This is now week 5 of the trivia tournament, and since there is now a new rule stating that teams have to show up for at least 12 of the 16 weeks in order to qualify for the tournament, it means that teams can’t just show up for a couple of weeks, qualify, and then not show up until the finals (the “Touched by an Uncle” rule).
The side result of that, however, is that there might only be EIGHT teams that follow the procedure, meaning that you won’t have a team join in mid-tournament and have a good solid run.
Of course, that also means that everybody still has to show up each week and make at least an attempt to play trivia. Which is what i did Thursday night, and for the first time this tournament, my wife Vicki was able to join me.
Between us, we were able to nail things like the triple bonus of what country artists recorded the albums No Fences, Honky Tonk University and Fireflies (Garth Brooks, Toby Keith, Faith Hill), and some other questions down the line. But we guessed wrong on which tabloid superstar’s early role included an appearance as George Wallace’s wife on a 1990’s television drama (you mean it wasn’t Anna Nicole Smith?), and as the final question rolled around, Street Academy had 84 points, but were in eighth place.
Out of EIGHT TEAMS.
The final question was world geography.
At this point we had nothing to lose; we threw in the pot.
“In what country will you find the Southern Alps?”
Now here’s where the controversy begins. Was this a country in which the Alps had their southernmost point, or was it a country in which the mountain range was nicknamed the “Southern Alps” because of his resemblance to the European Alps?
Of the seven non-Street Academy teams last night, six of them said Italy, while Stern Fans said Australia. The Skidmarks bet ONE POINT and also said Italy.
The correct answer – was New Zealand.
And I could have won.
Except I said Italy too.
Now here’s where the controversy starts. Not because the Skidmarks picked up five more points (by pulling a “chicken” bet), or that Touched by an Uncle snagged three playoff points.
It was that third place went to a six-way tie among the remaining teams, all of whom had finished the night with ZERO points – and therefore, no playoff point would be issued for third place.
Which infuriated a member of one team, “Da Bears,” who argued with host General James that there should be a tiebreaker question issued to the six teams so that a third place winner – and a playoff point – could be issued.
At the time, I would have argued that yes there should either have been a tiebreaker, or that a single playoff point should be split among the third-place finishers (which would have given everyone 0.167 points).
But I was at a trivia game a couple of years ago where this very situation happened. It was a Sunday night game at Sadie Klutz’s, and General James was hosting.
Actually, that night had a rather interesting faux pas – the bartender on duty had put some of the bar’s television stations on HBO for some event, I can’t remember if it was a Sunday night movie or boxing. But he neglected to turn the channel to something else after that event, so all the patrons in the bar got the added bonus of watching a NSFW episode of Cathouse. Talk about a trivia distraction.
But that night, the final question had something to do with in what year did Mickey Mantle die. Of the six teams that night, all six bet the farm, and all six got the answer wrong. So everybody finished with zero points, and the final prize – a whole pizza – was not awarded to anybody.
So you can’t give a playoff point when the teams finished without any points in the round. Yeah I don’t like it either, but I understand.
So after five 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). If your team has a “red star” next to your name, you are in danger of being disqualified for not showing up for the requisite 12 out of 16 weeks to qualify for the tournament.
| Trivia Team | Points | Totals | Attendance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Skidmarks | 5 | 13 | ★★★★★ |
| T-2 | Woo Hoo a Go Go | 8 | ★★★★★ | |
| T-2 | Da Bears | 8 | ★★★★★ | |
| 4 | Stern Fans | 5 | ★★★ | |
| 5 | Con-Fear-Acy | 4 | ★★★★★ | |
| 6 | Touched by an Uncle | 3 | 3 | ★★★ |
| 7 | Street Academy | 2 | ★★★★★ | |
| 8 | Tres Hombres | 1 | ★ | |
| T-9 | The Super Winners | ★★★★ | ||
| T-9 | The Nature of Play | ★★ | ||
| T-9 | Big Red Machine | ★★★ | ||
| T-9 | The Wrong Guy | ★ | ||
| T-9 | The Elbow | ★ | ||
| T-9 | The Know-Nothings | ★ | ||
| T-9 | Team Liz | ★ | ||
| T-9 | The Irish Rovers | ★ | ||
| T-9 | The Soloist | ★ | ||
| T-9 | TNT | ★ |
Remember, you have to play at least 75% of the weeks in the tournament to qualify for the final money round. 11 weeks left to go.
Chuck The Writer 
Chuck,
Sadly, I did confirm that the Southern Alps is the actual name of a mountain range in New Zealand, named by Captain Cook on March 23, 1770, so we have no argument there. Also, although I was heated at the prospect of no third place point being given when the whole purpose of the game is to accrue points to gain entry into the final round, I must concede, like you, that it was the appropriate thing to do. My bigger problem is, that having been burned in trivia games in the past becasue of unclear rules and lack of solid procedures for tiebreakers, I should have asked for these rules upfront so that I was better prepared to make my case. Live and learn.
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Of course it wasn’t Anna Nicole Smith, she was famous for “Baywatch” and “Naked Gun 33⅓” years before her tabloid notoriety peaked!
No, the Skidmarks didn’t make a “chicken bet,” they made a “No Balls” bet. A trivia purist like yourself should use the proper terminology!
Looks like somebody peaked at the Trivia Bowl…octupling your membership’ll do that I suppose…
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Yes, a “trivia purist” might use that terminology, but a TU Blogger, who knows that some of his readers have varying levels of sensitivity, would prefer a more genteel term for what Skidmarks did.
Besides, I was thinking more of a tabloid trainwreck, and although Angelina Jolie’s been in the tabloids, it’s not the same as when you could trot out pictures of a bloated, boozing Anna Nicole Smith and sell millions of shopping rack issues. Even years after she’s dead, Anna Nicole Smith is still making $$$$$ for the tabloids.
Besides, didn’t the Woo Hoos put down Italy as well? As for “peaking at the Trivia Bowl…” at this point there’s 10 teams trying out for eight spots. All you gotta be is IN the dance… then you can worry about getting named prom king.
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whoa! were they serving hatorade at the elbo room last night?
it was a frustrating night for the skidmarks. we did pretty solid overall but the first two 10 point questions we had the correct answer written down, and instead voted to skip it. then we doubled down on the 3rd 6 pointer and got that wrong. we thought we were out of it. go figure, one of the very few times the skidmarks safe bet it, and we pull out the W. world geography is not exactly one of our strong suits.
hey, we’ll take it. hey chuck, i cant hear you from all the way down on that standings list, can you speak up a little please?
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I still can’t believe that the bonus questions included ones about country music and Matthew McConaughey movies. The fact that we actually got three out of four on the latter makes me sad.
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