dude I participated for 3 years in a Greek History Quizbowl as part of a team, and the grandprize was 1000 dollars for each team member (500 each for the 2nd placed team). Each team was made up of 3 people.
2/3 of the years I participated we lost, we got really lucky the 2nd year but I took each loss in stride like you win some and you lose some, no need to keep bitching about it. Move on, it's 300 bucks, not that much - especially since it's getting split.
Like the first year of that quizbowl I ended up being the only member of my team to actually show up. But I didn't let it phase me, yea I was a bit bruised but that's life.
You see, what you fail to address is that your quizbowl didn't have controversy surrounding it. The final match of this tournament does. What you dismiss as "bitching" is obviously something a lot of people even outside of the 18th are concerned about.
