The Ohio Quizbowl Forum

An "open letter" was penned detailing criticisms, some just and others unjust, about the OAC format, its committee, and its rules of play.

While OAC in 2011 was imperfect, it has only improved since then. The letter written casted doubt as to whether or not the OAC would ever improve. The thesis was "no", and that good teams would avoid playing OAC altogether.

Among the complaints were the difficulty in finding consistent, high-quality writing for the regional and state tournament; the belief that OAC was effectively a format "good" teams wanted to avoid and one in which younger members of the community would refuse staffing and trying to improve. There are many other complaints that either never came to fruition, or which ended up being eradicated through rules changes.

There were also some complaints then that still apply today. The most notable is the cost of the tournament, but if the Ike Jose Rule can be rid of and high-quality pyramidal writing can be sustained, then I'm sure anything is possible.

It is intriguing to look back, and to see how far both OAC and the community have came since then. I for one believe that it is worth recognizing how far the format and event has come, from what was a 'bad' quiz bowl event to a high-quality state tournament operating on many good quiz bowl practices. Imperfect, yes - but with a committee always looking to improve and better themselves, it's safe to say the prognostications back then were wrong about today.

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Thomas Moore
William V. Fisher Catholic '14
Ohio Wesleyan '18

I'm not going to attack Jacob or anything over what he wrote six years ago. I've always had a good relationship with him and even when this popped up, I agreed with some of his points and disagreed with others. I think some of his points were valid, some were kind of petty.

That said, a lot of the criticisms he had about OAC and the committee have been corrected over the past several years. I think the people who are in place truly care about the competition and making it better in Ohio. The format will always have its weird quirks, but I think great strides have been made to make it better for sure.

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Bob Kilner
Chief Admin, ohioqbforum.com
Former Coach, Garfield Heights HS (2001-2008)
Coach, North High School (2015-)
Kent State '06 / Boise State '10

I feel we are trending in the right direction.

A few things mentioned have crossed my mind at one point.

*I would like regionals to be more rounds for teams. I just can't find a way less than 10 to 12 rounds. Cost and time are big factors. I'm still brainstorming.
*I think the alphabet round would be less criticized and more challenging if there wasn't a single letter per round. I guess we would have to rename it then.

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Joshua Eck
Coach, Copley High School
OAC Executive Committee NE Region
Website: https://sites.google.com/copley-fairlaw ... zbowl/home