The 1st annual Center of the Known Universe Open was held in
Chattanooga at UTC on Sat., Oct. 3.  An outstanding field of 18 teams
from universities participated.  The tournament was split into a
two-pool round robin, with the top two teams from each bracket advancing
to a playoff round where you had to both win the match and have a better
record (as determined by number of losses in case one team had played
more matches) to advance.  That provision, designed to prevent the teams
with the best record from being bumped off by one ill-timed loss, proved
critical to the outcome of the tournament.  After the round robin here's
where we stood:

BADMINTON BRACKET
Virginia Tech 8-0
Georgia Tech I 7-1
Vanderbilt Beta Wolf 5-3
Tennessee Tech 4-4
Vanderbilt Omega Wolf 3-5
Lee U. 3-5
Tennessee I 2-6
Georgia 2-6
UTC Gold 2 6

TENNIS BRACKET
Kentucky 8-0
South Carolina 7-1
Vanderbilt Alpha Wolf 6-2
Georgia State 5-3
Georgia Tech II 3-5
UTC Blue 3-5
Roanoke 3-5
Tennessee II 2-6
UTC Off-White 0-8

PLAYOFFS:
Semifinal I: Virginia Tech defeated South Carolina 270-150 to advance to
the finals.
Semifinal II: Georgia Tech I defeated Kentucky 180-150 ; in the
tiebreaker match, Kentucky defeated Georgia Tech I 455-50 to advance to
the finals.  (By virtue of the extra win, Georgia Tech took home the
third place trophy.)
Finals: Kentucky defeated Virginia Tech 245-180; in the tiebreaker,
Virginia Tech defeated Kentucky 300-215 to claim the hard-earned
championship.

INDIVIDUAL HONORS:
The top individual scorers were (by avg. adjusted PPG):
T.C. Ford, South Carolina       77.5
Steve Schroeder, Vandy Omega Wolf     76.88
Seth Kendall, Kentucky    57.5
Kelly McKenzie, Kentucy  48.75
Elliot Brenner, Virginia Tech 48.75
(Missing the All-Stars by a whisker was Matt Schneller, Vandy Alpha
Wolf, at 48.13.)

Also, because with such an early date we had a substantial number of
players who were playing in their first intercollegiate tournament, we
announced an All-Rookie team for the highest scorers among novices:
Roger Craig, Virginia Tech
Jacent, Georgia Tech II
Jason Morgan, UTC Gold
Katie Evans, Tennessee II
(tie) Brent Weinberg and Peter Edmiston, both Tennessee II

SPECIAL THANKS: Four readers came to town just to read and hang out:
Albert Whited, Scotti Whitmire, Markus Iturriaga, and Jason Russell.  We
were fortunate in that the blind rounds used for the semifinals and
semifinals tiebreaker were written by two of the nation's premier
ACF-style question writers, Robert Trent and Ben Lea.
    For future reference, UTC is compensating the above folks in a
fashion we hope will become a tradition: we took our readers to dinner,
and our packet providers will receive their favorite items
(respectively, Vidalia Onion and Peach Salsa and some fruit spreads to
be named later) from my in-laws at Wheeler's Orchard in Dunlap, TN.  I
mention this both in hopes that other tournaments will offer similarly
cool bribes, and to plant the seeds for getting more readers and rounds
in the future.
    Thanks are also in order for the members of the UTC Academic Trivia
Association.  Of the 12 members who assisted me in putting this
tournament together, 8 had never been to an intercollegiate tournament
before, but they proved to be quick studies and made this tournament
possible.
    And as near as we can tell, a good time was had by all.

SHAMELESS PLUG: We'll also be hosting TrashMasters the 1st weekend in
December, and that's open to all comers.  Look once again for not only
great trash questions, but also the finest awards ceremony on the
circuit and another interlude of K-Tel Hell.

QUESTION PACKETS: We're offering 13 rounds of questions for sale, either
in hard copy or via e-mail attachment, for $15 per set.  Trades for
practice questions not generally available, or better yet high school
questions we can use in our Nov. 6-7 tournament, are welcomed.  Note:
Because of question sharing involving a tournament this coming weekend,
questions will not be sent out until after Oct. 15.
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Charlie Steinhice  "Come, come!  Why, they couldn't
Chattanooga, TN      hit an elephant at this dist..."
(center of the known universe)    -- Gen. John Sedgwick
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