Week 11 of the $2,000 2011 Elbo Room Trivia Tournament

Before I give any reports on the competitive team trivia scene, some updates.  My daughter Cassaundra is out of intensive care, she’s been moved from ICU to a general bed.  Everybody from her friends to her family to her military soldiers in arms have paid her a visit, have posted on her Facebook page, have offered as much support as they possibly can.

In fact, before trivia started last night, every member of the Get That Poison Out team came over to my table, asked how Cassaundra was doing, let me know that she was in their prayers for a speedy recovery, and wished her well.  That’s something to treasure.  I even received well-wishes from trivia host General James, who remembered when Cassaundra visited last year and played a round of trivia at Elbo Room.

And for that I am grateful and humbled.  Much thanks to all.

Okay.  Last Thursday night at Elbo Room.  Recap time.

It was a two-man team for Street Academy at Elbo Room; Jeremy was there, but Alexis was working late at her job.  We still did well, hitting the first seven questions in a row.

The double bonus came up.  “When New York State allowed same-sex marriages earlier this year, what 66-year-old actor sent a marriage proposal to what 53-year-old actor via Twitter?”

We weren’t sure.  I thought one of the actors might be Alec Baldwin.  J-Mac thought the other actor might be Steve Martin. But we second-guessed ourselves, we weren’t 100% confident of our answers, and we skipped the question.

And it was Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.  DANG IT!

That, plus doubling up on a ten-pointer, guessing the year Paul Newman died – saying 2010 and 2009 – and finding out he passed in 2008 – crippled us.  Owtchie.

After 19 questions, we had 66 points and a second-place tie with Team Schooled, while Get That Poison Out achieved a commanding lead.  Three other teams – The Haterzz, Woo Hoo a Go Go and a new team in the mix, Quiz and the Pants, were below us.

The final category was on fashion.

We decided to go with the bet-two-points strategy and see if it worked.

“What popular sisters are the creators of the Elizabeth and James fashion line?”

I don’t know. Serena and Venus Williams? The Kardashians? Charlotte and Emily Brontë?

No matter.  We guessed the Olsen twins and handed in our slip.

Well, apparently we guessed right.  It was the Olsens.  And so did almost everybody else.  But we didn’t finish in the top three this week – and, in a surprise, neither did Team Schooled, who also decided to submit a safe bet.  So two other teams leap-frogged us in the final count – while Get That Poison Out took the win, and Woo Hoo a Go Go took third place, Team Quiz and the Pants earned their first playoff points of the tournament. Congrats.

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.  And yes, starting this week, there IS a dreaded cut line!

Elbo Room Trivia Standings – Week 11 of 20

	Trivia Team	Points	Totals	FINALS
1	Team Schooled		33	★
2	Street Academy		19
3	Woo Hoo a Go Go	1	16
4	Get That Poison Out	5	12
5	Team Fist		10
6	The Haterzz		5
7	Quiz and the Pants	3	3
8	The Polanskis		3
THE DREADED CUT LINE
9	Skidmarks		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.

There’s no competition in the tournament next week, as Thanksgiving falls on a Thursday.  So the competition will resume on December 1.

Eleven weeks down. Nine weeks left to go.