The University administration and Radio K will be among teams participating in an annual clash of brains at Coffman Memorial Union today.
The tournament, sponsored by the University College Bowl program, will pit 10 and 20 teams, divided into pools of four or five teams, against one another.
“It’s sort of like team Jeopardy,” said College Bowl coach Dave Dorman.
Each group will play every team in its pool, and the winner of each pool will advance to the championship round.
A round consists of two teams answering 20 toss-up questions, Dorman said. The questions will be open to both teams, and the team answering it correctly will receive the points, plus a bonus question.
This year’s tournament will differ from previous years because it will consist of a team made up of two University administrators, a post-secondary student and son of one of the administrators, and a Middlebrook Hall resident assistant.
“We thought it would be fun to have a father and son together,” Dorman said.
Although Adam Kolman Marshak might not have the experience his father has, Marvin Marshak, senior vice president of Academic Affairs, said he thinks his son and Laura Lindquist, a senior literature major who works at Middlebrook Hall, might be the team’s only hope.
“I’m sure he’ll make me look bad. I’m sure everyone will make me look bad,” Marvin Marshak said. “The advantage of being 50 is that you know everyone is going to make you look bad, so it doesn’t bother you anymore.”
The younger Marshak has participated in Quiz Bowl at St. Louis Park High School where he is a senior. He’s taking German 1105 at the University and also knows history. He said he thinks being on a team with his father will be fun.
“My mom says we’ll probably do lousy,” he said. “But it’d be fun to kick some college-kid butt.”
The administration team, known as the Morrill Imperatives, won’t be allowed to win the tournament. But Marshak said it wouldn’t matter anyway.
“I think the chances of that are small,” he said.
The group of students who represent the University in the nationwide College Bowl tournament held each year won’t be allowed to win either, Dorman said.
Members of that team are already set, Dorman said. And it didn’t seem right to put a team of College Bowlers who practice every week up against teams that are together for the first time.
“What fun is that?” Dorman asked. “They’re going to be the moderators tomorrow.”
The University team will compete in the regional College Bowl tournament in Iowa City next month. If the team wins there, it will head to New Jersey in April for the national tournament.
Dorman, who spends his time away from the College Bowl working as a health educator for Boynton Health Service, said the University fielded three national championship teams during the 1980s and qualified four teams to participate nationally in the 1990s, as well.
Tournament organizers planned the event to bring more visibility to the College Bowl program.
“We’ve done pretty well over the years,” Dorman said.