When the new Sporcle Live trivia season started in January, I wasn’t even really looking at the “end game.” We were playing when we could play, playing for beer money, playing when toothaches weren’t vexing me (LOL), playing when my work schedule allowed. We weren’t trying to “dominate” any bars, though as luck would have it – a new trivia spot opened in a place – and on a night – that worked for at least three players on our team (sometimes even 4-5). Which was a “milagro,” some of you might know that’s Spanish for “miracle.” And by playing here for enough games without any real competition, we won ourselves a semifinals spot. Huh what? OK!

Which brings me to Saturday…I’m gonna be honest – I don’t think we have much of a chance of advancing! There are four teams I’m especially worried about, which I’m not going to name by name (call that me doing my best imitation of Carly Simon vis a vis You’re So Vain). I wouldn’t want anyone to think that this blog is about them, now would I? Moving on, let’s get on with it, shall we? 🙂

Team #1 – Rivals from way back – they’ve been playing as a team at least maybe three years longer than my team has been playing (possibly more) in multiple trivia leagues. Never, ever to be underestimated, though as of late, they have been “divided” with their two strongest players not getting together for games as often as they used to. I kind of wish they WOULD play together more, but I digress! I am loathe to call that a “weakness” for their team, but rather a possible “factor.” When push comes to shove, when they assemble a team, you can expect it to make some noise – and go all the way to the top – if not at least place in the final match. I know a couple of the players on their team pretty well – if nothing else, they’re always a “fun” team to try to beat!

Team #2 – Frequent “venue leader” from the YpsiAlehouse since 2017. We played against them for a couple of seasons toward the end of 2016, and they even stepped in and played “as” my team in a December, 2016 tournament (two trivia tournaments were scheduled the same day). They managed to win second – or third place (can’t recall, they won $750, $150 of which was kept by my  team). They fairly regularly place in every finals tournament they have played, though I don’t they’ve ever placed first. It would still be unwise to underestimate them – they have a pair of sisters, one of whom is a five-time Jeopardy champion, the other who had the sad luck to have to compete against “King James.” Both work in the field of archiving, which means they’re immersed in facts for their vocation (kind of jealous of that, I miss working as a journo). It’s not uncommon for them to get both final questions correct in regular season games -and have near perfect/perfect scores. This team is probably one of the most “wholesome” bunch of trivia players I’ve ever met – they are very nice people – and one of their players helped us advance in qualifying game a couple of years ago. I wish them no ill will (even if they did kind of drive us away from playing at the YpsiAlehouse, lol)!

Team #3 – This is an Ann Arbor-based team I really don’t know that much about. They paid a visit to Powell’s Pub once when my team was playing, and they won first place for the night. They either hover around or win first in the standings at a handful of Ann Arbor bars in which they play, and have either come close to – or placed – in recent finals tournaments. I think they are a younger group, but as I said, I don’t know a whole lot about them. But the fact that they’ve not only held their own – but dominated in the very competitive Ann Arbor trivia scene says quite a lot about them!

Team #4 – This “team” primarily plays as a duo as of late, but might bring in extra help for this game. Out of all of the teams I’m listing here, this team might be one we have a chance of beating in a semifinal game. The main “duo” is on the older side, which is a bit of a negative with the Sporcle Live league (many questions favor younger players). I still wouldn’t underestimate them! This duo has been particularly dominant in the My Trivia League for the past year or so.

So what’s it gonna take for my team to advance? Well, a favorable question set is a good start! And smart wagers! I’ll be bringing a fairly well balanced team, with ages of my players ranging from 31 to 57. Our youngest player has been a real asset to our team – and has managed to help us place in the top 10 at a few finals in the past couple of years, and he also helped us win a bit of money in April, 2018. He’s strong in several trivia categories that are weak for the rest of us (and vice versa). The remaining “trio” are a tight group of friends who’ve played trivia together for about seven years in the Sporcle Live league, and also played together for a couple of years in the My Trivia Live league. We’re not perfect, and we’re not one of “those” teams that tend to place in or win tournaments –  but we have experience on our side. Our only first place win was in the MTL league in July, 2017, and we’ve only placed in the “cash zone” in a handful of other Sporcle tournaments in the past few years. We haven’t been shut out of a Sporcle championship since 2013.

Maybe we’ll get shut out this time! It will be disappointing if we do, but…honestly I don’t think I’ll have more than 2-3 players if we do manage to make it to finals…

All we can do  is play our best – and that if ain’t good enough, it ain’t good enough!