From the Stevens Point Journal April 11, 2008:

Trivia competition revolves around teamwork

If Trivia is a sport, it's definitely a team sport.

(If Trivia is a sport, it's also one of the few sports that can be played comfortably while eating a large Belts' ice cream sundae.)

Playing Trivia alone is kind of like doing a dogsled race without dogs. Still, it's no small feat to come by a dozen full-grown huskies. So how does one find a Trivia team?

For many participants, Trivia teams are formed in the same way families are. In fact, many Trivia teams can trace their lineage through labyrinthine histories of marriages, mergers, even betrayals.

Janet Repinski found her recent team, "Doughboy's got a bun in the oven," after being kicked off another team, she says with a laugh. Now, both teams are reconciled, and they even occasionally share answers.

Other teams aren't just like families --they are families, like Lactation Nation, a team started by a group of nurses which has grown to include many of the founders' families and children.

"The old guard is still going very strong," says Peter Munck, 18, who plays on Lactation Nation with his parents, "but there's definitely a new generation of Trivia-holics."

Other teams have been around long enough to become the stuff of legend. Consider the team "Network," a team whose brain trust of Trivia veterans has kept it consistently among the top five Trivia teams for years -- other teams regard Network with the joint feelings of respect and resentment some baseball fans have for the New York Yankees.

"I think every team has their own little mannerisms," said Rog Badgley, who plays on "Sparky's dead," a Wisconsin Rapids-based team, with his parents.

Of course, some would argue that the mere act of staying up 54 hours for a Trivia contest is more than a mannerism -- it's a pathology. And so what if it is?

"We've had couples meet and fall in love at Trivia," said Joyce Newby of the team "Freakshow."

If that's the disease, who would want a cure?