Whew. The first annual Moon Pie Classic is now history, and in a few minutes so am I, so here are quick results and lots of thank-yous. Full stats will follow when I recover. Despite several last-minute cancellations, we had an outstanding field of 18 teams (7 in Division I and 11 in Division 2.) This made for an odd schedule, which was actually printed when we thought we had 8 and 12 and had somehow made a fair and equitable schedule out of that. Division I was a single bracket, while Division II wasdivided into 2 brackets. In the eleven-round round robin portion, each team played all others in their bracket plus a certain number of randomly drawn matches against teams from the other brackets. After the round robin, here's how we stood. Won-loss totals will not match because those scheduled to play the last two cancelling teams were credited with wins. DIVISION I NUMBERS BRACKET Georgia Tech I 10-0 Kentucky Good Old Disintegrated Head 9-1 Virginia Tech Charlatans 7-3 Georgia State 7-3 Washington U. (St. Louis) 7-3 Tennessee Tech Cookevillians 4-6 Oglethorpe 3-7 DIVISION II BADMINTON BRACKET Illinois Northern Aggressors 9-1 Furman 6-3 Georgia Tech II 5-5 Denison (the team formerly known as) 5-5 MTSU Instruments of Indignation Again 5-5 UTC 5-5 DIVISION II TENNIS BRACKET Michigan 6-4 Lee U. 5-5 Alabama Alex Chiu Liberation Front 4-6 Palm Beach C.C. 2-8 MTSU Prometheans 2-8 PLAYOFFS: It was predetermined that if any team in Division I ran the table in the round robin, they would win the tournament outright. By virtue of a close win in Round 10, Georgia Tech won Division I, while Kentucky finished second. We held a plyoff between the three teams tied at 7-3; Washington U. emerged to win the 3rd place trophy. In Division II semifinals, Furman defeated Michigan and Illinois defeated Lee. In Division II finals, Furman defeated Illinois 180-140 to win the division; Michigan defeated Lee to take 3rd. ALL-STARS: Discovery of a scoresheet error which affected the All-Stars after they'd been announced led us to name six All-Stars in Division I: MVP Dennis Loo, Virginia Tech John Carlson, Tennessee Tech Roger Bhan, Washington U. Kevin Crawford, Georgia Tech I Kelly McKenzie, Kentucky Al Przygocki, Georgia State Division II All-Stars were: MVP Ian Jeffress, Furman Chris, Illinois Noel Erinjeri, Michigan Mike Angel, Illinois Kristin Hamlin, Denison MOMENT OF HISTORY?: During the playoffs, we ran consolation rounds for those teams who stuck around. One of those matches featured UTC vs. Denison with Gail Celio moderating. We are now curious as to whether any other invitational has had a match where all players and the moderator were women. CHARLIE'S SIDE COMMENTS: This time we finished behind schedule, but within an hour of the original estimate. That I can live with. There were a few repeats that slipped by me, mostly in those packets edited any time after 2 AM in the editing cycle. Upon further review, the degree of difficulty also varied with the hour of the editing; we'll keep working at it. For my taste, with the exception of a couple of those late-night rounds, the tossups were at about the right degree of difficulty and the bonuses were a bit too hard -- but then I always say that upon further review, don't I? In any event, everyone seemed to have a good time and we think we'll try this again next year. GRATITUDE DEPARTMENT: As with any tournament, it took a lot of people to make it happen. Special thanks go to: * Everyone who came and played or coached for their patience, cooperation, and cheerful attitude. All joking aside, this was a wonderful atmosphere in which to run a tournament. * Chattanooga Bakery, for permission to use the name Moon Pie (a registered trademark, as you know) and for graciously supplying prizes of sweet creamy goodness that were easy to throw all the way to the folks in the back row of 129 Grote Hall. * An outstanding collection of house readers: Dave Leach, Scott Gillispie, September Young, Jason Russell, Scott Sanders, James Washick, Gail Celio, Brad Bennett, and (live from Mt. Olympus) the estimable Albert Whited. * Stats goddess Dorothy (Selcer) Morisch, a second-generation quizbowl crew member who mastered Stats 99 in record time. * Shawn Pickrell, who supplied a blind round that (since two teams who'd submitted rounds later cancelled) we can save for future use, say COTKU the first weekend in October. * UTC's own Toni Van Winkle and Alysia Vrailas, who provided invaluable help with registration and logistics, not to mention getting a head start to get us that table at Provino's. * The redoubtable Ben Lea assistant TD and trusty sidekick, who not only supplied the finals round and drove 500 miles each way just to read, but also told me when to shut up and get on with it. GRATITUDE REWARDED: Just to reinforce the desirability of future invitations, let it be duly noted: * That Shawn will receive a set of the questions for his effort * That the readers were (as always under UTC's "you read, we feed" policy) treated to dinner at Provino's. Even now the last vestiges of the rosatella sauce linger on my palate. Best of all, the management at Provino's now recognizes us. * That for service above and beyond the call of duty, Ben got to keep the remaining Moon Pies. Can we bribe or what? ===================================================================== Charlie Steinhice "Come, come! Why, they couldn't Chattanooga, TN hit an elephant at this dist..." (center of the known universe) -- Gen. John Sedgwick =====================================================================