I don’t know what it is about this year’s tournament – maybe it’s the 20-week format, maybe it’s the holiday season, maybe it’s the lousy Atlanta-vs-Jacksonville football game available on the Elbo Room’s big screens – but last night’s tournament week was essentially contested by three teams.
The only three teams that showed up.
Street Academy, Team Fist and Woo Hoo a Go Go. The other teams – nowhere to be seen. And in fact, had it not been for a group of diners who, by the second quarter of the game, got tired of just shouting out the answers to the questions (and getting shouted down by the rest of us), and decided to play – and change their name after every question to a name more pornographic – well, it would have been a very quick night.
Jeremy and I nailed question after question; we knew who the three evening network news anchors were (Brian Williams, Diane Sawyer, Scott Pelley), we knew the cube root of 512 (8 – really helps when J-Mac is a math professor at Siena), and we knew the name of the company that originally sponsored the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer TV special (of course we did, I freakin’ blogged about it two weeks ago!).
After 19 questions, we were sitting pretty – a comfortable lead in our clutches, and only Team Fist could catch us.
The final question – “The Winter Olympics.”
“Let’s just bet three points,” I said, “and we can maintain our lead.”
“Are we locked into the finals?” asked J-Mac.
“Yeah.”
“Then let’s bet it all, because first place gets the $25 gift card from Elbo Room. That’s something tangible, rather than just playing for points.”
So we bet at least enough to lock out Team Fist, should we get the answer right.
“Apollo Anton Ohno, an eight-time Olympic medalist, was born in what state?”
That sound you just heard was me banging my head against the table.
We had a one-in-fifty chance of getting it right. Actually, for us it didn’t matter if we got it right or wrong, so we put down Hawaii.
It was actually Washington – and Team Fist leapfrogged us, got the five bonus points, and locked themselves into the tournament. Congrats to them. We picked up three points for second place, Woo Hoo a Go Go snagged a point for third. The other team – all they picked up was an assortment of nicknames for themselves.
So here’s the standings after fourteen 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 | 3 | 26 | ★ |
| 3 | Team Fist | 5 | 22 | ★ |
| 4 | Woo Hoo a Go Go | 1 | 16 | |
| 5 | Get That Poison Out | 15 | ||
| 6 | The Haterzz | 10 | ||
| 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.
Fourteen weeks down. Six weeks left to go.
Chuck The Writer 
Considering we have only really seen the top 6 teams and probably won’t fill out the finals in 3 years or whenever it is, I think they have proved that the tournament is far too long.
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Simple logic should have dissuaded you from Hawaii.
President Obama is from Hawaii ^ Apollo Anton Ono isn’t Kenyan/Muslin
Therefore; Apollo Anton Ono isn’t Hawaiian
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Are we locked into the finals? Also, can you tell me what my Uncle Sam bank is worth? Because I don’t read your blog.
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Before you know it, you’ll only have JMAc and Chuck showing up, forcing the ultimate trivia showdown. 😀
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