So I've been working quite a bit here. Did the Rowdy Raider tournament at Wright State in Dayton in December, in a persistent snowfall. A lot of teams from Kentucky and Michigan came for that; Chattahoochee from the Atlanta area came and finished about 3rd or 4th. Got to solidify friendships with coaches from western Ohio and the Cincinnati area; most of the big players in Ohio know who I am now.
I've spent the last two weeks learning the OAC format. Jan. 8, Greg Bossick was co-running an OAC tournament at a small high school north of Warren, Ohio (in the Youngstown area). The questions were terrible and showed a lot of bad form, including references by the author to themselves. Just not cool.
Last Saturday, Greg was running another OAC tournament at Warren G. Harding HS in Warren. I love how in Ohio they name things after crooked Presidents. I somehow doubt they'll ever have Rod Blagojevich HS in Chicago.
Good teams and better questions. I read the final, which was a barnburner between Olmstead Falls and Copley, with Copley narrowly pulling out the win.
Tomorrow will be the third week of Greg's Mahoning County League, which is Ohio quizbowl in its most elemental form, sort of like conference play for Missouri teams. It's fun, but slightly problematic due to issues with the host.
It's been interesting to see how Ohio quizbowl people (and Ohioans in general) deal with snow. Coaches here do worry about it, but it's a fact of life to Ohioans. Missourians panic and get all paranoid, as they do about almost everything. The thing is, in northeast Ohio, it snows almost every day. Not that much sometimes, but it just keeps coming down and stays there. Ohioans simply learn to deal with it as a fact of life, like the tides.
That's really cool. I like that.