By: Chuck Miller
trivia, Uncategorized

Week 16 of the Elbo Room Trivia Tournament

We’re coming down the home stretch.  There’s still a chance for teams to make the finals – in fact, before tonight began it was possible for a team to walk into Elbo Room for the first time – right off the street, don’tcha know – and win both weeks and get into the tournament.

And when the night ended, there was actually a team that had never shown up before – a team called “Team Pattie” – that garnered three playoff points and, believe it or not, has an outside chance to actually make the tournament finals.

Okay.  Questions that I did get right last night included the president who signed Medicare into law (Lyndon Johnson), the two states that share a border with the Wabash River (Indiana and Illinois), and the three colleges who have produced seven Heisman winners apice (actually I got two of them – USC and Notre Dame – but I said Michigan for the third, and it was Ohio State).

The final question was U.S. Geography.  The question – In what state is Mount Mitchell, the tallest mountain east of the Rockies?

Okay.  Time for deductive reasoning.  It couldn’t be one of the New England states, because if the mountain was that tall, there would be ski lifts on it.  That also eliminated New York and Pennsylvania from the mix.  Figuring that a mountain that tall would have to be in the Appalachian mountain range, I took a guess and said West Virginia.

And I was close.

Not close enough.  It was North Carolina.

I didn’t lose any trivia ground, but Mayhem – who got it right and picked up five bonus points – cemented their hold on the seed in the tournament finals.  Brown Van Experience picked up one playoff point for finishing in third place, and the new team “Team Pattie” got three points for a second-place finish.

So after sixteen weeks, here are the standings, and remember – only the top eight squads get into the final round. Teams listed in green have guaranteed themselves a spot in the final “money week” round.

Elbo Room Trivia Standings – Week 16
Trivia Team Points Totals
1 Mayhem 5 28.3
2 Stern Fans 23
3 Big Red Machine 22.3
4 Street Academy 19.5
5 Clay Aiken’s Skid Marks 15
6 Brown Van Experience 1 9
7 Touched by an Uncle 7
8 Woo Hoo a Go Go 4.5
THE CUT LINE
T-9 The Wrong Guy 3
T-9 The Third Wheel 3
T-9 Team Pattie 3 3
12 Monkey Knife Fights 2.3
13 Dr. Occam’s Razor 2
T-14 Nasty Nate 1
T-14 Overqualified and Unemployed 1

Now here’s the thing.  There’s only one week left.  And there are several teams who can still sneak their way into the final spot.

For Touched by an Uncle to make the tournament:

  • They have to finish in the top 3 next week OR
  • They have to hope neither The Wrong Guy, The Third Wheel nor Team Pattie win next week

For Woo Hoo a Go Go to make the tournament:

  • They have to win next week OR
  • They have to finish at least second and hope neither The Wrong Guy, The Third Wheel nor Team Pattie win next week OR
  • They have to finish at least third and hope that two of the three teams above mentioned don’t finish 1-2 next week OR
  • If they finish fourth or worse, they have to hope nobody below the cut line wins next week, which would push Woo Hoo a Go Go below the cut line

For The Wrong Guy or The Third Wheel or Team Pattie to get in the tournament –

  • They have to win next week OR
  • They have to finish second and hope Woo Hoo a Go Go does not finish first.
  • If any of those three teams finish 1-2 next week, both teams will get in the tournament.

For Monkey Knife Fights to get in the tournament –

  • They have to win next week OR
  • They have to finish second and hope Woo Hoo a Go Go does not finish first or third.

For Dr. Occam’s Razor, Nasty Nate or Overqualified and Unemployed to get in the tournament –

  • They have to win next week AND hope that Woo Hoo a Go Go finishes fourth or worse.  Only one of those three teams can mathematically get in at this point.

And you thought the AFC playoff picture this season was complicated.