From the Stevens Point Journal April 15, 2006:

Trivia contest experience brings back memories

The beginning of the World's Largest Trivia Contest started several years before I was born. Having grown up in Portage County, one would have to be either a hermit or blind to miss the colorful, handmade signs, entertaining marquees and -- this year -- blaze orange posters, T-shirts and baseball caps.

"What's that sign on the pretty house say?" I would ask my mom as we drove down Division Street in Stevens Point during our frequent treks from Rosholt to the city.

She'd glance over and read it aloud, her face slowly turning red as the team name sunk in. As an outsider to the game, it sure looked like, if it wasn't the World's Largest Trivia Contest, it was certainly the most fun.

I couldn't wait to play. Funny how those things you most desire as a child and young adult fade away as your responsibilities grow.

When I returned to University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point as a college student, I was already raising a young child, holding down a part-time job and juggling internships. After graduation, work took over and I found myself with even less time to spare.

Colleagues would play out of the Journal newsroom and I'd jump in when I had an answer, typically a cartoon character's name. Outside of Saturday morning cartoons, I didn't have a clue to the majority of the answers. As someone who's just a tad on the competitive side, I just couldn't see spending 54 hours torturing myself as I was reminded again and again of just how uninformed I was. Where's the fun in that?

If you can't win, why play?

Then I spent a weekend watching UWSP students holed up in their dorm basement celebrate as they found an answer, volunteers scramble behind the scenes and DJs in the broadcast booth bantering with Oz, and the answer -- too bad it wasn't a trivia question -- was obvious.

Each participant has their own motivation, but all are passionate in their Trivia quests, whether it's to win, simply have fun with friends or to forget all the stress from work and home and spend 54 hours focusing on the craziest, most inane information out there. There's simply nothing like Trivia weekend in Stevens Point.

I spent a couple of hours answering phones Sunday afternoon. As we waited outside for our shift to begin, veteran phone-answerers cracked jokes back and forth as they caught up on a year's gossip. I thought as a rookie I'd sit quietly in the corner and get my shift over with.

I was clearly mistaken. Sitting across from Mayor Gary Wescott and next to WIFC DJ Dave Kallaway, I was entertained thoroughly for two hours, interrupted only by the blinking light of the telephone. Ringers were turned off -- you'd never hear them over the roar of the room.

A big white board posts the answer to each question as it's read on air. The phones sit silent for precious seconds while players scramble for answers. Once the first call comes in, it's a mad rush through the second song.

I've got to admit, there's a power rush that goes along with knowing the answer to the question before it's read on the air. Seeing the answer first was its own kind of game -- what in God's name could "Do not dilute us, Brutes" be the answer to?

And it was nice to learn that I'm not so dumb after all. The vast majority of the answers I took from callers was wrong. And I knew one! C'mon -- Clint Kriewaldt? Who doesn't know that he was UWSP's first former football player to win a Super Bowl? One of my callers, apparently.

For one brief moment, I felt on top of the world. Then the next question was read, and I was back to the bottom of the gene pool. But as long as I was swimming with friends, that was OK, too.

Lisa Nellessen-Lara is managing editor of Stevens Point Journal.