Looking for practice material?

Find thousands of free archived packets for practice and study from the Quizbowl Packet Archive!

Missouri Quizbowl Alliance

Discussion of quizbowl topics not related to specific tournaments
Post Reply
User avatar
DeckardCain
Posts: 4472
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 12:00 am
Location: Viburnum, MO
Contact:

Missouri Quizbowl Alliance

Post by DeckardCain »

It is my pleasure to announce today the formation of the Missouri Quizbowl Alliance, an organization dedicated to the proliferation of high-quality quizbowl throughout the state of Missouri.

Quizbowl nationwide has experienced growth in both popularity and legitimacy, largely due to the expansion of formats and questions that are beneficial to academic development. Questions used in high-quality quizbowl feature multiple clues arranged in order from hardest to easiest, in what is known as pyramidal style. This gives the team with deeper knowledge on a subject the opportunity to buzz in earlier, thereby making it more likely that the more knowledgeable team wins a given match while keeping question accessibility high, allowing teams to learn clues they may not have previously heard, and minimizing the role of speed and frustrating buzzer races. Since high-quality pyramidal questions are better than short questions for distinguishing between teams with differing levels of knowledge, games can then use fewer questions, allowing teams to play many more games against different teams at each tournament they attend.

Quizbowl in Missouri, however, has not kept pace with this national trend, and tournaments offering few games and featuring short, often poor questions that favor speed over the acquisition of knowledge are the norm. MOQBA seeks to improve quizbowl in Missouri by increasing awareness and availability of better quizbowl formats and higher-quality questions.

MOQBA's goals for its first season will center on the expansion of high-quality quizbowl tournaments, making such tournaments accessible to all Missouri teams. Tournaments have the opportunity to obtain MOQBA certification by providing attending teams with high-quality questions and a format that encourages participation by offering a greater number of games. Information on tournament certification can be found on the MOQBA website at http://www.moqba.org, and further questions can be addressed to moqba@moqba.org.

Sincerely,
Matt Chadbourne, Charles Dees, Alex Dzurick, Jeffrey Hill, Paul Nelson
Missouri Quizbowl Alliance

User avatar
L-Town Expatriate
Posts: 6910
Joined: Fri Apr 23, 2004 12:00 am
Location: Riding a Mule down the Katy Trail to the State Fair
Contact:

Missouri Quizbowl Alliance

Post by L-Town Expatriate »

Best wishes on this endeavour. Having been stuck in Dixie's version of Lake Woebegon for days shy of a year now, I appreciate the effort being made to provide higher quality academic competition for Missouri. I hope this carries on well beyond the founders' collegiate years (at least those that are still in college) and gains traction with many coaches in the state.

I must ask, though, if MOQBA is considering entering the question-writing business as well.

User avatar
Charlie Dees
Posts: 4134
Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2006 12:00 am
Location: Columbia, MO

Missouri Quizbowl Alliance

Post by Charlie Dees »

Speaking for myself, I certainly am not. Between HSAPQ, NAQT, and independent events that could be mirrored, there is more than enough good question writing going on to provide an entire season's worth of tournaments for every circuit.

User avatar
L-Town Expatriate
Posts: 6910
Joined: Fri Apr 23, 2004 12:00 am
Location: Riding a Mule down the Katy Trail to the State Fair
Contact:

Missouri Quizbowl Alliance

Post by L-Town Expatriate »

Fair enough. I again stress that for MOQBA's certifications to take note, Missouri's coaches who aim to improve the sport instead of treating it like a willy-nilly babysitting activity for the sake of keeping kids off inhalants (when it should be a mere, yet obvious side effect to becoming a more erudite apprentice scholar) should provide advice and heed certification guidelines for them to gain traction.

Apparently, Gary Lezak's most accurate forecast certification was gained just by buying the right to use the logo from a Las Vegas graphics mill. (Or so claims TV Critic extraordinare Aaron Barnhart.)

Fresh Prince of Bradleyville
Posts: 77
Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 12:00 am
Location: Bradleyville, Missouri

Missouri Quizbowl Alliance

Post by Fresh Prince of Bradleyville »

Speaking as one of the members of the high school quiz bowl community, I applaud the formation of MOQBA. It will take time to show coaches that this is good for the expansion of high quality quiz bowl in Missouri, but, in my opinion, it is better to have high quality quiz bowl in ten years throughout the state than what MSHSAA tries to pass off as quiz bowl forever, without any thing to challenge that idea.

After reading the MOQBA website's definition of good quizbowl, I have to agree with every ideal of that definition, especially the limiting of math computation. Now I don't want to start another argument on whether math should be or shouldn't be out of quiz bowl. This is the point I am not trying to get across. I want math in quiz bowl, especially math theory, but when someone asks you to solve the cosine of a 113 angle, it's kind of difficult to do it in 15 SECONDS! I know, I am taking trigonometry right now.

Hopefully, coaches around the state will find out about MOQBA's mission, either by word of mouth or by MOQBA's website, realize what MSHSAA has done to violate the overall quality of quiz bowl, and do their part to try and make quiz bowl a great competition in the state of Missouri.

(Note: Knowing MSHSAA though, and its custom to make up ridiculous rules that limit the abilities to make quiz bowl great, they'll probably pass some rule that disqualifies any school, and all its MSHSAA activities, known to associate in any way with MOQBA and any group that resembles MOQBA.)

In the somewhat famous words of Pauly Shore and Stephen Baldwin in Bio-Dome: Viva Las MOQBA! (Yes I just used a Bio-Dome, Pauly Shore, and Stephen Baldwin reference at the same time. It's the end of the world.)

User avatar
Charlie Dees
Posts: 4134
Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2006 12:00 am
Location: Columbia, MO

Missouri Quizbowl Alliance

Post by Charlie Dees »

I remember watching Bio Dome in science class at my Catholic High School freshman year. A real high class education.

Fresh Prince of Bradleyville
Posts: 77
Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 12:00 am
Location: Bradleyville, Missouri

Missouri Quizbowl Alliance

Post by Fresh Prince of Bradleyville »

Wait a minute Charlie... you watched Bio Dome to advance your science education?

That movie is as educational as jumping into the middle of eight lanes of high speed interstate traffic. Then again, I guess even teachers can't stop the everlasting force of Squirrely and Stubby. :lol:

By the way, after I posted that I thought the world would have ended by now...

User avatar
Charlie Dees
Posts: 4134
Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2006 12:00 am
Location: Columbia, MO

Missouri Quizbowl Alliance

Post by Charlie Dees »

No joke. That school (Maur Hill-Mount Academy) was all class. Now that I think about it, our history teacher also thought it was pertinent to our study of ancient Rome to watch "The Mask of Zorro." possibly the worst was in French class though, when our teacher decided that in order to let us see Paris monuments, we would watch "Passport to Paris."


<div class="editby">Edited by <a href='http://s4.zetaboards.com/Academic_Compe ... enaziCD</a>, Nov 1 2008, 11:52:59 PM.</div>

User avatar
L-Town Expatriate
Posts: 6910
Joined: Fri Apr 23, 2004 12:00 am
Location: Riding a Mule down the Katy Trail to the State Fair
Contact:

Missouri Quizbowl Alliance

Post by L-Town Expatriate »

the last ramsfan wrote:(Note: Knowing MSHSAA though, and its custom to make up ridiculous rules that limit the abilities to make quiz bowl great, they'll probably pass some rule that disqualifies any school, and all its MSHSAA activities, known to associate in any way with MOQBA and any group that resembles MOQBA.)
If this happens, expect one of two things to happen:

1) Jeff City lawmakers crying foul over MSHSAA hampering progress and being all paranoid and power hungry like some have done the past several years.
2) Coaches to give MSHSAA the finger and support such renegade operations.

This organization is comprised of some of Missouri's best quiz bowl products with a keen interest in improving their home state's quiz bowl quality. If this can't be considered a grassroots effort, I don't know what can.

Oh, and more one thing that might need to be mentioned as an idea in the future: 501(c)(3).

User avatar
socalcaptain
Posts: 1495
Joined: Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:00 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Missouri Quizbowl Alliance

Post by socalcaptain »


User avatar
Jeffrey Hill
Posts: 6653
Joined: Fri Apr 30, 2004 12:00 am
Location: In between the bright lights and the far unlit unknown (aka Johnson County, KS)
Contact:

Missouri Quizbowl Alliance

Post by Jeffrey Hill »

socalcaptain wrote:MOQBA in the news, already!!

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stori ... ournament/

:)
Awesome!

User avatar
L-Town Expatriate
Posts: 6910
Joined: Fri Apr 23, 2004 12:00 am
Location: Riding a Mule down the Katy Trail to the State Fair
Contact:

Missouri Quizbowl Alliance

Post by L-Town Expatriate »

Is that name registered with the Secretary of State's Office yet? Doubt you need to go as far as incorporating, though.

User avatar
Jeffrey Hill
Posts: 6653
Joined: Fri Apr 30, 2004 12:00 am
Location: In between the bright lights and the far unlit unknown (aka Johnson County, KS)
Contact:

Missouri Quizbowl Alliance

Post by Jeffrey Hill »

The organization in its current form is NOT transacting any business whatsoever. I doubt these formalities are necessary.

Case in point - Missouri Academic Coaches Association does NOT show up in a search on the Secretary of State's website (on the same form that returns your fictitious name registration for CCOMBB), and MOQBA does even less than they do.

-edit-
NEITHER DOES MSHSAA


<div class="editby">Edited by <a href='http://s4.zetaboards.com/Academic_Compe ... /88961/'>U. Lou Sthagaim</a>, Nov 2 2008, 04:15:16 PM.</div>

User avatar
Charlie Dees
Posts: 4134
Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2006 12:00 am
Location: Columbia, MO

Missouri Quizbowl Alliance

Post by Charlie Dees »

We should totally hold a convention.

User avatar
L-Town Expatriate
Posts: 6910
Joined: Fri Apr 23, 2004 12:00 am
Location: Riding a Mule down the Katy Trail to the State Fair
Contact:

Missouri Quizbowl Alliance

Post by L-Town Expatriate »

Granted, if all the organization does is provide volunteer service and credentials to quality tournaments, then that in of itself doesn't require registration.

However, as to ensure that some random yahoos don't fool with MOQBA's certification standards, it might be a good idea to at least have some semblance of a brick-and-mortar establishment by law, so that if some tournament claims to have certification when they don't, you have legal standing to tell them not to use that certification.

Then again, I'm speaking from a strictly layman background. I do believe we have two law students or stronger on the forum that could better speak on this subject.

User avatar
Charlie Dees
Posts: 4134
Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2006 12:00 am
Location: Columbia, MO

Missouri Quizbowl Alliance

Post by Charlie Dees »

No one is going to do anything to us like that, and if they do I don't see why they wouldn't also be forced to do the same to the MSHSAA.

Post Reply