Trivia

The plan yesterday was to go to Hugh O'Neils in Malden for trivia night, which is put on by this company called Stump. We've done them a bunch, as they do about 20 trivia nights every night throughout Boston, and to tell you the truth, I find it very difficult. The questions are more about precise knowledge and less about trivia, so if I don't know the category, I'm usually out of luck.

But anyhow, yesterday I sent out feelers to people for trivia, but there wasn't much interest. Nobody wants to drive out to the sticks, and even though technically we are only 15 minutes from Somerville, it's more like 45 minutes to get anywhere in Boston/Cambridge/Somerville once you factor in traffic and lights and whatnot. It sucks, but I know what it's like... I had the same viewpoint when I lived in the city.

Well, Liz at least wanted to go, and Julie and Shawn said they'd go, so all we needed was the team ace, Larry, and we'd have a good group. But Larry didn't feel like making the drive either - not only is it 45 minutes, but it's been raining for days up here and the roads suck, and he wasn't able to get in touch with his girlfriend.

Now earlier in the day, my friend Val started bugging me to go to the gym with her. The last time I went to the gym I was in my 20s, but I figured this was a good opportunity to catch up with her (it's been a few months) and if anyone could use some gym time, I imagine it's me. So I went, and while I'm sore as shit as I write this, the upside was that I convinced her to join us for trivia as well.

So Liz and Val came over to our place, we hung out for a little bit, I made Roasted Toasted Almonds, yummy. We all started talking and before we knew it, it was almost 8, which is when trivia started. So I suggested another plan.

A couple of weeks ago, Liz and I stumbled on this bar as we were lost in Saugus (actually Peabody, but whatever) called the Sylvan Street Grille. We were about to go to some generic place, Applebees or something, but as we were making a turn to go there, I saw this place and said it looked like a dump full of townies, so we went there instead.

Turns out, the place is pretty cool. Half is a restaurant, which is sparsely populated during the week, but the other half is a bar, which is kickin' 7 days a week. We waited for a first-come table in the bar for like an hour, befriending this waitress named Julie, who eventually hooked us up with a spot. No sooner did we sit down to look at the menu then we heard an announcement - "Trivia will be starting in 5 minutes so everybody grab a seat!"

Score!

So we played, Liz and I, against 9 other teams. The max team size was 8 people, and most of the other 9 teams took advantage of this and had at least 6. This wasn't put on by Stump, it's just a sole entrepreneuer who does it every Wednesday. Long story short, our team, we came in 3rd, firmly establishing Wizard's Sleeve as an immediate force in this new game.

Unto this game, which started at 9, I did bring this motley crew. And this crew did shine.

Although we again had an hour's wait to get a table, even with Julie helping us find a table again, and nearly causing Shawn to smash his head into a splintery bench, trivia for some reason was delayed until 9:30, so by the time it started we had a table, and had made friends with the couple who had been sitting there before us, we we convinced to join the team, making us 7 strong. They ended up being key members, nailing a few questions that none of us would have known: what vitamin is retinal, and 2 heisman trophy winners from USC.

Each round has 10 questions. Round 1 we got 9, and were alone in first. Round 2 we got 10, and were alone in first. Round 3 (bonus round) we got 10, and were alone in first. Going into the final round we had (easy math) 39/40. But two other teams had 38 and were right up our ass. The 4th round was tough.

What snake-like word was used to represent "peace democrats"?
Who was the oldest New Kid on the Block?
What was Wonder Woman's alter ego?
What boxing referee voiced himself on MTV Celebrity Deathmatch?
What 7 Sisters school became part of Harvard in 19__? (I don't remember the year offhand)
What magazine did Christa Miller appear on the first cover of, in 1995?

Shawn said "Copperhead" for the first... but someone suggested "Cottonmouth" and convinced us to go with that - hey, it sounded much more peacey!

We only got 7 of the 10 right... Sickeningly, we got Radcliff wrong - hard to believe for 7 Bostonians, including 2 teachers and a BU faculty member. Christa Miller was on the cover of Maxim, which we got right, but it was in 1997 (I'll tell him next time). We got the NKOTB wrong, and we could only remember "Mills" not "Mills Lane", who is the ref.

But everybody else had a tough time too, and we won, taking down $50. Actually, we tied, so we would have won $100. Looks like Sylvan Street is going to be the new hangout on Wednesday nights!