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The Burning Question

12/8/2016

8 Comments

 
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​It happened a few years ago, but I still get triggered every time I think about it. 

I am coaching a team comprised mostly of first-year quizzers at an out-of-state mid-season invitational tournament. It has been thrilling for them to travel and meet other Christian teens from across the nation who share a passion for studying God’s Word. And despite our inexperience, we’re not embarrassing ourselves too often. Sure, we lost one game 350-10, but at least we didn’t go negative! In fact, that game was a real eye-opener of what we could accomplish with more experience and commitment to studying God’s Word! Later in the tournament we were put in a division of similar talent and we actually began to win a few games. 
​
But then we played the team from Sassafras (that’s not their real name) who was leading our division at the tournament. Things aren’t looking good. We’re down 110-170 after question #18. I’m already looking at the schedule to see which room we go to next. We’re playing Kentucky? Cool, that’ll be fun.
​Having more faith than me – or maybe because they did the math – the crowd is cheering and encouraging our team to stay focused. “You can do it!” they shout. And sure enough, our top quizzer pounces on Question 19 to quiz out without an error for 30 points. Now we’re only down 140-170! If Bocephus (not his real name) or Donatella (not her real name, either) can get Question 20, that’ll be a 3rd-quizzer bonus for us and we could tie the game!

And then I hear it. “You know what to do” the opposing coach says to their team. At the time I remember thinking (quite snarky, I might add), “Of course they know what to do. Jump first and get it right.” That’s the same gold star coaching advice I give my quizzers. But less than a minute later, I would fully comprehend another way to interpret those words. The game was already over. We just didn’t know it.

The Quizmaster politely begins the preamble to the last question to quiet the crowd. “Question number 20 is a General question.” The crowd is silent and tense with anticipation. The Quizmaster continues. “Question number 20 coming. Question: Wh-“. 

And that’s it. That all she says. “Wh…” A quizzer on the Sassafras team was standing before the beep had a chance to finish chirping. With a smile on his face he says “I have no idea” and sits down. Game over. We get the bonus but lose 150-160. 

Essentially, for the low, low price of 1 Error the winning team took advantage of a quirk in the rules and played to win essentially a 19-question game while everyone else was expecting 20 questions. They denied the opposing team a fair shot to tie or win the game. It’s called burning a question. Is it strategic? Yes. Does it show good sportsmanship? Doubtful. Is it Christ-like behavior? Definitely not, in my opinion.

​​Think of it this way: It is like the leading team in a football game being able to commit a penalty that causes the remaining 3 minutes to run off the game clock.
​What is a valid strategy, in contrast, is doing what is known as “sending” a quizzer. Sending a quizzer is when the coach instructs the team – or a particular quizzer – to jump much earlier during the reading of a question than they typically would. Some coaches even instruct the quizzer to jump on the 3rd word of the next question and see if they can get it right. There are several tactical goals that can be accomplished by employing such a strategy:
It is like the leading team in a football game being able to commit a penalty that causes the remaining 3 minutes to run off the game clock.
  1. To push the opposing team to jump earlier (and possibly make errors) on subsequent questions. This is particularly effective when used at the beginning of a game against an experienced team.
  2. To disrupt the rhythm of the opposing team when your team is trailing.
  3. To show your own team that they really can finish and answer questions with very little information. This builds their confidence and improves their competitiveness.
​In short, the key distinction between “sending a quizzer” and “burning a question” is that the question was intended to be answered by the quizzer who jumps.
​Now fast forward a year. I’m coaching essentially the same team at a regional tournament. We earned a spot in the B-level double-elimination bracketed tournament and advanced undefeated to the championship game. Halfway through the game it is apparent the two teams are evenly matched. But even if we lose the game, we get a rematch. So I’m not too stressed out at this point.
The key distinction between “sending a quizzer” and “burning a question” is that the question was intended to be answered by the quizzer who jumps.
At Question 19, one of the opposing quizzers quizzes out, leaving an empty seat opposite Bocephus (not his real name). We are leading 130-110. As the quizzers get in to position for the last question, Bocephus catches my attention. He is staring at me. The intensity of his gaze is burning a hole through my skull. Our eyes meet. He’s giving me that “I’ve got this” look of confidence on his face. I give him a fist pump and an approving nod for his grit and determination. “You’re right! We can do this!” I am trying to say.

The Quizmaster politely begins the preamble to the last question to quiet the crowd. “Question number 20 is a General question.” The crowd is silent and tense with anticipation. The Quizmaster continues. “Question number 20 coming. Question: Wh-“.

And that’s it. That all he says. “Wh…” Bocephus was standing before the beep had a chance to finish chirping. With a smile on his face he says “I have no idea” and sits down. There is no one on the other team to get the Bonus. Game over. We win 120-110.

And I feel dirty. Embarrassed. Ashamed. It was painfully obvious to everyone what just happened. Yet, it was perfectly legal. Enough of the question was read to differentiate it from another question, so the Quizmaster couldn’t simply call a foul and start over.

I understand that the crucible of competition sometimes causes raw emotions and attitudes to bubble to the surface. So what better place for that to happen than during a Teen Bible Quizzing match? You are surrounded by a great cloud of believers who are more likely to recognize and provide gentle council for a possible breach of ethical behavior. What I preach to my team is that when faced with a morally-ambivalent dilemma in quizzing, recognize that you have an awesome opportunity to sharpen your Christian witness. Thus, we don’t challenge a ruling when a victory is already a statistical certainty and we don’t burn a question to steal a win.
​
My advice? I’d rather lose a fair fight than win a rigged one. Until there is a rule against obvious burning of questions, play the game as it is intended. Practice good sportsmanship. Accept it as a challenge and compete legitimately. It will strengthen your character and earn you respect.
8 Comments
Karl Tabor
7/17/2017 09:37:37 am

This is a very interesting topic. Over the years, I have heard thoughts from both sides of the issue. When I first started quizzing, my own local team considered this to just be a part of the game. Instead of burning, we referred to it as "suicide" or even "kamikaze". And this was even before the rule change giving +10 points for 3rd, 4th & 5th quizzer bonus. THAT rule change was significant, and probably adds to the temptation to burn. Once in my early coaching years - my team was shifted (unfairly, I thought) to a harder place in a bracket - and I had my quizzers burn the MV's, because we didn't know any of them and the other team had a quizzer who knew them all. Uh... we still lost by 100.
My philosophy shifted in the early 90's when I had a group of quizzers on my district who were very sensitive about it, thinking it wasn't "right". And more broadly, it seemed like others in the Bible Quiz ministry were thinking the same way more and more - though we still had other teams do it to us on occasion, apparently without qualm. I'm starting a second round now as a District Director, and though our team appeared to be quite over-matched going into our Field event, I told our quizzers not to burn questions (as others had been advising them). They didn't, we got clobbered every round, but I'm still proud of them.
I can really see both sides. I don't see it as a "penalty" (as you describe - for a football game). Isn't it more like an interception or fumble recovery? Stealing a base? Or - like a steal in basketball? Maybe most like an intentional foul? Is it ethical for a (Christian) basketball player to foul an opponent before they can attempt a 3-point shot? If so - then why not a quizzer in the same position? And - it's tough to lose a quiz to a string of 30-point questions when you've worked so hard and quizzed so well to take a big lead.
So - overall, I still think it's best not to do it, but I'm sympathetic to those who see it otherwise.
I don't think we can ever fairly penalize quizzers for an intentional burn - it will require quiz officials to discern and judge a quizzer's intent, not just their action. I don't think we can do this, and trying it could harm the impartiality required for officials - or at least the apparent impartiality. It's a tricky thing.
I think we have to resolve that, as great a ministry as it is and can be - Bible Quizzing is not perfect. It IS great. But it can include some tough life lessons. Well... maybe it's better that way than without them.

Reply
David
7/17/2017 10:58:27 am

Thanks for your reply, Karl! It is always good to see an issue such as this from all sides. In fact, when writing this article I considered some of the exact sports analogies you mentioned!

I agree that coming up with some sort of "intentional foul" criteria is fraught with concern. This post was my "persuasive argument" to change the attitude surrounding this practice. Hopefully, it got people to think about it and - like you said - "think it's best not to do it."

Reply
Tabitha
9/25/2017 05:42:37 pm

As a former quizzer, I truthfully hated the idea of burning a question. Now. Did I jump early in the hopes of getting it right, but knowing that I probably wouldn't? Yes. Did I intentionally jump on memory verse questions waaay to early so as to steal it from the other team and with the knowledge that the person who would get the bonus wouldn't get it right? Absolutely. But I always encouraged my team to quiz ethically. For to a point quizzing isn't about the competition, it's about knowing God's word like the back of your hand. It's about having His instructions words hidden in your heart. And so to me jumping on "wh" to intentionally steal a win doesn't test your knowledge of the Bible but rather shows your ability to care more about winning than anything else.
My eventual goal is to someday coach. In which I wholeheartedly agree with this article and will definitely integrate it into my future coaching philosophy. Thank you for writing this :)

Reply
David
10/2/2017 04:20:51 pm

Exactly! I couldn't have said this better myself.

Reply
Karl Tabor
10/2/2017 10:08:56 pm

Are we talking out of both sides of our mouths though? Saying we don't think it's right... but saying that we do it, only we don't really want to call it that? Not saying this accusingly - at least not entirely. But it really puts us in a quandary. We all want to be as Christ-like as we can be, which is wonderful! We also want to win, which is natural, and not necessarily bad. So the way our scoring rules work puts us in a really difficult situation.

Reply
Elizabeth
3/28/2018 12:15:57 pm

I had the wonderful opportunity of quizzing for 6 years, on just about every level. I always disliked burning questions, because it seemed to steal the joy of winning the game away. To me, it robbed the other team of an opportunity, and robbed my own team of the opportunity to try as well. I know its hard to lose a game like that, but as long as you still jump pretty early, that risk is minimized.
As a quizzer, I would always encourage risky jumping at the end, but not to steal the question away. It gets a little harder with higher levels- like when you're typically jumping around the 2nd or 3rd word anyway. In those cases, jumping on the first word on Question 20 is a little more understandable- you're really only jumping a word earlier than normal. But otherwise, totally agree with the spirit behind this post!

Reply
Kale
6/25/2018 07:51:21 pm

I've always hated it when people intentionally burned a question for the reasons the author noted. We did not allow our teams to do it; if we were going to win, we were going to do it with class and sportsmanship. If we lost, well, the sun has continued to rise every morning after we've lost a big quiz. And every trophy that any team has ever won (in ANY form of competition!) is gathering dust somewhere, so trading character for a piece of plastic is a pretty lousy deal.

As an official, I agree that it is nearly impossible to discern the intent of a quizzer, but in the examples the author used, there was no doubt about what was going on. While I rarely see it happen (fortunately), if it is this blatantly obvious my approach is to call a foul on the individual, replace the question, and pick up where we left off. If the pattern continues, the fouls will eventually result in a loss of points to the offending team.

My basis for doing what I can to prevent this type of behavior? In the "Bible Quizzing Ministry Code" portion of the official rule book, page 5, section ii.2 states:

"Rules alone can never prevent unfair tactics or unsportsmanlike attitudes. However, these rules are necessary in order for the competition aspect of BQM to be clear and consistent. It is the duty of every individual associated with BQM to uphold the integrity and intent of these rules and guidelines. Any attempt to gain an advantage by circumvention, disregard, or manipulation of these rules is unethical and detrimental to the mission and purpose of BQM. The pursuit of competitive success must never dominate the commitment to exhibit a Christ-like example."

Reply
David
6/26/2018 08:38:25 am

Excellent insight, Kale! I never thought to apply that rule in the BQ Ministry Code to this practice. I may do so on my local district next season!

Reply



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