Looks like things are picking up for the Elbo Room Trivia Tournament. Tres Hombres, a “legacy” team who have played at various other Elbo Room tournaments, braved the rainy weather to arrive at the restaurant for the game. And after one week, Mayhem – who rebranded themselves as Wehrmacht last week – are now calling themselves “Con-Fear-Acy.” Whatever works, I guess.
This was not a week of trivia I would like to remember. I think I can equate it to Napoleon marching into Russia. Everything’s fine for the first round (I was able to recall with what team Pete Rose achieved his 4,000th hit – Montreal Expos, and what, after hockey, is Canada’s other national sport – Lacrosse).
But the final question of the second round killed me. The 10-point question was “What president was the first to have his inauguration broadcast in color?” Trying to remember when live color television was effective, I thought of Eisenhower. Then I used my double-chance option (put down two answers as a hedge) and said Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson.
It was actually John F. Kennedy. I burned a double-chance and because I got both guesses wrong, I lost TWENTY points. CRUNCH.
Things didn’t go any better in the second half, as I was unable to recall which four teams would get the first four picks in the NFL draft (I did get the Rams, but I also said the Raiders, Browns and Seahawks, when it was the Buccaneers, the Redskins and the Lions). So I got 8 points for getting one of the teams right, while everybody else picked up 24 or 32 points for hitting at least three or four of the correct selectors.
By the final question, I had 74 points and was holding on to fifth place.
The final category was ESPN.
I threw in all my chips and hoped for the best.
“What New England state was Chris Berman born in?”
Are you kidding me? I thought Chris Berman was born in Bedrock next door to the Flintstones, you’re telling me he was born in New England? 🙂
In this case, I had to go with whatever educated guess I could come up with. I know he likes to talk about his alma mater, Brown. That’s in Rhode Island. I got nothing else. I put down Rhode Island.
Which wasn’t right. It was Connecticut.
The point totals, however, didn’t give Woo Hoo a Go Go or the Skidmarks any advancement. Skidmarks got the answer right, but hey only bet a few points. Woo Hoo a Go Go was in the lead, but they had Berman being born in Massachusetts.
So three new teams picked up playoff points – Tres Hombres came in third and got one playoff point; Con-Fear-Acy (Mayhem) got three points for coming in second place, while The Bears won for the night and nailed five playoff points for their efforts.
So after two weeks, here are the standings. There’s a new column called “attendance,” in which teams that show up each week receive a black star. Twelve black stars earn you a white star, meaning you have fulfilled attendance requirements (to be in the finals, you must attend 75% of the qualifying weeks). Just trying to make this easy for everybody.
| Trivia Team | Points | Totals | Attendance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T-1 | The Bears | 5 | 5 | ★★ |
| T-1 | Skidmarks | 5 | ★★ | |
| T-3 | Con-Fear-Acy (Mayhem) | 3 | 3 | ★★ |
| T-3 | Woo Hoo a Go Go | 3 | ★★ | |
| T-5 | Tres Hombres | 1 | 1 | ★ |
| T-5 | Street Academy | 1 | ★★ | |
| T-7 | The Super Winners | ★★ | ||
| T-7 | The Nature of Play | ★ | ||
| T-7 | The Know-Nothings | ★ | ||
| T-7 | Team Liz | ★ |
Such is life. Let’s see how the tournament progresses. 14 weeks left to go.
Chuck The Writer 
Were the Skidmarks yelling “boo” or were they just calling for more booze? Sometimes it’s hard to tell with those guys…
LikeLike
im pretty pissed at myself for last nights choke job. as far as sports questions go on the skidmarks, im pretty much on my own. i feel the pressure every time one comes up. i got the pete rose question, and all 4 parts of the NFL draft, but “ESPN,” shoot, he could ask anything. so i said bet half our points knowing the question was likely going to be all on me. i didnt know it for sure by any means, but i got it right. but i also thought we could bank on at least 2 of the teams that could overtake us getting it wrong. turns out i was wrong.
hey chuck, with not nearly as many teams in this tournament as was in the last, whats the playoff format going to look like, any idea?
and hombre…probably a lot of bit of both.
LikeLike
Nothing we could do: not enough points for a no-balls bet, and the team member who knew the answer had to go have a kid & move across state on us.
Ah well. At least we nabbed the pitcher at the half. Half a gallon of beer divided by 13 is still more than zero divided by one.
LikeLike
Chuck, we are actually “Da Bears,” a reference to the Chicago superfans of SNL fame. Just wanted to clear that up. We’re not necessarily animal lovers, just sports and pop culture fans. Thanks!
LikeLike
Oh, and here I thought you were from Hershey, Pa. and followed minor league hockey. 🙂 No probs, I’ll fix it on the next Elbo Room trivia post.
LikeLike