A small dose of redemption at Elbo Room

It’s been seven days since the Elbo Room trivia tournament was overshadowed by what has become colloquially known as “The Map.”  I’ve taken my lumps from my fellow trivia competitors, and even had to delete a couple of “threats” sent to me via this blog.  I’ve even shut down the initial post – which is something I never do – only to see some comments about the incident appear as responses to other blog entries.

And for the past seven days, I’ve felt lower than a sewer pipe over the whole situation.

I’ve wanted to talk to my teammates about this.  But I just can’t. I feel like I let them down.

And then I approve another blog post about what a horrible person I am for the whole situation.

It’s Thursday night.  There’s a $100 one-night tournament at Elbo Room.

I thought things over, and I had several choices available.  I could:

(A) Call in sick and stay home and catch up on what’s happening with American Idol.

(B) Go to the movies and watch “I Am Number Four” again and feel like crap for doing so.

(C) Crawl in bed and stay there until I can’t wake up any more.

I thought about doing all of those things.

And I saw this totally unsolicited blog comment from someone very special to me.

And I received a phone call from Dennis Truax, one of my Street Academy trivia teammates, letting me know everything would be all right.

And I spoke with Kevin Baker, the head of  Trivia Nights Live, who accepted my apology and told me that it would cost too much money to scrub my name off of Trivia Bowl anyways.

And I spoke with Steven Murray, the trivia host at Brown’s.  And I spoke with Ben Hovey, the host at some of the other trivia hangouts.  And both of them were great sounding boards, and they let me know what I had to do and they let me know that it wasn’t the end of the world.

Like Denis Lemieux said in Slap Shot, “All bad. You do that, you go to the box, you know. Two minutes by yourself, and you feel shame, you know. And then you get free.”

I needed to get free.  And I went with Option (D).

So back I went to Elbo Room.  $100 one-day tournament.

I got there, and Jim and his Get That Poison Out team were the first to come talk to me.  So did Jen from Team Schooled, and Sim from Stern Fans.  We talked.  And we all agreed that it was just a game of trivia – albeit with money involved – and that I was due for some serious ribbing, but that in time – maybe a couple of years – this too shall pass.

Until one of the Skidmarks walked by and said, “What’s up, cheater?”

I claimed my answer slip and a ballpoint from General James.

Start the game.

And I started off like a house of fire.  Nailed the nationality of the last Tour de France winner prior to Lance Armstrong (Miguel Indurain, who was Spanish).  Nailed the state that touches the southern border of South Dakota (Nebraska).  Jeremy and Alexis arrived by the start of the second quarter, and we were unstoppable – answering correctly the former NY governor and NY senator who served as Thomas Jefferson’s Vice Presidents (George Clinton and Aaron Burr).  We knew the name of the first contestant eliminated on Survivor (Sonya Christopher).  By halftime, we had claimed the free pitcher of beer.

Jeremy was so excited, he accidentally knocked over a glass of water that was on the table.

“Oh crap,” I said as the water spilled all over the table.  “My maps will get drenched!”

Okay.  It’s time to laugh now.  Just a little.

The final question came up, and we were ten points ahead of the Skidmarks and of Woo Hoo a Go Go.  The category involved “Small Wars.”

We bet enough to outpoint anyone close to us.

“In the 1890’s, what country invaded the African country of Zanzibar, winning a war that took only 45 minutes?”

Okay Chuck, think think think think.  Wouldn’t this have been around the time of the British Empire, an empire upon which the sun never set?  Wouldn’t the British Navy have dominated any adversary?  Isn’t Freddie Mercury half-British, half-Zanzibarian?

Alexis thought it might be either England or France.  Jeremy thought it might be either England or Spain.  I thought it might be either England or South America.

Okay.  I can laugh a little more.

We put down England.

The answer was England.

Street Academy was $100 richer.

At which point, I showed Jeremy and Alexis something I had written on the inside of my scoring napkin. Yes, I went back to scoring napkins.  It was a message I wrote prior to their arriving at trivia.  “If we win tonight, you get my share.”

General James handed me a $100 bill for winning trivia.  I immediately handed it to Jeremy.  These are my teammates and my friends.  This was for sticking beside me.

Then Ryan Blakeney – the captain of the Skidmarks – and I talked for a few minutes.  We shook hands.  Peace was made.

Then one of the other Skidmarks asked me, “Chuck, last week if you happened to have gotten that South American question right, and you won the money based on that map, would you have kept it or returned it?”

I said to him, “We’ll never know.  Because that situation will never occur again, not from me or from my team.”

We shook hands.  More peace was made.

And you know what?  I’m sure every blog reader who has followed this tournament has their own opinion of me regarding the past week.  I may never change your opinion of me; or, I might now appear in a different perspective.  Some of you may never forgive me.  Others may never have thought I needed forgiveness.

But the fact is – whatever happened in the past will now stay in the past.

Besides – next week starts a new, 13-week, $1,000 winner take all Elbo Room trivia tournament.

And I’ll be hanged if I’m letting the Skidmarks celebrate their victory for longer than 13 weeks.

Let the new chapter begin.