Now that the VA's girls basketball season calendar is released, Audrey checks it against the quiz bowl calendar. It seems like there is only one basketball game this season that could conflict with quiz bowl, but it's only a few weeks away, and against the Peabody Lady Warhorses in a traveling tournament.
The following morning, Audrey emails Warren not to ask for help about the group project, but for something else altogether. It's about quiz bowl conflicting with basketball. Which also makes Audrey email Kent, the basketball coach, about it.
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Dear Kent,
I notify you that I have a scheduling conflict between the basketball game against the Peabody Lady Warhorses and the LQBA Fall Invitational South on November 17. I'm afraid I won't be able to get to Peabody in time for the game from LQBA Fall Invitational South at Archbishop Rummel.
Please advise on any measures that should be taken and which one I should attend.
Audrey
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Upon receipt of the email, Warren responds that, while he can afford to lose Audrey, the A-team's special topics player, for a tournament, she's on the hook to find a replacement player for the B-team if so she wishes. Because the B-team's special topics player will move up to the A-team for it. This is the second time since there is even a quiz bowl team here where I need to call in reinforcements for reasons other than a player quitting the team, Warren starts to feel like it's the 2024 LQBA Winter Invitational South all over again, where he needed a history/social studies replacement player for it because Sadie was playing at an inter-state debate tournament on that week.
Oh boy. I'm not sure who I should ask, much less who will my teammates ask. The big barrier to overcome to get anyone to play quiz bowl is the game's reputation for intense intellectual requirements. However, for us, a special topics player is simply a player who either does not seem to have a specific strength or whose strength lies outside of the core topics. This means I don't need to worry about what they're good at, Audrey ponders who will respond, while posting on her social media accounts about the VAs asking for help for the LQBA Fall Invitational South. The question is: who could possibly want to play quiz bowl who isn't already on two teams subject to the Rule of Two? I guess Pablo is my choice of last resort and that I will ask him only if my quiz bowl teammates fail to get anyone to play.
During quiz bowl practice, Audrey begins by looking at the responses on her social media accounts. At this point, there seems to be no takers to play at LQBA Fall Invitational South. However, she knows her teammates are busy with their own lives at school and they don't seem to think about quiz bowl affairs during school hours. This announcement is like dropping a hammer on them:
"OK, guys, I understand you were busy during school hours, but not only, until late January, I won't be able to be there at quiz bowl practices as often as I did, but for the LQBA Fall Invitational South, I won't be able to play at all!" Audrey announces to her quiz bowl teammates.
"Audrey, did you already try asking your friends before telling that to us?" Myriam, the quiz bowl team captain, asks, while she is busy placing a bet on a horse race in her mother's name.
"There just isn't a whole lot of people who could be willing to burn one of their two Rule of Two allowances for just one tournament!" Scott, another A-team member, tells her about the other major obstacle to get new players to play mid-season.
"That said, better tell us now!" Warren intervenes in this quarrel, while they think long and hard about possible reinforcements.
Tyler does band and FFA, so he can't play. My basketball teammates might have a smart friend or two, but I got no response from these people. Natalie? I guess, I can always try to ask her via texting... Audrey's thoughts turn to who she could ask, not expecting much from anyone. My basketball teammates are of no help because that basketball game is what will make me miss this tournament! "Are you free to join the quiz bowl team until LQBA Fall Invitational South? It does not engage you to anything afterward" she texts Natalie, her face turning red with despair, while her quiz bowl teammates get told no pretty rapidly.
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Can't Stop the Questions
RomancePablo, a sophomore playing tight end for Venomous Agendas High, plays the best football game of his life, but as the season comes to a close, his coaches tell him he can't rely on football to go to college, forcing him to buckle down on academics fo...
