The way I called it and I'm sticking to it.
IHSSBCA Kickoff Tournament at Loyola Academy-- November 18, 2000
Von Steuben Varsity Invitational-- December 16, 2000
2nd Annual Kaneland Academic Challenge-- January 6, 2001
5th Annual Fremd Varsity Scholastic Bowl Tournament-- January 20, 2001
1st Annual Lake Zurich Varsity Scholastic Bowl Tournament-- February 17, 2001
Masonic Regional Tournament-- February 24, 2001
Third Annual Student Versus Faculty Match-- February 28, 2001
Masonic State Tournament-- March 2, 2001
IHSA Sectional-- March 10, 2001
IHSA State-- March 17, 2001
Eeep. In a word, this describes this tournament in a nutshell. Because we are working with a young and inexperienced team, this was a severe learning experience for all of us. We came out with a tough loss to Fremd, and save our win over an undermanned B team, it pretty much went downhill from there. We then went on to face Lake Zurich, whose captain's mind-numbing speed pretty much bedazzled us from the beginning. However, the most upbeat point in the contest would be my correct answer to a question about square dancing. Okay, so we were waylaid and thwomped, even bowing out to our rivals Marist in the first round. Okay, so we didn't make such a huge splash, but so be it.
What I liked about this tournament:
Well, the competition was steep. A little TOO steep, but we already have a good idea on who is good in the SB world. We didn't do so well, but hopefully we can learn from this and better ourselves from the experience. I now believe that "Do-si-do" shall be our rallying cry for the upcoming competitions ahead.
What I didn't like about this tournament:
With a 1-3 performance, I can say that we had had a pretty off day, so I don't think it's fair to complain that the questions were not well written. Although the competition was great, I don't particularly enjoy losing horridly, either. The cutoff between the academic and scholastic divisions was a good idea, but I think we got the short end of the stick, or perhaps we shorted ourselves. But there is always hope for the next time around.
Well, we went 7-1, so I can say I'm pretty satisfied in the way we played today. Of course, with Stevenson and Wheaton North out, we didn't gather such a look at the competition as much as we wanted to. However, we came out fairly sharp even considering we had to bring up a freshman to replace Perry. Perry is now hereby dubbed "Student Congress Boy" by me. Anyway, we started out very quickly and tore through the opening rounds, culminating in a big win over Stephen-I mean, Decatur MacArthur. The match against Wauconda was interesting, as well, as we overcame their seizure-causing buzzer system. We had a question about the Dominican Order that took us a bit long to answer. Normally, that wouldn't be such a big deal, but since we're a DOMINICAN HIGH SCHOOL, that became our rallying cry.
We came out strongly in the playoffs and dropped Marist's B team with relative ease. Because I had been poaching questions from nearly everybody all day, Mr. Draski decided to make it a point that I didn't have any toss-ups at the half. I brought it together and answered half of the remaining questions. Nothing beats manipulation of pride and greed to get results. However, we then encountered a pesky Lincoln-Way team that never quit. We only lost by 11, so we basically beat ourselves--correction, *I* beat ourselves by blowing two questions in sequence. The heartbreaker was me choking on "This Great Russian Czar..." and yelling out "Ivan the Peter the Great." I wanted to cry, but I held it in very well. In the consolation bracket, I wonderfully took out the sum total of my anger upon an unsuspecting Niles West team. I was still obviously ticked, but I took some satisfaction in taking apart a team that is a threat in our upcoming sectional. We thoroughly routed Niles, and were treated into a rubber match with Decatur Mac. It was what you would expect of a fifth-place game: A shootout with neither team scoring over 100 points. Well, we won, grabbed our dinky fifth place trophy, and left. It's some hardware, but we had to start somewhere. However, I have the satisfaction that we lost to the eventual champions as well as the fact that we did better than Marist.
What I liked about this tournament:
Well, the questions were well written, and the elimination of all the classical and country music was well-appreciated. I consider it fun to astonish my teammates with my supreme knowledge of the group Toto. However, Mr. Schrempf ran a great tournament, and I'm happy that we did so well. Hopefully, this was also a learning experience for our frosh pal Siby, as long as he doesn't dose off or talk during toss-ups in the near future.
What I didn't like about this tournament:
Above all, I hated it when the playoff matches had to be cut short because of time restraints, but mostly because we lost that heartbreaker to Lincoln-Way. Otherwise, I was happy to get back into that competitive spirit and dominate.
What can I say? Through this tournament, we finally smoothed out a large amount of rough edges that we started with and became a well-oiled machine. We showed vestiges of the team of old, even though this is a very different team. We started off on a roll, bouncing Wheaton North in a flurry of quick responses and good bonus work. However, the game was called at 18 questions due to the 45-minute time limit. This may not seem like much at first, but it would cause great pain eventually. 2 out of three of the teams we later faced were B-teams, so we rolled through the rest of the rounds and wound up seeded first. We didn't score under 300 points until the Marist game. However, looking at the board, Marist lost to Marian Central(who??) because the 45-minute time limit had passed after they had came back on the last two questions, thus awarding Marian Central the win. That put them in the fifth seed. That turned out to be a very dangerous fifth seed. After Steph and I disposed of Tom and Scott in a cutthroat game of spades, we were ready to continue in the playoffs. We started off against Wheaton North's B team, winning and scoring 310 points. We had scored 310 points against their A-team, too. Spooky. We then went on to face the upstart West Aurora team. We overcame some early mistakes and finished strongly. Then came our arch-rivals Marist. To put it in one of the nicest ways possible, there has always been some bad blood between us. We respect each other, we don't necessarily like each other, and we both play for pride. They came out strong, but Tom got an insanely easy math tossup in a split second and I helped us pull away with my answer of onomatopoeia(I think this was my personal quickest, as I answered after three words of the clue: "Words like "buzz--"). However, since this was a spelling question, the moderator(Mr. Dentino's big sister, nonetheless) asked me to spell it. Without even thinking, I go at it at a Mystikal-like pace, but I got it correct. Of course, the question gets contested, but it holds up because if the question's category were announced, it was assumed I would spell the word anyway. So, we took the lead into the super-terrific-happy bonus, where we decided to play some strategy. The two categories were "love stories" and "science fiction". I made the assumation that, "Hey, they're an all-boys' school--how good can they be at love stories?" Sure, that was an ASSumption, but it worked in our favor as we swept sci-fi and stole two from Marist, lenghtening our lead. Steph added two crucial speed toss-ups to have us ahead. But, Marist kept chipping away and they never quit. We had an 105 point lead with six questions left. One was missed, then I got one, then a Marist guy got one, leaving the lead at 85 with three questions left to play. I suppose the stars were not in our favor, as they swept the last three questions to win by 5. I feel like the Houston Oilers in the 1993 divisional playoffs. Up 35-3 at halftime only to lose 35-38. However, that took about an hour and a half to take place; our lead and our win evaporated in front of me within the span of four minutes. I had to take a walk around the halls to ease myself after losing such a heartbreaker. Marist happily went off to utterly destroy whatever sacrificial lamb had triumphed over Wheaton North, and we got the feeling of starting off and ending our tournament playing the same team. From past experience, I realized that I can channel my anger into a positive source. However, since it was a third-place game, we were contemplating rather to actually play the match or do rock-paper-scissors, best 4 out of 7. The match play won by a narrow vote. We also both chortled at the "joke of the millennium" on the board: "Two fish are walking down the street. One says to the other, "Hey, that's not my shoe." I think I actually went out and said, "You are a great bunch of guys, and don't take this personally, but I totally want to destroy you right now." Since being extremely angered appears to elevate my play, I came out and answered six of the first eight questions(one was Math, and a Wheaton guy got the other). I was all over the place, and we all worked together. I tried to convince us to gather a Wheaton-Fenwick coalition and jump Marist in the parking lot, but it didn't get enough support. However, thanks to Tom's bumbling, we broke our 310 hex on Wheaton and finished with 315.
What I liked about this tournament:
Even though we lost that heartbreaker, this was still the best I have seen us work together as a team. When we are at our best, we can take the fight to anyone. And, the super-terrific-happy-bonus was a welcome change and a means of trying out new methods of strategy. The trophies were larger, as it is quite a rare occasion that the third place trophy is more than a centimeter larger than the fourth-place trophy. The questions were well-written, save a few incredibly obvious toss-ups and some repeat answers in the bonuses.
What I didn't like about this tournament:
The 45-minute rule, although never directly applied to us, but it wound up biting us in the rear later on. Because of the rule, Marist got screwed out of a win, and instead of being seeded second, which would probably have us meeting in the finals, they were seeded fifth. Of course, we ran into that buzzsaw in the semis. Anyway, I think we did well otherwise, and can only do better.
Out of all the tournaments we've been to so far, this one has to have had the most ups and downs. We were off some of the time, but when we were on, everything clicked and we become a force to be reckoned with. However, I'm getting ahead of myself. We started off the day with a quick win against Glenbard North. It's always good to see the teams that are going to be in our sectional. The roll extended with a win over Libertyville, which was the game where I impressed the room by getting a toss-up about which state has a law prohibiting one to pump his or her own gas. It was New Jersey, and I only knew the answer because my brother had just been there and was griping about the matter. Anywho, the bottom fell out when we played Latin. Even though they were shorthanded, they came out strong and we never bounced back. They weren't THAT good, either.. but we just kept beating ourselves by blowing easy tossups and poaching each other's territory. We picked it up with a big win over Evergreen Park, and then faced Conant in a vital game to determine our seeding. The game went back and forth, but Conant had us down for most of the match. However we surged forward after Tom Z. redeemed himself by getting a huge math question near the end. We were seeded 10th, putting us in the same boat as--Lake Zurich, Stevenson, and Marist?! What?! We were off to get a free lunch, and I made the all-star team. All is well. Or so I thought. We opened up the playoffs by "upsetting" the 7th seed, Lake Park. For the first time all day, we worked together as a team, and we were on a roll and won by over 100. Then came our pals from Wheaton North. They had revised the fish joke over Christmas break, but then erased it off the board when they realized doing so last time jinxed them. Apparently, the strategy worked out, and we basically played horribly and got creamed. Wheaton was firing on all cylinders, and we had an utter dearth of knowledge. Apparently, this feeling shifts from our teams from time to time, because every game we've played has been a blowout either way.
What I liked about this tournament:
Well, some of the questions nagged at me, but I dominated black history and classic rock, so I can't complain. We're slowly coming together as a cohesive unit, and the results are seen in how well we do. We matched our performance from last year and got to test out some of the competition in our sectional. Also, in our matches, we work as a team. If we win, we all do pretty well. If we lose, we all suck. Because this is the last major tournament before seeding, we can hope that we can have a high seed in our sectional. I'm too tired to post dislikes. On to the Lake Zurich, League, and State!
Interesting. In a word, interesting. This one had its ups and downs, to say the least. I mean, sure, we went 3-2, but that puts us in the same boat as Lake Zurich, Wheaton North, and Stevenson? In a word, amazing. We had to dig into our reserves for this one as our fearless leader Steph was off at a college interview. At first, we appeared to be up to the task, dodging a bullet against a post-Jessica era Cary-Grove. We then went off to face Stevenson. This was my favorite game of all, as we took the lead after I answered the first question and never looked back. Tom heartily enjoyed one of his first non-math, non-science questions in getting the Hanseatic league. We were up by 20 with two questions left to go. Stevenson got first crack at answering the authors of the Federalist papers. Fortunately, they missed it and Scott got it. However, that was a 50-point swing and we won by 50. Coincidence, I think not. We finally emerged from being Stevenson's whipping boys and rejoiced in our victory.
Then, it all went downhill. We dug ourselves a fairly large hole in the next match against Von Steuben. However, everybody pulled together and crawled out, thanks to a lovely replacement question with me getting "Hamlet" and Tom's knowledge of the order in which all the people die in the play. We seem to have a history of comeback victories against them. Disaster struck in the next round, as we also dug ourselves a hole and tried to crawl out of it against Homewood-Flossmoor. We all had a dismal first half, me especially. I think we were fired up after their coach decided to contest the fact that Perry had asked to repeat a question and then deferred to Scott on a "Gladiator" bonus(supposedly against IHSA rules). However, we came back, answering 4 of the last five questions. We were down 19 on the last question and I got "Lord Byron". However, we had absolutely no knowledge of any other 19th century British poets( WE MISS YOU, STEPH!!) and drowned accordingly. I was too pissed about the last match, as Jimmy and Latin trounced us accordingly. So, with a mighty 3-2 record, we came to see if we could sneak into the playoffs. I had the lowest possible number of toss-ups to make the all-tournament team, but that was okay.
What I liked about this tournament:
Well, the questions were very interesting when they were right or existing, but like many tournaments in which the coach writes the questions, they vary from incredibly easy to impossible. Even under the circumstances, we functioned as a team and kept our heads over water. Also, our JV showed some promise and team unity by also going 3-2 and getting trounced by Latin along the way. It took us three years, but we finally beat Stevenson.. however, I think I have more gripes.
What I didn't like about this tournament:
Okay, we beat Stevenson, they had the same record, yet they make the playoffs. That irked me the most. Also, Wheaton North had the same record, and they not only make the playoffs, they're seeded fourth. Then again, their prize for making the playoffs was a date with IMSA, so that's fine by me. I think the 60-second math tossups just kept all the people who were good at math out of the game. The questions needed to be a bit more straight-forward, but it's a good attempt for a first try. I actually did fairly well on the hockey questions, so I'm cool with that(no pun intended). Well, now it's time for Masonics.. let's see what happens.
OH MY GOD. This makes absolutely no sense, but somehow, we did it. By we, I mean, Steph and me. Perry and Tom were at math regionals, and apparently, everybody else had something better to do. That was it. For some strange reason, playing 2 on 5 ALL DAY, we WON! I mean, we won! How often do we ever win anything, especially in such a fashion? Of course a large majority of the teams there were watered down because of the math regionals, but at least they found somebody to play. We did it all shorthanded and in fashion.
Upon arriving at Stevenson, Steph and I busted out the playing cards and played about seven games of speed. Apparently, speed would be the name of the game for everything. We started off the bracket against Washington. They were decent, but a bit green, and we disposed of them handily. Next was New Trier sans their man, Nick Poulos. However, because their captain was also named Nick, I pretty much feared them from the start. We got off to a great start and took them out of the match fairly early. After disposing of the Trevians, we got a break, which we spent eating and then engaging our Wheaton North pals in a friendly game of spades. I think Lori brought up the notion that we should play for money, but we'd soon be playing for money anyway. We also jumped off to a good start against them, and kept hanging on. How did we beat them exactly? Speed, speed, and more speed. I developed a steady habit of buzzing in on the fifth word of every question, and it worked out pretty well. Steph and I cleaned up on nearly every bonus. In a nutshell, we became this wonderful machine and we kept working together. Our final match was against...Fremd? What happened to Lake Zurich? Downers Grove North? Apparently, Downers took out Lake Zurich in a squeaker only to get walloped by Fremd. You know, it's like that Bible story in which two armies descend on one defenseless town and then the armies just wind up destroying each other. We also were on a roll againt Fremd and we never trailed. So, therefore, our newly dubbed "Dynamic Duo" is going downstate, is getting 500 bucks(free money rules!) and a plaque(as soon as the trophy maker gets through because their factory burned down), and, well, bragging rights of the Chicago area! Whoo!
What I liked about this tournament:
We won! That's what I liked about the tournament. The questions could have been a little more challenging, but it made a game of speed that we won a lot of the time. Hopefully, our team can show up so we can take state, too. The moderators did a good job, and this was an overall great tournament. Also, we avenged the basketball team with a big win over Washington, we extended our undefeated streak against New Trier(2-0), and we thwomped Wheaton North and Fremd. You can't beat that.
What I didn't like about this tournament:
I think the question makers overcompensated for the lack of key math players at this tournament. I have the basic yardstick of that "if I can do it, it's too easy." look at math. The questions were a bit TOO simple at time, but speed rules. There were even questions in which you could even INFER the answer without having a clue otherwise. The questions ranged from incredibly easy to utterly impossible. But I'm on too much of a high to gripe right now. On to State!
Now this one was interesting. The teachers, after getting thoroughly walloped last year, came back in force. Mr. Kotty, assuming the role of faculty captain for the third year in a row, greatly lead his forces of Fr. Rick, Fr. Tom, Mr. Brost, Mrs. Sjostrom, Mrs. Logas and Mr. Rodde against us.
The faculty got off to a great start because they got the first three social studies questions(although I have to dispute Fr. Tom's Thomas NASH, but I think I'm just bitter). I was pretty much shut down, and Perry and Steph were working well to keep us in it. However, we were down 80-10 to start off with, and of course, the trash talking began right there. We roared back after Tom got a math question, and soon enough, the faculty only was up 90-80. Steph got another question, and that put us up. Next followed four lead changes, and because Mr. Brost and Fr. Tom both left, I finally got a social studies question. Tom and Perry kept working the math(thank God Mr. Finnell had play practice). However, I hit a low point as I confused Katherine Mansfield and Katherine Anne Porter for the umpteenth time, which of course was vultured by Mrs. Sjostrom. We built up a substantial lead after Steph got 2 in a row, and then Perry got one. We rallied after I got one of the bonus questions by taking something straight of the local vicinity of my rear end. It was like, "DFC award first given to Charles Lindbergh..distinguished...flying..cross?" Somehow that worked out, and we had a substantial lead with 2 questions left. So, we played the freshmen. They got one of them, too, which is a good enough sign for student dominance in the near future. Therefore, we won the rubber match, and the students are now up 2-1 in the all-time series.
Second place in the state. So that other team that was also downstate one-upped us. We did a great job, and I couldn't be more proud. Of course, this was a 3 1/2 hour drive down there, so I felt that we had to come home with something. We did, but it wasn't that easy.
We got off to a horrible start against St. Bede's. Apparently, after being destroyed by Stevenson last year, they were more prepared. Steph and I blew the first two questions in rapid succession, but then roared back to tie it up during the next three questions. Because of the
We came in the favorite, and we walked out with the sectional plaque. We're going downstate! Whee! Of course, we made it, but we played pretty ugly doing it.
Since Tom and Perry were off taking their little American Chemical Society exam, we had to bring up a few freshmen as quick replacements. So, pretty much, I was ticked from the beginning, and if you've been reading the following summaries, you know what that means. Of course, before the first round match with Von Steuben, we played speed, like we always do. However, Evanston went by, and apparently informed me that I have some sort of superstar reputation to live up to. Anyway, soon we were off to play our opening match. Apparently, the freshmen couldn't shake off the jitters, as Steph and I were the only people who even attempted answering questions for the entire round. Von Steuben got off to an early lead because they got the first three math questions(apparently, freshmen in third-year math can't seem to answer even simple arithmatic questions), but I guess I'm just bitter. We came back as I somehow remembered Moh's scale of mineral hardness. Steph was showing some early jitters, as well, as I was the only person with correct responses for the entire first half. However, we pulled ahead with a flurry of quick responses and pulled ahead to stay.
In the second round, we got Addison Trail. They were good, but they made a few stupid mistakes, as did we. The freshmen--correction, a freshman, Pat-- started pulling their own weight, keeping us in it from early on. Tom and Perry finally decided to show up a short time after the half, and they came at exactly the right time. Of course, we were getting dominated on every question requiring a calculation, and that kept them in it. After Tom and Perry got in, Addison Trail's guys blew a math question and a Physics question in succession, leaving them to vulture the lead and keep us ahead. I got the 28th question, which put us ahead by 9 points with two questions left to go. I blew the last two questions, and pretty much felt like crying. Apparently, the 9 points were all that we needed, though. We had dodged a bullet, and went off to face my Evanston admirers.
The funny thing about the Evanston match had to be that it was the easiest one of the day. Tom and Perry had their magnificent returns, and I was on the top of my game. Evanston's captain blew the first three questions he attempted, and I vultured all of them accordingly. We started the game off 75-5, and we never looked back. Apparently, the tales of Evanston antics were a bit exaggerated, but the moderator had to shut them down a few times. Anyway, we never gave up our lead, and we won by over 100 points to claim our sectional crown. Well, on to State. Oh, yes.. on to State.
What a way to end a season. Okay, so it was just fourth place, but that's good in comparison, I guess. IMSA pretty much had this locked from the beginning, and my school wouldn't care if we came in second or fourth place, anyway. But anyway, this is how it all went down.
We hung around before the opening ceremonies. Our two boosters, being the Rudniks, showed up, along with Steph's dad and aunt, and even Dr. Quaid showed up to see us. We also saw our IHSA-prepared name tags. Apparently, they thought we were from Oak Lawn, and they couldn't exactly get that right, either. Mr. Draski preferred that we'd not go by the moniker Oak Law(Fenwick) Friars, so we just used our own. We patiently waited through the opening ceremonies, waiting to get even with the Masonic state champion, Salem.
Of course, when the match got started, Gary was stomping all over us, but they got some pretty crappy bonuses and were only up by about fifty points until we hit our stride. Perry was an utter machine, as I think he got three in a row to close out the half. We were in control from that point on, doubling their point total. I mean, since we pulled that off, we should have been on a roll, right?
Wrong. Then came Wheaton North. I just have one question...what the hell happened?! The first half against them was the worst in my memory. We blew five questions, and Wheaton got seven. Lori was putting a hurting on us from the start. I guess they were pissed off by the fact that Steph and I beat them a few weeks ago. For the only three questions I knew in the half, I was A)Beaten out by Lori or B)Beaten out by somebody on our team who got it wrong. We finally cut into the lead after Wheaton got yet another toss-up but the bonus split gave us a 16-14 advantage! YAY! But still.. lots of stupid mistakes, poaching others' territory, and generally not paying attention cost us. I mean, Wheaton's a great team, but they couldn't have possibly played as well as we just utterly sucked. Seriously, for that first half, they could have played against five empty chairs without making much difference.
We finally came back in the second half. Even though Wheaton North had us on toss-ups by a margin of 12 (7 to -5), they were only up by about 70 points. They let up a little, and we capitalized. Perry got a few, I got a few, Steph got a few. However, I don't know who exactly to be pissed off at after there was a math question which the moderator specifically said "answer in real + root form", and Perry said "radical" in his answer, and he didn't accept it. That could have changed the entire match. Our math guys also forgot how to add fractions, and I forgot my own tip to NEVER, EVER ANSWER PHYSICS QUESTIONS. Anyway, there was one social studies question left, and none of us could come up with Mount Vernon for the answer. I mean, I would have been perfectly satisfied if at the end, the question said "residence of George Washington", even if Wheaton got it, but it was not to be.
I was utterly out of it after that match. We finished our pool play against Rockford Boylan, who was already 0-2. We didn't get any toss-ups until around the 8th question, though Boylan wasn't far up to begin with. We also screwed up fairly often on the bonuses, but we finally garnered a lead around the 22nd question. Tom helped us pull ahead when he answered a question about ringworm, which he only knew because a friend of his who was a wrestler had it. However, at the 23rd question, somebody from Boylan buzzed in and said "Rub 'al Khali", when the answer was "Arabian Desert". Of course, the Rub'al Khali is PART of the Arabian Desert, but I vultured it accordingly, putting us ahead for good. We waited, hoping that Salem would knock off Wheaton North, putting us in the championship match, but alas, that was not to be, either. I supposed Wheaton deserved it from having the bad luck to come downstate twice before just to get thwomped by Ben Ricca.
Then came the third place game. I was under the assumption that pool play led into the semifinals, having the second place team from one pool play the first place team from the other pool. That horrid match against Wheaton obviously kept us from being in first place, but I wouldn't have minded playing IMSA if the worst we got would be fourth place eventually. Stevenson was basically in the same boat that we were: they beat the team they were expecting to beat in order to advance to the finals, but then were upended by a team they thought they could beat. Stevenson actually BEAT IMSA, only to lose out on a tiebreaker by points. However, they decided to forgo the semifinals, and we got to play Stevenson again. Stevenson was on a roll, of course, having dropped IMSA. This was actually a good match, going down to the last question with us only up by a point. However, this one was riddled with dumb mistakes, as well. I jumped on a question about K-2, and Perry tried to use a non-existant formula to answer a question about adding the cubes of the first seven counting numbers. At the 22nd question, I jumped on answering "King Midas". That would turn out to be the last answer of the day that we got. It came down to the last question, and of course, I had no clue, but three other people on our team did, and decided not to buzz. That usually does present a problem. However, I just want to wish good luck to Perry next year, because if nobody steps up, he's going to need it. Anyway, we stuck around, got our fourth-place trophy(which is about a centimeter shorter than the third-place trophy), I got my medallion and certificate for making all-state, and then we went home. It's been a great season, everybody.
IHSASectional Tournament March 10, 2001
IHSAState Tournament March 17, 2001