Cup kicks off with wins for SWMCC, St Caths, Dr O'Neil, Albert Park and Albert

Results & Match Reports

So off we go with the cup.  A number of interesting ties in the first round:

• League 2nd place team, St Caths played 4th place, Brains of Oak.  In a high scoring match league position told and St Caths ran out 44 - 39 winners (despite Gerry managing 7 twos)

• In the same vein SWMCC (7th in the league) ran out 40 - 36 winners against the Pigs (8th in the league)

• However in an upset to league form, 10th placed Dr O'Neil sneaked home against 5th placed Snoopy's Friends, 38 to 36

• Also bucking relative league status 10th placed Albert Park romped home 38 - 33 against 8th placed Opsimaths down at the Albert Club.  In the traditional 'Albert derby' ceremony at the end of this game the Raven Ale trophy was inscribed with the winner's name.  This is the 10th anniversary of the Raven Ale trophy and, in terms of number of victories, the Park are rapidly catching up with the Opsimaths

• And to complete the Cup v League form guide, 6th placed Albert beat 3rd placed Historymen by 37 to 31

These results mean that next week Snoopy's are setting, whilst in the Cup:

• Griffing Braggarts are at home to Dr O'Neil

• SWMCC are at home to the Albert

• Albert Park are at home to St Caths

and in the Plate:

• Electric Pigs are at home to the Historymen

• Opsimaths are at home to the Brains of Oak

Quiz Paper Verdict

The paper this week was set by the Braggarts, this season's league champions.  By common consent we enjoyed another excellent paper.  Aggregate scores came in the range 68 (the dunces at the Red Lion) to 83 (the brains at St Catherine's Club).  There were many excellent questions that hit the 'tip of the tongue' criterion at the Albert Club.  A few too many pop questions was the only Opsimathic criticism.  But then we abandoned our interest in pop music shortly after Hoagy Carmichael stopped writing hits.  Fortunately for the Albert Park they had teeny-bopper Pete on the team and this was the crucial difference on the night - he got all the pop questions right.

The Question of the Week

My 'question of the week' award goes to Round 2 Question 2:

 What was the name of the Bishop of Durham, famous for his views on the Resurrection and Ian McGregor, whose consecration was followed by a bad fire at York Minster?

(and, if I'm not mistaken, he was also Vicar of Didsbury much earlier in his ecclesiastical career)

For the answer to this, and all the week's questions and answers click here.

Chatterbox

Reporting Gerry Collins' 7 twos above in the St Caths v Brains game makes me wonder whether we have ever had 8 twos in a game.  I can recall plenty of occasions when 6 or 7 have been scored but can't remember witnessing the full house.  Anybody recall 8 twos? (Since writing this Kieran has emailed to say that Martin of Braggarts fame has achieved the 8 twos on a number of occasions in past seasons - but so far not yet this season).

A bit of team name news for next season....

After years of trying to squeeze another half sensible anagram out of 'Red Lion', Dr O'Neil have hit upon the obvious way forward.  They have reverted to the full title of their home venue, namely THE Red Lion, and immediately come up with a commemoration of the lesser known Frenchwoman (and Grandmother of the famous Auguste) Ethel Rodin.  So from October Dr O'Neil become 'Ethel Rodin'.  Remember SWMCC have already opted to trade under the slightly more interesting title of 'Stumped' for next season.