We’re “about” a third of the way through the My Trivia Live season, and have just managed to squeak into the first place spot at Powell’s Pub! We’ve been playing with a “handicap” all season if you will, since one of our strongest players has not come out to any of our Monday night games. In his absence, a couple of us – and sometimes a trio – have still been putting our best brains forward! It is kind of like that scene in the 2009 Quentin Tarantino film  Inglourious Basterds where Brad Pitt has to pretend he knows how to speak Italian to sneak into a Nazi movie premiere in German-occupied France. And it’s just as awful as you might imagine!

Reminds me of when we had the varsity football coach teaching our French class when the French teacher was on maternity leave…

Similar, though not as deadly, is us trying to step into this absent player’s knowledge areas on trivia nights. When we had a question about U of M quarterbacks, our “next best” sports person had to try stepping into his knowledge area, ugh…let’s just say “close, but no cigar!” The question was: “Who was the starting quarterback for U of M for their 1997 championship season?” Let’s see…was it Glenn Rice? No, wrong sport…Ben Needham? No, too early. Yes, he played for U of M, and I only know about him because he has the same last name as me, lol. My brother had his own “pet rock” that was painted blue with the word “Ben” on it in yellow letters. Yes, he was kind of our “hero” just for having our last name! Granted, it’s “kind of” unusual as far as last names go, unless you live in the U.K. More about pet rocks in a bit!

Yeah…my knowledge of U of M sportsballers is PRETTY limited! Then I thought of that pretty boy who plays for the Patriots who IS a quarterback and used to play for U of M. I actually thought it was a pretty good guess, but nope! Hey, it works both ways. Sometimes the people on my team have to try stepping into my knowledge areas, too! I was in the bathroom for this question Saturday night, which stumped my two teammates: “What is the only #1 song by Bill Haley and the Comets?” Seriously…did they even DO any other songs besides that one? Well, probably, but of course the most famous one is the one used in the closing credits for “Happy Days.” You would have had to have been living under a giant pet rock in the 1970s to not know the name of that iconic rock ‘n roll song (I’m looking at you, Mike)! I kid, I kid, of course! Mike has his brilliant trivia knowledge areas for sure, but names of rock songs from the ’50s? Uh, not so much! It’s all good, and as all of those motivational posters say, “There is no ‘i’ in team.” Let’s see how we do in our trivia battle tonight. Go Pods!