Wisconsin vs. Tennessee vs. New York

This is ther first quiz where there is only one room.  The teams are all great and doing well.  Wisconsin breezed out to an early advantage by taking the first two questions.  This advantage, however, was short lived as they made three errors in the next four questions.  New York took the opportunity to come back and take the lead.  After 6 questions, Wisconsin had 60, New York 50, and Tennessee 20.

The quiz feels like Tennessee is letting it pass them by.  They neeeded a question, and Kelton Balka was just the man to get a "Quote these two verses."  We had two long discussions.  One about whether quoting the whole verse was acceptable for an answer (Dr. Knapp ruled that in the case of Colssians 2:21, it was) or whether three types of music was question #6.  (You just had to be there to hear that and understand why we had a five minute discussion about the three types of music).

New York got two free questions on question 7 and they are incredibly desirous of continuing to feast off the errors of others.  So, entering the repeat of Question #8, it was WI 40, TN 40, NY 60.  Kelton had his question 8 ruled correct. And there was another challenge.  Word of advice from an anonymous blogger.  The more you challenge, the less credence the quizmaster gives to that challenge.  Make each one worthwhile, and your success rate will go up.  Dr. Knapp thinks taking your hands away from your mouth will help you be heard.  It certainly improves diction, and for that, the going deaf audience is thankful for his hint.

Wisconsin calls a timeout after question 8, trailing (30 for WI to 60 for TN and 80 for NY).  I can only imagine their coach is telling them to slow down and not continue down this treacherous road--they have 6 errors!  Of course, that sort of wisdom is great in theory, but when chair number five heard the question asked, she could not resist.  But she got it right!

Halftime Score
WI 50-TN 50-NY 80.  New york is ahead only because they refuse to make these large quantities of errors.  This is a wise decision.  There are 11 errors and only 10 correct and if you can avoid the traps, you'll do well.

Wisconsin 4 (who made a guest appearance on the live podcast earlier) knew that we need to redeem the time!  There is nothing like a good finish this verse question to make the quiz seem to speed up.  Kelton got it to make the score WI 60-TN 80-NY 80.  Dr. Knapp threw out two questions.  Not sure if he has an issue with the question writer or the quizmaster who is trying to read it, but either way, the emotional swings within a fifteen second period are intensely palpable!

Wisconsin 2 got them headed down the right path, but New York three (Josh) answers with a great quote.  The score after 15 questions is WI 70-TN 80-NY 120.  New York is guaranteed to at least tie for the middle win at this point, so their cautious strategy is paying off (and should porobably be continued).  Of course, there is also the strategy of just letting Josh get all the questions.  Josh seems fond of this one and went ahead and answered another question (guaranteeing a win with 140 points).  Yet another challenge leads me to reinforce my strategy of minimizing your challenges.  Literally seven challenges in one quiz cannot be winning you friends.  Just save the challenges for the really egregious stuff.

Timeout after question 16.  Score is WI 60-TN 80-NY 140.  I really think that this quiz will come down to whether Wisconsin's errors continue or if they get a few correct. Tennessee, not to be outdone, makes an error.  Wisconsin gets the tossup, putting them ahead 80-70.  Wisconsin gets an error, and Tennessee gets the tossup to take the lead 90-70.  TN needs just one of these questions.  They get up on question 19 (specifically Kelton) and get it.  Quiz over.

High win for New York with 140.  Middle win for Tennessee with 110.  Wait, Wisconsin makes their twelfth error on Question 20, allowing Tennessee to get the tossup.  Mercifully, Dr. Knapp throws the question out and he allows Wisconsin to answer #20 correctly, to garner their 80 points for a low win.  Thank you, Dr. Knapp!