NAQT ICT @ UCLA, 4.4-5.03
Results: Northwestern A
(Colby Burnett, Robert Flaxman, Mike Henninger, Jan Zasowski)
After only going 6-8 at sectionals, we didn't even
think we'd qualify for ICT - and then once we did, who knew what we were going to do
there. Div I ICT is notoriously tough, after all. The tournament had three
phases: 1) six preliminary games against a "cross-section" of teams you don't
normally play. 2) Five power-matched games. 3) Four playoff games against
teams finishing around where you did. We didn't do so well in the prelims Friday
night, going just 1-5, but we went 7-2 on Saturday, including 4-0 in the playoffs. I
haven't seen official NAQT stats yet, but I believe we finished 19th out of 32 teams (thus
doing exactly what R said would happen if a team went 4-0 in its playoff group, advancing
six spots). Not bad - and hey, we finished over .500 again. 8-7, just like
2001. I didn't have the greatest individual performance, but big deal. I
shouldn't have to play solo at CUT next year. Also, the B team in Div II finished
23rd out of 32 teams. We also finished sixth out of 13 Div I all-undergrad teams.
Not too shabby.
Favorite Tossup: I'd have to say Marty McFly, which I
got off "He is the lead singer of the Pinheads," at which point I immediately
knew they were talking about a movie character. It actually took a couple more
seconds for me to process but it was still power.
Favorite Bonus: There are two that were fun.
First, in Round Seven there was a question about a statue of Jesus on the Argentina-Chile
border and what it was called. Having no idea, I just said "Christ the
Redeemer," the name of the statue that overlooks Rio de Janeiro. After
starting to say "Christ of the Andes," the moderator paused and said, "I
can take that." Hilarious. Then came Round Eleven. I had no tossups
- a massive NAQT rarity - but we pulled out the win over Cal Tech. Trailing 195-180
with about 90 seconds left, Colby got "Daily Planet" and we knew we needed to
get at least one bonus part. The question was about the first naval battle in which
the opposing ships never saw each other. Midway was suggested, but I knew for a fact
it was the Coral Sea. The second question asked about a port that supplied
Australia; I guessed Port Moresby and was right. The third was about an aircraft
carrier. Mike correctly named it as the Yorktown. Up 220-195 with 25 seconds
left, Jan got the last question (Foucault's Pendulum) to seal the deal.
Most Ludicrous Clue: The answer was "pro
bono." The question was like "this two-word phrase described lawyers on
both sides of such-and-such case." I was sitting there thinking "I have no
idea what they're talking about" until they said "it describes the prosecution
because they supported legislation introduced by a deceased California congressman"
or whatever. Something like that. At which point I rang in, answered, and
groaned.
Worst Neg: Must be Oklahoma State. Just like me
to fuck up a trash question when so few come up in NAQT and they compose large parts of
the questions I get. I was thinking way too hard and came up with Eddie Sutton
before they said Bob Knight. Guh.
Most Awesome Moment: Aside from the great finish
against Cal Tech, it would have to be drilling Missouri twice. Their captain, the
ever-annoying Jason Mueller (possibly the least-liked person in quiz bowl, a title you'd
think would be much more competitive), had predicted us to finish 31st before ICT.
This is out of 32 teams, mind you (though he didn't actually predict a finishing position
for Missouri). We knew we needed to beat them, and so we did, the way we beat a team
like Beloit or Wisconsin Lutheran at CBI. Delicious. I'm disappointed I didn't
get Michael Vick in the first game, as we would have held them below zero in that case,
but the question seemed so easy (and much of the rest of the match had featured such
obscure answers) that I psyched myself out and sat on it too long. Oh well.
Most Disappointing Moment: Though we avenged it with a
resounding 365-105 win in the playoffs, losing to Simon Fraser in Round Nine was not cool.
This is a team that nowadays goes to ICT every year because they keep hosting the
Northwest regional, and has had the following results in doing so: 2002: 0-15 (Div I);
2001: 0-15 (Div II). When they beat us, that was their first ever ICT win in 39
tries. That's kind of embarrassing. Like I said, we got them back, but
this was a bad round for us in so many ways (the fact that we only scored 120 points says
something, since it's not like they put up 350).
Division I - Prelims
Round One: Yale A 355, Northwestern
A 190
Round Two: Harvard 380, Northwestern A 100
Round Three: Emory 340, Northwestern A 210
Round Four: Northwestern A 265,
Missouri 10
Round Five: Williams 200, Northwestern A
125
Round Six: Michigan C 265, Northwestern A
110
Division I - Power-Matched Games
Round Seven: Northwestern A
170, DePauw 105
Round Eight: Northwestern A 245,
Goodenough (UK) 140
Round Nine: Simon Fraser 210, Northwestern
A 120
Round Ten: Princeton 315, Northwestern A
115
Round Eleven: Northwestern A 230,
Cal Tech 195
Division I - Playoffs
Round Twelve: #25
Northwestern A 290, #23 Cal Tech 110
Round Thirteen: #25 Northwestern A 175,
#24 Williams 150
Round Fourteen: #25 Northwestern A 365,
#27 Simon Fraser 105
Round Fourteen: #25 Northwestern A 275,
#28 Missouri 65
Record: 8-7
Final Ranking: #19; #6 u-grad
Personal Stats: Questions Answered
No one's asking you to care about it. Powers are in bold, neg-5s are in italics with the real answer following. Anything in plain text was just ten.
Round One
Oscar and Lucinda
Round Two
Great Barrier Reef (really Great Dividing Range)
Megan's Law
Round Three
Rock, Paper, Scissors
Çatal Hüyük
Round Four
Panic Room
Bay of Fundy
Commodore Matthew Perry
Novaya Zemlya
Round Five
Oklahoma State (really Texas Tech)
Finger Lakes
Round Six
Green Bay
Ludwig Bemelmans
Round Seven
Haifa
Tea Party
Gunther Grass
Sturgeon
Wes Unseld
Round Eight
Pregnant
Firth of Forth
Round Nine
North by Northwest
Round Ten
America's Cup
Fred Durst
Round Eleven
Nothing, but this was redeemed by a great finish and a nice bonus pull.
Round Twelve
Volta River
X-Games
John C. Reilly
Gilbert Stuart (really John Trumbull)
Round Thirteen
Robinson Crusoe
Marty McFly
Limpopo River
Steve Kerr
Round Fourteen
Lleyton Hewitt
Pro bono
Kamchatka
Nina
Round Fifteen
Aslan
Mamma Mia!
PPG: 22.67