The Stir Crazy Gang: Wanted – Dead or Alive

Last year, I had a tremendous amount of fun as a member of the Stir Crazy trivia team.  We competed in the World Tavern Trivia national championships in Atlantic City, and out of over three dozen teams, we came in second place overall.  That was seventeen levels of awesome.

This year, I’m joining the Stir Crazy squad again, as we compete in the third annual World Tavern Trivia National Championships.  Once again, we’re heading to Atlantic City for the April 30-May 1 two-day event.  And once again … there’s a theme for the competition.

An Old Western theme.

As in six-shooters, spurs, riding, roping, and all the rest.

Trust me, there’s a good reason why I’ve been watching all those sub-carrier satellite TV channels like MeTV and Heroes & Icons and Charge TV and GetTV and the like.  Many of them are showing blocks and blocks of old Western TV episodes.  Plus, this gives me an excuse to start watching HBO’s Deadwood TV drama, seeing as Deadwood is part of my HBO a la carte Apple TV service plan.

The other day, Stir Crazy team captain Tim Rich asked me if I wanted to add a “Western Nickname” to the Stir Crazy squad.  You know, like “Deadeye” or “The Cactus Gulch Kid” or “Snidely Whiplash” or the like.

And after I bandied around several comic nicknames, I chose one from history.  If I’m going to cosplay in this Western themed trivia event, I’ll take the name of the sneakiest, swindliest con man the frontier ever knew.

For that trivia weekend, I will be Chuck “Soapy Smith” Miller.  If you’ve never heard of Soapy Smith, he ran several swindles and cons throughout the Northwest, and there are even towns where his legacy is immortalized and celebrated – similar to how, over time, Jesse James and Billy the Kid went from being bandits to icons.

Next thing I know … my face is on a wanted poster.

Well, technically my “face” was added to an Old West wanted poster, along with the faces of my trivia teammates.

Yeah, that $10,000 “reward” is the amount of money disbursed to the top five trivia champions that night, with $5,000 going to the champions.

Trust me, we’re coming to take that trophy and that money.

It’s Stir Crazy.  That’s right.  We bad.  We back.  And we’re loaded and packing.

Let’s do this.

Saddle up.