In some respects the visitors are rather like the Lemmings, bobbing between the B League to the A League and back again the following season so we knew that to keep our hopes of promotion alive we would need to win this game.
To ensure there would be no distractions the Flag asked that the radio/juke box be turned off so the game started in an atmosphere of calm and serenity - almost monastic!!
After the first couple of specialist rounds, the Lemmings had built up a substantial lead of 11 points and began to feel confident – but then it all changed!!! Not only did the Flag have two very successful rounds but the peace and tranquillity vanished with waves of sound signalling the arrival of the ladies darts teams.
The question master Dave from the Nags Head managed to cope with the noise and valiantly persevered but at the end of the Specialist the Lemmings were trailing 67 to 55. There was nothing wrong with the questions (in fact only 2 were not answered by either side) and the balance was fine- interestingly Bob, Tomo and Nick all scored 9 whilst Matt broke the mould with a crushing 12.
After a beer break in which the Salopian and Newby Wyke took something of a bashing the 
Lemmings returned to the fray, bravely overcoming the chilling war cries from the darts area and working with much discipline managed to win the general knowledge with 90 to 83. Unfortunately this still left a deficit of 5 and the visitors wore the victor’s crown.
Dave the question master did a valiant job but a separate timekeeper would have been able to keep a firmer grip on the game.
Individual scores were Bob 9/15, Matt 12/24, Nick 9/6 and Tomo 9/18; conferred points were 14/16 with 2/11 pass-overs – the visitors picked up 5/6 pass-overs.
Brian then appeared with a magnificent supper of burgers, onions, chips and bread for a spectacular finish – many thanks Brian, Dave and the Flag for a most enjoyable evening.
7 comments:
As Nick has stated, the specialist round saw the most remarkable swing that I can remember, it took 8 questions for us not to get a “3”, but that was about it for quite a while as the Flag stormed back. My night followed a somewhat uneven course, the first 3 specialists were friendly, I aced the last 7 GKs, but what went on in between is best passed over, which is exactly what tended to happen. We spent the GKs making gentle inroads on the Flag’s lead, only to be repeatedly stymied when a gentle q. would appear in front of them at an inopportune moment. I went home feeling miffed about the balance, but when looked back over, I would have done worse on the Flag’s questions – there is a lesson in there somewhere about one may and may not choose to remember.
The ladies’ darts were not the sole source of vocal accompaniment, a passer-by chipped in with a 3 pointer on the Mrs. Churchill question, which forced a supp. Nick alludes to timekeeping issues and whilst the genial Mr Pennington leaned towards liberalism on that score, I will offer a dissenting voice: 1) effective timekeeping is really difficult when operating alone (as most QMs do), 2) very strict timekeeping is at odds with the generally amiable experience of the league and can be most disconcerting to participants, 3) if I don’t know it after 15 seconds, I almost always don’t know it after 20, 4) enforcement of the rule would have deprived us of Neil’s memorable performance art piece of how to demonstrate knowledge of all things costal whilst temporarily unable to access the word “rib”, which was well worth the 3 points that it eventually earned him.
As is not new, a close encounter between Lemmings and Flag (my first taste of this battle was in the QM capacity), but one where they ran out deserved winners in the end, especially given their BSc leanings on a night where the questions bore the stamp of an author with a taste in all things Shakespearian, classical and Welsh. On sober reflection (unavailable at the time due to an impressive and potent Newby Wyke ale), a very accessible and decent set of questions, once again.
The only 2 Welsh questions were about our defeats... There were hardly any Shakespeare q;'s, and you missed my prediliction to Olympic questions, but thank you for the overall thumbs up. It's so difficult. Everyone got one science q in the general, as well as one lit, one hist, one TV/film etc. I admit I find setting Science Q's difficult, as Science is less capable of assimilation "through the pores" than things like geography or politics (although I am woeful at that as well) and accessing feasible science questions is difficult. But we tries.
Forgot to sign the above.Liz H
Plaid Cymru, Liz? ...I didn't need to fall back on Welsh Nationalists...
AAD came out, so Lord Flame AKA the fool from Gawsworth will too.
I agree with Matt's view on absolutely strict timekeeping - an aggressive "that's 10" seems to reduce the value of the remaining 5 significantly whereas a "do you have an answer" at 15 is fine. The area where stricter timekeeping could be applied is in conferred questions, where debate can seem interminable
We thought the questions were very well thought out and balanced by position in terms of subject and difficulty. Billy from the Nags kept things moving nicely and an excellent evening was had by all.
Yes, I'd forgotten about Plaid, because I thought of that purely as a political question! Glad the questions seem to have suited
...and Hay-on-Wye and the Duke of MOnmouth if mischievious, but, let us make this clear, a good set.
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