TRASH Upper Midwest Regionals at U of Iowa, 11/7/04

Results: License to IL
(Charlie, Ryan, Flax, Alma)

    Though not officially graduated yet, I bowed out of Northwestern quiz bowl after last year's TRASHionals.  This year I began playing with what is semi-affectionately known on the circuit as a "bastard team."  Of course, the rest of the team members all have connections to Loyola, so I'm pretty much the only thing making us bastards.  Anyway.  Only six teams ended up in the field at Iowa, including Iowa fielding an inexplicably and unnecessarily good team.  Unless they were hoping to take two teams to nationals, which I guess is possible, they really didn't need to send out a team that was going to go 10-0, did they?   Certanly it's the best version of Shelby Foote Soldiers I've ever had occasion to play.  Why?  But aside from that, not much to complain about.  Things ran on time, we played about as well as I was hoping, and the questions were mostly good.
    Favorite Tossup: I got Digital Fortress fast enough to draw some impressed reactions, though this was one of those questions where it's worded so that if you've read the book you'll get it right away and if you haven't you probably won't get it at all.  Good thing I had the foresight to read Dan Brown's other novels after The Da Vinci Code became such a hit, eh?  My buzzes on Suicide Girls, The Evil Dead, and The Ladykillers were also all quite speedy, and the Camp Cupcake buzz was good because I was going off intuition more than hard knowledge.
    Favorite Bonus: Probably the college mascots bonus - I got Panthers, Cougars, and Wildcats off listings of obscure schools with those mascots (Northern Iowa, Chicago State, and Bethune-Cookman).
    Worst Neg: The most annoying one was saying Jujubes when I meant Jujyfruits.  It was also annoying to confuse The Offspring with Smash Mouth and so say "Why Can't We Be Friends?" when the answer was "Feelings."  The worst one overall was probably Paige Davis for Genevieve Gorder, just because the fact that I had been able to figure out that they wanted a Trading Spaces personality did not mean I should have been going in with the only one I knew.  Still, it wasn't that bad; Alma looked at me like I was insane after that buzz, as though it was that far off.
    The Streak is Over: In Round One, we lost 260-130 to Tia and the TRASHmen, ending a streak of four matches dating back to 2001 in which the team I was on defeated Tia - 220-210 in the final of Regionals '01, 330-235 at TRASHionals '03, 320-160 at Regionals '03, and 320-225 at TRASHionals '04.  We rebounded to beat Tia 265-170 in our last round of the day to force a second-place tie, though.
    Second Place: Or tied for it.  Last year NU A finished third at Regionals and got a bid, but there were 12 teams there.  I figure that with only ten regions, second place at any of them (except Simon Fraser) will be good enough to qualify.
    Were the Questions Just Harder This Year?: Last year I put up 53.18 PPG at Regionals, my best corporate TRASH showing ever and third all-time.  This year I only put up 37 PPG, but here's the thing - it was still good enough for second.  Okay, smaller field, but it was also only one point per game behind the high scorer, Iowa's Matt Larson, who if I remember correctly finished ahead of me last year as well.  So we both came down a bit.  Still, I'm pretty happy with 37 PPG considering it was my first tournament with a new team.  Speaking of which:
    Yay, Good Teammates: Look, I'll be honest: I had no idea what to expect.  I like my team members, of course, or I wouldn't be playing with them, but last year's incarnation - i.e. this team minus me - wasn't so great.  And I hadn't seen them play together all that much, so it wasn't obvious that I was just going to be able to come to this team and be that "missing piece" that turns the team into something of a contender.  As it turned out, I had nothing to worry about.  I was the high scorer in seven of the ten rounds, but we were 2-1 in the three games in which I wasn't, the team worked well together on bonuses, and both Ryan and Alma were there with me in most rounds, giving us an excellent balance.  In Round Ten, as much of a must-win game as this tournament had, we had three tossups apiece and Charlie added a tenth; in Round Seven, I had only two tossups (my worst round of the day) but Alma and Ryan combined for eight; in Round Six, I had five tossups and Ryan and Alma each had three; and in the day's best round for us, Round Four, all four of us had at least three tossups (I had five, Ryan four, and Alma and Charlie three apiece, an amazing display of balance).  I like our chances to finish all right at Nationals, really.
    Could It Be?: While we were finishing second, Tyler was leading his A&M team to a second-place finish in the Southwest regional, and Northwestern finished fourth in the Midwest.  All three of us could see bids, which would put the three stars of the NU team that finished all the way up at fifth in 2003 facing off on three different teams.  It would be fun.

Round Robin

Round One: Tia and the TRASHmen 260, License to IL 130
Round Two: License to IL 270, Monmouth 80
Round Three: Iowa 415, License to IL 190
Round Four: License to IL 365, Drake 30
Round Five: License to IL 195, Legler et al. 150
Round Six: License to IL 305, Legler et al. 90
Round Seven: License to IL 245, Drake 90
Round Eight: Iowa 370, License to IL 195
Round Nine: License to IL 275, Monmouth 135
Round Ten: License to IL 265, Tia and the TRASHmen 170

Overall: 7-3 (Tied for second out of six teams)

Personal Stats: Questions Answered

   No one's asking you to care about it.  Plain text means ten points; negs are italicized.

Round One
New York Islanders
Miguel Tejada
Mary Cheney

Round Two
Donald Trump's hair
Bikini
The Life of Pi
Christopher McDonald
Nolan Ryan
Why Can't We Be Friends? (actually Feelings)
Jet
Rocky IV

Round Three
Sugar Bowl
Phil Mickelson
NFL Network
Was going to say A Hard Day's Night but realized I was wrong just after buzzing (actually Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)

Round Four
Suicide Girls
Jayne Mansfield
Paul Anderson
American Basketball Association
David Cronenberg

Round Five
Ebbets Field
Roland Emmerich
Shrek Operation!
Peter Gallagher

Round Six
Digital Fortress
Roger Federer
John Cho
Nickelback
The Evil Dead

Round Seven
William L. Petersen
Bryan Singer

Round Eight
Chick-fil-A
Jon Cryer
Vertigo

Round Nine
Todd Phillips
Paige Davis (really Genevieve Gorder)
Curtis Strange
Jujubes (really Jujyfruits)
Enemy of the State
Chumbawamba

Round Ten
CB4
Camp Cupcake
The Ladykillers

PPG: 37.00