Re: Another proposal

• From: Durham_Devil
• Date: Thu, 30 Dec 1999 10:33:29 -0800
• Message-ID: <000S6N9BP.000OOL6D8.12170551-quizbowl_at_...>

"It's like Academic Decathlon: California and
Texas win those competitions at Nationals, but rarely
do those same teams appear on the quiz bowl national
scene."

I beg to differ, especially in the case of
California. CA high school teams show up all the time at the
local college tournaments. Plus, in the '90s, Torrey
Pines and Edison of California have been national
programs. One year, IIRC, the Blackshirts at Torrey took
home the high school national titles at Panasonic,
Beall, and Lake Forest. Also, I think Edison had a
pretty good player in the mid-90s whose name escapes me
(was it Farris?) and who did some major
damage.

As for Texas, they are regulars at the Beall-a-thon.
In fact, I think Houston Memorial is a team that
typically advances far in that tournament. So the high
school scene isn't as dead as you think, quiz-bowl-wise,
in those states.

Which state's the best?
Depends on the criteria. I can think of several styles of
competition to decide. They are:

* All-star game --
'nuff said.
* Top team showdown -- though this might
favor Pennsylvania a little much...
* Top 3, or 5,
or 7, etc., series -- I'd prefer seven, for a
best-of-seven series, but whatever.
* Top N crossover round
-- every one of the top N plays every one of the
other state's top N. Eh, why not? We got all
day.

The reason I say it matters is because you'd probably
get four different answers with the four different
programs. South Carolina could win the all-star stuff,
Pennsylvania the top team showdown, Georgia the best-of-7, and
Maryland the crossover play. (Yes, I do think western
states would be competitive, and no, I don't think they
have the depth.) Of course, I'm upset that I introduce
this topic now as opposed to any other time in the
1990s, when our school was the undisputed king of
Virginia and could tackle anyone, anywhere, any
time.

For the record, my experience leads me to rank the
states (DURING MY TENURE OF 1994-8) as
follows:

1. South Carolina
2. Maryland
3. Georgia
4.
Oklahoma
5. Virginia
6. Michigan
7. Pennsylvania
8.
California
9. Tennessee
10. Minnesota

Andy
Goss
who admits his opinion is outdated