League Shenanigans Commence

Proud Men, Proud Quizzers: Sean, Jesse and newbie Mark

(This photo was from last week. Not tonight. Their appearance has not changed in the interim.)

The Broken Hearts' quest for the ultimate prize - the Quiz League of London first division title - started in stuttering fashion this evening. You would think there might be more decorum when a new season, our fifth in the QLL (dear Lord, is it really FIVE), but no, we just go straight in at the deep end. Brewis asking questions, people fluffing answers, hand signals going ignored. I thought: yeah, I really missed this over the summer intermezzo. The rock solid certainty that we would be locked in quizzical combat. I mean, I really do need this new distraction because my current obsessions - the TV series Lost and watching poker tournaments on Sky digital and Channel 4 - are starting to take on monstrously insane proportions.

It would have been easy to conclude that we were going to fly like trivia titans after the first round: we led 9-2 after all. However, level terms was soon achieved thanks to a sterling performance from Balls of Steel star Ray Ward and we got that awful feeling that the questions would not go our way. Some examplar errors: I (always assume your capacity to recall facts you actually know is reduced by 25 per cent in a match situation) messed up one on the Sava river (I said Sarajavo rather than Belgrade and thumped the table in hissy fit fashion), while Sean said Selene when he should have said Diana. But as he said, he did get a question on Harold Wilson occupying a lowly Cabinet position. Frankly, I felt so rusty it was like I had left my brain out in the August downpours.

Thankfully, round seven arrived and gave us a comfortable lead. We ended up winning 48-44 and it was weird not having Bayley beside me giving off the aura of a rock steady trivia-spouting machine. Instead, I had Jesse, who scored 15 points like yours truly (a bit below my first season average). Jesse being a naive new captain forgot to order the food. The post-match period was strangely bereft as a result. The sound of masticating sausage sandwiches and chips was absent; the table empty. Naughty Jesse. A black mark was subsequently laid upon his body (in a mental fantasia of my own construction).

The Quizzica questions: hmmm. They seemed a bit chestnutty in texture, a bit predictable. Nothing too surprising or anything that just one player might have got. If the questions were harder, it would have been a far easier obstacle to tackle. This season I get the feeling we are going to get a lot of questions we have heard before. There are so many new ones that could be asked, honestly.

But tackle it we did. Next week we have Aldersgate, another promoted team to give us heart palpitations and doubts about our own general knowledge worth.