teams going to one or two submission events and 
being scared away, and not just because of simply losing. 
I am seeing teams in this area - mostly mid-to-lower level 
schools - disappearing or at least scaling back, and very little 
new blood. With every year I see more practices where younger 
players get discouraged.  I think we're seeing a net loss of 
people, and since we're not big to begin with, I think that spells 
trouble. 

I am seeing more tournaments - academic tournaments not 
billed as "Masters" - with not just nth year grads but people who 
are no longer students playing. Now perhaps their records and 
games don't count or whatever, but it contributes to the overall 
atmosphere. 

So what? Where are our future question writers going to come 
from? Where is our future growth going to come from? CBI can't 
really be a potential avenue if none of us are playing it (not that 
that necessarily means I suggest patronizing them) and new 
people at our existing schools would likely flee in terror from a lot 
of what's being produced right now. 

About the only positive I can find is that there is an awareness 
out there independent of anything I might write that things have 
gone too far.  That's a start but most of the factors driving the 
arms race are still in place. 