Back On The Radio

I doubt many people were left waiting with bated breath, but I can report to the 2 or 3 people who might be interested that I wiped the floor with my Round 1 opponent in the Mark & Brian Tournament of Champions. I would have shut the hapless Lisa out, but I had a brain fart on the oldest religion in the world (I said Buddhism, but the Hindu Vedas predate the forming of Buddhism by several hundred years). I also lost in on an easy 70s rock question ('Hair of the Dog' is an album by Nazareth, not Jethro Tull) and heard a Betty Crocker question wrong. Regardless, I won 5-1 with 2 questions to spare, and I'm okay with my performance. For my efforts, I won an 8 CD box set of heavy metal music, a gift that surely would have been more welcome in my collection when I was 20 than now, but it's free and that's what matters. If I win round 2, I get a Parrot Hands Free Speakerphone; round 3's prize is a 2 day trip to Caesar's Palace in Vegas to see Jerry Seinfeld, and the grand prize is a cruise to Mexico for 7 days. I've always said the only way you're going to get me on a cruise is to give me a free one, so I guess they were listening.

My 2nd round match is Thursday, July 31st at 8:30AM, same bat channel (95.5KLOS in LA). I heard my opponent play, and I'm not very worried about this match, but round 3 and 4 are going to be extremely tough. The remaining players are all very good and quick to respond. I have my work cut out for me, but I'm confident that I'll prevail! Wish me luck!

My Impending Radio Fame

While I'd much rather be famous for winning the World Series of Poker Main Event, I'm going to have to settle for being a radio Game Show contestant. In Spring of 2007, I was a five day champion on the Mark and Brian trivia contest on LA-based KLOS-FM (95.5). Basically, it's a best of 10 trivia contest where you yell your name if you know the answer. I pretty much brutalized my opponents; anyone who knows me is aware that I'm good at two things, and one of them is rapid access to the vast amount of useless knowledge stored in my head. Well, useless unless you're decimating people at SceneIt or winning a few thousand bucks on Jeopardy!. One of the benefits of being an undefeated 5 day champion of the game is that they do a Tournament of Champions once they've got 16 of them. The prizes I received for my run were Disney DVDs, some CDs I already owned, and a visit to the Mark and Brian show that I've yet to cash. However, they actually give you a pretty good prize for winning the TOC. The last two prizes were a Toyota Yaris and a 52" widescreen TV. Knowing my luck, it'll be a cruise to Mexico or something completely uninteresting. Considering my prizes on Jeopardy! and Win Ben Stein's Money were a DCC Player and professional hair care products, this is even more likely.

Anyway, after a long stretch, they've finally scheduled the TOC to start this coming Monday, July 21st at 8:30AM. I'm actually playing on the first game, so if you want to hear my voice, tune in to the show. I'm a competitive freak, so I'll give it my best regardless if the prize is a BRAND NEW CAR or a George Foremean Lean Mean Grilling Machine. Here's the link to the website, if you don't live in LA, Portland or one of the other areas where they syndicate Mark and Brian's show. Just click on the Listen Live button, and remember, it's 8:30AM Pacific Time. http://www.955klos.com/

If I win Monday's game, then I have to beat three other people to win the whole thing. Even though I've been a winner on a much bigger show than this, I'm very amped to win it (especially considering they're getting rid of the game after this, making it the final TOC ever). Wish me luck, kids!