A little about my Quiz Bowl days
Aug. 23rd, 2004 10:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greybetaTalking about my public schooling has brought back memories of my Quiz Bowl days. So let me set up Quiz Bowl stories from my heyday. First, I should say that I was a bit of an unknown because there was no Quiz Bowl program at Ramsey (our GATE teacher was too lazy to do it). I managed to make enough of an impression on Mr. Ford and Mr. Bartlett to start out on the junior varsity team.
Let me explain a few of the rules of Arkansas Quiz Bowl. Each team has foru players each, led by a captain and has alternates to sub in between rounds. It's split up into four rounds. The first and fourth rounds consist of twenty tossups, worth ten points each. The second round consists of ten tossups, but when one team answers one it gets to answer a four bonus questions worth 5 points each (only that team gets to answer). There are only four bonus categories, so when the fourth tossup is answered that round that's it. The third round is called the lightning round. There are three categories, and the team that is behind at that point gets to choose first. You have 60 seconds to answer 10 questions worth ten points each. Any incorrect responses in the lightning round bounced back to the other team. A team earned a 20 point bonus for answering all ten correctly in the alotted time.
A close game is 40 points or less, because that's a swing of two tossups. In Arkansas style Quiz Bowl, you could "blitz" so speed was rewarded. Blitzing meant that you could say two answers that were related to each other. This was most often used for the title of a book and its author. Forever etched in my memory is a tossup where the opposing Northside captain buzzed in when the moderator got as far as "A dog named Buck", and she nailed it with Jack London, Call of the Wild.
My sophomore year, I knew geography and had random math abilities. Whatever I learned from my science classes, I remembered. During this time I picked up various chemistry and biology facts, and I started memorizing the periodic table. Yes, at one time I knew every element by its symbol and number. I began to pick up Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology as well. By the end of the sophomore year, I got to start for the state qualifier team along with our captain David Terry, Lauren Weigand, and Daniel Fleming. Unfortunately, we ran into a brick wall against Fayetteville at Regionals that year.
In my junior year, I focused more on history and Shakespearan plays (his lesser known plays were a surprisingly popular topic). However, we were hampered by a sort of a captain controversy. Weigand felt that she was entitled to lead us because she was the best (although many theorize you never should have your best person as the captain since he or she may not listen to anyone else). Fleming felt like he deserved to lead us because he served a year of jv duty as captain for that team. Personally, I thought Fleming should have been captain. In the end, Fleming did what was best for the team and relented his captaincy. It was not meant to be as we ran into a razor sharp Russelville at regionals.
In my senior year, I was determined to shore up our weaknesses. Since Adam Tabakin moved to Virginia, I was the default choice for captain. John Drymon was more of a debater, and Mitch Dooley wasn't captain material. Andy became more and more involved with drama. I picked up the literature, opera, music, and art lists. A change in coaches helped us, as Mr. Adams and Mrs. Loewen were a bit more serious (Mr. Ford and Mr. Bartlett were really fun, but they didn't have the time to devote to it). Sometimes, I became a one man wrecking ball. I remember a team called timeout against me because I answered 6 tossups in a row. The best game I ever had was against Benton at the Northside Invitational, where I answered ALL of our team's tossups. My teammates literally said they weren't going to buzz in because they were afraid that I would know it and they didn't. We actually advanced passed regionals that year, but we met a bitter end at the state tournament. As you can guess, I'll probably write about that some day when I get over the bitterness.
The only problem with spending so much time on something that I was good at was that I got burned out by the end of my senior year. Having said that, I really enjoyed my times in Quiz Bowl.
Let me explain a few of the rules of Arkansas Quiz Bowl. Each team has foru players each, led by a captain and has alternates to sub in between rounds. It's split up into four rounds. The first and fourth rounds consist of twenty tossups, worth ten points each. The second round consists of ten tossups, but when one team answers one it gets to answer a four bonus questions worth 5 points each (only that team gets to answer). There are only four bonus categories, so when the fourth tossup is answered that round that's it. The third round is called the lightning round. There are three categories, and the team that is behind at that point gets to choose first. You have 60 seconds to answer 10 questions worth ten points each. Any incorrect responses in the lightning round bounced back to the other team. A team earned a 20 point bonus for answering all ten correctly in the alotted time.
A close game is 40 points or less, because that's a swing of two tossups. In Arkansas style Quiz Bowl, you could "blitz" so speed was rewarded. Blitzing meant that you could say two answers that were related to each other. This was most often used for the title of a book and its author. Forever etched in my memory is a tossup where the opposing Northside captain buzzed in when the moderator got as far as "A dog named Buck", and she nailed it with Jack London, Call of the Wild.
My sophomore year, I knew geography and had random math abilities. Whatever I learned from my science classes, I remembered. During this time I picked up various chemistry and biology facts, and I started memorizing the periodic table. Yes, at one time I knew every element by its symbol and number. I began to pick up Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology as well. By the end of the sophomore year, I got to start for the state qualifier team along with our captain David Terry, Lauren Weigand, and Daniel Fleming. Unfortunately, we ran into a brick wall against Fayetteville at Regionals that year.
In my junior year, I focused more on history and Shakespearan plays (his lesser known plays were a surprisingly popular topic). However, we were hampered by a sort of a captain controversy. Weigand felt that she was entitled to lead us because she was the best (although many theorize you never should have your best person as the captain since he or she may not listen to anyone else). Fleming felt like he deserved to lead us because he served a year of jv duty as captain for that team. Personally, I thought Fleming should have been captain. In the end, Fleming did what was best for the team and relented his captaincy. It was not meant to be as we ran into a razor sharp Russelville at regionals.
In my senior year, I was determined to shore up our weaknesses. Since Adam Tabakin moved to Virginia, I was the default choice for captain. John Drymon was more of a debater, and Mitch Dooley wasn't captain material. Andy became more and more involved with drama. I picked up the literature, opera, music, and art lists. A change in coaches helped us, as Mr. Adams and Mrs. Loewen were a bit more serious (Mr. Ford and Mr. Bartlett were really fun, but they didn't have the time to devote to it). Sometimes, I became a one man wrecking ball. I remember a team called timeout against me because I answered 6 tossups in a row. The best game I ever had was against Benton at the Northside Invitational, where I answered ALL of our team's tossups. My teammates literally said they weren't going to buzz in because they were afraid that I would know it and they didn't. We actually advanced passed regionals that year, but we met a bitter end at the state tournament. As you can guess, I'll probably write about that some day when I get over the bitterness.
The only problem with spending so much time on something that I was good at was that I got burned out by the end of my senior year. Having said that, I really enjoyed my times in Quiz Bowl.
