After the Green Wave wins the Southeast Sectional, the players are euphoric, and they are elated to represent the university on the national quiz bowl stage, to end a 26-year drought and the return to the top levels of quiz bowl. But Imélie realizes the ICT forced Tulane's hand and she firmly believes any college quiz bowl team should have at least four players, and ideally have a good balance of subjects.
In the marketing class a few days later, Imélie couldn't help herself but comment on the six Ps of marketing and how her own workplace might be a little weak in the last of these 6 Ps: purpose. Marketing custom software requires active participation between the stakeholders and the manufacturer, as well as tailor-made products; however, this means it is a high-end product as well as a commensurate price. If you don't know the lay of the land, then you're in deep marketing trouble. Plus I know there are certain materials I can't submit in an expense claim to my employer regarding the expenses of the quiz bowl team. Meals, driving and lodging are perfectly fine, and Keshav knows that, for B2B client development or networking, suppliers will often pay for the meals of their clients when they meet with them in person, but tournament entry fees are not, Imélie starts reflecting on what marketing challenges her employer faces, as well as what made her expense claims requests go smoothly without the finance department realizing that it's actually about quiz bowl. Meanwhile, she is also being reminded that all too often, people think of marketing as being mostly about 3 of the 6 Ps: price, promotion and, depending on the industry, product, or participation. There was still place and purpose, however. And yet, people in class start questioning themselves about what they did over the weekend.
"I went to Atlanta for the Southeast Sectional Championship Tournament and the Green Wave won the tournament" Imélie talks about the SCT to her classmates.
"What's that tournament about?" a classmate asks her.
"Quiz bowl. This means I am going to spend spring break in Chicago"
And then her classmates start asking about the current Green Wave quiz bowl season, as well as her role in the team. Not that they hold any interest in playing for Tulane next year, but she feels like she will play more next year. After all, at the SCT, she was the player that heard the fewest tossups, hearing a grand total of 60 tossups there.
Upon returning home that night, she starts writing an email to the Kansan prospect that she initially snubbed out of a spot on the team in December: "Dear Patricia, after our victory at the NAQT Southeastern sectional, the University has approved an additional spot on the roster. You're at the top of our pool of alternates so the University has authorized the reopening of your file for the 2035-2036 quiz bowl team. Please let me know what works for you for an online meeting". She then proceeds to list what doesn't work for her. While, of course, she could always think of the ex-Vandebilt Catholic player to fill the final roster spot for what she refers to as "Tulane B", she believes taking both of them would force her to build a "Tulane C" that does not fit her vision for the program and there's not much talent left, at least until April. On top of that, she believes that it would be too rapid an expansion for it to be a good idea. At the appointed time, the meeting begins...
"Welcome to this online meeting, I am Imélie, the coach of the Tulane Green Wave quiz bowl team. Based on the University's records, it appears that you are the captain of the Olathe Northwest scholars bowl team. Now, I have some concerns about how you're going to adapt from a state format that, frankly, bears little resemblance to collegiate quiz bowl, so did you play any tournaments that run on either ACF, NAQT or PACE formats?"
"You know we're allotted a grand total of eight tournaments per year, regional and state scholars bowl championship exclusive? Or nine if we host one" Patricia asks her would-be coach.
"ACF, NAQT and PACE are generally acknowledged as the mainstream formats of good quiz bowl, and in college, ACF and NAQT are much more common than PACE. I hope that your school can still enter good quiz bowl tournaments held on the Missouri side of the Kansas City region; you live on the Kansas side of it"
"What makes these formats "good quiz bowl" anyway?" Patricia asks her, clueless about the distinction between good and bad quiz bowl. "Also we are allowed to enter only two of these tournaments of what you call "good quiz bowl" per year because all of these tournaments start before three PM, and once the state championship ends, we can no longer play"
"Admittedly tossups in good quiz bowl are a little long but they reward players' knowledge, as opposed to buzzer speed or lateral thinking. A question that rewards lateral thinking can be readily answered without having to know the subject matter of the clues. Also, questions asked in good quiz bowl do not mislead players, and generally have clues in descending order of difficulty. In college quiz bowl, there won't be questions on computational math, unlike scholars bowl the way you play it"
I'd never think I would have the debate between good and bad quiz bowl with a prospect. Now I have only cursory knowledge of KSHSAA as it relates to quiz bowl but Sadie once told me about how some Kansan player on the Vanderbilt C of her time was a very talented player in a bonus context but had a hard time buzzing in on tossups, Imélie gets a flashback of some past conversation about what Sadie called the Black Gates of Kansas. If I can pry open one of the Black Gates of Kansas and have her play for the Green Wave next season... then again, it's a choice between Patricia and Oliver, the ex-Vandebilt Catholic player that acts as a staffer in tournaments so that he could somehow earn his spot on the team.
Did the coach of Tulane tell me the university has reopened my file for the varsity quiz bowl team only for her to yell at me about good and bad quiz bowl as well as implying that KSHSAA scholars bowl is bad quiz bowl? Patricia wonders while she feels like Imélie has not finished talking about good and bad quiz bowl. On the other hand, don't underestimate a quiz bowler's intellect! She clearly harbors concerns over my ability to adapt to a different format of play, but I feel like I am smart enough to play at this level. Playing scholars bowl made my brain work so much faster than I initially believed, as well as increased confidence in my intellectual capabilities, then again someone for whom playing quiz bowl in college is realistic would have a high mental speed as well as a spongy memory.
"You seem to hold a sectarian view of quiz bowl as a game. The way you describe good quiz bowl questions makes me feel like I have paragraph-long questions to answer, with one clue being one sentence. Questions asked in scholar bowl are short and sweet, it makes the game more exciting to play" Patricia then explains her experience of scholars bowl.
"The other big concern I have over the KSHSAA scholars bowl format is that the ordering of the questions is even more restrictive than in good quiz bowl. From what I've seen it's easier to adapt to a new ruleset than a different style of questions and clues" Imélie voices her other big concern.
"If you're concerned about me transitioning from KSHSAA format to "good quiz bowl" formats, you shouldn't be that concerned: some of the core skills required of playing scholar bowl are required of "good quiz bowl" as well. From what I can make out, the quality of the quiz bowl being played seems to depend on how well the questions being asked test the players' knowledge"
"Now you have a better idea of the semantics of question writing of what makes good quiz bowl, well, good. But it's more than question writing or tossup-bonus formats! I know that question content is hotly debated in the quiz bowl world as to what constitutes acceptable question content and not. But nowhere is it more obvious than in the area of trivia"
Even though, to the eyes of the outside world, so many questions in good quiz bowl would be about trivia, in that the answers to what is typically asked in good quiz bowl might be unimportant or not well-known to the uninitiated, in general quiz bowlers consider trivia to lack conceptual, academic importance. The latter is what makes trivia such a point of contention in the quiz bowling world, Imélie reflects on what makes trivia so hotly debated. Patricia forces me to think more deeply about the nature of the so-called "quality" of quiz bowl, that I rarely had the chance to think about in my life as a quiz bowler, in ways not even Marcia, Sadie or my other past quiz bowl teammates from either high school or undergrad did but what is generally agreed upon when it comes to trivia is biographical information not related to a person's accomplishments, geographical or demographic factoids, minor distinctions, as well as also-rans attached to names of actual significance.
"The core skills required of playing scholars bowl under KSHSAA format that I think translates to good quiz bowl are quick thinking, self-discipline, memorization, and finally, active listening. And players develop some intellectual confidence, too. It does not translate perfectly because of questions being in a different format but if I have access to the right people to practice with, I should be good to go" Patricia then goes on a tirade.
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"I really hope you have the mental flexibility to make it work. Just so that you have a better idea of what to expect in terms of collegiate questions, I will ask you some sample questions from past tournaments, tossups and bonuses" Imélie then starts reading questions.
Imélie then appears to be struggling with flashbacks. She's certainly a smart girl, she reminds me a lot of Marcia, or even my own high school self, but as a literature player rather than as a science player. Patricia seems to be more of a generalist after Imélie reads her questions from a past ACF Fall packet, giving her the same time to answer as under ACF rules, and she seemed to struggle a bit at first but later in the packet she seems more confident, and even "powered" a history tossup. Past players I played with all came from good quiz bowl backgrounds, so while I knew why trivia was of interest to people, I kind of assumed that bad quiz bowl hurt players more than they helped them. And... Patricia was right. I held a sectarian view of quiz bowl for far too long.
"You said that Kansas regulations allowed to enter two tournaments per year that started earlier than three PM; did your school use up its allowance?"
"Yes. We used them on out-of-state good quiz bowl tournaments held in the Missouri side of the Kansas City region for the first time this year. What you were asking me was a bit harder than these tournaments we attended"
"Which ruleset did these tournaments run on?" Imélie asks.
"NAQT"
While I am sure Alyssa has some degree of intellectual depth, or Bethany, Patricia showed it to me. Right now she seems to play better than Oliver showed all season during practice. However, I am criticized on the circuit for running the program like an admissions office, Imélie ponders while she is oblivious to the criticisms levied against the Green Wave quiz bowl program, beyond the very basics. Probably some sour grapes by teams such as Ole Miss...
At the same time, Patricia's parents voice their concerns about the Green Wave's quiz bowl program. They catch their daughter in this online meeting...
"Honey, who are you talking to?" Patricia's mother asks her daughter.
"Tulane's quiz bowl coach" Patricia answers to her mother.
"Isn't Tulane a college where people party a lot, with alcohol flowing all over the place?" a concerned mother asks about Tulane's reputation as a party school.
"No, mom, the coach is talking about how quiz bowl will keep me out of alcohol and partying. I know about how big Mardi Gras is in New Orleans. Plus, if Tulane's coach believes enough in me to be considered for their quiz bowl team, then I can play in college"
"You kept talking about how Tulane was some Ivy-equivalent after you got in under early action, with what that implies about the caliber of the students that attend this place. This also means that they could build a team several times over. And you know by now what kind of students quiz bowl tends to attract, especially at the level you have been playing it"
"Everyone on the team at Tulane will be as bright as I. At school, right now, scholars bowl captaincy made me feel like my social life depends on the team's performance. If the team does well, people ask me out, if the team does poorly, not so much"
"Just commenting on how you claimed we could build several teams out of the student body. I hope you realize that, for every quiz bowler like Patricia, there are several people that are very buzzer-shy, but are otherwise just as brilliant" Imélie adds. "Plus several students come from schools with no quiz bowl team, and certainly a few in-state kids"
"How amazing my daughter is, but at the same time it's weird that my daughter gets some collegiate interest in quiz bowl at this point of the game. And... Tulane? I'm happy that the Green Wave has some consideration for gender"
And even though people tend to obsess over stats such as the PP20TUH, some buzzer rocks or dairy queenies end up being major contributors in bonuses, where buzzer-shy players can still pull some weight, which can lead these kinds of players to be underestimated at first. But maybe people put so much weight on the PP20TUH because a bonus specialist is useless without the team first getting the tossup correctly, Imélie then gets a flashback of past teammates as an undergraduate. The best of them was precisely that, a bonus specialist. I finally realized just how my sectarianism regarding the quiz bowl world was making the Green Wave quiz bowl program, well, more dysfunctional than I would have liked. Now that I realize exactly what the Green Wave is missing out on.
"Your daughter is right. Sometimes the quiz bowl world can feel sectarian for those who are not actively involved in the game. But there's a reason why quiz bowl, while a game trivia lovers would love, does not lend itself to TV shows as much as other formats" Imélie then talks about how it feels to play high-level quiz bowl.
"Why?" Patricia's mother asks the coach.
"People want to see buzzer races, questions that can hold the audience's interest, questions that are short and sweet. Hence why TV trivia shows tend to have more sports and pop culture than in quiz bowl. In quiz bowl, buzzer races happen mostly either when the question is poorly written or when two or more players are evenly matched. Who would want to listen to a paragraph-long question about the Nizam-I Cedid or some other equally obscure academic topic, like oxidative phosphorylation?"
"Nizam-I Cedid? What's that?" Patricia's mother asks.
"The first real attempt at reform in the Ottoman Empire. Even if some TV network was to tape the ACF Nationals or the HSNCT, the potential audience for this would be insufficient to be commercially viable" Imélie then answers the concerned parent.
Patricia's parents don't realize that the Nizam-I Cedid actually came up in a game at the Division 2 Southeast SCT Tulane University won just a couple weeks ago. I can say that it is the kind of question that could be asked in quiz bowl but not where it comes from, Imélie muses about what she can and cannot say about quiz bowl questions.
"One more thing: the Green Wave quiz bowl program is building its way through national championship berths and, outside of the Ivy League, and a handful of other elite schools, the collegiate quiz bowl circuit is more volatile. Kind of like high school sports sometimes"
"Oh wow! It feels so good that I am considered for such a strong quiz bowl program! Green Wave is now at the top of my list..." an elated Patricia then responds.
And it's now that I realize that maybe I was too hard on alternative academic quiz formats. So long as I can reasonably expect the distribution to be contained in ACF or NAQT collegiate play, it's worth considering if, in the future, I need to recruit more players. I might never be a pop culture ace player, but pop culture and sorts have their place in the trivia ecosystem. Mostly intramural when it comes to collegiate quizzing competition, however. And to think I was on the verge of giving up on her over her background in a different format and another college would be nabbing her, and that would be hurting us! I can't let that happen! With Bethany, Patricia and the other two players, it would be a pretty good Tulane B roster for next year, Imélie feels more urgently the need to extend an offer for her to join the team for the next season.
"Patricia, on behalf of Tulane University, I hereby offer you a spot on the Green Wave quiz bowl program for next season. You will be given an opportunity to decline" Imélie announces to her prospect.
I can't wait to see whether the faces of the people at school differ from usual when they will hear about how I'm going to play for Tulane next year... I think Tulane is as good as it will get in a few respects, Patricia wonders how accepting the offer from the team will affect her social life at school.
"By accepting this offer to play for Tulane, you understand that you will be attending" Patricia's mother warns her daughter. "Just don't go to a college solely for quiz bowl! As much as the offer could be tempting – after all, Tulane actually does have a berth at the ICT, just think it through please"
"Don't worry; you still have until May first to respond. What other colleges are you considering? I understand that, if you're not comfortable talking about this, I don't blame you. It's a very delicate decision and your mother is right. But you realize however that quiz bowl is there to supplement your learning"
After everything I talked about with her tonight, despite her limited experience of "good quiz bowl" I'm confident that she will accept. I hope she is OK with reading a large number of progressively harder packets as the season goes on, because it's the best way to learn what clues are common and what clues aren't, with more weight on the newer packets. That said, I can't believe a prospect made me change my outlook on quiz bowl's sectarianism like this, Imélie feels like Patricia, while ostensibly primarily a literature and fine arts player, is still able to supplement Bethany in history and RPMSS but is not quite a true generalist.
At the next practice, where all the players keep poring over old ACF Nationals packets as well as other packets that feel like Division I NAQT ICT, she then makes the announcement in front of the group.
"The good news is: we pried open the Black Gates of Kansas to obtain the final player that will be doing Division II SCT next year. Patricia. The not-so-good news concerns Alyssa only"
I guess, it's about the WNCC if it's for me only, Alyssa thinks, while another drill soon begins with the rest of the group.
"This year the WNCC is held a week after the ICT, at NYU. I hope this is not too exhausting for you, and this tournament rewards generalists. How do you feel about that?" Imélie asks Alyssa.
"I wonder what the field is made of. I guess the organizers thought that, since the northeast and the upper Mid-Atlantic is home to a big portion of the expected field..." Alyssa muses about the WNCC's field.
"To be honest, not that big. The graduate division only has ten players in the field. The undergraduate division has double that"
Oh crap, I can only claim travel expenses for one tournament between the ICT and the WNCC. Keshav didn't bat an eye since I tried not to "network" or engage in "client development" trips too often, but two consecutive weeks is a no-go, and I will need to pay for the other out-of-pocket, I'll pick the more expensive of the two, Imélie reflects on the implications of attending these two tournaments in terms of expense claims.