From the Stevens Point Journal April 12, 2004:

Trivia team collects thoughts

BY JOURNAL STAFF

Trivia team insider

Team name: The Collective, submitted by Jason Bilbrey
How the team got its name: Our team name was initially drawn from a "Star Trek" reference to a race of cybernetic beings, known as the Borg, who were all connected mentally to form a collective consciousness. A collective is defined as "denoting a number of persons or things considered as one group or whole," and this is exactly how we view ourselves. Our single purpose is playing Trivia. We even have a mission statement: "To use creativity, technology, hard work and determination to WIN the world's largest trivia contest."

How many players are on the team: The last three years we've had about 15 people total. I spent this year recruiting though, and I have 41 people who have confirmed they are coming.

How long they've played: Trivia 35 will be our fourth year as a team. Many of our players have been playing since childhood.

The highest the team has placed: 91st

Their most-prized reference tool: Our best reference tool would have to be the people on the team. Without them, this team would be nothing. Sure, we have lots of books and computers, but you still need people.

Team traditions: Building a float every year, giving out "awards" to people on the team and trying to think of the most creative ways to stay awake. We give awards to people who find the answers to high-point questions, people who are the most wired on caffeine and to the person who guesses an answer at the last second to score us big points.

When it comes to staying awake, we can be pretty creative. One year we combined Red Bull and Mountain Dew to form a new energy elixir. And every year we carry around 64-ounce mugs of soda. This year, we're actually going to have an espresso machine.

High point of your team's career: During the contest two years ago, we were in the top three by about the sixth hour of the contest. We were all in shock when we heard our team's name called out for two consecutive hours.

Low point of your team's career: The lowest point for our team was probably when we turned in our Trivia Stone points sheet one year without our name on it. That really hurt us, but we'll never make that mistake again.
 
The Journal will be running a Trivia team profile each day this week leading up to the 35th annual contest, which starts Friday night.