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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 10:28 am 
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Lotsa Posta

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ANON wrote:
Merkin wrote:
To the last, I grapple with thee!


You task me. You task me, and I shall have Teasers. I'll chase you round the Moons of Nibia and round the Antares Maelstrom and round Perdition's flames before I give up!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6VtFERv2Po

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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Tue Apr 03, 2018 11:07 pm 
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Lotsa Posta

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Gypsy wrote:
Did you catch the interview with Sister Jean in which she said that she always prays for both teams, but she prays a little harder for Loyola?

It may be of consolation to Sister Jean that the title was won by a school which adheres to the one true faith, rather than by those freethinkers in Ann Arbor.

Your basketball team could not have placed Loyola University in a more favorable light.


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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 2:08 pm 
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King or Queen Postsalot
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I tried to come up with a Star Trek analogy for this week's standings, but I've given up. I'm guessing that the Trek franchise would not have been so enduring if in any given episode or movie everything Kirk (or Picard, or Janeway, or Sisko, etc.) planned to do went off without a hitch. There is not much drama in things going more or less as expected; and for this reason there is not much drama in this week's results. Most of the wins were pretty decisive, and the only "upset" was the nine-seed beating the eight-seed:

1 BWW-Crystal City, Arlington VA 52,763
16 BWW-Blacksburg, VA 33,008

8 Big Guys, Winnipeg MB 43,015
9 Tilted Kilt, Scottsdale AZ 47,256

5 Danny K's, Orange CA 51,291
12 Time Out West, Hanover Park IL 40,608

4 Houlihan's-Westbury NY 46,265
13 Teaser's, Chicago IL 44,700

3 The Old Barn, Portland OR 39,482
14 BWW-Oklahoma City OK 33,185

6 The Ragged Rascals, Albuquerque NM 47,460
11 Stained Glass Pub, Elkridge MD 44,347

7 Tailgate Sports Cafe, Minneapolis MN 48,360
10 West Park Station, Cleveland OH 45,071

2 The Fellowship, BWW-Kent OH 59,058
15 Mad River, New York NY 46,123

Before moving on, I would like to take a moment commend the teams that will not be advancing. To make the Sweet 16 in a field like this is all by itself an accomplishment worthy of note, and you can count yourselves as being among the best teams in the continent as a result. Thanks for taking part in the McCarthy Cup this year, and we hope you will sign up for the Sandbag Tournament this fall.

That being said, congrats to the teams moving on to this week's quarterfinals. It is an almost unbelievably strong field--perhaps one of the strongest quarterfinals fields ever. Six of the eight teams rank among the top ten this year (according to Don Denton's stats site), and the other two are in the top fifteen. Three of the teams have won at least one game this year; and except for BWW-Crystal City, every other team has finished behind all the other remaining teams at least once so far this year. Thus, there is not a "gimme" game for anyone from here on out. Here are next week's pairings:

1 BWW-Crystal City, Arlington VA vs. 9 Tilted Kilt, Scottsdale AZ

4 Houlihan's-Westbury NY vs. 5 Danny K's, Orange CA

3 The Old Barn, Portland OR vs. 6 The Ragged Rascals, BWW-Albuquerque NM

2 The Fellowship, BWW-Kent OH vs. 7 Tailgate Sports Cafe, Minneapolis MN


Good skill to all this week!

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"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."


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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 1:20 pm 
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Well let's see. In that baseball game between the well-practiced Vulcans and the impromptu DS9 team, the Vulcans did win. So that went according to form. There's the three-dimensional chess game between Spock and young Charlie Evans, Spock won in about two moves. And how about the fight between that Klingon and David Marcus? No upset victory there. Spock expected Garth of Izar to win the fight with Kirk. If that hadn't gone according to form, Spock would have shot the wrong Kirk. Riker lost that Stratagema game against that weirdo character named Kohlrabi or something, who had never lost a game. So that's 5 maybe?


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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 2:58 pm 
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whales wrote:
Well let's see. In that baseball game between the well-practiced Vulcans and the impromptu DS9 team, the Vulcans did win. So that went according to form. There's the three-dimensional chess game between Spock and young Charlie Evans, Spock won in about two moves. And how about the fight between that Klingon and David Marcus? No upset victory there. Spock expected Garth of Izar to win the fight with Kirk. If that hadn't gone according to form, Spock would have shot the wrong Kirk. Riker lost that Stratagema game against that weirdo character named Kohlrabi or something, who had never lost a game. So that's 5 maybe?


I stand corrected, and humbly bow to your superior Trek-knowledge-application skills! I had forgotten about the baseball game entirely. I particularly like the "Whom Gods Destroy" reference, because both the fight and Spock's logical resolution to the situation went as one would expect. I guess I also could have used the plan to use illogic to short-circuit the androids in "I, Mudd." Of course in these cases, the plan worked only after something originally went wrong. I suspect only the most die-hard Trek fan would tune in to see an episode in which the Enterprise conducts a routine mission to drop off medical supplies at an outpost and then returns without incident.

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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 3:42 pm 
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Centenarian

Joined: Thu Jun 29, 2017 10:37 am
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Quote:
...an episode in which the Enterprise conducts a routine mission to drop off medical supplies at an outpost..


The Man Trap
"If she were Nancy, could she take this?"


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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 5:23 pm 
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Shakes wrote:

The Man Trap
"If she were Nancy, could she take this?"



:lol:

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"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."


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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 3:52 pm 
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Sometime in the 1970s—after Star Trek had become a staple in syndication—its fanbase began to coalesce into two broad groups. People who mostly appreciated the show’s concept, writing, and place in the Science Fiction canon increasingly liked to call themselves “Trekkers” to distinguish themselves from the pejorative connotations increasingly attributed to the term “Trekkies.” Fairly or unfairly, “Trekkies” in many people’s minds came to be the label applied to the kind of rabid fans who wore Spock ears, sported full-dress Starfleet uniforms, and were obsessed with the tiniest minutia and trivia surrounding the show and its production.

In reality, of course, this was a false dichotomy: the Trek fanbase was and continues to be more of a continuum; but at the far fringes of the continuum there probably is a meaningful distinction. A self-styled Trekker, for example, might be able to tell you that although “The Man Trap” was the first episode NBC aired, it was actually the sixth one produced after the two pilots and three other episodes aired later. A serious Trekker further down the continuum might also be able to supply the names of the two pilots (“The Cage”—later turned into the two-episode arc “The Menagerie” and “Where No Man Has Gone Before”) and at least one of the other previously-produced episodes (“The Corbomite Maneuver,” “Mudd’s Women,” and “The Enemy Within”). But only real Trekkies would—whether you asked them to or not—regale you with the story about how Gene Roddenberry deemed the salt shakers the propmaster (Irving Feinberg—they would probably know that, too) created for “The Man Trap” as being too futuristic-looking for the purpose; so they instead came to be recycled as medical instruments in Dr. McCoy’s Sick Bay for the rest of the series.

Why do I bring all this up? Well, slap on your Spock ears, strap on your phasers, and hold on to your command consoles as the bridge lurches unrealistically to the left and the right: I am about to get whatever-the-Showdown-trivia-equivalent-of-full-bore-“Trekkie”-is all up in your nacelles.

Counting this McCarthy Cup, there have been 31 major (McCarthy and Sandbag) Tournaments in Showdown history. On Tuesday, we came within a mere 151 points of seeing something that has only happened once before (in the 2006 McCarthy Cup): A Final Four made up exclusively of the top four seeds going into the knockout round (this excludes the 2001 McCarthy Cup and the 2010 McCarthy and Sandbag Tournaments, in which there was re-seeding every round). The Ragged Rascals in Albuquerque edged out The Old Barn by the narrowest of margins to slip into the semi-finals. Well, ALMOST the narrowest. In terms of close quarterfinals matches, it was certainly narrower than the 211-point upset that Teaser’s staged over Danny K’s in the 2016 McCarthy Cup. It was also narrower than the 191-point upset New Edinburgh Pub accomplished over Brewstir’s in the 2014 Sandbag Tournament. In fact, it was the narrowest quarterfinal victory since Sullivan’s upset Danny K’s in the 2008 Sandbag by only 141 points (probably the all-time quarterfinal record in this regard was when Knucklehead’s upset Te Roma’s by all of 96 points in the 2002/2003 McCarthy).

Otherwise, all the top seeds advanced by relatively decisive margins:

1 BWW-Crystal City, Arlington VA 49,682
9 Tilted Kilt, Scottsdale AZ 41,394

4 Houlihan's-Westbury NY 46,728
5 Danny K's, Orange CA 42,006

3 The Old Barn, Portland OR 42,790
6 The Ragged Rascals, Albuquerque NM 42,941

2 The Fellowship, BWW-Kent OH 46,085
7 Tailgate Sports Cafe, Minneapolis MN 35,172


Before moving on to more excruciating minutia, I want to take a moment to commend The Old Barn, Danny K’s, Tailgate, and Tilted Kilt for the fine tournament run they just finished. Not a single one of them can be labelled an expendable away-team “Red Shirt”: they all are high-ranking veterans for whom this Elite 8 appearance is yet another pip on the collar. Danny K’s, of course, is a four-time major winner (three McCarthys, one Sandbag). Tilted Kilt has a venerable record in the majors: a six-time semi-finalist and three-time finalist (starting as Stooges in the 2001 McCarthy and most recently in last fall’s Sandbag). Tailgate can claim three semifinal and one final appearances since the 2010 Sandbag, showing they are also not a team to be trifled with. And I’d like to give a special shout-out to The Old Barn, which not only can claim three quarterfinals appearances historically (going back to their time at Macadam’s in the 2008 Sandbag), but who also have been simply on fire this year, currently standing in third place in the continent on Don Denton’s rankings. Congrats to all of these teams on a good tournament, and I am sure we will be seeing them in the Sandbag Tournament this fall.

As for the Final Four, here are this week’s matchups:

1 BWW-Crystal City, Arlington VA
4 Houlihan's-Westbury NY

2 The Fellowship, BWW-Kent OH
6 The Ragged Rascals, Albuquerque NM

The Kent/Albuquerque tilt pits the two teams that have been on top of the rankings recently against each other. The Fellowship is the defending McCarthy Cup champion; and can claim eighteen semi-finals, thirteen finals, and eleven championships in the majors. The Ragged Rascals have four semi-finals and two finals appearances in the majors and have spent most of the last couple of years as the #2-ranked team in the continent. For those who think this is mismatch, think again: The Rascals have beaten the Kent contingent head-to-head on multiple occasions this year, and should take heart in knowing that historically, the round that has been the most likely to knock The Fellowship out of the tournament has been the semi-final round: The Fellowshippers have lost once in the Sweet 16, three times in the quarterfinals and twice in the finals, but five times in the semis.

The D.C./N.Y game seems to recall the golden era of the early 2000s, when Grand Slam and A&M Roadhouse/B4 duked it out regularly in epic McCarthy Cups and NTN Premier League tournaments, so in that sense it will be a little like déjà vu. The former Slammers need no introduction: They are the all-time McCarthy Cup champ, having won it five times, and have won six majors overall. They can also claim sixteen semi-final and eleven final appearances in the majors. A relatively newer team that began to chart after the demise of B4, Houlihan’s has had a distinguished tournament history of its own, making the semi-finals three times (starting with the 2012 Sandbag tournament). While this, too, may seem like a mismatch on paper, BWW-Crystal City takes Houlihan’s lightly at its peril. In the last four games, Houlihan’s has been hot on the Slammer’s heels: On March 20, Houlihan’s finished #2, and the Slammers #3, the next week, it was the Slammers at #2 and Houlihan’s at #3. And just this week the Slammers were at #2 and Houlihan’s at #4. BWW-Crystal City has been on a tear this whole tournament, but Houlihan’s is as likely a candidate as any team to put an end to it.

So there are the salt-shakers for you. Both of these matches look to be great, and any one of these teams is capable of going all the way. You can’t really ask for much more in a tournament semifinal. Good skill to all the teams, and I’m sure my fellow Fellowshippers would like me to extend our sincerest best wishes to our friends in Albuquerque.

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"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."


Last edited by ANON on Wed Apr 11, 2018 8:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 5:51 pm 
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A slight diversion from the topic at hand:

The Ragged Rascals have a bet laid down on the percentage of the teams in the McCarthy Sweet Sixteen who CORRECTLY answered the Killer Whale menopause question.

How many of your team got this puppy CORRECT? If so, how: by incredible knowledge, by clever strategy, by clever guess, or by use of the arcane arts?

Thank you for your cooperation,

Ken Z, aka BLZBUB

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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 7:48 pm 
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Barbara Feldon
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BLZBUB wrote:
A slight diversion from the topic at hand:

The Ragged Rascals have a bet laid down on the percentage of the teams in the McCarthy Sweet Sixteen who CORRECTLY answered the Killer Whale menopause question.

How many of your team got this puppy CORRECT? If so, how: by incredible knowledge, by clever strategy, by clever guess, or by use of the arcane arts?

Thank you for your cooperation,

Ken Z, aka BLZBUB


At BWW-Crystal City, we got exactly zero boxes on the killer whale. There were quite a few questions last night we split on, but on that question, we had all nine boxes on the chimp.

--Rick


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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 11:09 pm 
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I would like to say that Teasers had all boards on penguins, but, nope, it was pan trog.

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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Thu Apr 12, 2018 12:14 pm 
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At Houlihan's Westbury we had one tablet on Killer Whales as a "just in case" hedge by one player. The rest of the team had chimpanzees because it "made the most sense", but nobody said "it can't be any of the others".

We had thought that one tablet might provide the margin of victory but we would have advanced anyway.


Last edited by king vulture on Thu Apr 12, 2018 12:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Thu Apr 12, 2018 12:17 pm 
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Not that we were in the final eight, but we did barely slip into the Sweet Sixteen....

At BWW-Blacksburg, we went with Killer Whales, and were pretty sure about it. I said I thought it was killer whales, and kind of remember hearing it on some NPR program in the past year or two.
One of my teammates concurred, saying that is rang a bell from some BBC Planet Earth/Discovery/Nat. Geo. type program.

Bill AKA VIKING

P.S., as always a thanks for BZLBUB for the Showdown recaps; I forward them to my teammates, and they are appreciated.


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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 8:37 am 
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BLZBUB wrote:
A slight diversion from the topic at hand:

The Ragged Rascals have a bet laid down on the percentage of the teams in the McCarthy Sweet Sixteen who CORRECTLY answered the Killer Whale menopause question.

How many of your team got this puppy CORRECT? If so, how: by incredible knowledge, by clever strategy, by clever guess, or by use of the arcane arts?


I think ANON answered this in the recap thread. We had maybe 1 box on it. But, for the most part, we went CHIMP. I recall remarking "that seems too obvious," but since I am just a lawyer and we have numerous fauna and anthropologist experts, I didn't push it further. This week, our anthropologists were *still* hanging their heads low!

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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 2:09 pm 
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Ali vs. Frazier. Kirk vs. Khan. The Irresistible Force vs. The Unmovable Object. The Borg vs. Species 8472. Certain legendary matchups exemplify a pinnacle of competition that transcends time.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Both semifinal McCarthy Cup matches were relatively close:

1. BWW-Crystal City: 61,927
4. Houlihan’s Westbury: 58,262

2. The Fellowship, BWW-Kent OH: 49,029
6. The Ragged Rascals, BWW Albuquerque NM: 46,572

Houlihan’s’ loss must have been particularly heartbreaking, as the team snagged a great score, came in at #2 overall, and beat all the remaining teams—except the one it faced. This illustrates one important point I’d like to make before moving on: Let’s take a moment to appreciate the both the folks and Houlihan’s and the Ragged Rascals in Albuquerque whose McCarthy Cup run ends here. Historically, these teams have eight semifinal appearances in the Majors (McCarthy and Sandbag) between them—a notable achievement all by itself—marking them as being among the most successful tournament teams. Both are overdue to win one of these things, I think, and I expect them to make some noise in the Sandbag Tournament this fall. Congrats to them both on making great tournament runs.

Thus, this week’s championship matchup will be:

1. BWW-Crystal City vs. 2. The Fellowship

As alluded to above, they really don’t get any bigger than this one in Showdown Trivia. Not only are these two teams the #1 and #2 seeds in this tournament, they are #1 and #2 in just about any meaningful analysis of Showdown History. In their various incarnations—Mr. Smith/Fast Eddie’s/Grand Slam/BWW-Crystal City and Damon’s-Stow/Damon’s-Twinsburg/Damon’s-Independence/Stringz & Wingz/BWW-Kent—they have won far more games than any other team in history. They have also dominated the Majors: of the 30 McCarthy and Sandbag tournaments held from 1998-2017, they have combined to win 17 of them—more than half of the total. Counting this year’s McCarthy tournament, they have appeared in the quarterfinals a combined 43 times (Slammers 22, Fellowship 21), in the semifinals a combined 34 times (Slammers 16, Fellowship 18), and in the finals a combined 26 times (Slammers 12, Fellowship 14).

So can any of this history predict what might happen this Tuesday? As a historian (and as a member of The Fellowship), I’d really, REALLY like to believe this is true.

But it isn’t.

Superficially, you might look at past tournament history and come to the conclusion that The Fellowship is the prohibitive favorite. After all, The Fellowship has eleven Major titles to the Slammers’ six. Furthermore, in head-to-head tournament matches, The Fellowship also seems to have the upper hand. These two teams have clashed six times in the semifinals (2012 & 2015 Sandbag, 2013 McCarthy) or finals (2007/08 Sandbag, 2010 & 2014 McCarthy) of a Major tournament, and The Fellowship has won five of those six matches—including the championship of the very first tournament it entered, the inaugural Sandbag Tourney in 2007/08. Further-erthermore, in all three of the finals matchups, the lower-seeded team has beaten the higher-seeded team, which would certainly suit The Fellowship this year.

That’s all well and good, but the fact of the matter is that none of those facts matter. To get some insight on the relative chances for each team in this particular tournament in 2018, no analysis of a tournament ten years ago will help. Rather, one need look no further than each team’s performance in this year’s tournament so far. By those standards, The Slammers seem to be the prohibitive favorite, and have turned in one of the all-time great tournament performances, ever. In the seven games since the tournament began, they have finished no lower than 3rd overall, and have come in first three times: The Slammers have been both the Irresistible Force AND the Immovable Object. In comparison, The Fellowship has looked quite movable and resistible, especially in week 1, when it finished 58th with a score in the 18k range. Even dropping low performances, though, the Slammers have shown a distinct superiority these last few weeks. Take a look at these comparative statistics for the tournament so far:

Average Score, Cumulative
Slammers: 53,901
Fellowship: 46,450

Average Score, Dropping Low
Slammers: 55,077
Fellowship: 51,043

Average Rank, Cumulative
Slammers: 1.7
Fellowship: 12.1

Average Rank, Dropping Low
Slammers: 1.5
Fellowship: 4.5

Head-to-Head: Slammers 5, Fellowship 2

Looking at these, it is hard so see how the smart money would NOT be on BWW-Crystal City. Still, if all that Showdown history listed above teaches us anything, it is that one should never count The Fellowship out for a big game. It has won six games so far this year, including two during the tournament, so perhaps it has somewhat better than the 30% odds the head-to-head record indicates.

No matter who wins or loses, though, this is a matchup that is sure to be entertaining and entirely fitting as another chapter in the McCarthy Cup’s venerable history. The Fellowship cannot think of any opponent more appropriate in a McCarthy Cup Final than the historic team now at BWW-Crystal City. Good Skill to them this week!

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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Fri Apr 20, 2018 11:33 am 
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VULTUR from Houlihan's Westbury would like to congratulate the folks in Arlington on a well played game. We were very happy with our score and somewhat hopeful, but at the same time quite worried as we waited for the rankings to come up. We still have the scars from the same thing happening to us once before, finishing 2nd in the country behind the team we were matched against, that other time being BWW Tallahassee. What made it worse that time was it was their first ever Showdown win. This week, at least we know we lost to a powerhouse. A tip of the cap to them.


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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 10:18 am 
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Only five teams above 40,000. The Fellowship forgets to split on final question. Its literature professor has not read Tom Sawyer Abroad. The oceans start to boil. The sun turns black and global winter sets in. BWW Arlington takes its trophy and begins its months-long hibernation until the fall tournament.


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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 10:49 am 
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Cup(tin)’s Log, Scardate 04242018:

Championship Game Result:

BWW-Crystal City VA: 43,039
The Fellowship, BWW-Kent OH: 31,328

Long-time followers of The Fellowship (if such people exist) and visitors who have played with us will know that we are fortunate to have SPOCK play with us regularly. Because of his background, he is particularly helpful on science questions; but he is also important as a calm, steadying presence on the team. After the rankings came up last night and I was passing the hat to raise the postage money to send the McCarthy Cup to D.C., he came up to me.

“You look unhappy, Captain.”

“Don’t call me that. And yes, SPOCK, I’m unhappy!”

“I do not understand. Is not the purpose of tournaments like these to reward the team that out-competes the rest? If so, then this result is the correct one. Were you not just last week saying that they had put together one of the all-time great tournament runs, and that their 5-2 record against us head-to-head in the tournament meant they were probably the favored team? After all, they never finished lower than 3rd place over the entire eight weeks of the tournament. Furthermore, their total score of 420,344 during that stretch far outdistanced our own score of 356,479. The difference of 63,865 points between these cumulative scores means that they, as I believe the expression goes, ‘lapped the field’—winning by more than an entire game’s worth of points. They were—statistically and objectively—the best team in the tournament and are well-deserving of the trophy. To be unhappy that the best team won is not logical, Captain.”

“You know I prefer ‘Cat-Herder-In-Chief,’ SPOCK. And no, I am not unhappy about the Slammers winning. You know that we have long admired them; and they certainly earned it—there is a reason they are the all-time McCarthy Cup champs and will now have 6 of the 20 plaques on the trophy. I have nothing but the sincerest congratulations for them.”

“If you are not unhappy about them winning, then are you unhappy because of the way The Fellowship played?”

“Actually, SPOCK, I am pretty darn proud of our team. Remember, we cratered on the very first game of the tournament and thus started out near the bottom of the standings. Yet from there we clawed our way up not only to make the elimination round, but also to claim the #2 seed. Then we made it all the way to the championship game against some pretty stiff competition from some of the best teams in the world. That’s pretty amazing all by itself. And while we may have lost this game, we still have an 11-3 record in major tournament finals games. That’s an outstanding record that any team would be proud to have. I know you do not care for open displays of emotion, SPOCK, but I genuinely, sincerely love this team and continue to be honored to be associated with them.”

“Fascinating. So, if you are not unhappy about them winning and you are not unhappy about the way we played, then why are you unhappy, Captain?”

“Stop calling me that. And I. . .well. . .you see. . .the thing is. . . it’s just. . .Mark Twain wrote a book in which Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer rode a hot air balloon over Africa?”

“I see.” He paused as I sullenly collected my hat and sat down heavily in my chair to gather up the pile of bills into an orderly stack. Then he ventured, “Captain, it is my understanding that there is an ancient saying often invoked at moments such as these—one which is meant to soothe raw emotions by way of venting frustration and displacing sore feelings to another party external to the self. Although it is unlikely to efface negative emotions entirely, I am told that reciting this saying has a salutary effect in mitigating unhappiness.”

“Is that so, SPOCK? What is the saying?”

“I believe it goes, ‘Screw that guy.’”

“Yeah, SPOCK, you’re right. Mark Twain. Screw that guy.”


And now, in accordance with tradition, I declare the 20th Annual McCarthy Cup Tournament closed, and I call upon the Triviots of the world to assemble a few months from now to celebrate the 12th Annual Sandbag Tournament, to be hosted by The Fellowship at BWW-Kent, Ohio.

*Darkness falls as the flame slowly extinguishes. Music swells to a theremin-like vocal melody over a background of driving brass and bongos, ending on a triumphant high note, as dewy-eyed observers look on silently.*

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"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."


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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 11:45 am 
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Barbara Feldon
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Location: Arlington, Virginia
Thanks for the kind words, ANON, and for shepherding another excellently-run tournament. I have to admit that our sentiments towards Mr. Clemens were about the same as yours until the results came up, with our literature mavens berating him for cramming his beloved characters into second-rate novels because he needed the money. We were pretty sure our low 40s score wouldn't be sufficient against the Fellowship, and even after we saw that we had finished third, we fully expected to see y'all in 1st or 2nd when the full leaderboard appeared.

We are honored to have won the McCarthy against such a strong field. We're looking forward to hosting the 2019 edition, and to the Sandbaggers' this fall.

And in response to XTRAIN's post, we will be out of our lairs next Tuesday for the completion of the DINGO tournament--then I expect the hibernation (or I guess estivation) will begin.

--Rick


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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 12:22 pm 
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King or Queen Postsalot
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xtrain wrote:
The Fellowship forgets to split on final question.


This, alas, is not a new thing. We were channeling our inner lemmings again last night.

xtrain wrote:
Its literature professor has not read Tom Sawyer Abroad.


Yeah, it would be nice to have one of these. It has not been for lack of trying, but we have never been able to recruit a lit. professor. We are currently taking applications, though, if anyone is interested...

xtrain wrote:
The oceans start to boil. The sun turns black and global winter sets in. BWW Arlington takes its trophy and begins its months-long hibernation until the fall tournament.


This part is pretty accurate. :)

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"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."


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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 6:41 pm 
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Sir or Dame Postsalot

Joined: Sat Jan 30, 2010 5:13 pm
Posts: 272
xtrain wrote:
Only five teams above 40,000. The Fellowship forgets to split on final question. Its literature professor has not read Tom Sawyer Abroad. The oceans start to boil. The sun turns black and global winter sets in. BWW Arlington takes its trophy and begins its months-long hibernation until the fall tournament.


I know it's been less than a day, but I'm surprised there has been little or no complaining over the Heckelphone-level obscure Final question.

Judging from the low scores network-wide, I'm thinking almost nobody has read or even *heard* of Tom Sawyer Abroad. Ever. Anywhere. Not even Mark Twain (if he were around now).


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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Thu Apr 26, 2018 7:50 pm 
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Lotsa Posta
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I did look it up and it is definitely there. That's one Twain book that I had never heard of.

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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Thu Apr 26, 2018 10:23 pm 
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Lotsa Posta

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Rackme32 wrote:
Judging from the low scores network-wide, I'm thinking almost nobody has read or even *heard* of Tom Sawyer Abroad. Ever. Anywhere. Not even Mark Twain (if he were around now).


If Twain were still around, he would have preferred that this particular work be forgotten. It was something he wrote in a state of panic, at a time when he was attempting to stave off bankruptcy. The triple hook was far too subtle:

First: Twain's satirical vein: he was attempting to launch a satire at Jules Verne, the JK Rowling of the late 19th Century. Examine this statement for its absurdity, not of fact, but of Twain's vanity in pursuing by pen, rather than by rifle, an already satirical animal too large to be brought down by his 0.22.

Second: Twain's politics: the late 19th Century witnessed US adventure into continents other than Meso-America, which is a continent, let there be no confusion, which is literally taking over our own continent! (No slight intended to US Presidents past or future).

Third: The other entrants in the drop-down box were European. We American players might have done a strip, and concluded that no European writer would have launched his characters in so heroic an adventure.

Unless IDJIT or some other honest soul is willing to sit in the witness box, my presumption is that West Park Station took a wild-ass guess.

Before I open book on who knew Huck Finn and who didn't, wouldn't it be a fine thing if we, the faithful acolytes of Beelzebub, were brought up to date on a wager which depended on killer whales vs chimpanzees? Was that wager ever settled?

I love to imagine that Ken Z was obligated to pay out of pocket, for failing to listen to his lesser Angel.


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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2018 7:15 am 
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we had seven people tuesday night. i guess i happened to be sitting across from the only person in buzztimeland who actually knew this answer. our teammate rob once upon a time when borders was closing happened to have a few extra bucks in his pocket. he decided to use those bucks to get a bunch of cheap books that the store was trying to unload. among those books was a book of mark twain short stories that included something called tom sawyer abroad. bob, of course, read all of those books. then one day buzztime asks this question about some fictional character flying over africa in a hot air balloon. finally, sadly for the fellowship rob decided not to drive out to kent on tuesday, but to play closer to home and go to west park station instead. sorry anon it looks like we sent the wrong guy to help you out tuesday, but who knew?


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 Post subject: Re: 20th Annual McCarthy Cup: Rules, Signup, and Results
PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2018 7:49 am 
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King or Queen Postsalot
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IDJIT5500 wrote:
we had seven people tuesday night. i guess i happened to be sitting across from the only person in buzztimeland who actually knew this answer. our teammate rob once upon a time when borders was closing happened to have a few extra bucks in his pocket. he decided to use those bucks to get a bunch of cheap books that the store was trying to unload. among those books was a book of mark twain short stories that included something called tom sawyer abroad. bob, of course, read all of those books. then one day buzztime asks this question about some fictional character flying over africa in a hot air balloon. finally, sadly for the fellowship rob decided not to drive out to kent on tuesday, but to play closer to home and go to west park station instead. sorry anon it looks like we sent the wrong guy to help you out tuesday, but who knew?


No IDJIT, you guys earned it! And WONK did help in the pyramid round--otherwise, our score would probably have been even worse.

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