The Hooters Reunion Trivia game at Graney’s Stout

On Tuesday night, I arrived at Graney’s Stout bar on Broadway in North Albany for their first Tuesday night trivia game, and this game would be special – a “Hooters Reunion” of the best trivia teams to ever win at the legendary restaurant.

Among the classic teams to return for another round – Lynch’s Mob, Tres Hombres, the Skidmarks, Woo Hoo a Go Go, and the return of Pork is a Verb – which once had to call themselves Pork is a Meat because their name was too offensive for Hooters (yes, you heard me, a trivia team name was too offensive for Hooters).  Oh yeah, and my Street Academy team was there, too.

Jeremy and Alexis had a scheduling conflict and couldn’t be at the game – they were playing in an Ultimate Disc competition – but I still had a Trivia Bowl champion at my table tonight.  A person whose name is on the Trivia Bowl.

Yep, Tracey Stein returned.

Some background – Tracey is a friend of mine, we used to work together at the same day job.  She joined me at a few trivia games, and then she and her boyfriend Ken helped me win Trivia Bowl III.  A few months later, however, she left Albany for Florida, where she earned her college degree and now works for a large medical group.  She came up this week to visit old friends and to compete in the Warrior’s Run this weekend, and she promised she would get together with me Tuesday night for this Hooters Reunion game.

And sure enough, she was on time.

The Tres Hombres team was at a booth next to ours, and Dan Smith – their team captain – turned around and said, “Hey Chuck, I know the advertisement said that there would be Hooters girls from the past at each person’s table, I didn’t realize you actually got one for your table!”

Tracey, knowing that Dan was complimenting her, thanked him.

We started off well, but missed a ten-point question – we thought the Canadian band that released an album in 2010 called “All In Good Time” was Nickelback; it was Barenaked Ladies.  Oops.  By halftime, we were doing well, but a team called “Our Girls Have Big Butts” was nearly perfect.

Tracey and I continued on, Tracey knew the actress who starred in the film “Failure to Launch” was Sarah Jessica Parker, while I knew that the last album Clarence Clemons played sax on before he had a stroke was an album by Lady Gaga.  But the team called “Our Girls Have Big Butts” kept on scoring; with the exception of missing the first two-pointer, they were perfect throughout.

Tracey nodded at me.  “I think they’re cheating.”

“I doubt it,” I replied.  “Maybe they just have smart people.  It happens.”

And true to form, the teams that used to play well at Hooters continued playing well.  By the 19th question, the usual suspects – Street Academy, Tres Hombres, Lynch’s Mob and Pork is a Verb were very close to the top, but “Our Girls Have Big Butts” had a massive lead.  Those four New York Yankees tickets looked like they would go to a team I had never heard of before.

The final question was on the category of 21st century television.

We had 104 points; we bet it all.

“In what year did the HBO show Entourage make its debut?”

We tried narrowing it down with deductive reasoning.  I thought that the show was on the air when I first started playing trivia, which would have been in 2005.  So I worked backwards and thought that maybe the show debuted in the latter part of 2003.

Other teams said 2005, 2004, 2006…

Kevin Baker, the host, kept reading off the names of teams, their bets and what year they picked.  “Street Academy – ”

Boos from the Skidmarks.

“He bet it all and he said 2003.  Lynch’s Mob – ”

More boos from the Skidmarks.

“They bet it all and they said 2005.”

It should be noted that the Skidmarks played like the Skidmarks of old.  That’s not a compliment.  They finished the night with about 6 points, and surprisingly they didn’t go with their usual tactic of answering “Bob Saget” for the final answer, as was their routine years ago.

Then Baker read the final team results.

“And the team that was nearly perfect throughout the night, Our Girls Have Big Butts… They had 162 points… And they bet it all…”

It wouldn’t have mattered to us.  We had said 2003, Pork is a Verb – who was ahead of us – also said 2003, locking us out.

“And Our Girls Have Big Butts had the right answer, but it won’t matter to them,” Baker said.

I wondered why.

“Because that team has been disqualified for cheating!”

Whoa!

Apparently after they missed the first question, one of their teammates discovered that one could use a cell phone to look up answers.  Apparently they did this in full view of everyone – including Baker, who happened to walk by the team during the 20th question and saw the word “Entourage” on a teammate’s cellphone.

By the way, the correct answer was 2004, and a team called Fairlawn something or other won the four Yankees tickets.  Congratulations to them.

Wow.

Baker told me afterward that’s the first time he ever tossed a team out for cheating in years.  I guess when there are Yankees tickets involved, some people will go to drastic measures to get them.

But in any case, it was a great night, and it looks as if trivia will be a regular occurrence at Graney’s Stout on Tuesday nights.  And it was great to see Tracey Stein again.  She’s a great person and a wonderful friend, and I’ll miss her when she goes back to Florida.

Now if the new Hooters on Wolf Road can get their act together and hire Baker’s Trivia Nights Live company for trivia games… then all will be right and solid with the world.