The Results of Summer Bowl XIII

And in the end, I finished as a winner.

Well, I didn’t win the tournament, if that’s what you thought I meant.

No, I finally put the final flower in a 17-year-long garden of team trivia competition. From the first day I walked into a Tuesday night contest at Hooters in Crossgates Mall, to last night’s thirteenth annual summer trivia championship – this time held at Fort Orange Brewing in Albany’s warehouse district – I had fun.

And although I struggled with many of the questions – when you’re playing by yourself, it’s not always easy to rely on your teammates when your teammates are you, yourself and you – I still finished with a respectable score.

But it was a really emotional night for me.

Members of several teams came up to me and said things like, “I can’t believe you’re not going to play trivia any more,” or “we’re going to miss you,” or “Are you sure you don’t want to play a few more weeks?”

But then came the first sign that this wouldn’t be the average trivia competition for me.

When the host mentioned my team name – the Street Academy – I half-jokingly braced myself for the onslaught of boos and jeers. Boos and jeers that I’ve earned as a badge of respect. But this time, I received applause and cheers from the other trivia teams.

“What, nobody’s booing?” I joked.

Then came some more moments. Jay, the captain of the Tap This! trivia team (the only other team besides the Street Academy to win Summer Bowl multiple times) brought his two kids over to where I sat. “This man,” he said to his kids, pointing to me, “is the best trivia opponent I’ve ever played against.”

Oh, man. Got me right in the feels.

And if that wasn’t the icing on the cake … wait until you hear what Jon, the captain of a team known as The Fist, did. He caught me at halftime, and showed me something that I would have never expected anyone to find.

It was five copies of the A-section of the Knickerbocker News from 1981. Specifically, the March edition that showcased my high school trivia team – the ones that went on WRGB’s Answers Please and clobbered three other high schools in the area.

“One of my guys was at an estate sale,” he said, “and there they were. I bet you don’t have these. Now you do.”

Holy shit. This is a freakin’ time capsule of my life in 1981. My high school made the front page of the newspaper on the same day that Walter Cronkite hosted his last broadcast of the CBS Evening News.

He gave me the newspapers, and – I have to tell you – it was as if my team trivia life had reached full circle. And I remembered that pizza-faced, snot-nosed, socially awkward kid with a toxic home life, somehow thinking that three of my friends would join me on a local TV show and try to match wits with Albany Academy.

And I remembered the guy who wanted a break from his turbulent home life and wandered into a Hooters in a shopping mall and played competitive team trivia and walked out with a bucket of chicken wings for his efforts.

And I remembered the friends made along the way. The rivalries. The numerous blog posts chronicling weeks of tournament play. The good friends like Rich Mahady and Ryan West who were called to glory way too soon. The players who years later would bring their kids to trivia games. The years passed like a stream through a valley.

And I remembered the people who read my blog and said, “Hey, do you want to join my squad for a charity trivia fundraiser?” Or, “Hey, we’ve qualified for a trivia tournament in Atlantic City and we need your help, want to join us?”

All those memories. All those moments. All those amazing, wonderful, emotionally-sparkling moments.

And at the end of the night, I asked the host if I could present the championship trophy to the tournament winner. He agreed. And it was my pleasure to give the championship to the EZ Riders squad, who nailed the final question (In what decade did postage on a first-class stamp rise from three cents to four cents?) (It was the 1950’s).

And with that … my competitive team trivia days are finished.

Don’t get me wrong – if I ever get an opportunity to try out for Jeopardy! or some other televised quiz show – heck, if I have to hit a buzzer and shout “No whammies, no whammies,” I’ll do it.

But as for the Capital District bar trivia scene …

I’m moving to a new phase.

As of now, instead of answering questions at trivia … I’m now working with the Trivia Nights Live company in writing questions for them.

I figure it’s time to elevate my game.

And I’m totally, totally fine with that.