The Elbo Room tournament has been compared to a full-length sports season. Every week, we compete and compete and compete – until only the top eight teams make the final playoff round.
I liken it more to an endurance race that spreads over several hours or days. Sort of like the Tour de France or a NASCAR Sprint Cup series. In the beginning, there will be unlikely leaders, and the favorites will be in the back of the pack. But as the race continues, the stronger teams will move forward, until it comes to the final round.
And as we get closer to the midway point of the tournament, there are teams that will have mathematically “locked in” their spot in the finals. By “locking in,” it is assured that even if they don’t win another playoff point for the rest of the tournament, they could finish no worse than eighth place – still qualifying them for the money round.
Right now, my Street Academy team is in really good shape in the tournament – we entered tonight’s round in a solid third place, with a chance to move one or two notches higher.
It’s gushing rain outside Elbo Room, but the Street Academy trivia team started off with a nice run. We knew what two airlines merged earlier this year (United and Continental), we knew Cliff Lee’s first major league team (Cleveland), we knew the pharmaceutical company Martha Stewart got caught selling in her insider trading scandal (ImClone), and we stayed near the top of the pack all night.
We powered through the rest of the questions, until we reached the final 10-pointer. “How many games did the New York Yankees play to win the 2009 American League Championship Series?”
We had burned our skips, and only possessed our double-chance option. We didn’t think the Yankees swept their opponent and we didn’t think it went seven games. We went with a 5/6 double chance. 6 games was the correct answer. Another 10 points for the Academy!
The final question was Presidents and Vice Presidents. We were in third place, but lots of teams were close behind. We wagered conservatively.
“Schuyler Colfax and Henry Wilson were vice presidents under what 19th century U.S. President?”
Yikes.
We tried to eliminate every President that had one term. And all we could think of at the time was Grover Cleveland.
Some other teams had Cleveland. Some other teams had Grant. The Super Winners wrote down William Howard Taft (that great 19th century President).
The last team to give their answer to General James was the Skidmarks. They wrote down Grant. They crossed it out and wrote Cleveland. They crossed that out and wrote Grant. Of course they’re taking forever, and General James chastises them. “We’re always waiting for you!” he scolded.
Well, all that pussy-footing around by the Skidmarks actually got them the right answer, as it was Ulysses S. Grant. That actually moved the Skidmarks into a tie for second place with the Sneaky Pete’s, who had a bit of a rough night. Just the Tips got three playoff points, while Kramer’s Flames picked up one point. No points for Street Academy this time… but again, as I said before, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
So here’s the standings after six weeks. The top eight teams are listed above the “CUT LINE”; if the tournament ended today, those would be the eight teams that can play in the championship round.
| Trivia Team Name | Points | |
| 1 | Schooled | 10 |
| T-2 | Skidmarks (+5) | 9 |
| T-2 | Sneaky Pete’s | 9 |
| 4 | Street Academy | 8 |
| 5 | Kramer’s Flames (+1) | 6 |
| T-6 | Just the Tips (+3) | 4 |
| T-6 | Stern Fans | 4 |
| 8 | Da Bears | 3 |
| THE CUT LINE | ||
| 9 | Woo Hoo a Go Go | 1 |
And only the top eight teams will make it into the final tournament round. Any team in ninth place or below will not make the cut. So teams now have to keep playing and avoid the dreaded cut line.
Six weeks down. Fourteen more weeks to go.
Chuck The Writer 