As it was the first Sunday of the month, it was the pub quiz at The Prince of Wales. We had a larger team than usual: Fee, Marleena & Luke, Jim, Colin, and me.
Normally in quizzes the bigger the team the better, and you want people to know about different stuff, so as to have a chance on all the questions. Colin, in his first pub quiz appearance, definitely added some new areas of knowledge to the team (for example Dr Who’s home planet is Gallifrey).
The first round is fairly easy, and we get 17 (each round is 20 questions).
The second round is slightly harder and we get 13, leaving us in fifth place on 30 points (there are nine teams)
After a strong third round (16), we had moved up to fourth on 46 points. First place is on 51 – they’ve been in the lead ever since the first round when they got 19.
Each month there is also a bonus round that is handed out at the beginning. This month it is a sheet of thirty ‘thumbnail’ size pictures of famous people (mostly actors, a few music and sport).
To me this kind of thing is very simple. 28 (!) of them are obvious, there’s just two that I spent most of the evening thinking about.
No 29 is a woman wearing pink with untidy mousey blonde hair. She’s singing. Eventually I realise that it’s Suzi Quattro.
No 21 is a young looking woman wearing a yellow rain mac. I have a couple of unlikely ideas (who seem too obscure, based on the other people), and then I decide it’s a young Jane Fonda. Colin isn’t so sure.
Reading out the answers, I have all the first 20 correct. No big surprise. No 21… is Jane Fonda. Yes! Numbers 22 through 28 are correct, and I’m pretty confident Suzi Quattro is correct. It is! Now I think I’ve got all thirty in the bag, but can’t avoid the nagging feeling that maybe I’ve made a hideous mistake somewhere…. No, I got 30!
This gets me a big cheer from everyone on the team, and many congratulations are sent my way.
The final scores are announced in reverse order. With the 30 points from the bonus round we have 76, and when fourth place is reached with a score of under 70 points it is apparent most teams didn’t do quite as well on the bonus round as we did…
Sure enough, the team that had been leading throughout finish second with 74, and we have won. This is only the second time ever (the first was a couple of years back, before I was on the team).
After the quiz, it’s home to watch the Super Bowl. Historically I’ve always been an AFC fan (I first become a fan of American Football during the NFC’s winning streak in the 80s), and Tony Dungy deserves a Super Bowl, so I’m supporting the Colts.
After the opening kickoff is returned for a Chicago TD, the first quarter is strewn with errors. In the pouring rain that’s not completely surprising.
As well as the many turnovers during the first half the Chicago secondary completely blows the coverage for a 55yd touchdown. Still, by this stage the Bears had already scored a second touchdown, from a decent drive that included a 50+ yard run, and it looks like they might make a game of it.
Sadly it’s not to be. The Indy offence is totally dominating the Chicago defense with a short passing game, and having established the pass, they are also able to run with some success. The only thing that keeps the game close is the Colts inability to convert all of their yardage into points. Several times they get into good positions but have to settle for field goal attempts. Vinatieri misses a 36 yarder (!), another is fumbled by the holder, so they enter half time only 16-14 ahead.
At half time I cook Burgers for Lucy and me, so I’ve no idea if Prince was any good.
During a third quarter in which they again dominate possession they extend the lead to 22-17. By this stage they have completely dominated in terms of both possession time and yardage, but it’s still only a one score game!
The thing is the Bears don’t look like scoring even once. In the fourth quarter Grossman has a long pass intercepted, it’s returned for a Touchdown, and that’s basically game.
Eli Manning gets MVP, which was always a dead cert. I was really impressed by Rhodes and Addai, the two Colt running backs, who both had over 100 total yards. And so that's it for another postseason (I don't have Sky Sports so I only watch Football during January).
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