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January 28, 2002
Sigma Chi (Somehow) Wins VU College Bowl
Some might call it intelligence. Some might call it dumb luck. Some might just call them dumb. Regardless how you slice it, you can't take away from the facts - Four men from Iota Sigma now stand as the Valparaiso University College Bowl Champions after heated competition on the afternoon of Saturday, January 26.
Team members Ryan Adler ('02), David Martens ('03), Sam Peterson ('03) and Ryan Wolf ('03) beat out a talented field of 5 other teams to take home the honor of being the best--not to mention the $150 check that goes along with the victory.
College Bowl is a Jeopardy-style game where teams of four compete against one another, buzzers and all, with a variety of questions read by a moderator.
"I think the key moment in the competition occurred before it even began when we drew the first round bye," commented Sam Peterson. "It was just that many more questions we didn't have to face." It also cemented them as the Fraternity champions of the tournament, seeing as no other social fraternities entered the contest.
After their first round bye, the gentlemen faced the women of Kappa Kappa Gamma, beating them with quick thinking and...questions about baseball.
"If it wasn't for the question about (4 time Cy Young Winner) Greg Maddux, I don't think we would have pulled it out," reflected Martens. After answering the question about Maddux, a bonus question involving pitching great Christy Mathewson was answered correctly. "I had no idea. Wolf just blurted it out and it happened to be right."
The baseball answer brought the men roaring back after missing a question involving Christopher Columbus. Each of them were frozen by the question asking, 'What riches-seeker failed to find an alternative route to Asia but is widely credited for the discovery of the New World?'
Wolf, also serving as chapter president, explained the team's failure to answer the question. "We thought it was Christopher Columbus. But what if we answered it and it wasn't Christopher Columbus? Then we would have looked dumb." (Just like you looked dumb for not answering the question at all.)
The semi-final match featured a victory of Team VUDU, members of an improvisation comedy team here at VU. "VUDU was a tough matchup," commented Adler, who was participating in heavy trash talking prior to the match. "Our good looks and charm might have carried us through that round."
Maybe it was that...or the questions about Deion Sanders, Nintendo games, Eddie Murphy movies, and identification of the largest land mammal (the elephant).
Regardless, a tight win led them to a finals re-match with VUDU in the double-elimination tournament. Before the final match, Team Sigma Chi 2K (as they were called) took a ride in Ryan Wolf's Mustang convertible. "We needed to clear our heads," commented Adler, whose penchant for answering questions early caused point-losing wrong answers such as 'Belize', 'Mohammed Omar', and 'Ryan Adler'. (Evidently it was not Ryan Adler who joined Picasso as the founders of the cubism movement.)
The final match drew a large crowd of 20 or so people, made up mostly of groupies that had followed the team from the early matches, including several members of the Chi Omega Sorority. "Their support was vital," commented Peterson. "Especially when the other teams would boo us. I didn't like it when people booed and hissed."
As a result of winning the competition, the gentlemen now have the honor of representing Valparaiso University at the Regional College Bowl championships at Purdue University. The men were dumb(founded).
"What an honor," commented Martens. "We hope to embarrass the University as little as possible when the time comes."
Posted by Webmaster at January 28, 2002 05:42 PM