Week 1 of the 2011 $2,000 Elbo Room Trivia Tournament

It’s back.  We’re back.  Everyone’s back.

Back to the Elbo Room.

Back for another round of competitive team trivia, with a big fat $2,000 prize.  $1,500 for the first place team, $500 for the second place team.

If you’re not completely up to speed on what’s going on – and you’ve only read my blog for a few months – here’s the scoop.

Teams play rounds of competitive trivia over the span of 20 consecutive Thursday nights.  The top three teams each week earn playoff points; 5 points for first place, 3 points for second and 1 point for third.  After 20 weeks, the eight teams that have accumulated the most playoff points get together for one “winner-take-all” playoff round.

And we’re ready.

The trivia team is back to a good solid core of three – myself, Jeremy and Alexis – and we’re ready to take on all comers.  That includes the most recent winners of the Elbo Room tournament, Get That Poison Out.  That includes teams like Woo Hoo a Go Go and Team Schooled, Team Fist and the Skidmarks.  Ah, just the mention of the Skidmarks’ name means that their collective 43 1/2 teammates will shout out “YAY!” on cue.  That, plus some new teams on the horizon, will make this an Elbo Room tournament you definitely have to check out.  So let’s bounce on over, shall we?

Surprisingly, however, the Skidmarks did not show up for the first week of the trivia tournament.  I’m going to equate that to the bad weather – Get That Poison Out only had half their team in attendance, as well.  With the roads being flooded out, it’s more important to stay home than to just come to a game of trivial.

Still, the teams that did show up had a great time and it was very competitive.

As for the questions, we put ourselves in a hole instantly by not knowing the location of the TV show Wizards of Waverly Place (New York City), and we thought Denver hosted the first NFL Thursday night kickoff game back in 2002 (it was also New York City).  And if we hadn’t used a double-chance by putting down “South Dakota” and “North Dakota” on the location of Badlands National Park (it was South Dakota), we would have been in a deep hole.

Still, we came back strong.  Jeremy knew the number of the proposition for same-sex marriage in California (8), I knew the two artists who had hits with “Take My Breath Away” (Berlin and Jessica Simpson), and Alexis knew the fifth book in the Harry Potter series (Order of the Phoenix).

We were tied for second place going into the final question, sharing 118 points with a new team, Bob Loblaw.  I guess it’s a reference from the old TV show Arrested Development, and J-Mac told me that the running joke is that Bob Loblaw is a lawyer, and he writes a blog.  That’s right.  Bob Loblaw’s Law Blog.  Say THAT ten times fast.

The final category is “Before They Were Stars.”

I HATE THIS CATEGORY!!

We decided to bet 1 point and play it safe.

“What TV show host once played soccer at the College of William and Mary?”

The four of us looked at each other.  We had absolutely no clue.  I wrote down Jeff Probst and figured we’d lose a point, but nobody else would get it right.

A couple of people suggested Conan O’Brien.  Others wrote down Anderson Cooper.  One new team, the Haters, wrote down Pele.  Did I miss something, or does Pele have a talk show somewhere?

Anyways, the answer was John Stewart.  And two teams below us – Team Schooled and Team Fist – had it right, and they leapfrogged us.  And the team in the lead – Woo Hoo a Go Go – had it right as well, and they took the five playoff points for the first win.  Congrats to them.

As we left the bar, one of the Woo Hoo members said to me, “Chuck, make sure when you write your blog tomorrow, you list us in full bold letters.”  Okay, I’ll list Woo Hoo A Go Go in full bold letters.  There you go.  Enjoy the win.  Just remember, now you have the bullseye for being in the lead.  He he he he he…

So here’s the standings after one week.   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.

Elbo Room Trivia Standings – Week 1 of 20

	Trivia Team	Points	Totals	FINALS
1	Woo Hoo a Go Go	5	5
2	Team Schooled	3	3
3	Team Fist	1	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.

One week down.  Nineteen weeks left.