Take your pick:
You have the first pick in the Bible Quiz draft. Abby Carbonell or Aaron Wells?
Seth:
Wow, imagine them on a two person team! Abby and Aaron each have incredible jumping speed, confidence, and plenty more shots in the National Finals. Let’s face it, both of these quizzers can produce. In high stress situations, Abby and Aaron “see the need” so to speak, and win, time and time again. That’s why they are so good. Aaron’s memorizing capabilities is what broke the tie in my vote. A huge knowledge base is something that you need on a team, and I suspect that Abby has or will have the text memorized this year, but not as quickly as Aaron. I would take Aaron first, but either one would be an amazing addition to any team.
This Round: 7, Total: 7
Jeremy:
Abby or Aaron…what almost any coach would give to have this choice. Both of them are incredibly book smart and both are incredible quizzers. I think the deciding factor would be who does better under pressure, and who is the one who can step up to the plate when everything is going wrong and eek out a middle win? Which one can get the ugly win to stay away from the loss and get their team regrouped and back on track? Which one can drag their team along with them? Which one is tougher mentally? I haven’t seen either of them extensively in the types of situations where mental toughness is shown. From my limited looks at the two I can remember times with both didn’t get it done, and can remember where they did. It is a ridiculously hard choice, but I’m going to have to give the nod to Abby.
This Round: 7, Total: 7
Ron:
Seth, I think you’re right but for the wrong reason. The knowledge base edge, as you call it, has to go to Abby. She’s going into 11th grade, made over a 1500 on the SAT, is taking college classes, and gets lots of early quizzing in the FQA. I’m not as sure about Aaron’s academic credentials, but I do know that his team doesn’t get the same level of early-season quizzing out there in Kentucky. Jeremy, you have a good point but the wrong answer. The mental toughness edge is again in Abby’s favor. She’s been to the big show more than Aaron has and has a national championship to boot. However, if you’re picking a team today, you’ve got to take Aaron with the first pick. The reason: motivation. First, Aaron has an intense sibling rivalry that Abby no longer has. Second, when it comes down to it, the desire to win the first national championship is going to trump the desire to repeat. Those few nights when Aaron is going to spend a couple extra minutes studying are going to make him a slightly better quizzer than Abby this year.
This Round: 9, Total: 9
Take your pick:
Easier book to quiz over – Matthew or I & II Corinthians?
Jeremy:
Without a doubt it would have to be the book of Matthew. Quizzing over the gospels is much more difficult than the Epistles. In the Epistles almost every verse is unique. Very rarely do more than 1 or 2 verses in the passage start with the same 3+ words. In the Gospels you could have 15 or 20 verses that all begin with “Then Jesus answered…” While the fact that the Gospel is a narrative makes it easier for some people to memorize I found the gospels just as easy to memorize and easier to quiz over because more of the passage is distinct. I also loved the fact that the Pauline Epistles were very easy to make applicable. If it were up to me I’d quiz over the Corinthians instead of Matthew any day of the week!
This Round: 9, Total: 16
Ron Zyhaus:
Because I’ve never actually done any quizzing, I decided to make up for my inherent disadvantage on this question by doing a little research. I & II Corinthians have 694 verses total. Matthew has 1071. And if my math’s correct, that’s a difference of 377 verses. Now, just as Jeremy said, I’ve heard some say that it’s easier to memorize the Gospels than epistles because of the story format instead of more doctrine type stuff, but I don’t think that that factors in nearly as much as sheer number of verses. I’d have an easier time memorizing Corinthians for sure, but if there’s ever a III Corinthians added, then maybe the Matthew people would have a better case.
This Round: 8, Total: 17
Seth Philips:
Speaking for myself, I think that Matthew is an easier book to study than either of the Corinthian Letters were. I’ve found that to study/read/memorize a story is much simpler than memorizing doctrine. That, of course, is just my own preference, whereas others that I know did much better in the doctrinal books. It just depends on the person, and the team.
This Round: 7, Total: 14
The Finals–Take Your Pick
The first BibleQuizzer.net team rankings come out today. Is it better to go ahead and come out with rankings now or should we wait until after at least one of the big 4 tournaments has occurred?
Jeremy:
I would put them out now. While there isn’t really much pertinent information to base the rankings on, it gives the message board dwellers something controversial to throw around. The initial rankings have to be taken with a grain of salt, understanding that these are going to be predictions rather than rankings. They will be based largely on history, insider information, and personal bias (even more so than the typical rankings!). The top 2 teams in the country seemed to have surfaced already but there is going to be a lot of shakeup in the Bible quizzing world. Where will Old Paths and Woodside end up having lost their captains? Will this be the year of the experienced girls? (Felicia, Abby, Grace, Maria) Or will the sibling duo from down south throw a wrench in those plans? What other ‘sleeper’ teams are out there? Perhaps these rankings will be the extra dap that encourages a team to keep going…or maybe it will be a ‘dis’ that serves as an extra form of motivation. So I say Bring on the Rankings!
Ron:
Now all you viewers out there think that Jeremy gave some really good information and that I’ve just been stuck in a corner and have to say that we need to wait until after NYC before we can fairly rank the teams. Sorry, but the real answer is that the rankings should be out EARLIER. The message board dwellers (Jeremy, I really like that name by the way), deserve to get fired up about something as soon as the school year starts. College football has rankings before the season starts, and then ranks teams again during the first few weeks of the season even though the vast majority of teams are just playing cupcakes. I think that’s kind of what Bible Quiz is like too. All the big time programs are quizzing internally or locally and it’s still hard to gauge them because they’re never losing, but gauge we should. Rank ‘em early and often – that’s what I always say.
Winner: Jeremy Barker
Face Time
I just want to pass on some advice to all of the quizzers coming up. Make the most of quizzing. It is an awesome opportunity that you will probably never have again in your life, so enjoy it. Have a blast quizzing. Get to know people across the country. Get to know your teammates better. Get to know yourself better. Quizzing showed me how lazy I was and gave me a reason to discipline myself to accomplish something and I am just now beginning to really appreciate that. And most off all Get to know your God. You are spending hours upon hours memorizing God’s word. Don’t just memorize it for quizzing. Really dig in and understand what it is saying. Let it permeate every area of your life. Be able to come out of your quizzing experience knowing that you are a more mature and stronger Christian because of the time that you have spent face to face with God’s word.
Hebrews 5:12-14 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
For every one that useth milk is unskillfull in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.