Not necessarily... I was born in 1984 (supposedly not able to remember much from the late 80s or even early 90s!) yet I remember a lot of stuff that happened in the 88-94 timeframe and through video games I have the edge on stuff even earlier (e.g. 80s video games) mmailliw On Wed, 19 Feb 2003, walter_shandy wrote: > While I welcome news of another trash tournament (even one which is > likely too far away to attend), I would like to take issue with the > notion of skewing questions toward more recent events in an attempt > to bias the playing field toward younger players. The question of > how well-advised it is to run a tournament that advertises up front > that it wants its questions to benefit one group or another of > players is one for a later time; what I'm going to focus on now is > the question of how exactly a bunch of questions on things that > happened in the '80s benefit the undergraduate player. > > Take, for example, two players: > > -- Mark Coen, the World's Largest Gerbil -- graduated from college in > 1991, so without access to carbon-dating, I'll assume he was born > circa 1969. In other words, your typical Masters Team player. > > -- Erik Nielsen, college senior, born in 1981. Your typical > undergrad. > > And let's give them a series of questions. The first question is on > something that happened in 1965. According to your manifesto here, > Mark would have the advantage on this question, but in actuality, > Mark was no more born than I was at that time. Advantage: nobody. > > Next up, a question on something that happened in 1982. Mark was 13 > at the time, so it's plausible that he could have remembered it. For > my part, unless the question addresses the strained vegetables of the > era, I honestly have no chance of remembering it from when it > happened. Advantage: Mark. > > And finally, a question from 1996. I was 15, and Mark was 30 -- but, > may I point out, Mark is a trash player. He's probably got at least > one eye on the progress of pop culture. Sure, I might remember what > was going on, but the same is true of Mark. Advantage: meh. Could > be me, could be Mark -- depends on what the question's about. > > So basically, what I'm saying is that the theory that questions on > the 80's are going to help undergrads is faulty. For may part, I > don't know a thing about crap that happened before, say, 1989, unless > I happened to take an interest in it later -- and much of the early > 90's is not my strong point either. For a freshman, I'd adjust that > time frame three years forward, and find Mark with a distinct > advantage on everything from 1980 to 1995, and a minor disadvantage > (if any) on things after that. > > I think the advantage in eras is a function of personal preference > more than one of age. Heck, for my part, I'd _rather_ have questions > on things that happened before 1980. And if I were playing in this > tournament, I'd be worried that this skewing would create a shift > towards the minutiae of the '80s and '90s, and I'd be left wondering > what the hell these questions were about. > > I'm not sure whether the lack of questions about the cheesy pop > music, boneheaded TV, and deservedly unwatched movies of today is in > fact a "common complaint" among undergraduates, but if I were to > complain, it would be that there's too much of that stuff in > tournaments already. I'd rather hear a tossup on Elvis Costello, the > Yardbirds, or even the Monkees than one on Britney Spears, Def > Leppard, or Gerardo (rico and/or suave though he might have been). > > Not sure whether my opinion is a minority one, or even an > insignificant minority one, but I'm suffering from insomnia and > thought I would get it out there anyway. > > > Yahoo! Groups Sponsor > ADVERTISEMENT > > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > quizbowl-unsubscribe_at_yahoogroups.com > > > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. >
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