Right now, momentum is in our favor. My Ruck-specific “Nemesis” team is currently #3 among all teams that play at the Ruck, and #10 overall among all bars that are hosting “Catch the Mania” trivia. Barring a collapse of epic proportions, we are a lock for the final game.
That being said… we are not interested in having a collapse of epic proportions.
With that in mind, my team of Donna, Jeremy and Katie took care of business last night. Our first round – the miscellaneous round – we scored 8 out of 10. Not bad, but the two teams in front of us – Unwed Fathers and More Cowbell – finished the round with perfect 10’s. Rats.
Our second round, featuring questions about mythology, was also a good round for us. Another 8 out of 10. The Cowbells and the Unweds matched us.
Normally, in these Catch the Mania games, we would need to stay perfect just to keep up with the Cowbells and the Unweds. This week, however, was different.
And it all came down to Round 3 – the music round.
The music round has always been our strength. Ten songs are played, we need to identify the artist (1 pt) and the song (1 pt). It seemed like half the songs the host played that night were on my college radio playlists from 30+ years ago. Got it. Got it. Nailed it. Bingo. Perfect round, 20 for 20.
I knew what that meant. Either the Cowbells or the Unweds would have scored 20, and I’d have to go play a staring contest to determine who won the round and who got the free Ruck food.
The Unweds… scored 17.
The Cowbells… scored 18. Whoa. Nemesis takes Round 3 – and is now fighting for the overall lead for the night.
Round 5, the picture round, was kind of a toss-up – ten pictures of famous celebrity mouths were shown on the screen; we were only able to identify six of them. The Cowbells maintained a lead, but the Unweds kept slipping. For once, they were behind us in scoring.
Round six – featuring female literary characters – was a triumph for us. Thanks to my teammate Katie knowing some of the books – as they were among her favorite literary titles – and my last-minute swapping out of one book for another – we nailed the round. Cowbell matched us. They’re still a few points ahead. Unweds are slipping.
Final round. Name the television network. Three television shows are mentioned, we had to name the cable channel on which they appeared.
Really? Scuse me while I kiss my biceps a la Colin Kaepernick.
And in the end, we had another perfect 20-point round (the seventh round is also a double-points round). Unfortunately, so did the Cowbells. But second place for us means we’re most likely moving up in the overall standings – and something interesting happened that night.
When the host announced, “In second place for the night, ‘We Are Your Nemesis … Fear Us.'”
There were – believe it or not – a smattering of boos and jeers.
Just like the days of winning as the Street Academy trivia team.
Ah, good old-fashioned “we respect you, but we hate your guts” boos.
Works for us.
Three weeks to go in this tournament, and then we’re heading to the finals.
Things are looking up. For sure.
Chuck The Writer 