After We Win Regionals...

Knowledge

Bowl

Regionals is coming up next week. Waits­burg will be butting heads with Dayton, DeSales, and Riverside Christian (a new challenger from north of Yakima), with the top two teams advancing to State.

My captain is convinced that we're going to win both regionals and state. Especially regionals. He has this nasty habit of beginning conversations with such phrases as "When we win Regionals" or "After we win Regionals". My knuckles are sore from all the wood- knocking this necessitates.

And as if that wasn't bad enough, our coach is getting in on the optimism. He con­stantly refers to us as either "the team to beat" or "the dream team". We are indeed the team to beat - everyone seemed to be doing so at the last meet. And as far as "dream team" goes, he's probably referring to my bad habit of dozing off mid- question.

But - believe it or not - we actually got a pep rally! Kind of. At a larger assem­bly honoring the basketball team, we got to step in front of the audience for the first time in my three-year Knowledge Bowl career. Prior to this time, Knowl­edge Bowl pep rallies were a lot like Knowledge Bowl cheerleaders - nonexistent.

How would you cheer for Knowledge Bowl, anyway? "Two, four, six, eight, show 'em how to cogitate"?

Best not to go down that road.

Most people are unaware that Knowledge Bowl meets are open to the public - and you don't even have to pay admission. Heck, we hold Regionals in the Waitsburg High School auditorium, so you'd think at least some­one would come to watch. But besides the handful of students who don't have anything better to do, the ESD 123 representative ensuring that nobody breaks any major rules or regs, and assorted grandparents, the seats are almost entirely empty.

At one point, they would actually let students out of class to cheer us on. How­ever, the opposing teams then faced an entirely hos­tile audience, leading to a sink in morale and thus an unfair advantage on our part. So when we walk into the auditorium every year for Regionals, we face a couple of grittily determined teams and a huge roomful of empty wooden seats.

Not that we mind. We can plop our stuff on whichever chair we need to. We have plenty of places to rest as we get ready for the next round. We calculate our odds, decide who's playing and who's sitting out for part of the round, and sneak little peeks at the official rankings over the ESD guy's shoulder. There are plenty of places for one to duck if one needs to do a quick bit of yoga in order to pop one's overly stiff back. (It's only weird if it doesn't work, right?)

The top two teams at Regionals will advance. For the other two, the season is over. So from a purely mathematical perspective, we have a fifty-fifty chance of moving on to State.

Then again, math can't account for how close we've become as a team, or for the pride and determination that come with being the defend­ing regional champions.

And I would really hate to have all that knuckle- rapping be for nothing.