Calling My Bluff

bokonon90 · Tue, 10 Apr 2001 23:18:13 -0700

Andy Goss says : "I'm calling your bluff,
Tim.
This is not to imply that you don't REALLY think that
CBI is not a legitimate format. But I think your
opinion is extremely biased, as is most of
GW's."

I'll grant you my opinion is biased. However, biased
and valid are not mutually exclusive. 
Especially
considering my biases come from experience. Where do yours
come from?

"Notice that schools like Chicago
and Michigan are PROUD of their achievements...
"

Irrelevant. So it's a tournament win. People brag about even
winning even the humblest of tournaments. That's
perfectly natural and has nothing to do with what I was
talking about. Further, you invoked indirectly CBI NCT
wins from years gone by, some of which arguably had a
degree of legitimacy that this year's edition will
pretty clearly lack. 

"In addition, on the
van ride from the hotel to Lambert airport, I talked
to the Williams team, who seemed to be looking
forward to a trip to Los Angeles at the end of the
month."

On a lighter note, Andy, have you ever been to
Williamstown? You too would jump at the chance to go to Los
Angeles. And I'd gladly take a free weekend trip to LA if
it were offered me, even from here in DC. Why should
the Williams team be any different? 

"However,
Tim, you and Edmund have made no secret that you feel
you were screwed [etc.]"

First off, Edmund has
never been to CBI NCT. 
And if you'd ever actually
gone to a CBI tournament of any kind, you might
(Region 5 has a particularly bad rep for poorly run RCTs,
BTW) have some idea where my dislike for their
organization stems from. And while you brought it up, you're
right, there is a significant difference between how
RCTs and NCTs are run. But each is maddening and
frustrating, for somewhat different reasons. I've been through
those many times before; I feel no need to repeat
myself here. 

"Tim, I simply don't know where
your horrid feelings towards CBI came from, but
understand that you represent only yourself. " 

You
say this, and then bring up Edmund and GWACC
repeatedly as if you don't really mean it. Please make up
your mind. 

"If Kenny enjoys CBI, he is allowed
to. He is not "wrong"."

Another irrelevancy. I
didn't say that Kenny (or anyone else) couldn't enjoy
playing CBI. 
My comments were limited to the
observation (with explanation) that CBI NCT, at least
compared with NAQT or ACF NCT, is a minor league event. If
someone thinks that going through all that nonsense for
said event is fun or in some way personally rewarding,
fine. When someone asserts that somehow winning this
thing is anywhere near as impressive as winning ACF or
NAQT (or even many invitationals), they are indeed
wrong. 

"Perhaps, Tim, CBI will conform to your
and other people's ideas...they have no reason to
listen to you or anyone else who exudes
elitism."

Hello! I don't "play for CBI" and never "played for
CBI." I played for my schools, Dartmouth and GW, and
their AC programs. (Further, I'm retired from regular
collegiate play, as I'm sure you know.) I don't expect CBI
to listen to me, since I am not part of their
customer base. 
And while elitism is undesirable and
sadly too prevelant in many areas of academic
competition, if the competition to see who wins a national
title isn't elitist, it's worthless. 

"Wow, that
took a nastier turn than I anticipated."

You
seem to have a talent for doing that. Not that you're
alone on the circuit, mind you...

"Let me sum
up as neutrally as possible: CBI Nationals is still
a National. GWACC's opinion doesn't change
that."

I can't stop anyone from calling whatever they want
a "National," least of all something that used to
be _the_ big prize and the national tournament of
tournaments. We can debate endlessly the exact moment in the
history of academic competition that CBI NCT lost its
luster as a real national title, but at this point, it
clearly isn't.