Duck Bowl at DePauw University, 3/9/02
Results: Good People, Bad Negs (Northwestern)
(Colby Burnett, Robert Flaxman)
Ironically, going into Duck Bowl we were most worried
about the Gerbils. They were the only team who I knew would be there, so I guess I
didn't have much reason to think about anyone else. Also in attendance were Shelby
Foote Soldiers and BATTLEPLANET!!!, who I've had mixed success against in the past.
To wit:
2001 Ann B. Davis: Dude, Where's My Gerbil 410, NU A
120
2001 TRASHionals: BATTLEPLANET!!! 330, NU 60
2001 TRASHionals: O Gerbil, Where Art Thou? 340, NU
170
2001 TRASH Regionals: Shelby Foote Soldiers 235, NU
160
2001 TRASH Regionals: NU 300, Shelby Foote Soldiers
195
2002 Ann B. Davis: 75% Gerbil Free 386, NU A 165
2002 Ann B. Davis: Shelby Foote Soldiers 315, NU A 220
Okay, so by "mixed success" I mean "one win." Hence why I was a
little worried when I saw the lineup.
Amazingly, as it turned out, Shelby Foote was the only team to worry
about. Either they were just really good or they caught us on our two worst
packets, because they blew us out the first time and the second time raced to a big lead,
then basically sat there as I made a futile second-half run with, most surprisingly, no
backup from Colby, who managed not to get a single tossup in that round.
Meanwhile, we went into the Gerbil rounds expecting to lose and yet
came away with a win both times - handily the second time. The same can be said for
BATTLEPLANET!!!, except the first time was the blowout and the second time was really
close until I got three tossups in a row or something like that near the end of the match.
To be fair, this was certainly not the whole standard Gerbil team (the
one we'll be facing, conceivably, at TRASHionals), and it may not have been the whole
BATTLEPLANET!!! team either, though I couldn't really speak to that one.
At any rate, we finished second. Had we been able to mount a full
run in the second Shelby Foote game, we would have won the tournament (they took just one
loss - to the Gerbils, who somehow managed to rout them in the playoffs), but we couldn't.
Oh well, there's always TRASHionals, at which our team can only be better.
Favorite Tossup: Hard to say because there were really were
quite a lot. I guess my two favorites would be Sneakers (because it was basically
"Martin Bishop" *BUZZ*) and Groundhog Day, the latter largely because the speed
with which I got it drew applause from Shelby Foote, watching that particular match.
To be fair, though, here's a list of some of the answers I got really fast: Captain
Corelli's Mandolin, Notting Hill, Strictly Ballroom, Monster's Ball, The Royal Tenenbaums,
Sneakers, Sabrina, The Hudsucker Proxy, Undone (The Sweater Song), All in the Family, Joe
Dirt, The Pest, Groundhog Day, We Were Soldiers. Note that these are almost entirely
movies. What can I say - when a question starts with a movie plot description, and
the movie came out in the past ten years and isn't ridiculously obscure, I'm probably
going to get it. These would all have been powers (or should have been) at ABD, so
it was a little annoying that there weren't powers here - but then that might have ended
up working in favor of the other three good teams, who often seem to get stuff quickly.
Whatever.
Favorite Bonus: Again, a bunch. Best ones:
complete the "Austin Powers" quote; and a 30-20-10 movie from quotes which I 30d
easily ("That Thing You Do!"). I also liked the "given the year and
runner-up, name the NCAA basketball winner" mostly because I didn't need the
runner-up, though I only 25d that one because the last one was 1963, which, sorry, I just
didn't know.
Worst Neg: I'm not sure any negs were really terrible,
but there were some kind of dumb ones. I rang in with "The Village People"
because of the phrase "so-and-so, the Indian of the group." I think that's
fair, but of course it had mentioned playing instruments well before that (actual answer:
the Mothers of Invention, which I would have gotten had I not done that). I also
could have waited to ring in with "Wonder Boys" when it was pretty obvious they
were looking for Grady Tripp's book - I just didn't think they could actually be
looking for something that obscure. I was wrong. The "Boy Meets
World" one was pretty much just an instinctual response to "TV show with kid
named Corey" more than "actual knowledge of said show's plot," so I
probably should have held off.
Vultch Time: No way I get "Sandpiper Air"
unless the Gerbil negs with "Piper Air." I hate when that happens to me,
but here it was useful, though I think we were already near putting that one away.
Bitchin'est Moment: How about winning the individual
scoring title? The first (and quite possibly the last) time I've ever officially
taken the title (I might have been close at the 2001 CUT, but they didn't keep official
score), which kind of ruled. I got a Hot Wheels car for my efforts. Let it
never be said that quiz bowl prizes aren't cheap (SFS, for winning, got four colored
rubber ducks... 'cause it's DePauw...). Also, Colby came in fourth, making us easily
the best duo there (though we pretty much would have had to be, wouldn't we?) I also
put up one of my highest scoring rounds ever... but it came... well...
Most Inexplicable Team: DePauw chapter of DG?
What? Four sorority girls who basically just sat there and yelled whenever
the word "delta" came up in a question, or whenever they got anything right.
Fortunately we didn't have to see them get anything right... then there's the fact
that for the tournament, I outscored them. Yeah. (Not to mention 90-0 in our
round against them.) In fact, there's a chance (this is unofficial until I see
stats, though I may not quite have made it) that I outscored the bottom three teams.
Sad. Yet funny.
Prelim Rounds (Round Robin)
Round One: Shelby Foote Soldiers
(Iowa) 335, Northwestern 100
Round Two: Northwestern 325, DePauw DG 0
Round Three: BYE
Round Four: Northwestern 241, Oklahoma B 45
Round Five: Northwestern 210, DePauw 100
Round Six: Northwestern 275, BATTLEPLANET!!! (OU A/Murphy) 105
Round Seven: Northwestern 200, 40 Gerbils and 40 Nights 161
Round Eight: Northwestern 215, DePauw Independent Council 75
Prelims Record: 6-1 (second place)
Playoffs (bracketed round robin)
Round One: #1 Shelby Foote Soldiers
(Iowa) 225, #2 Northwestern 170
Round Two: #2 Northwestern 330, #3 BATTLEPLANET!!! (OU A/Murphy) 205
Round Three: #2 Northwestern 255, #4 40 Gerbils and 40 Nights 121
Final Record: 8-2 (second place out of eight teams)
Personal Stats: Questions Answered
No one's asking you to care about it. Powers would be in bold if they existed in Trash, neg-5s are in italics with the real answer following. Anything in plain text was just ten.
Round One
Max Power
Montreal Expos
Bradley Whitford
Round Two
Dogs Playing Poker
Tony Dungy
Sir Ian McKellen
Dick Schaap
Getting Gay with Kids
Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Broken Lizard
Notting Hill
Roland Hedley
Round Four
Strictly Ballroom
Turner Field
Taboo (really Scattergories)
Just the Ten of Us
Providence
Edmonton Oilers
Round Five
Monster's Ball
Page 2
The Royal Tenenbaums
Casey Jacobsen
Offsides (really two-line pass)
Duck Soup
Stayin' Alive
Round Six
1980 US Olympic Hockey Team (really Hobey Baker Award)
Neil Reed
Norman
Arizona Fall League
Sneakers
Breckin Meyer
Kryptonite
Ed Begley Jr.
Sabrina
Round Seven
Undone (The Sweater Song)
The Hudsucker Proxy
Learn to Fly
Fred Taylor
Amtrak
Round Eight
The Village People (really The Mothers of Invention)
All in the Family
Teemu Selanne
Charlton Heston
Amelie Mauresmo
Diedrich Bader
Wonder Boys (really The Arsonist's Daughter)
My Little Pony
Playoffs Round One
Joe Dirt
Four home runs in a game (really four home runs in four consecutive at-bats... yeah,
I'm pissed)
Wedge Antilles
James Gandolfini
The Pest
Plus/minus rating
Playoffs Round Two
Jump the shark
The Ice Bowl
Larry Coker
Anise
Boy Meets World (really That 80s Show)
Groundhog Day
Picabo Street
Leap Years
Playoffs Round Three
Encroachment
Badassbuddy.com
We Were Soldiers
Jarome Iginla
The Purple Rose of Cairo
Sandpiper Air
The Manchurian Candidate
PPG: 57.5 (1st place individual)