(Begin Goss quote) You see, I started this my freshmen year. That year, Andrew Yaphe was an active player, and had Mike Zarren, perhaps one of the top 10 undergrads in his own right, as support. They never lost. Literally. Not even one match. I'm not even sure they came close. This was frustrating for a lot of people (myself being the main one). Seeing as how nationals that year were probably going to be (and ended up being) the Yaphe Victory Tour, I wondered, "Is there a national they *can't* win?" (end Goss quote) Um, much as I'd like to take credit for a completely unbeaten season, this was not the case. Chicago A endured a number of losses that year, though Andrew and I when playing together only had 1 (to our B team by 5 in a protest-filled (4) match at NAQT SCT in Iowa). This doesn't necessarily say much for me, though, as Andrew and Sarah Bagby playing together also only had one loss, and the three of us were 70-0 for the year when playing all together. We endured at least 7 5-point games that I can think of, (it's not worth checking for more) so yes Andy, we did come close. Also, Andrew did not play CBI that year, so the Nationals were hardly the "Yaphe victory tour." I think that that one NAQT ICT Finals v. Berkeley match did more to lower the circuit's view of the rest of the Chicago team than anything else. Andrew was absolutely dominating in that match (which everyone saw), but we did win without him that year. Of the 15 tourney wins, only 11 were with Andrew. However, of the 16 weekends any Chicago team went to a tournament, we came away with 15 wins and at least 4 seconds (including 2 weekends where we were 1st in one city and 2nd in another), so Andy is right in saying that it was a successful year for Chicago. Was this frustrating for him because he thought Duke would have had a chance to win otherwise? I'm not sure I understand. I certainly would not trade even one game win (never mind a tourney win) for Chicago's inclusion in the NCAA bracket thing. That said, it is entirely unfair that other non-D1 schools be punished for Chicago's success (except when facing Chicago in an actual quiz bowl tournament, of course), and so Andy ought to include the other schools so they can get the important recognition that Stan and others mention they so richly deserve. I for one do not want to be held partly responsible for keeping this high honor from them, so I say "Let them in, Andy, let them in!" -Mike
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