Re: Grad Students in College Quiz Bowl

Hi Anonymous,
 Since you seem to be so
interested in my age-dependent playing advantages, please
allow me to address several points in your post. Your
argument seems to run something like this: I wasn't good
in high school, am 27 years old, and thus my
abilities are a result of my long years in the college
ranks. First of all, I really don't know how good I
would have been in high school because I never joined
my high school academic team. In fact, my first
quizbowl experience came as a junior in college. Secondly,
with the exception of a few random (mostly CBI style)
events, I didn't start playing on the college circuit
until the 1997-98 season, making this my fifth season
playing college quizbowl (or for that matter, quizbowl of
any kind), the same amount of time a typical
five-year undergrad plays before graduating. I've become a
decent enough player to become the target of anonymous
posts the old-fashioned way: writing questions and
taking notes, and the reason I did it was to beat the
quizbowl veterans who repeated pounded my team by 500
points when I first started playing. So, if you're upset
that I'm still playing despite having to take my food
through a tube, learn stuff and beat me the next time we
play.

Kelly, Grizzled Quizbowl Veteran

P.S.: I'll leave
it to others more elequent than me to make the more
general arguments that ACF was formed in part to allow
grad student participation, that the game is kept
alive by grad students who give back to the game, and
that most of the dominant players these days are
undergraduates anyway.

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