It took overtime, but the Hurtin’ Bombs knocked off the Champs at the first ever Quizzo at the Constitution Center. It was an interesting quizzo, as the booming acoustics of the building rendered the mic needless, and the life sized bronze statues of the Founding Fathers looked on from a nearby room. There were a few things that worked out great, a few things we need to tweak (if the weather’s that nice again, we gotta do it outside!), but for the most part it went pretty well. A crowd of about 45, which wasn’t bad considering the fact that there was no time to advertise anywhere besides my website and that most of the regulars couldn’t make it (No Kingdom, no Minions, no Duane’s World, no Jams, though Darth Ern put up a damn impressive 83 playing by himself.) We’ll do it again on August 3rd, and it’ll be even bigger and even better. I’ll post the Constitution quizzo questions shortly.

You guys are a pretty good writers, so I thought you might be interested in this. Ha-ha, just kidding, most of you people can’t even spell your team names right, but I’m gonna let you in on this anyway. It looks pretty cool.

First Person Arts Announces 6th Annual Memoir Writing Competition
Now Accepting Submissions through August 15th

PHILADELPHIA – First Person Arts, producer of the annual First Person Festival of Memoir and Documentary Art, is pleased to announce the Sixth Annual Memoir Writing Contest. This year, there will be two categories for writers to tackle. Reflecting on the 2007 contest theme, Objects of My Affection, participants will have the option to contribute a Short Memoir (up to 3,000 words), and a Short-Short Memoir, (up to 500 words). Writers will be challenged to shape their stories around a personal relationship to an object or objects that hold a special significance, considering the ways in which the object has impacted, influenced or changed their own lives. [Submission guidelines follow below.]

Continue reading “Writing Contest” →

It looked like a cruise down Easy Street for the Kingdom and the city, as scores rolled in from across the continent in the City vs. City Smackdown. Philly was crushing everybody. That is, until the last scores were delivered. They were Denver’s scores, and they were the only city to even approach us. A team called the Denver Misfits finished with an imposing 138, losing to the Kingdom by only 4. As for city vs. city results, in which we take the top 5 scores and average them together, Philly again edged Denver, 124.4-115.6. No other city came close. Ottawa averaged a 100.8, edging Seattle, who averaged exactly 100. Washington D.C., the capital city of the United States, averaged a 93.6. We’ll have more team averages soon. There were teams in 8 cities competing: Chicago, Atlantic City, Baltimore, DC, Seattle, Denver, Ottawa, and Philly. Thanks to their narrow win, the Kingdom walks with $800 ($500 for beating Philly’s best teams at Rembrandt’s on Monday, and another $300 for beating those quizzo weak sisters across the nation.) MAGMA finished 2nd in Philly, 3rd overall, and waked with $250. We hope to do an even bigger one of these in the fall. May the trash talking commence! If you’d like to contact Denver, just click here. If you have a few choice words for DC, just click here. Here were the top 10 scores:
1. Sofa Kingdom-Philly 142
2. Denver Misfits-Denver 138
3. Magma-Philly 134
4. I am Curious George-Denver 129
5. Satan’s World-Philly 124
6. What’s the Soup du Jour-Philly 122
7. Reservoir Dogs-Philly 114
8. Plush Toy of the Apocalypse-Ottawa 112
9. Lactose Intolerant-Seattle 110
T-10. Sex Panther on the Beach Slaves to the Grind-Denver109
T-10. The DTC Combo-Denver 109

There are two things that will forever define my 2006: my enormous upset at the Rock Paper Scissors championship and me and Ken’s inspirational performance at the Intercourse Rhubarb Pie Bake-Off. It’s time to head back this year, as the festival is this weekend. Sadly Ken moved out west, so I need to find a new co-baker. Anyone, anyone? Anyways, regardless if you are baking or not, I highly suggest you attend the Rhubarb Festival. I’ve been two straight years, and it is without question one of my favorite local events. I love rhubarb. More on this event in the coming week.

Here’s the latest: Several of the invited teams are in, including Sofa Kingdom, the Jams, and the Champs. I am still waiting to hear back from several, such as MAGMA and the Satan’s Minions. Rembrandt’s top team is also expected to attend. How can you get an invite? Simple. Win this week. Any team that pulls off a victory this week gets an automatic invite. The event takes place at Rembrandt’s on May 14th at 7:30 p.m. The winner will walk with $500, 2nd place gets $250. If you defeat all of the teams in all the other cities, you walk with another $450. Entry is $10 a person. The schedule is as follows:

Tuesday
O’Neals 8 p.m.
Bards 10 p.m.
Wednesday
Rendezvous 6 p.m.
Black Sheep 8 p.m.
Thursday
Good Dog 8 p.m.
Bards 10 p.m.

Well, the Florida win propelled Eric (above, middle) past Smackdown and into the title at the 3rd Annual JGT Bracket Spectacular, brought to you by the good people at Barristers Bar and Grille. I actually watched the game there last night with Smackdown (below) and Trivia Art, as well as Brett the Barber from the Omelette. I thought I could make my move on Smackdown when the Ohio State loss was inevitable. However, when I asked her if she needed a shoulder to cry on, she said, “Thanks, JGT, but I’ve already got a couple. Get in line.” Then she left. So I thought that went well.

So congrats to Eric, who gets the $250, courtesy of Barristers Bar and Grille (1823 Sansom). And congrats to Chill Rob A, who finished 2nd. I’ll see if I can scrummage up a 2nd place prize. To show you what a predictable, boring tourney this was, one guy picked the favorite in every single game…and finished 3rd. Hey NCAA, might wanna throw a few Cinderellas into the mix and make things interesting next year. I hate to say it, but this years tourney was the most boring one ever.

Oh, in case you’re wondering, I finished 64th out of 75 teams. That’s because of a computer glitch in the system made it look like I made some really bad picks. If it wasn’t for that computer glitch, I probably would have finished in the top 10. Probably. We’ll never really know.
RELATED: Final standings of Barristers Bracket Challenge.

It’s Smackdown vs. Buckeye Eric in the finals of the Barristers Bracket Challenge. If Ohio State wins, Smackdown pulls off the improbable win. If Florida wins, Eric, an Ohio State alum, will win $250 by betting against the old alma mater. As for the Greg Oden movie poster above, I wish I could claim credit, but that was Trivia Art’s handiwork.

In what can only be defined as ‘typical”, a person I am currently trying to be angry at is leading the Barristers Bracket Challenge. Smackdown (above), a sworn enemy of mine, is in the lead with 109. Now, I may have to be nice to her, just so I can get a free burger at Barristers if she wins the $250. But it all depends on the final four. If Ohio State beats Florida for the national championship, she wins. If Georgetown beats Florida, then I Hate MAGMA wins. If UCLA beats G-Town, then Representing the MAAC wins. If Ohio State beats UCLA, then I’m Jam and Y’all Toast wins. And if a crazed yeti attacks and kills the 70 people currently ahead of me, I will crowned champion. So it’s really up in the air. Anyways, Smackdown (if that is your real name), I am hereby calling a truce. And if you win, I would like two burgers and 15 Yuenglings. Deal?
RELATED: The current standings of the Barristers Bracket Challenge

It’s the best time of the year to be a sports fan. By far the best playoff system in all of sports (with the possible exception of the sheer genius that is the BCS), the NCAA tournament will mean that I will spend four days this week, starting Thursday, on a barstool in front of a television for 12 hours each day. Try to stop me. Anyways, enough bluster, let’s make some picks. Here’s how it works. Click here, then enter the group ID #: 85004 and the password: goodtimes. Then make your picks. If you don’t already have a yahoo account, you have to create one. (Yeah, it sucks but it only takes a minute.) Don’t worry if you don’t know anything about basketball! The person who wins these things is always someone who picks the teams according to their jersey colors. Whoever gets the most points is gonna walk away with $125 in gift certificates to Barristers and $125 in cash. Barristers (1823 Sansom) has the Tourney Ticket, and will thus be showing every single tournament game. There will also be great beer and food specials I will tell you about soon.

Gonna be a great bracket challenge on the website once the NCAA tourney starts. Barristers Bar and Grille (1823 Sansom) is gonna be offering up $250 in gift certificates to the winner of the bracket challenge, and you fill out your brackets right here at johnnygoodtimes.com starting Monday, March 12. So start studying up on your college b-ball. Or better yet, don’t. Because the person that wins these things is always “Denise from accounting” who just loves Valparaiso’s uniforms. And what is so frustrating is that she wins over good people like you, a person has been studying perimeter defense weaknesses in all of the Patriot League teams for months, and is finally gonna win the bracket challenge this year, you just know it.

Barristers is promoting the fact that it is going to have the NCAA Tourney ticket, so you will be able to see any game you choose in there, and they’re gonna have lots of specials as well. I’ll have a lot more details as we get closer to the day.