Chuck the Writer and the Elbo Room Trivia Tournament - Week 10 or 11 or whatever week it is

Had a rough start Thursday night at the $2000 Trivia Tournament at Elbo Room - I ended up missing three of the first five questions, to finish the first quarter with a -18 score (I had the first Pro Football Hall of Fame game in the 1970's, it was the 1960's; I had the Sandwich Islands in New Zealand, a little south of their Hawai'i location; and the 1980's video game with the original name of Armageddon is actually Missile Command, not my original thought of Space Invaders). So after missing three tough questions, I was at negative 18 for the quarter - and, once that score was announced, I got a chorus of lusty boos from a team known as Clay Aiken's Skidmarks.

Clay Aiken's Skidmarks. That's the name of the team. I think their purpose in trivia is to boo teams like my one-man "Street Academy" team, as well as teams like "Lynch's Mob" and "Stern Fans," who like Street Academy have won the Trivia Bowl championship, giving us teams bragging rights as the champions of trivia in the Capital District. For years, Clay Aiken's Skidmarks have played trivia with little success, usually putting down "Bob Saget" for their team's final answer, no matter what the question was.

Well, this time they were ahead, I was behind, and they were feeling their oats. They booed me, they jeered me, they made hand waving motions in front of their faces a la wrestler John Cena's "You Can't See Me" gestures.

However, I fought back, correclty naming what year Mike Mussina first played for the Yankees (2001), what 80's rock group had an album called Creatures of the Night (Kiss), and what two sneaker companies were created by a feud between two brothers (Puma and adidas). By the end of the night, I was in 5th place, the Skidmarks were tied for third, and there was one question left on the docket.

SPACE TRAVEL was the final category.

I had nothing to lose, so I went all in with my 68 points. Skidmarks went all in as well. My feeling was, I could miss the next 60 or 70 questions, and my 18 points in the standings would still be enough to make the final round.

Final question was this - Between 1969 and 1972, how many Apollo missions successfully placed men on the moon?

I did my math and came up with six missions (Apollo XI, XII, XIV, XV, XVI and XVII - Apollo XIII didn't reach the moon, and Apollo XVII was the last of the Apollo series). Skidmarks said there were two missions, and every time the host mentioned their name, they cheered like they won the lottery.

Of course the answer was six. And the cheering stopped. Street Academy took second place (another team that had more points than me also went "all in" and had the right answer). So all is right with the world, Street Academy is back to being the #1 seed in the tournament. In fact...

Here are the updated standings:

• STREET ACADEMY - 21 points (+3 for second place)
  
• Woo Hoo a Go Go - 18 (+5 for first place)
• Big Red Machine - 18 points
  
• Mayhem - 14 points
• Beer Addled Brains - 11
  
• Brown Van Experience - 6
• Stern Fans - 5 (+1 for third place)
• Tres Hombres - 5
• Liquor in the Front, Poker in the Rear - 3
• Donna Martin Graduates - 3
• Clay Aiken's Skidmarks - 3
• 40 oz. Bounce 1

And as for Clay Aiken's Skidmarks... A little picture for ya...