Something’s different from the last time the Elbo Room hosted a trivia tournament. That something is that our server, Cassidy, isn’t working at Elbo Room any more.
Cassidy was the best server ever at Elbo Room. I could walk in the door and she’d have a pitcher of diet cola at our table. If the night wasn’t too busy, she’d stop by and chat with us. And she earned her tip, let me tell you. She doesn’t work at Elbo Room any more; I think she’s off at college now. Just wanted to say that. Whatever you’re doing now Cassidy, I hope you’re enjoying life and are successful.
Okay. Now back to the tournament.
It was a strong crowd at Elbo Room, the regulars were there – as well as a couple of new teams, the Lucky Number Sevens, and the Haterzz. That’s “Haterzz” with two Z’s.
Didn’t matter, though. Neither the Haterzz nor the Sevens were very effective. This was going to be a game won or lost by the regulars.
As for Street Academy, Alexis nailed the question regarding the state in which the film “My Cousin Vinny” took place (Alabama), while Jeremy had the opening characters in the Shakespeare play Macbeth (they were witches – or sisters, as one team member from Team Fist pointed out). I nailed the winner of this year’s EuroBasket tournament (Spain), and if it weren’t for not knowing that a glossectomy removes part of your tongue – we thought it was the eye – then we would have been in the lead, instead of in fourth place. Get That Poison Out, Team Fist and Team Schooled were ahead of us. Grr.
The final question was on sports trophies.
We decided to bet nearly everything, holding back two points in case this was a murder question and everyone wiped out.
“In what sport can a team win the Kelly Cup?”
I started scribbling on the answer sheet.
“You know this for sure, Chuck?” Jeremy asked me.
“I wrote for Hockey Ink! for four years,” I replied. “I damn well better know this one.” Up went the slip to General James, the trivia host.
The answer was indeed hockey, not soccer (sorry, Haterzz), or naked mud wrestling (jeez, Team Sevens, you couldn’t come up with a snarkier answer?).
Now we had to hope that at least one of the three teams ahead of us either got the answer wrong, or laid in a safe bet.
The Poisons wrote down their answer as rugby.
The Fists wrote their answer as cricket.
Team Schooled … they put down hockey. So they picked up the five playoff points; Street Academy garnered second place and three playoff points, while Woo Hoo a Go Go – who also got the answer correct – scored a playoff point of their own. So now we’re tied with Team Schooled for the lead, while Woo Hoo is in third place and the First are pounding on fourth.
So here’s the standings after three 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T-1 | Team Schooled | 5 | 8 | |
| T-1 | Street Academy | 3 | 8 | |
| 3 | Woo Hoo a Go Go | 1 | 7 | |
| 4 | Team Fist | 4 |
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.
Three weeks down. Seventeen weeks left to go.
Chuck The Writer 
Whither the Skidmarks?
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