First comment: folks, let's not spend all our time ripping a new one for those who post messages we don't care for. The person who posted this apologized for the need they perceived for anonymity. Now, as to the question: stats like that *would* raise my eyebrows a bit. I'd be inclined to check a few other stats before I made any assumptions. If qbcardinalsin would be so kind as to check the 56questions below and pass along his/her findings, I think I could offer a better take on this all. Question #1: was there a corresponding jump in the total tossups scored by the team in question? Or did Mystery Scorer just cut into the stats of his/her teammates? Question #2: did Mystery Scorer's team also have a substantially better record? Question #3: did Mystery Scorer's team show a higher bonus conversion in those tournaments as well? After all, if somehow you had access to the tossups, it seems likely you'd have access to the boni too. Question #4: did other teams' performance in tossups per game fluctuate significantly between the same tournaments? Question #5: where were the questions originated? There is certainly a good chance that familiarity with a particular editor's style and pet subjects would give someone a home field advantage. But there are other possibilities, too. Back in the day, my stats jumped noticeably any time there was a round (or in one case entire tournament) written by Ben Lea. Ben and I are close friends now, but when this first started happening, I barely knew the guy -- we just had very similar interests (and wound up getting the same degrees both as undergrads and grad students at different schools.) Another possibility is that the question writer/editor happened to lean heavily on one or more reference works Mystery Player used as study material. And most importantly, Question #6: what were the relative levels of alcohol consumption for Mystery Player before each tournament?
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