Spanning the Globe

Me: "Deal or No Deal" just proves that people know nothing about statistics. All we need now is "Pyramid Scheme: The Game".
Pam: How about "The $100,000 Pyramid Scheme"?

Perhaps it was fitting, in a "what are you talking about, these two things are entirely unrelated" way, that I was coaxed to pub trivia on the night Roger Clemens threw his first minor-league start after his latest unretirement. My attendance can be safely called "unreliable at best," thanks to work and the place's smokiness, but today I got off right on time and Jan had e-mailed me specifically to extend an invite, so I decided to brave the smoke.

Jan had split off from his usual Greg/Leah/Elizabeth team, with whom I had made all my previous appearances, and was playing with Pam and an evidently mutual friend of theirs named Dave, with whom I was unacquainted but who was perfectly cool. They adopted the name "Fighting Pike" in tribute to their old 1800 Club trivia name; in response to his shifted allegiances, the G/L/E team played under the name "Jan's a Dick."

We ended up winning - trailing Jan's a Dick by two going into the final, double-points round, we got two more questions than they did to win by two. The question highlight of the day for me was probably knowing that the Beatles' final concert took place at Candlestick Park, and also knowing a surprisingly high number of the answers (by which I mean, like, four or five) in the Bible verse matching round. I had a couple of bad second-guesses, but obviously none were disastrous. Ultimately I think it was a very balanced effort with everyone contributing, which is what you like out of your bar trivia team.

Fun times overall. And since the last two times I've been, I've been on the winning team, I am now owed two back dinners, so I pretty much have to go back. But we'll see how work goes. Even getting off at 6 is cutting it pretty close, though I suppose the ability to eat dinner at the bar for free helps that cause slightly. Really, the smoke keeps me away more than anything; this time out it wasn't so bad until some guy lit one up just behind my head, wafting smoke directly across my face and causing me to feel it all the way down my windpipe. Not good times.