Today, I start the aforementioned preview series on the Bible Quiz season. To tell the truth, I had already written a somewhat lengthy preview based on hypothetical questions that I would I ask myself about the upcoming year. However, I have scrapped that idea (if you have questions, email them to Startup – he’s back on the job so you’ll start receiving adequate answers again) and have decided to go with a 3-part series on teams, quizzers, and what I’d like to see go on in Bible Quiz this year.
I’ll start today with teams.
The Top 5
1. Pleasant View KY
How can you pick against a team that is returning both of the Wells and just finished the Grand Slam of Bible Quiz. The answer – you can’t! However, I think that somewhere along the line they will lose one of the big four. But they’ll be at the top again at the end of the year.
2. Calvary FL
This is the surprise team of the top 5 probably. I would compare this team a lot to Pleasant View a couple of years ago. Last year, they were just getting their feet wet in major competitions. This year, they should win one of the big four at some point and never finish outside of the top 5.
3. Heritage Mission
They answered the critics last year even though they lost two quizzers who many thought were their best. This team returns James Watkins and Faith Lofgren and should pick up right where they left off. I think they also could be strong enough to give PVKY a run for their money at a few quizzes this year, and I really can’t wait to see them quiz…
4. Faith SC
I’m always a big fan of Faith. They have the most extensive Bible Quiz program of anyone. They have furthered their dominance of the PQA the last couple of years and return a bevy of strong quizzers. If they’re going to move up on the list, they need to find a dominant quizzer who can carry them through some tough quizzers. If one can emerge, they will have plenty of people there to back him up.
5. Schaumberg
Of all the teams I have in my top 5, this is the one I know the least about. They looked better than they have since this website started last year, and I’m banking on that success to continue. Watch out for Eric David who returns as the team’s leader. Hopefully, they will show up at a few more tournaments this year so we can get a better feel for how good they really are.
3 Top 10 Crackers
These are 3 teams that could or should be in the top 10 this year that didn’t finish the season in the top 10 last year.
1. Woodside
This is a lock. Mark it down – Woodside will be in the top 10 all year long. They just missed being in the top 10 at the end of last year and just missed being in my top 5 for this year. Like Faith SC, they have quizzer after quizzers waiting in the wings to step up and be great for this team.
2. Open Door
These guys are basically a lock also to appear in the top 10 this season. The key for them is just to show up at more tournaments. I don’t think they are quite deep enough to win a big tournament, but don’t be surprised if they slide in around 5th at the New Year’s Classic.
3. Calvary SC
Again I don’t know a lot about these guys either. And of these three, my expectation for Calvary is more could than should. They had a strong performance at NYC last year and 3 undefeated teams in the PQA this year.
So there’s the prognostication. You can go ahead and let me have it on the message board about how I didn’t give your team enough dap.