I’ve never heard of Team Fist before. But apparently they showed up last week with a goofy team name, something like “I’m Sick of Osama Jokes,” or something along those lines. Last night, they named themselves Team Fist, essentially named after the Elbo Room dinner entree sandwich with about six different meats and a fried egg, all slapped into a bun.
Well, apparently Team Fist did a halfway decent job at the Elbo Room, and after nineteen questions they were actually in fourth place – ahead of my Street Academy team. Well, we had a halfway decent night, but we whiffed on the name of a retail outlet founded in Philadelphia in 1970 (we said Trader Joe’s, it was Urban Outfitter), among other questions. We were in fifth place, the Skidmarks were in third, Team Schooled was in second place, and Get That Poison Out had a decent lead.
General James announced that the final question would be in the category of “Before They Were Stars.”
Well, if there’s a category I hate almost as much as South American trivia, it’s Before They Were Stars. I looked at Jeremy and Alexis. We were locked into the tournament anyway, so getting this answer right or wrong wouldn’t make a difference for us. We had 76 points. We bet two points.
“A 13-year-old Jessica Alba got her start with two television commercials, one for Nintendo and one for what department store?”
We had no earthly clue what the answer was. All we knew of Jessica Alba was that she was in Dark Angel, she was in both Fantastic Four movies, and that she was – well, is -Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant hot. We bet two points anyway, so we said that Jessica Alba did a commercial for Lodge’s.
Now for those of you who are reading my blog from outside the Capital District, Lodge’s is the oldest retail store in Albany. It’s on North Pearl Street, and you can get decent clothes and such from Lodge’s. They also supply school uniforms for most of the Capital District schools that have a dress code; if you ever feel in the mood to do so, visit Lodge’s and purchase a school uniform for a family in need.
Anyways…
Several other teams, including Team Fist and Team Schooled, wrote down JCPenney as the answer. Get That Poison Out and Woo Hoo a Go Go put down Macy’s, while the Skidmarks went with KMart.
The answer was indeed JCPenney. And by virtue of our safe bet, Street Academy took third place and a playoff point. Team Fist got into the tournament with a second place run – and three playoff points to boot. And Team Schooled pretty much locked in the #1 seed and 5 playoff points with their first place finish tonight.
So here’s the standings after eleven 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. Any team with a star in the box marked “Finals” has mathematically qualified for the money round, no matter how they do for the rest of the tournament.
| Trivia Team | Points | Totals | FINALS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Schooled | 5 | 28 | ★ |
| 2 | Street Academy | 1 | 20 | ★ |
| 3 | Skidmarks | 17 | ★ | |
| 4 | Get That Poison Out | 11 | ★ | |
| 5 | Woo Hoo a Go Go | 9 | ★ | |
| T-6 | The Waffledingers | 5 | ||
| T-6 | Stern Fans | 5 | ||
| 8 | The Fist | 3 | 3 | |
| CUT LINE | ||||
| 9 | Two Shots | 1 | ||
And only the top eight teams will make it into the final tournament round on May 26, 2011. 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. And look, kiddies – there finally IS a cut line!
Eleven weeks down. Two weeks to go – one week of qualifying and one week of finals.
Chuck The Writer 