For many years, I've made an effort to write a detailed post mortem for each contest. People do a LOT of work preparing their games, and I think every team must have a member who did just one thing. It's fitting to recognize that one thing.
Unfortunately, multiple work deadlines are keeping me from that holy task. The contest ended over a week ago, and these are literally the first words I've been able to get down. My apologies to Second Place Stars, who should be getting compliments instead of silence. In the meantime, here are a bunch of the contest scoring details and particulars, including one or two details that only Dom Grillo and myself would ever care about.
The winning team aside, this was a really, really tight contest. Only 25 points separated the 2nd-place team from the 8th-place team, which for Williams Trivia is highly unusual. The run from 2nd through 6th places was historically clumped:
| 2nd | Jack Is da Bomb | 254 |
| 3rd | Just for the Halibut | 249 |
| 3rd | Worms | 249 |
| 5th | Trebecois | 245 |
| 6th | Donkey Punchbowl | 243 |
| 7th | Flannel Fury | 234 |
| 8th | Flying Sheep | 229 |
An "invisible" team makes it even tighter. Ever since Dom Grillo and I won the contest as a two-man team in 2008, immediately followed by a lot of anxiety and angry mojo, we've used the simple tactic of having two teams: one for on-airs only, and one for bonuses. That way, we can continue to play as hard as we can without risking another Stink Stank Stunk moment. Our combined doubleteam score was 260, not counting an Action Trivia trick shot submission that was never scored (and presumably, never seen). Those of you who want to see me swing my arm around to catch 30 quarters stacked on the elbow will have to let your imaginations run amok.
Anyhow, that there is some concentrated competition that would do any contest proud.
22 teams finished over 100 points, which is remarkable. That compares with 15 last January, 17 the January before that, 10 before that, 17 before that, 13 before that... you get the idea. In fact, the trivia archive has no record of any previous contest in which twenty different teams broke 100 points.
Best of all: on-campus underclassmen teams appear to have finished 3rd, 5th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 19th, 22nd and 23rd. I don't know how many contests we'd have to count back to get to nine teams, but this is just an exceptional turnout that was turned out by Second Place Stars.
After a few hours, the only doubt about the contest was whether or not BOMO was serious. They were.
However, the race for second place was volatile. Here are the top five teams at various intervals during the second half of the contest.
| 1:52 | BOMO by 9 | (ahead of, in order, Jack, Donkey, Geezers, and Trebecois) |
| 2:44 | BOMO by 1 | (Donkey, Jack, Sheep, Live Long) |
| 2:55 | BOMO by 22 | (Jack, Pastrami, Donkey, Sheep) |
| 3:51 | BOMO by 22 | (Donkey, Sheep, Jack, Pastrami) |
| 4:20 | BOMO by 10 | (Donkey, Pastrami, Sheep, Jack) |
| 4:48 | BOMO by 18 | (Donkey, Jack, Pastrami, Live Long) |
| 5:12 | BOMO by 21 | (Donkey, Jack, Live Long, Pastrami) |
| 5:55 | BOMO by 26 | (Jack, Donkey, Trebecois, Live Long) |
| 6:50 | BOMO by 22 | (Jack, Trebecois, Hailbut, Sheep) |
| 7:17 | BOMO by 51 | (Jack, Trebecois, Halibut, Flannel) |
| FINAL | BOMO by 51 | (Jack, Halibut, Worms, Trebecois) |
Of course, some of that volatility can be explained by catching a scoring update in which some teams' scores have been entered and others are still on the way. Or maybe BOMO just had an incredibly strong 2:45 to 2:55. Nevertheless, you can take any other team in that scrum, and watch them bounce around.
As for BOMO, they won their fourth contest. And these are the semesters they did it in:
In other words, BOMO won the 15th, 20th, 24th and 91st contests.
I think I'm going to call this one: the nearly 34-year gap is gonna stand as a record. Unless... hmm. Hey, Second Place Stars. Have any plans yet for January 18, 2047?
Eighteen teams got 100+ on-air points. (Seventeen others scored between 1 and 98.) In order, they are:
| Assassination is Kind of Like Voting | 177 (*) |
| Jack is Da Bomb | 175 |
| Donkey Punchbowl | 163 |
| BOMO | 162 |
| Trebecois | 156 |
| Live Long and Suck It, Zachary Quinto | 151 |
| Just for the Halibut | 148 |
| The Flying Sheep | 146 |
| Worms: In My Life, In My Body, In My Trivia | 136 |
| Spherical Pastrami | 136 |
| Willy E's Flannel Fury | 133 |
| Leaky and the Faucets | 132 |
| Geezers on Stun | 116 |
| Nothing But Growls and Fists | 110 |
| Armstrong4 Calf Muscles | 109 |
| Jeff McMahon is a Traitor | 105 |
| Deadly Venomous Unicorns of Doom | 103 |
| Us (AKA D4 2015) | 100 |
*BOOKKEEPING NOTE: Assassination is Kind of Like Voting is only credited with 162 on-air points, but I kept the IM text and checked the points awarded.
Obviously, other teams may have scoring discrepancies of their own. With BOMO winning by 51 points, I imagine the search for those points will be less than intense. Nevertheless, I found ours. The missing 15 points would move Assassination from 17th to 15th place on the official standings.
Top Score: BOMO 36
(6-point lead over The Parsnips; and Donkey Punchbowl)
Worms: In My Life, In My Body, In My Trivia 23
(3-point lead over BOMO)
Trebecois 14
(1-point lead over We Got Party Hats (Party Hats); Deadly Venomous Unicorns of Doom; Geezers on Stun; and Big Pimpin')
The Daisy Hill Puppy Farm 10
(2-point lead over BOMO; and Worms)
BOMO 13
(2-point lead over Just for the Halibut; Flying Sheep; and Spherical Pastrami)
4 Calf Muscles 10
(1-point lead over BOMO)
The Daisy Hill Puppy Farm; Donkey Punchbowl; and Jeff McMahon Is A Traitor 12
(1-point lead over Just for the Halibut; and BOMO)
BOMO 9
(2-point lead over The Daisy Hill Puppy Farm)
What might have been: "Geezers on Stun" went to sleep one hour too soon.
4 Calf Muscles; Jack Is Da Bomb; Just for the Halibut; Flying Sheep; BOMO; and Flannel Fury 9
(1-point lead over The Daisy Hill Puppy Farm; and Worms)
A six-way tie!
Worms; BOMO; and Jack Is Da Bomb 9
(1-point lead over Just for the Halibut; 4 Calf Muscles; and Flannel Fury)
It is appropriate, if disgusting, that Worms had the top score on a Dogs bonus. Conversely, the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm has no excuses.
Fill in the following phrases and act them out ("I like it in the ____ _____"; "_______ isn't a crime, it's an interest"; "Kill it with a ________").
BOMO 5
(1-point lead over Trebecois; Worms; We Got Party Hats; and Live Long and Suck It)
Perform a trick shot video (basketball, ping pong ball, pool ball, whatever).
BOMO 6
(1-point lead over Flying Sheep; and Us (aka D4 2015))
As far as I can tell, no on-campus team attempted the first Action Trivia, which would have required them to bring a professor down to the radio station.
And apparently, no team solved the Ultra Bonus: items on state quarters.
BOMO had the top score on both Actions, four Hour Bonuses, and one Super. They had the second-highest score on three of the remaining four Hour Bonuses, and the other Super. If you ever feel like winning a contest by fifty points, this is not a bad strategy for doing so.
A post-contest flurry of archeological score repair was done by Second Place Stars a week after their game. The updated numbers and standings made some of the math in the above post obsolete. They include: