Chuck the Writer and the Elbo Room Trivia Tournament – Week 5

Had a nice solid run at the Elbo Room Thursday night. Really only missed one question (the band formed by Chris Cornell after he left Soundgarden, augmented with members of Rage Against the Machine – apparently it's Audioslave, I didn't really know that), and skipped two other questions (what did the caveman order at the restaurant in the GEICO commercial, and what horror film series has John Larroquette as a narrator), but pretty much ran the table with the rest of the questions.

Final question was American Business, and I was tied for second place (114 pts) with "Mayhem," while four points ahead were the leaders, a team called "Clay Aiken Skidmarks." Now usually the Skidmarks are in the lower regions of the scoresheet (okay, that was an awkward sentence to write), but they have improved of late and were poised to take 5 playoff points if they could get the final question right. I had 114 points, and since I was tied with Mayhem, I bet 113 – that way, if I got the question right, I would finish no worse than third if both Mayhem and the Skidmarks went "all in" and correctly answered the question.

Question was - In what East Coast State are the headquarters of the Campbell Soup Company?

Hokey smokes. You mean the Campbell Soup Company, right next to the warehouses and factories that once housed RCA Victor's world headquarters? You mean the Campbell Soup Company in downtown Camden, New Jersey? Oh that question was 'Mm! 'Mm! Good!

I wrote down New Jersey, and just to be a smartass, I wrote "Camden" as well. Host read my full answer, and there were some discouraged groans coming from the Skidmarks' table.

Mayhem also said New Jersey, and they went all in.

Skidmarks went all in – and said Pennsylvania.

Oops.

So that means that Street Academy (my one-man wrecking crew team) took second place and 3 playoff points; Mayhem grabbed 5 points and the Big Red Machine snuck in for third.

Here's the standings after Week 5:

• STREET ACADEMY - 12 points
  
• Mayhem - 9
  
• Woo Hoo a Go Go - 6
  
• Big Red Machine - 6
  
• Tres Hombres - 5
  
• Stern Fans - 3
  
• Donna Martin Graduates - 3
  
• 40 oz. Bounce 1
  

Saturday I'm going to try to participate in trivia over at Octoberfest at Brown's Brewing in Troy. That trivia operation is run by a different company, and I've only played their "Bacchus Trivia" a couple of times. They ask 60 questions, broken down into six 10-question categories, each correct answer is worth one point, no skips, no deductions for wrong answers, and the big prize at Brown's is usually food or beer. Last Wednesday, I played at Brown's and won my first prize there – a coupon for free quesadillas and beer pretzels the next time I play trivia at Brown's. And judging from an incident earlier this week – in which I will go into much more detail at a later time – I may consider Brown's for my Wednesday night Trivia fix.