First of all, is there anything more frustrating than scheduling a vacation day, then getting sick right on top of it? (For those who saw me at Delaware this weekend, it left the throat and is now just a normal sinus cold waiting to happen. Apologies to anyone I may have infected.)

I was really impressed with what TRASH rolled out this weekend. It may get lost in the shuffle, but this was worth seeing in action, if a run of this is coming to your neck of the woods, make an effort. It may not please hard core trash players, but in terms of giving everyone an opportunity to hit stuff in their areas of knowledge, this really did the trick. More importantly, this is the type of thing that's most needed in quiz bowl. Easy, accessible sets which will bring people into the game. This was the first time in a long time that I've seen a set that a team experiencing their first tournament wouldn't be beaten down by the packets. They may lose, but the battle for them was between themselves and the teams they played, not between themselves and the packets.
That's probably the only bad thing about this set, that initially it won't be used by those who can use it the most.

And now, it's open mike night. Remember, I'm looking for opinions on where the circuit is headed. I've seen a couple posts in other forums, which means people are reading, much thanks. If you want to speak up here, kidder at naqt dot com:

When I played QB in high school, we didn't have NAQT.
Our primary exposure to the world of quiz bowl was in
two televised formats: a local show, called "TV Honor
Society," and a Huntington program called "Hi-Q."

Once I joined the team, I found out that the team also
played in several tournaments at high schools
throughout the area, but for all most people knew, all
we did was go on TV every now and then.

"TV Honor Society" used questions submitted by the
coaches. "Hi-Q", as I learned just within the year,
was affiliated with Chip Beall.

If it hadn't been for my introduction to Quiz Bowl
through a Beall format, I wouldn't have played in
college at all; likewise, I never would have
discovered Trash (or TRASH) if I hadn't shown up to
that first CMU meeting expecting academic questions.

Here's my new analogy: Quiz Bowl is Van Halen. That's
right, Van Halen. They started out with a flamboyant
frontman named David Lee Roth, who went on to a failed
solo career. Then they picked up solo artist Sammy
Hagar to sing for them during their "Van Hagar"
period. After they kicked out Hagar, people thought
they'd get Roth back in; but to surprise us all, they
chose Gary Cherone, former lead vocalist from Extreme.
From what I understand, Cherone's already out of
there. It's probably only a matter of time before
anyone reading this is considered for the job of Van
Halen frontman.

Just about everyone has one favorite "lineup," though
the rest of the band has remained the same: Alex Van
Halen on drums, and Eddie Van Halen on guitar. It
doesn't matter what the rest of the guys are doing,
though, because whoever's out front seems to determine
whether you like them or not.

So, Quiz Bowl is Van Halen. In the backfield, you have
trivia geeks, a buzzer system, and questions. Out
front, you have names or acronyms, like ACF, TRASH,
NAQT, CBI, or even Chip Beall. Fundamentally, it's all
Van Halen, but the difference is in who's writing the
lyrics and singing them. If they get a new guy to
sing, it's still Van Halen.

I checked in on the boards recently, and that's
exactly what I saw: the Roth fans are telling everyone
that most of Hagar's lyrics are badly written. People
that own albums from all three incarnations are
complaining about Hagar's decision to open a bar in
Mexico. There's always the ongoing debate that Gary
Cherone never belonged in the band in the first place.

Meanwhile, the other three guys who have been in Van
Halen throughout it all just sort of sit back and
laugh, because they've seen in all before, and they've
realized one thing: they'll get royalty checks no
matter what.

And that's where QB differs from Van Halen, because
with all of the bickering and infighting, people
aren't seeing the big picture. It's all Quiz Bowl, and
one hand shakes the other. We're all a bunch of trivia
geeks gathering in rooms with buzzer systems, trying
to impress everyone else with what we know.
(Incidentally, the often overlooked Michael Anthony
plays bass.)

Personally, I think Roth is overrated, Cherone's
tenure with the group was too short-lived to matter
much, and the Hagar period saw some of the most
diverse and memorable Van Halen tunes ever. Other
people, I'm sure, have their own opinions. But
fundamentally, the same three guys were involved each
time.

With all of the bickering over who the better vocalist
is, it's not unthinkable that all of the Van Halen
fans might just give up on them completely and start
listening to Winger. Van Halen will lose their record
contract, stop touring, and break up, and all we'll be
left with is a vague memory of how well Eddie used to
play guitar.

If memory serves, Roth and Hagar were planning to go
on tour together since they were both kicked out of
Van Halen. I've drawn out this analogy long enough, so
draw your own conclusions.
--Carey Clevenger