Ode to Spring City quizzers

Ever see one of those posts when peeps put down descriptions of their friends, and you have to guess who they are talking about? Let's put a twist to it. Tomorrow is my great secret sponser reveal. If it is anything like last year, the quizzer will have to sit in front of everyone and get showered with blessings. So I've combined them. The below paragraphs are each descriptions of quizzers. See if you can guess which quizzer I'm talking about.

I have so many memories of you, and not one is how you performed in quizzing. You may believe that because you didn't score a lot you weren't contributing to the team. Bull. You had a big job in carrying the spirit and morale of the team. When we were tense, you loosened things up. When you weren't there, the team was down and did poorly. We always needed you to cheer us up. And remember, there were many other rookies who scored the same as you, and some even less. Heck, I know some second year quizzers who have only scored 20 points! But you were always a good friend, and that's worth more than a million points. You were always fun to be around, and that may even just have been to bug you. You have no idea how much fun it is to watch you eat! :-) And it was weird how you always had some kind of fetish attraction to all my quizzing buddies...but nothing you ever did was suprising to me by the end of the year. In the beginning you were so quiet, and we thought we'd had to get it out of you. That was no problem by the end of the year. Because of your craziness, we discovered that there were new words in the text! I think half of the excitement and craziness this year was caused by you. Congrats, that definitely makes you a quizzer. (Bekah Gibson)

With the way you performed, I sometimes forgot you were a rookie! You scored over a 150 points, plus quizzed out 2 times in the regular season, and once in the Ohio Tournament! I still can't believe it. Sometimes you did have me worried when you started randomly bleeding, or needed to take tons of medication to get rid of a small headache or other sickness, but you always pulled through. I think that you could have possibly done better if you weren't so attached to your cell, or some older guy, and would've taken that time to practice. But you always contributed to team bonus, which was a big help. But your cowboy pictures were no help to me. Sorry. I really hope you can quiz again next year. If you did that well for your first year, I can't wait to see how you would do next year! I just have a bit of advice for you. First, make sure you don't get a few slight mistake, like saying "tax payers" instead of "tax collectors" or saying "sheep" instead of "pigs" (although you made those mistakes, it is still much less than some other quizzer on our team). Oh yeah, and change those ringtones. I was getting pretty sick of Kelly Clarkson and that other guy. Remember MiB II!! (Jai Bodor)

Good friends, good times. Even thinking about you makes me laugh. I don't know how many times I have done something just because you said "All the cool people are doing it." I can withstand any peer pressure...except you. This year you suprisingly made up even more stupid answers. And I can't remember the amount of times you answered "Temple Obligations" even though we told you so many times over that it was is in last year's material, not this year (cuz he's still preoccupied...in quizzing 2005). I'd have to say my most favorite memory of you this year was when you were taking so long in the E-Town bathroom, so Bruce and I decided to go in and pretend we were using it as well, and pretend to talk poorly about you, like you weren't there. I was just washing my hands, but Bruce went all-out flushing toliets, turning on water faucets and activating the hand drier. It was funny. You deserved it, no one spends over 20 minutes in the bathroom. Because of you, my new favorite activities is hot sauce shots and playing Risk. And you play the most convicing homo I've ever seen. LONG LIVE THE FLAMING AMISH! I knew you would do better this year, but not as well as to make in the Top 60. You were definitely a threat to my personal score and gave some fun in-team competition. That really helped me put me into place, and told me how much more to study. Hey, maybe next year we'll see you in the Top 50! Anyway, you performed your best, and you had fun doing away. And I think one day, you'll get a girl because you are a very likeable person. Indubitably. And everyone else concurs. (Mike Schwager)

You've been with me every step of my quizzing journey. You were on my team every year, even when we changed church teams. We been together through thick and thin, good times and bad times. This year was another year to add to the memories. In previous years, you scored no more than 40 points in a year. I told you that because this year we lost Brandon and Aubrey, you'd have to step up to be Spring City's 3rd best quizzer. You stepped up to the challenge and took it. Your performanced was outstanding. You scored over 150 points, probably more than your the points of every year combined. And you got your first quiz out, too. I have never felt so proud of you. I know the end of the year was a bit hard for you, but it was great to see you be happily socializing with them. I sometimes saw a side of you I didn't know of. And thouse walks around the parking lot were fun, even though sometimes it seemed I didn't want to do it. You gave us team bonus when we were in need of it, and when you gave it, we suceeded to win. Thanx for the help. The team really was glad you was there, and we really appreciated you. (" height="523" width="499">Christine Dragan)



Thank you guys for another great year. Every year is unique, and this year was an especially unique year. The memories are several, and I will never forget you individually and as a team. For being a wide spread of personalities, we somehow were able to get along. We worked and cooperated as a team inside and outside of matches. You guys were great.

Back from my venture

Well, I'm back from everything I said.

Spamalot was the bomb! It was incredibly hilariously. In some places it was funnier than the original movie. The first act was better than the second act. The second part was just like King Arthur said, "Imagine, in a thousand years, this will all be....still controversal." It's true. Sir Lancelot was gay, and at one time was called a fairy. In the end, he marries Prince Herbert. Sir Robin tells Arthur he couldn't survive to broadway because he has no Jews. In the end, we learn Patsy is a Jew, but that's something he didn't want to tell a heavily armed Christian. It was still funny. They did a good way of creating things to distract the audience they could do special effects like cutting off body parts. I see why it won the Tony for best oscar.

Social Issues trip sucked. I paid between 1 and 2 thousand dollars to go to the NYLC and it was worth every penny. A year at Dock costs around $10,500 and the Social Issues trip was uninformative and boring. I got less out of this. I realized some of my teachers lack understanding of directions and can be confused just as much as students. I would have liked to serve more and heard less from that guy. Heartburn killed me over the trip. And on top of that, I was there with classmates who I didn't want there. At least I have done all my homework and my papers for the trip. All I need to finish is the journal.

Gone another weekend

Ever since the beginning of the year, it seems like I can't stay put in one place for the weekend. Even excluding quizzing, March and April were pretty busy. This week is not an exception. On Saturday, I will be going to NYC to see the broadway hit SPAMALOT! Saturday will be exciting, but Sunday, Monday and Tuesday will not be. That will be the field trip for Social Issues class. We will have to leave at 5:40 AM Sunday morning to head down to Washington, D.C. in time to make church service. For the rest of the trip, I will be seeing the sights, working in soup kitchens, and experience the issues of social life in our nation's capital. Not the fun you'd think it would be, especially since this will be the second time there in 7 months. I have to do 5 assignments during the trip, each about a page long and a 3-page journal. Yuk. It figures to leave it to Dock to take the fun out of field trips.

Hey, quizzing friends! Miss you all greatly. Nothing important is happening the afternoon and evening of Saturday, May 13. Since quizzing has ended, I have been bored and lonley out of my crazy mind! So if you want to do anything me, no matter how fun, crazy, or stupid it is, just leave suggestions and I'll consider it.

Graham vs. Moss family

In the "Graham vs. Moss quizzers" series*:

Graham vs. Josh Moss
Graham wins series 1-0

Graham vs. Jake Moss
Graham leads(/wins?) series 1-0

Graham vs. Becky Moss
Graham leads series 1-0

* A series is defined as when Graham's team and the team of a Moss are faced together in a match. The winner of the series is the one who quizzes out first. In all cases, the winner is the only one who quizzed out, the loser unable to quiz out.

3 down, 1 Tim to go. Next year, just wait. He's going down, too. Then the only thing left to do is build a time machine, go back in time, and take down Debbie, too. :)

Report Card on 2006 Quizzing

Two days ago was my second Wednesday without practice. On Sunday will be my second Sunday without official quizmatchces. I am sooo booorrreeeddd. This is when the post quizzing depression begins to set in. You can only run so much on past memories. So to help relive those past memories, I'm gonna keep them alive by rating how we did during the quiz year. I will evaluate both my individual and the team's performance, then give it a grade.

Individual Performance

8 Week Season
Every year I have shown improvement. This year was no exception. This so far was my best year. The only really "bad" thing was not being perfect quizzer for a while or my "incident" (still not calling it by the real name!). In 18 matches, I had quizzed out 15 times. In the 3 matches I didn't quiz, I got 20 points. There were no matches where I scored 0 points or 10 points; either 35 or 20 points. All together, I scored 585 points. This is 75 points higher than the 510 scored last year, making this my recorded high score. I also performed this great feat: I quizzed out on question 3, all on buzzes. It was my first match of the year, too. There were 3 other incidents where I was close to doing it again, but I couldn't get in on question 3. I also was able to quiz out against 2 Mosses this year: Becky and Jake. I also like doing that. 3rd Moss I quizzed out before. You're next Tim...

Every year I set a goal to aim for personally. Sometimes the goal is broken down into parts. Last year's goal was 5 parts. This year's goal was 3 parts. They were:

• Be on the Top 50 Quizzers List every week
• Be a perfect quizzer for at least the first 3 weeks
• Beat my personal quizout record of 12 quizouts

I was able to stay on the Top 50 Quizzers List every week this year. The lowest ever was after week 1 at 34th place, ironically the place I finished in 2005. Every week I got higher. The highest was after week 6 when I reached 5th place with 5 other quizzers! After some turbulance at Hopewell Elverson, I dropped slightly. I finished with an average 32.5 point average, and placing in 12th place. I was unable to be a perfect quizzer for 3 weeks. Heck, I couldn't be a perfect quizzer for 1 week! Stupid "downfall." To break my quiz out record, I would need to get at least 13 quizouts. I quizzed out 15 times! I broke my record. Of the three parts of the goal, I completed the first and third, only the second I was unable. So according to the two-thirds rule, I completed my goal for the year.

I also was able to do something else. I was less worriful of how I would perform. It allowed me to relax more, both before and during matches. I was able to socialize more often in free time. I was able to eat and drink, something I couldn't do before. I conquered my fear of doing and poorly, and through that was able to performed better.

Grade on Season: A

ACC Tournament
We had six matches during the Tournament. I quizzed out 5 of the 6 matches. The only match I did not quiz out was against Byerland, one of the hardest teams. I was only able to score ten points, the lowest all year. But my quiz outs were good quiz outs. My answers were clear and precise. I errored little. I also tried to help encourage my team as best I could. At least one of my right questions was a buzz in, making it possible for our team to get team bonus. I tried my hardest to carry the team single handedly.

Grade on ACC Tournament: A

Invitational at Central Christian in Kidron, OH
I was able to quiz out every match. On that last match, I couldn't quiz out until question 13, a little later than I hoped. But they were a tough team. The correct questions were mostly buzz in with a few bonuses here and there. I did cause errors, but not too many to hinder us. I think I did good, and would have liked to see how I would have done if I had a few more matches.

Grade on Invitational: A

2006 INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANC GRADE: A

Team Performance

8 Week Season
We had a team of 5 quizzers. 2 of the 5 were rookies. 1 of them had quizzed for 7 years, but every year had scored no more than 40 points. I think coach Dave used the best phrase to describe how the team looked before the year start: "building year." They were no Brandon or Aubrey. To expect what we saw the previous year (6th place season, ACC Tournament Champs) would be expecting a lot. Just as the phrase "building year" suggests, we had to start over with our team and build up a good quiz team. We taught them the rules of quizzing and helped them study as we went along. We just hoped for the best. I told Christine and Mike that they had to both step up their game. Their role was now important because they had to lead the team. I had to take a slight step up to reach Brandon's level of performance, but Mike had to take a big step up to match my last year's performance, and Christine a HUGE step up. I set my mind to just accept whatever I got, which I had already planted in my mind to be very little.

So can you imagine how much of a surprise the first half of our season was. After our first 4 matches in 2 weeks, 3 of them we got team bonus and both Mike & I quizzed out. We won those 3 matches, scoring over 100 points: two matches 120 and one match 13o, the most we scored in any match, both season and tournaments. Our point average shot up to 100 point per match. That average moved Spring City up to 4th place, the highest I had ever been on a team. The next week stunned me even more. The next week continued to amaze me. We won the next 3 matches. The best one was our first. We won against Reading 2 105 to 25. We had 3 quizouts in one match: me, Mike and Jai! Jai continued to perform well as she quizzed out her second match ever in the same day! Pretty good for a rookie. Despite winning all 3 that week, our average dropped to 95 points per match. Still we remained in 4th place. We continued to win the next two matches. Halfway through the matches, we had an average of 94.4 with a win-loss record of 8-1. Magnificient for a "building team" to only have lost 1 of 9 matches.

Then we began to decline. It may have been the year getting harder as it progressed. It may have been being comfortable with previous wins, creating a feeling of invincibility. Maybe it was the lessen in practice (mainly self-practice). Maybe emotions effect quizzing. Whatever it was, our performance was as high as the first half of the year. We only got team bonus once. Only one time did we score over 100 points. In that match, it was three quiz outs: me, Mike and Christine (her first quizout!). Our average dropped and dropped. In the second half of the year, our win-loss record was 3-6. Not up to our first-half standards.

The year finished with a total of 18 matches. In those matches, we scored a total of 1520 points, finishing with an average of 84.4 points. Our final record was 11-7. We finished in 8th place in League A, 16th place of all quiz teams. Christine got the first quiz out of her career, and Jai got two quizouts in her rookie year. Sometimes we forgot that Jai was a rookie. Bekah did a good job for a rookie her age and picked up 2 bonuses, 20 points. Mike finished within the Top 60 Quizzers, and that was the first time the Top 60 were honored. For a building team, we built well and fast.

Team Grade on Season: B+

ACC Tournament
We started off with two losses. I still believe we shouldn't have lost to those two teams. They were the easiest teams we had all day. One of the teams only had three people as well! After two losses, we knew that we needed to win our next matches. We did, winning our next two. The next was against Byerland, and they blew us away. We won our last match of the day, making us 3-3. There were a lot of facotrs that could have changed our standing. Twice Goods 2 should have been fouled for talking during judge's decisions. Then we would've never gone into overtime and won the match. If we won, and everything else would've been the same, there would've been a three-way tie with Spring City, Goods 2, and Byerland for first place in our group with a 4-2 record.

But let's not consider the possible fouls, and look at it from controlling our own destiny. We still could have won. First we were down a quizzer who we really needed, but wasn't there because she believed she "wasn't a part of the team." Bull. She was a good encouragement, raised team spirits, and was there when we needed her. Team morale was down during the ACC tournament. And to get team bonus, everyone the team needs to get a correct buzz in. 2 of our 5 quizzers were not there for week 8 material, and when questions got to them, they were clueless, and there were a lot of week 8 questions. We only had 22 errors, and Mike caused half of them. He errored out twice. Jai was too caught up in her cell phone and Brad (ugh) to concentrate on quizzing. Too many questions heard and studied during practice and previous matches were still not known, learned or understood, and ended up being marked wrong. That should never happen. If we would have practiced a bit more, and learned from our mistakes, and possibly slowed down our buzzing, the playoffs would've been in reach. This is what led me to deter the grade on our team's performance for this tournament.

Team Grade on ACC Tournamnet: B-

Invitational at Central Christian in Kidron, OH
Compared to the local tournament, we did better. But it still wasn't up to par to what we performed in the season. But in a sense, the progression of the tournament was just like the season. We started out great, but every match after, the performance detered. Our first match we won 155-0. We scored in the triple digits, allowing zero points for the other team. We got 3 quiz outs, and Christine was one away from getting a fourth quiz out. That was the most we scored all year, plus the biggest point margin ever, too. Our next match was good, but not as good. I quizzed out and we got team bouns. That was the last time we got team bonus in Ohio. Just like the season, in the first half, team bonus was regular. The second half, we came close to team bonus, but no cigar. We won our next match, but only because after I quizzed out and Petra 2's best quizzer quizzed out, the match slowed down, Petra 2 errored too many times and lost points. We didn't pick up too many of those bonuses, but them losing points helped us. That was our last win. We lost against Neffsville by 5 points (something anyone could have gotten in on) despite Jai and I quizzing out. Then we lost again to a hard team, New Hope. Number 1 in their league, they were fast. They got team bonus quickly and we needed the same to win. Excuse for repeating myself, but no team bonus, no win. We were out. There were slight mistakes that could have been corrected, but most from last week were. Bekah was a great encouragement. Mike errored less and never errored out. The studying paid off and we did the best we could. Not as good as the season, but better than the PA tournament.

Team Grade on Invitational: B

2006 TEAM PERFORMANCE GRADE: B

Good job Spring City for another good year! Not only did we do what we could, but we had fun doing it. I hope we can do this again next year, and maybe perform even better!

You may now all be jealous

Well, now that quizzing is over, I got to figure out other ways to keep entertained. So last night I got a good one. Because of how well my mother was working, she earned 4 tickets to a Philadelphia Soul Game (Arena Football). But before that, we got to spend some time in the VIP lounge. There, I met some new friends-





Ron Jaworski
Retired Quarterback for Philadelphia Eagles
Commentator for ESPN and ETV (Eagles Television Network)
President of Philadelphia Soul




Jon Bon Jovi
Singer
Owner of Philadelphia Soul


Oh yeah, and there was some football game there. The kicker you see is Todd France. This is the guy who the Eagles picked up after David Akers got injured. If you don't remember him.... let's just say that is was better when Linebacker Mark Simoneau was kicking. He couldn't kick long. He did better in the arena bowl game, but he missed an important field goal. In the first quarter, they were winning 21-6, but then Austin (Theon other team) made a comeback, and the Soul lost 43-38. It was just like some other Philadelphia football game I watched live...