First thing first: of COURSE I know what a nihilist is, and that it doesn't apply here. But you are one. Let's take the charges one at a time, shall we? 1) distributes its sectionals in order to qualify the top X teams in the country, rather than the best team from each ACUI region Well, that's debatable, especially given their host school automatic bid. I don't think too many people would imagine that Maryland (the first team left stranded on the waitlist last year) is less deserving, or would have performed as poorly, as UTC (who finished last at ICT). UTC may be a great bunch of people, but having drawn them last year, I can safely say that they may have been out of their league. Ditto the 35th team (DePauw). So that's two teams that were fraudulently there. Hence, the "top X teams" argument doesn't quite hold up. Add to it that every sectional gets at least two bids, and a lot of deserving teams don't wind up going. 2) provides a question set and tournament staff at the ICT that makes playing, and thus qualifying, worthwile even if one does not expect to win Matt, have you spoken to these schools who do only CBI? A lot of them couldn't handle NAQT or ACF, and for them, the CBI experience IS worthwhile. Ask Steinhice, who has extensive connections with the otherwise-CBI-only groups. Furthermore, in CBI, there are fewer teams who look down upon people who aren't at their level, fewer teams who go all-out to crush the opposition, and fewer teams who hold petty, personal grudges for no reason whatsoever. Which makes the experience more fun. Some of my best times in HS games were with teams that didn't give a damn and were glad to play anything -- even the most frustrating of formats. Meanwhile, one of my worst memories was when I was confronted at VHSL by people who complained about the questions, calling them "the worst they'd ever heard" and basically blaming them and not their opponents for a loss. It's attitude more than questions for about 90% of the quizbowl universe. 3) Markets to quizbowl teams rather than college programming departments So? 4) Offers three sanctioned undergraduate places, at least one of which Pitt does have a decent shot at Okay, fine, you can stay THIS time. But understand that everyone has a right to play quizbowl, not just those who will win. You, having entered Pitt much better than most freshmen thanks to four years of seasoning at a premier high school for that sort of thing, seem not to know what it's like to lose and lose big. But there are those who play in their first tournament ever at any level, be it It's Academic television, Center of the Known Universe, or ACF Nationals. For their sake, I will not shrink the field. Andy
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