WIST Semi Finals

The Bards of Didsbury beat The Alexandra (Stockport).  Tony reports....

"We enjoyed the company of our friends from Stockport. The quiz itself was highly suited to a Withquiz team, or so I thought.  All of our team played well and there were lots of twos and steals to brighten our evening.  In the end I thought the team going second had the edge and, as the score suggests, it was rather one-sided.  Some very interesting rounds but the connections round at the end was highly exercising to the mind.  Bond Street and Income tax were very clever connections but both teams were up to them with full marks to both sides.  We can now look forward to yet another tussle with the Grand Admiral for the WIST crown."

...and Mike from The Alex....

"Although our defeat ended Stockport's interest in 'Europe' this season (Stexit?) we had an enjoyable evening at the Cricket Club and the quiz was played in a very friendly spirit.  We'd like to blame losing the toss, or the weather, or playing in unfamiliar surroundings for our demise, but the Bards were simply too good for us and they were home-and-dry by half-time.  As is usually the case we did better on the WithQuiz half of the questions, but it would have been difficult to replicate our poor performance in round 1 across the whole quiz.  Hopefully this doesn't come across as sour grapes, as The Bards were more than worthy winners, but the (supposedly) Stockport-style questions just didn't suit us.  Having read the thoughts of other teams I accept we may be in a minority, but we found them somewhat arcane ("full of obscure shite" was another view) and we struggled with the seemingly endless 'what connects/what links/what do...have in common' questions.  Perhaps because it was effectively a tension-free dead rubber we really enjoyed the second half, which contained some well-done themes. The evening finished with a convivial chat about the history of the club, the local area and 'airy bottoms.  We wish the Bards well in the final - they'll take some stopping."

Dunkin' Donitz beat The Opsimaths fair and square.  The Opsimaths trailed in the 30-question round and never got back onto level terms.  It was a splendidly friendly affair with Bob providing a firm, clear and amiable performance as QM.  Why is it though that whenever Bob is QMing the Opsimaths seem to lose?  Don't we pay him enough?

Kieran sends in his analysis with some interesting comparisons that touch most of the WithQuiz teams....

"A splendid evening as ever contesting The Opsimaths.  These encounters are always highlights of the season, eagerly anticipated and usually producing something memorable or at least a gripe that rumbles on for months afterwards.  A bit like United v Arsenal used to be.  Without the pizza obviously.  And Roy Keane.

We triumphed this time, which keeps us just leading in our head-to-head matches over the last few seasons.   We have to admit that the paper favoured us but we've had plenty of Wednesday evenings this season when we felt that was not the case.  As one wise sage once put it 'there's no such thing as good or bad questions just ones that you know the answer to and others that you don't.'  Having said that we thought tonight's paper was excellent and an aggregate score of 94 is pretty much on the money for a WIST contest.  Answer of the night undoubtedly came from the Opsi genius who worked out that Bond Street costs £320 in Monopoly.  There were some serious quiz brain cells used up in getting that one.  Über QM Bob helmed the evening with his usual good nature and quiet authority.  He's now officiated at 4 games involving the Opsimaths this season and they've lost three of them - big hint to any home team playing them in the next few weeks and who find themselves short of a question master!

The evening ended with a discussion between Barry, Mike and me about which Premier League clubs the Withquiz teams most resemble. The conclusions were (takes a deep breath and retires to a safe distance):

We're United (despite the fact that two of us bleed sky blue and Martin leans that way).  We used to win it pretty much every year but those days are gone and now every game is a struggle - we still don't have Roy Keane though.

Opsimaths are City.  Been there for ever and never done anything remarkable until the last few seasons when something happened to change them into THE power in the league.

Bards are Chelsea.  Similar to City/Opsis but got there first - and they have the smell of money about them.

Ethel are Arsenal.  Always difficult to beat and always challenging at the top but never quite doing it - up to now at least.

Which leaves the Albert as Leicester.  Mike as Ranieri and Eveline as some sort of Vardy/Mahrez cross.  OK let's not go there and apologies to all concerned.  But they would be very popular league champions.

The Charas are Villa.  Used to be reliable top six contenders but years of under investment and a succession of useless managers, all called Megson, have left them languishing near the bottom seemingly unable to save themselves.

I suppose the History Men could be Spurs - if Spurs had ever won anything or even contended for anything meaningful. 

Which leaves a few to go at.  Who are Everton?  Who is managed by a Pulis or an Allardyce?  And which club even comes close to TMTCH?

The floor, or at least the message board, is yours."

A-Trophy Semi Finals

Albert lost by some way to The Prodigals in their last match before the great Bassett departure (see below).  A humbled Albert team captain, Mike reports:

This week both the History Men and The Charas go for Round 1 Question 20:

If you go to the Albert Club monthly Monday quizzes you'll know by now that two of our favourite, and longest serving, quizzers, Mark and Cheryl Bassett from the Prodigals team are leaving these shores for Vienna at the end of this month.  Mark has a new job working with the IAEA protecting us all from a nuclear holocaust (I think).

To say a fond farewell they would like as many of their friends as can make it to join them in the Fletcher Moss a week on Friday (19th) from 8pm onwards.  See you there!