First, let me preface this by saying that I'm happy to see Depauw on the circuit, and more so posting the hell out of the message board. On to substance... " We're good, we're going to smash anyone in our way as mercilessly as possible, and we don't care about the circuit, so fuck getting more teams involved and having the game continue if and when we decide to retire and enter the real world, rather than spending our *ENTIRE* lives playing quiz bowl. " Whoah. Point-by-point. a) Being an above-average team doesn't mean being assholes. The final score might be "merciless" but you can't play differently based on your opponents. It's like asking the Lakers not to hit open jumpers when they play the Warriors. If they don't, they aren't respecting the game. Obviously, this goes for all formats, not just ACF. Similarly, you don't have to apologize for winning. Thats what everyone wants to do. A cordial, sincere "good game" and handshake is just as effective and conveys all due respect, whether you win or lose. At the same time, it is terrible form to clown on or belittle your opponents or anything of the sort - laughing after you get an answer, whatever. It is completely unacceptable, and if people out are doing that - STOP! It's an asshole thing to do. b) I don't know how closely age and quiz-bowl skill are related. The top players are often top from the moment they start. For instance, Duke's best player now, Darren, is a sophomore. Others get better as they go, some peak and get worse as they have to devote more time to other studies (law school, whatever) but continue to play for fun and write questions to help out the team they are associated with.
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