Another Trashmasters has come and gone, and it was another fun experience, although I guess I was slightly disappointed in not reaching the K-Tel Hell finals (damn you, Foreigner -- guess I needed Carl's belt), but our team did relatively well with a fourth-place finish that we sealed only by rallying from a 310-145 deficit with five questions remaining to win by 10 points. That was a rush, especially since it came against a bunch of regulars I've both played with and against.

Something a couple of people mentioned independently this weekend is how much this tournament (more than most other trash events) is like a family reunion. Not only do we have a handful of teams from the area always playing, but we bring a regular contigent from Michigan, DC, Chicago, Wichita, Boston, etc. every year, not to mention folks from New Mexico, California and Minnesota from time to time. (BTW, nice to see you take the Trashmasters plunge, Brian.)

It's nice to see all sorts of people, and then play some intense, yet fun competitions with one another. I think that's why a lot of the trashy competitions retain some many veteran players and hopefully draw in newer ones -- there's a sense that we're all in this together for some fun and fellowship (as strange as that sounds). Besides, how else to explain why people would spend lots of time and money to travel to Chattanooga to play an intense competition where the prizes were taken from the best discount racks. Remember, we actually think it's plausible that everyone's favorite Jeopardy! guy might actually play one of our tournaments soon despite all the fame and fortune he's won this year; not to mention, the former all-time game show money winner was reading the above-mentioned crazy comeback match.