For Love Of Trivia

Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

In one week, this sleepy college town will become a haven for trivia buffs and geeks the world over. Hold on to your pants, everyone: It's Trivia Weekend:
Fifty-four hours of music and trivia like the rest of the world can only imagine.

I have a story to tell about the last time I went to trivia weekend, but to tell it, I have to share a little bit of information.

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I don't watch network television. I don't like watching the news, because I think it's depressing, and I think that game shows are part of what's wrong with society. I don't make plans to join any specific team, because I don't like the idea of wrecking my life by carrying a notebook and watching hours of television, movies and commercials and taking notes ( I only wish I were joking about the levels to which some groups will go to.) for Trivia, a mere fifty-one weeks away.

My friend Tandy took me to Trivia that year, as she knew some people who would be right off the square, where we could do the rounds of Trivia AND drink to within an inch of our livers. Sounded like a win-win to me. Anyway, Tandy took me to the HQ for "Dyslexics of the World Untie", where Chris Oliva (wife of Jim Oliva, one of Trivia's original instigators) runs a team.


There was a question. I'm not sure when during the game it was, being that I was busy either pickling myself, recovering from the pickling I gave myself, or talking most of the time. But a question was posed which gave a license plate number, asking what television character it referenced. I put the information into the search engine (because, yes, there were computers there) and got an instant answer: "My Mother the Car".

Some strange guy came up from the back, asking me how I got that answer, and I explained that I just put it in the "search" box and hit enter. "I did that too, and I didn't get anything. What did you do? Show me." So I put in the license plate number again. (When you put a license plate number in a search engine, you separate the digits/numbers with a dash. For instance: ABC-123, or for a double letter (truck, etc), you would enter ABCD-123.)

Yes. Genius. I know.

The guy was very excited and said, "I never knew that that was how a license plate was entered! I did NOT know that! That's amazing!"

He kind of creeped me out, and I just said that everyone should know that, and blew him off. He did, however, leave an impression.

Last year, I was looking through the book store, and came across something in the "Of Local Interest" section; a book by that guy who won all that money on Jeopardy.

Apparently, he was in Stevens Point for Trivia Weekend, playing for the team "Dyslexics of the World Untie", which is where I happened to be that year. Which would explain the strangely parochial way that he was congratulating me. I should have totally gotten a gold star.


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Tandy called, and they are playing the trivia movie this weekend. It's called "Live Free of Die", and written by the people who brought us Seinfeld. Or at least, that's how they are promoting it on 89.9 UWSP.

She and I will be going to the midnight showing tonight, and yes, I will be bringing a notebook.

This year will be different, in that this will be the first year that she and I will be doing Trivia weekend outside of Stevens Point. This makes me very sad. If you're not in Point, you won't be able to do the Trivia Stone questions, which have long been my favorite. (Trivia Stone is a vehicular scavenger hunt, where you get allusions to area landmarks, and drive to the final destination to get a stamp in your trivia booklet. Yes, it's even more fun than it sounds. And yes, I'm a geek. You're welcome.)

Anyone who wishes to become a part of the cultural revolution that is Trivia can use this link: http://www.90fmtrivia.org/ .

If you would like to listen to Trivia WHILE IT HAPPENS, use this link, and click "listen live" on the Main Menu: http://www.uwsp.edu/stuorg/wwsp/ . Try not to masturbate all at once. It starts at 5 pm on Friday. Yes, it will be 4/20. I wonder how that managed to happen?

And I'll give you guys a freebie. The Answer to Question #1 will have something to do with Robert Redford.