It’s been a hell of a week, gang. The server which hosts my website and Email went down for a couple of days, and that just will not do – my contact address is now “shanrockstrivia@gmail.com.” I had lost quite a bit of information once everything was “restored,” so if anyone sent me an Email in the last week or so that needs my attention, please contact me again. Also, some loser broke into my car and got away with my winter coat, my quiz kit . . . and 37 cents (he’s not a very good crook, is he?)! So if you see a turd walking around in an Amelia Earhart jacket, timing things with my green stopwatch, and writing strongly worded letters with whisper paper & ShanRock’s Triviology pens, please do tell him that I’d like a word with him.

On to more pressing issues of the day and age . . . The Clash of The Trivia Titans! This annual Triviology tournament will be held on Sunday, February 28th, which is also the end of the winter Olympics, so you have no excuse not to attend! I’ll award tons of different prizes and engraved trophies, and in fact, everyone will get ShanRock’s Triviology beer cozy just for playing! Absolutely anyone is invited to play in this two-tiered competition, even if you’ve never played or won before. The first competition, The Olympian Open, will kick off about 5:30. There will be multiple prizes and trophies awarded after this quiz, but only the champion team will continue as the wild card seed in the Titan Invitaional, which will start about 8:00. Here are the teams who have thus far qualified as “Titans” (by winning 12 or more quizzes in the past year) for the 2010 tournament:

Fear, Fear For Your Safety

Fellatio Hornblower

I Smell A Clambake

Pimp Sticks

Release The Kraken

Todd Bridges of Madison County

*Olympian Open Champion (Insert your name here!)

I know that there are a couple of other teams on the brink of qualifying, and you may indeed keep racking up wins until the very last quiz before the tournament (I recommend Ella Street Social Club, Wxyz, and Kenton Club, as they are the most sparsely attended these days). If you think your team name should be on this list, let me know – I won’t leave anyone out! Check out the Hall of Fame to tally up your team wins. By the way, it doesn’t matter if you play under a different team name every time you make the trivia – the wins still count. This is why we record each winning “team captain” each quiz – so that you can mix up your team name and members to your heart’s desire!

Not every trophy awarded  at The COTT will be determined on the quizzery battlefield – YOU will soon vote for your Favorite Venue, Best Bartender, Favorite Foes, Best Shit-Talkers, and The Underdog Award (for that cute little team that never seems to win). You can vote one of two ways – you may either complete an online survey I will send out later this week, or you may fill out a hard copy ballot at a quiz night.

Great Scott – it’s time to go Back to the Future! Here are your instructions: drive at exactly 88 mph until you reach Peter’s 19th Hole. You will arrive by 7:00 PM on Saturday, February 6th . . . but the year will be 1985!! I recommend wearing a protective down ski vest. Scott will be your “Doc” for the night, guiding you through the quizzery, and challenging your knowledge of the B2TF trilogy (but focusing on the first film). After the quiz, everyone will be safely delivered back to 2010, and the champion team will win a trophy and gift certificates to the bar. As an extra prize, we will also give out “flipper discs” of the Bourne triology – DVD on one side and Blu-Ray on the other! It remains to be seen who will win these strange, futuristic items – I have a feeling that they might be awarded to the Triviologists with the best costumes . . .

The weekend quizzery doesn’t end there, folks! On Sunday, I will host a pre-Super Bowl sports quiz from 1 – 3 on SuperBowl Sunday at the Rialto! The trivia will cover mulitple sports topics, and the champion team wins a trophy, and a $50 gift certificate to Rialto ($20 for 2nd place, $10 for 3rd). The quiz will of course be over before kick-off, so stick around and watch the game while enjoying happy hour food and drink prices if you wish. After the game, I will still host my standard Triviology at East Burn at 6:00.

I have created a COTT 2010 page laying out the details of this year’s Clash, but please feel free to call or Email me with any questions at all. In short, it is a two-tiered tournament, with back-to-back quizzes. The first quiz, The Olympian Open (held at 5:30), is open to absolutely anyone who wants to play, and the champion team goes up against the Titan teams as a wild card seed in the second quiz, the Titan Invitational (held at 8:00). Titan teams are those who have won at least 12 times at ANY of my quizzes, lunar or otherwise, in the preceding “trivia season,” which is the whole year since the last COTT. By the way, if you think you qualify as a Titan, and we haven’t spoken yet, contact me for confirmation – check out the Hall of Fame for the listing of 2009 champions. If you are chomping at the bit to be a Titan, you still have lots of chances to qualify – your best bets for winning are at Ella Street Social Club, Wxyz, and Kenton Club. Also, remember that if you play at all 10 of my venues, you have earned The Dekageddon, which adds one (and only one!) tally point to your wins for the season. Mind you, being an Olympian participant is MORE desirable in a way – the Olympian champions will win twice as much stuff as anybody else!

Speaking of champions, check out the sweet Gryffindor Firebolt (the trophy broom) & The Quidditch Cup, hoisted by the Harry Potter quiz champs, Get These Motherfuckin’ Snapes Off My Motherfuckin’ Nimbus 2000!