When I arrived at Elbo Room for trivia last night, one of the members of Woo Hoo a Go Go contacted me. “Chuck,” he said, “I think you gave us one extra point in the standings that belongs to someone else.”
“Fair enough,” I replied, “When I go home tonight after trivia, I’ll double-check.”
I didn’t have to double-check. Especially when John from Team Fist came up to me and said, “Chuck, I think you shorted us one point in the standings.”
So the standings now reflect that Team Fist received a point that accidentally went to Woo Hoo a Go Go. Like this is going to knock one of them below the cut line… nah.
The game itself was pretty competitive. We did quite well for ourselves, knowing the four teams that Nolan Ryan pitched for in his major league career (Mets, Angels, Astros and Rangers); we also knew two of the three movies Tom Cruise starred in in 1983 (Risky Business and All The Right Moves; we forgot Losin’ It and wrote Legend instead).
I’ll tell you this – virtually NOBODY knew the last ten-point question, involving which band received the first Grammy award for Best Rock Performance in 1980. We thought it was Fleetwood Mac, apparently it was the Eagles with “Heartache Tonight.” Urgh.
As the 20th and final question loomed, my Street Academy team had 106 points, while Get That Poison Out had 124 and Team Fist – who led from wire to wire all night – had 132. The final category – “Fundraising.”
Great. It could have something to do with Jerry Lewis’ telethon, or in what year the March of Dimes started, or how far can a dime really march… We bet a small amount, just to lock in third place if we got it right.
“In what year did Lance Armstrong’s LIVESTRONG fundraising campaign begin?”
This just in – we did not know. Jeremy and Alexis and I tried to figure out if he started the campaign after his first Tour de France win, or his last Tour de France win, or somewhere in betwen. We went with 1999 and handed in our slip.
Apparently we were five years too early – and the answer was 2004. Team Fist knew the answer and won the five playoff points. Get That Poison Out, however, wrote down 2002 – but because they also bet a safe amount, they claimed second place and three playoff points. Street Academy snagged a playoff point for third place. Good move on our part.
So here’s the standings after twelve 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 | Team Schooled | 33 | ★ | |
| 2 | Street Academy | 1 | 20 | |
| 3 | Team Fist | 5 | 16 | |
| T-4 | Get That Poison Out | 3 | 15 | |
| T-4 | Woo Hoo a Go Go | 15 | ||
| 6 | The Haterzz | 5 | ||
| 7 | Quiz and the Pants | 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.
Twelve weeks down. Eight weeks left to go.
Chuck The Writer 
These tournaments are too long now. Almost half a year is pretty .
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Good point J mac. Although, there is plenty of time for the bottom teams to be “bounced” from the tournament.
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