The Maryland Academic Quiz Team is ready for a rematch with their archrival, the University of Chicago, on Saturday.
The quiz team won its first national tournament at Washington University in St. Louis on April 12, defeating the University of Chicago after it won both national academic tournaments last year.
The team hopes for a repeat this weekend at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. The university’s team said winning both tournaments is not out of the question, since their rivals managed to do it last year.
“We already won a national title,” said Charles Meigs, a graduate student studying Arabic. “What do those guys have on us?”
The team prepared last night with more difficult questions than usual but said they don’t plan on cramming on Friday evening. Instead, they’ll be watching Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.
“It’s not about putting in the study time,” said Chris Ray, a sophomore history and government and politics major. “It’s about having the intellectual curiosity.”
The team agreed that everyone would prepare for the tournament in their own way.
Jonathan Magin, a senior English major, has a notebook scribbled with facts he’s collected. And Ray said he learned the geography of Antarctica by watching Alien vs. Predator numerous times.
“You don’t need people with good GPAs,” Ray said. “If you like learning things, it’s a good start.”
The team consists of four members with areas of expertise. There are two types of questions – toss-ups, where players buzz in, and bonuses that go to teams who answer the toss-up correctly.
The team considers itself more of a knowledge team rather than relying on the quickness of buzzing in.
“You don’t win by speed,” Magin said. “You win by knowledge. That’s how you win Quiz Bowl – by knowing things.”
This style of play will be more fitting for the team this weekend because the tournament on Saturday is more of an academic tournament, compared to other tournaments that focus on popular culture or other themes.
Team members said they are one of the more laid-back teams. But a lot of them enjoy the competitive side of the tournaments.
“You get some real characters when you’re playing Quiz Bowl,” Ray said. “There’s a whole range of attitudes.”
The team talked trash about the best player on the University of Chicago’s team, calling him their “evil archvillian.” And the captain of Brown University, they said, has a fiery temper. Meigs said it’s nerve-racking to play across from the Brown University team because one player has a tendency to throw things when he gets angry.
This university’s team attends about 12 events a year, competing in tournaments around the country at Stanford University, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Chicago and Brandeis University.
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