I'm happy to report that the 2004 College Bowl regional tournament for Region 1 (New England) is in the books. I'm especially happy given that it was up to me to serve as tournament director.

(A quick digression on College Bowl for those of you not part of the cult.)

College Bowl, or CBI, or the College Bowl Company, is what most people think of when you first mention college bowl (either when referring to it or speaking more generally about quiz-type competition). Between the GE sponsored series in the '50s and '60 and various TV revivals and the like, it's kept itself in the public mindset to some degree. The questions are short, the games are timed, and the subject matter is most like what you'd see on Jeopardy! and the like, if just a touch more academic.

Ironically, the people who play a lot of quiz bowl don't often like College Bowl specifically because of that. These folks prefer longer questions, untimed games, and a more rigorously academic - specifically liberal arts and sciences - question base. I won't go into more detail here, as the people who know it are probably sick of it, and those of you who don't know are likely better off not knowing. The curious can email me for further info.

In any event, I've always liked College Bowl because I like the challenge of timed play and appreciate the combination of quick recall with knowledge. So when the former tournament director asked if I'd take over for him, I was a little unsure but eventually caved.

And while I've run a number of tournaments, this one is very different. It requires a lot more preparation, a huge number of staff, and a lot of the details that just don't get attention at the average tournament. It made me a little nervous, to be honest.

But as it turned out, I was bailed out by the staff. They're the key piece of the puzzle, the public face of the tournament, and we're lucky to have a solid core of veterans up here. I also had phenominal help by the host school, Providence College, and my host director Sharon Hay, who runs the student center. I think the average person doesn't consider that there are people who work full time doing things like overseeing residence halls or managing campus centers. And if that's the case, they certainly don't consider the hours involved, especially those outside of 9 to 5. Keep that in mind the next time you come across someone who works as staff at a college.

There were a couple of fun moments. The first was finding out that Shawn DeVeau and his wife stayed at the same hotel in Providence as me and my wife last night. They'd gone to a concert and stayed in the area rather than drive back and forth. So we all got to experience the Radisson, aka the Brownwater Inn. Turns out a water leak and the resultant fire department response led to a lot of sediment in the water. It's harmless, just not very pleasant to look at.

The other entertaining moment was when I saw that last year's tournament director, who was back to help out, was dressed pretty much identically to me. Neither of us are exactly slim, either. I'm sure there are some confused people out there wondering who the brothers were.

There were many other funny moments, all of which I missed as I sat in the tournament room hunched over a laptop. I know, cry me a river.