New Scaratings

The preliminary round of the 14th Sandbag Tournament concluded last night, and there were some significant moves made by several teams. Before discussing the final field, though, I would first like to extend my sincerest thanks to the teams that will not be moving on: Big Guys, Wallaby's, Okie Tonk, Corner Pocket, Hanko's, Blue Horn, Zack's, and K.C.'s. I genuinely appreciate the competition you brought to the tournament and the role you played in making the first post-COVID Sandbag Tournament as successful as it has been. I hope to see you in the field for the McCarthy Cup in the spring.

As for the teams moving on, big congratulations must go to Danny K's for securing the top seed in a dominating fashion. While its total score margin of nearly 4,000 points was convincing, the only number that matters is the one after dropping low scores, and that margin was nearly 8,500! Sincerest congrats to them for being so consistently good throughout the preliminary round. As always, the standings can be found on the tournament page at Don Denton's stats site:

https://ntn.donrdenton.com/contest.php? ... contest=56

There were some interesting happenings in the final week. Most compelling is the story of how Phat Turtle overcame last week's technical difficulties to secure the 4th seed in the knockout round. Similarly, Alien Bar bounced back from a sub-par performance last week to land on the right side of the bubble for the 8th and final seed, and Time Out West did much the same in snagging the 6th seed. Furthermore, Red Fox demonstrated that being consistently good is no match for being great when it counts. Despite winning last night and never scoring below 51k throughout the prelims, Red Fox had to fight hard this week for the right just to eat Danny K's dust for the 2nd seed.

Of course, being great when it counts is even more important now that the tournament enters the single-elimination phase. And what a strong field we have for the knockout round! Congrats to Danny K's, Red Fox, Teaser's, Phat Turtle, Primetime, Time Out, Moose McGuire's, and Alien Bar for making the field. Pretty much all of these teams have made the quarterfinals of the two major trophy tournaments (McCarthy and Sandbag) multiple times. Teaser's, Danny K's, and the folks from Arizona, Ottawa, and Albuquerque have been frequent fixtures in the semifinals, and five of the eight (Danny K's, Red Fox, Teaser's, and the Albuquerque and Ottawa crews) have made it to the finals at least once. Any one of these teams is capable of knocking off any of the others in any given week, so there are sure to be some "upsets" on the way to the finals. I use the scare quotes for "upsets" as a way of acknowledging that we really should not be surprised if any of these teams wins: I really think any one of them could go all the way. Here are the brackets for the knockout round:

1. Danny K's v. 8. Alien Bar
2. Red Fox v. 7. Moose McGuire's
3. Teaser's v. 6. Time Out West
4. Phat Turtle BBQ v. 5. Primetime

Good skill to all this week!

_________________
Anon
"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."

We quake.

See you on the board Tuesday. It will be sincere fun to play for the Chicagoland title.

_________________
Merkin

The odds-makers have given us a 10-12 percent chance of beating youse guys.

Ray J.

According to Don Denton, Time Out West has beaten Teaser's in 10 of its 43 outings this year, so I think the oddsmakers are low-balling youse guys by about half.

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Anon
"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."

See you on the board Tuesday. It will be sincere fun to play for the Chicagoland title.[/quote]
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Merkin, congrats to you Teaser's guys!!

Ray J.

According to Don Denton, Time Out West has beaten Teaser's in 10 of its 43 outings this year, so I think the oddsmakers are low-balling youse guys by about half.
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And ANON, thanks for that info.

Looks like all the favored teams won, avoiding upsets.

So it seems to be: 1. Danny Ks vs 4. Phat Turtle and 2. Red Fox vs 3. Teasers

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BUD - Stained Glass Pub Silver Spring MD
OC BUD - Grotto Pizza DE near Ocean City MD

LET'S GO ....Caps and Os!!!!

The Sandbag Quarterfinals led to what has been an extremely rare event in major tournaments. As near as I can tell (and not counting times when the rules called for re-seeding each round), of the 36 times that the McCarthy and Sandbag Cups have been contested, on only two occasions--the 2006 and 2019 McCarthy Cups--have the top four seeds at the beginning of the elimination round made it to the semifinals.

Until Tuesday.

1) Danny K's, 2) The Fellowship, 3) Teaser's, and 4) Phat Turtle BBQ all advanced to the Final Four last night. The results, as always, can be found at the tournament page on Don Denton's stats site:

https://ntn.donrdenton.com/elimination8.php?KeyCol=19

Before continuing, I would like to express my sincerest thanks to Primetime, Time Out West, Moose McGuires, and Alien Bar for their great tournament runs. You have proven yourselves to be among the best teams out there, and I look forward to seeing you in the McCarthy Cup next spring.

Of course, I also must congratulate the final four teams for making it to the semifinals in such a competitive field. None of these teams are strangers to the semis, and in fact the Arizona folks (including an ancestor of theirs at Stooges) has the oldest semis pedigree of any currently-playing team with their appearance in the final four of the 2001 McCarthy Cup. Teaser's has been here four times, the Arizona folks seven times, Danny K's ten times, and The Fellowship twenty-two times. All of these teams rank among the top ten this year in average score and average rank on Don Denton's stats site, and the top three seeds are all among the top three in those categories. Every one of these teams is more than capable of beating any of the others, so the semifinal matches should be exciting:

1) Danny K's v. 4) Phat Turtle BBQ
2) The Fellowship v. 3) Teaser's

Congrats again to the Final Four, and good skill to all this week!

_________________
Anon
"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."

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Merkin, congrats to you Teaser's guys!!

Ray J.

According to Don Denton, Time Out West has beaten Teaser's in 10 of its 43 outings this year, so I think the oddsmakers are low-balling youse guys by about half.
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And ANON, thanks for that info.[/quote]

Thank you Ray J!

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Merkin

At the conclusion of the last tournament update, I asserted that "the semifinal matches should be exciting." It turns out that I was not blowing smoke: one of the semifinal matches may have been the most exciting in tournament history.

There have been some close semifinals games in major (McCarthy or Sandbag) tournament history. For example, in the 2016 Sandbag Danny K's beat The Fellowship by 379 points. Even closer was Mad River's 275 point victory over Buster's Bar in the 2018 Sandbag. But the closest I've been able to find is The Fellowship squeaking by Teaser's by 224 points earlier this year in the McCarthy Cup.

Then there was Tuesday's semifinal.

While the Fellowship defeated Teaser's 59,582 to 44,998, the battle between top-seed Danny K's and a scrappy Phat Turtle BBQ went right down to the wire. When the dust settled, Danny K's had 55,714 and Phat Turtle 55,684--a margin of ONLY 30 POINTS! I strongly suspect that this is the narrowest margin of victory in a Showdown major tournament semifinal, EVER. (As always, the complete tournament standings can be found on the tournament page at Don Denton's site: https://ntn.donrdenton.com/elimination8.php?KeyCol=19 ). Phat Turtle's near-upset was made even more remarkable by the fact that the team only had 8 boxes in play, compared to Danny K's 24. While such a close loss must have been heartbreaking, to have come within 30 point against a team with three times as many boxes is worthy of note and admiration. So before going any further, I would like to congratulate both Phat Turtle and Teaser's for their great tournament runs against a strong field. I suspect they will be favored to make similar runs in the McCarthy Cup in spring.

This, of course, leaves Danny K's and The Fellowship to compete in the tournament final next week. These teams are not just #1 and #2 in the tournament, and not just the top 2 teams in average points and average rank this year, they are also two of the top tournament teams of all time. With 7 major tournament finals appearances, Danny K's now has more than any team other than The Fellowship (18) and the now-defunct D.C. team (13). It has converted 4 of it's previous 6 finals appearances into championships--the 2011, 2015, and 2016 McCarthy Cups, and the 2016 Sandbag--which also makes it the third most-successful major tournament champion, too (behind only The Fellowship's 13 and the D.C. team's 8).

Past history, of course, bears little on current performance, but even here the two teams are very evenly matched. In the past five head-to-head outings, Danny K's has won two and The Fellowship has won three. In many ways, then, there could not be a more appropriate or better-matched teams to compete in the 2022 Sandbag Finals. The Fellowship would like to extend its best wishes to its frienemisis in Orange, CA for this week's match, and good skill to both teams.

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Anon
"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."

It was a good game and a very close one. Phat Turtle gave us a great run and are to be congratulated, especially with only 8 boxes playing. I'm just wondering if that group is the remains of the once great Phoenix area teams that were usually high in the rankings in the past years.

Luckily, I changed one of my answers from the wrong answer to the right one, in the one of the later rounds. It may not be the difference, but it didn't hurt. Either way, we'll try to do the same next week without 2 of our major players. They were both out this week too.

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Middle age is when a broad mind and a slim waist exchange places.

Final Scores:

Danny K's: 57,321
The Fellowship: 52,232

". . .And Lo! Didst the Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in purest shimmering samite, hold aloft Ex Arena Sacculum from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that Danny K's was to carry it for the next year, and to bear the responsibility of calling the trivia royalty throughout the land in the autumnal season to joust with each other again on the trivia lists for the honor of sipping from the all-wetware cup of victory."

Now, I know what many of you are thinking: strange women lying in ponds distributing cups is no basis for a system of trivia competition. And you are right--the folks at Danny K's needed no supernatural help to win this tournament. They won it the old-fashioned way: by great teamwork, dominating their way to the #1 seed, and superior knowledge (especially, apparently, in the field of vexillology). They have EARNED the right to be called the Monarchs of Trivia, no watery tarts required. They become only the second team (after The Fellowship) to win the Sandbag Tournament twice, and their five major tournament victories (The 2011, 2015, and 2016 McCarthy Cups and the 2016 and 2022 Sandbag Trophies) are the third-most for any team in major tournament history going back to 1998.

The Fellowship would like to be the first to congratulate sincerely the folks at Danny K's for their great tournament and well-deserved victory--they are truly a shining exemplar of Trivia Royalty. Thus, I hereby crown Danny K's the champion of the 14th (mostly)Annual Sandbag Tournament, and we look forward to their hosting of the 15th edition next fall. I trust someone from the team will contact me privately with an address so I can ship the trophy there.

Before closing the books here, I want to take this opportunity to thank every team that participated in this year’s Sandbag Tournament. You, the playership, are what make this event a success and such great fun every year. Sincerest thanks to all, and I hope we will see you in future tournaments.

And now, in accordance with tradition, I declare the 14th (mostly)Annual Sandbag Tournament closed, and I call upon the Triviots of the world to assemble a few months from now to celebrate the 23rd Annual McCarthy Cup Tournament, to be hosted by The Fellowship.



*Darkness falls as the flame slowly extinguishes. The music swells, and dewy-eyed observers look on silently.*

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Anon
"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."

It was indeed a very good and close tournament. We did well on the final tragedy as I call it. Vexiollogy is usually a strong point of mine, but not Dominica. I bled points, but some of the others did not. We had it down to 2 answers, so that helped tremendously. Hats off to the strong competition from the other sites. Any of us could have won the tournament. It was fun and we enjoyed it all.

Some of the other casual players made a real effort to show up weekly. That really helped our cause. I'll contact you with the info and again thanks for the competition from all the other sites. We'll keep the trophy with pride for a year and maybe longer. Good skill to all.

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Middle age is when a broad mind and a slim waist exchange places.

And congratulations again to Danny K's on the title and kudos to the Fellowship on the Silver. As Teasers has done it at least twice in row, let me suggest that in the future we make the 3rd place game an official thing. We can win the coveted bronze boot in the butt.

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Merkin