Pardon the BloggEruption

More Response

Dwight, my man ... I've got to take you to task again today. Point-by-point, followed by some summary.

• I don't believe I implied that your initial post was a front for NAQT, or that only NAQT will benefit from more teams on the circuit. Perhaps I should have been clearer, so here goes ... More teams on the circuit will, generally, mean more $$$ for you and NAQT, no matter how little. Hell, more teams on the circuit may help my bottom line before yours, but I think the point is that you have a vested institutional interest in seeing more teams on the circuit. It's likely to color your opinions.
  
  
  
• If more teams join the circuit, great. More power to them. I know that most of the established folks and programs will be happy to assist whenever possible, but we're not going to hold anyone's hand or do much serious work for them, either. Often, they're cool, but then again, they're often annoying as all hell, so that's why I think you see a lot of ... indifference ... to circuit expansion. It's more of a take it or leave it issue.
  
  
  
• Again, I'm not going to argue with the idea that quizbowl is fun, intellectually stimulating, etc. I like playing and will continue to do so whenever possible. I'll try to get others to try it. But I'm not going to start doing the Jehovah's Witnesses thing to proselytize for the circuit.
  
  
  
• We come back to the idea of critical mass. I'll say that there are four items you need to have a "program," no matter how small, join the circuit.
  
  
  
  1. At least one highly motivated player with some organizational skills who can get a group going through something of a cult of personality.
     
  2. At least one other (probably more) people also interested in playing, who are willing to give up weekends, etc. in order to do so.
     
  3. Money and transportation or institutional support.
     
  4. A spark or catalyst to set the wheels of organization in motion.
  
  If one of these elements is missing, there's not much anyone outside that particular institution can do to help, other than try to provide the catalyst. More often than not, though, I think you're missing either #1, or the committed members of #2. I'm not going to cry over it, though. Also, in certain instances, you can do without #2, but these cases are really not "new" programs, but often graduate students who participated in the past.
  
  
  
• As for tournament costs, I think you're totally missing the boat here, particularly on two major points.
  
  
  
  1. By and large, we're not playing with our personal money, but the university's money. This makes a huge difference in how one approaches spending it.
     
  2. You're still neglecting the allure of travel in quizbowl. People like to go away for the weekend.
     
  
  To elaborate, sure, if you're in the situation where you can go to closer tournaments, you're likely to take that option, but I think you may be overestimating the likelihood of teams ever having a good number of possible tournaments in day-trip distance. The geographic distribution of major four-year colleges and universities just doesn't really permit it. So, even if we have two local tournaments replace one regional trip (and for most schools, that is a big if), you're still not saving that much money. Plus, my suspicion is that teams would take the savings and apply them to a more "exotic" tournament trip. No real savings, then. Just a redistribution of travel costs. The only major benefit I'd see is if a team can regularly bring a large contingent (3+ teams) to tournaments. You'd see good cash savings there. Beyond that, I'm still not sold.
  
  
  
• As for tournament fees, they serve a few necessary purposes. First off, they allow teams to defray the costs of the tournament, making copies, renting space, buying lunch / dinner for tournament staff, etc. Secondly, they give hosts an economic profit incentive to actually run a tournament. I'd suspect that most teams would rather play than read, but obviously someone has to run the tournaments for them to happen. This gives a little incentive. Tournament fees also serve a hugely useful purpose for motivating other teams to come to the tournament (by offering discounts to new teams, early packets, etc.) and to try to ensure that packets are received in a timely manner (or, if nothing else, duly compensate the overstressed editor). That last function needs some serious bite. Overall, I think an average tournament fee of $70-$80 is very reasonable, at about $20 per person. Circuit-hosted HS events are generally even more reasonable.
  

So, to give the promised summary ... I'm not wholly convinced that we need to worry about the lack of permanent growth on the circuit. The size will ebb and flow, but I honestly believe we've pretty well hit the maximum capacity. Expand a little more in high school, and we'll probably see a commensurate increase at the college level. I wouldn't mind being proven wrong about it, but I'm not going to keep myself awake at night worrying about it. If I had to worry about one thing in quizbowl, it would be the sorry state of question writing. More on that tonight / tomorrow.