We played our first game of the MTL season at Powell’s Pub on Monday, and let’s just say they didn’t exactly roll out the welcome wagon for us! The bar staff and  trivia host were both very courteous, but another team let their opinion of us be known via a message to the host, which he read on the mic: “Don’t take any bull from the ‘Pods.”

Does this mean we’re viewed as a threat? Possibly. I’d really rather not ponder things like this too much, because doing so would mean we become complacent…and cocky. We have become kind of “famous” in MTL circles since winning the “big” tournament last July, which still kind of weirds me out. I don’t want to start thinking of our team in these terms – but I want us to do what we’ve always done best – and that means playing like underdogs. No quarter asked – no quarter given!

I listened to this song on the way to a trivia tournament last November. Though I didn’t win the game, the music did help fuel my competitive spirit a bit! Not that I need much help (cough)!

But make no mistake – playing like underdogs does not mean NOT playing to win! And that is exactly what we plan to do this coming season at Powell’s Pub. If we don’t win a semifinal spot, we don’t go to semifinals. And if we don’t win a finals spot at semifinals, we don’t go to finals. I’ve done the barhop route with my team in the past, and that’s not something I’m interested in doing again.

I really think we can do this. I’ve scouted out Powell’s enough to see that we can handle the competition here – even if we don’t always play with more than a couple of players. I look forward to the opportunity to play in a different spot and with a different trivia host, whose more casual style greatly differs from another host with whom we played for a few seasons. Change is good!

Our next challenge will be to win a finals spot at a semifinals game in a couple of weeks. That, and manage to score a decent table at the bar when 13 other teams are jammed in the same small space! Challenge accepted! Go Pods!