The Rebel Black Dot Songs of History Quiz Night

Project MERCATOR: Misty Beavers Dynasty—The History of History Quiz Night '16, in Song
Billy Joel, "We Didn't Start the Fire" via iTunes (The Last Angry Man)

Commentary: What can get lost in the contentiousness of History Quiz Night, what the haters seem to have forgotten but what we Misty Beavers embrace with our characteristic enthusiasm (which is itself, apparently, an irritant to the haters), is that knowing stuff is fun. Pub quiz is fun, trivia is fun, because learning is fun & being able to recall what you're learned is fun. History Quiz Night is meant to be fun!

I turned ten the year "We Didn't Start the Fire" was released. The song was part of Joel's reaction to turning forty. He was born in 1949; I was born in 1979. I was fascinated by the song from the first time I heard it, loving the historical references, most of which meant nothing to me. But I probably understood more of it than most other ten-year-old kids. I am often asked (I truly, I do not write this to boast) how I know so much. I like learning. I like knowing things. I have a head full of trivia, especially history trivia, because that's what my mind retains—not mathematical formulae but names, dates, & places. This yen didn't start with "We Didn't Start the Fire," but the song was a source of inspiration.

We Misty Beavers follow the rules of History Quiz Night, always. In 2016, our team was shorn of all hangers-on, even though an infinite number of such are explicitly permitted by the rules of the quiz. We had five Misty Beavers—Red Patton, the Blonde Bombshell, Super Mario, the Cardigan, & your humble narrator, the maximum number of teammates permitted—three answer sheets, three answer tickets (both sets of three issued by the organizers), & no access to our smartphones &/or the interwebs during the competition rounds of the quiz. We compete on a level playing field, we just happen to possess a superior ability to identify more of the references in "We Didn't Start the Fire" (the song's Wikipedia page is chockablock with information about the events referenced: hyperlink).

Confident, maybe even cocky, but also ready to compete, not just presume victory, we Misty Beavers began our quest for a third consecutive crown—beyond redemption, beyond repetition, a dynasty.