We played our second-to-last game of the season at Original Gravity Brewing Co. Thursday night. It was a fun night of trivia, with a good mix of players – but we didn’t get “quite” the result I wanted. Blowing eight points on a “Europe” question stung quite a bit – six points on a “cars” question in game two didn’t do us any favors! As for the final question in game two, we bet it all – and blew it!

Before getting into writing the actual game recap, I just want to say “well played” to team Big Heads Big Hearts (aka “Mind the Gap,” which was their moniker for about half the season or so). They finished first for the night Thursday, though…not technically. The substitute host did  not record scores for non-league teams playing last night, and there was a non-regular team that scored higher than they did. That’s OK, I’d rather finish with 9 league points than 1! It’s all good…

BHBH is usually a trio or so of guys who typically sit at the bar (they have a certain spot they like), and I think they are all “locals.” One of them is definitely the “brains” of the operation, and part of a longtime league team that my team has played against more times than I can count – since 2012. And this is part of  what keeps me coming back to this bar time…and time again (that and the pretty country drive and small-town charm of Milan). I took a short break from playing here a couple of seasons ago but just had to come back (though I only wound up playing the minimum seven games to qualify). Moth to a flame? Hell if I know! All I know is I really missed the trivia nights here and just had to come back!

This is one of my favorite photos. Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer. Trivia competition can be as intense as this!

This game wouldn’t be any fun without competition and having a “team to beat.” Or in this case, a “person” to beat! I need worthy adversaries in this game, and he never disappoints! Again, congrats on a very well played season! We have one more shot at glory next week. It wouldn’t be a venue tournament for the ‘Pods if we didn’t have to EARN it!

I may do a slight lineup change for next week’s venue tournament. I posted a “want ad” for players to help us in our MTL games in August, and I had one person respond. I started thinking a bit after last night’s game, and stroking my non-existent beard….hmmm…then I thought “What if I asked this person to play in our venue tourney game at OG next week as an enticement for giving him the MTL job?” Herculean trial?  So far it looks like he will be able to help us next Thursday, though he hasn’t confirmed yet.

I’m not doing anything illegal here. “Dream teams” are commonly put together for trivia tournaments, consisting of players from different league teams. What I’m doing is no different. Evan plays on a different league team and will be joining us. This other player is from a different league team. There’s no shame in doing what it takes to win. If you’ve got the connections, use them, I say!

This means I have to cut one of my other players, whom will be Dave. He hasn’t shown any real commitment to coming out to regular trivia games, and hasn’t played in a weekend tournament game since 2015. That, and he’s bailed on me more times than I can count!

Never a dull moment! The next game I’ll be playing will be Saturday, though it will most likely be a solo venture. Now to get working on the recap of Thursday’s game (awwww do I GOTTA)? You may not want to read it! It was pretty awful!!