LIVEBLOGGING: "It's Academic," WRC/NBC4 and the Montgomery County Thanksgiving Parade

Someone a long time ago told me that someone should liveblog WRC/NBC4's "It's Academic." So here's my attempt:


This week: St. Albans v. Annandale v. Seneca Valley

Round 1: St. Albans sweeps opening round, 170 points. Many questions were politically focused. Team captain had to defer to team member over a question about Porter Goss, former congressman turned CIA chief. (I say c'mon, don't you go to school with the sons of half of this city's top powerbrokers and influence peddlers? You should know better.)

Round 2
St. Albans (270)
Annandale (180)
Seneca Valley (210)

It's announced: St. Albans has a pep band, Annandale has a dance team, Seneca Valley brought j/v cheerleaders. This should be interesting. St. Albans, a pep band? Yes, I realize that you're an all boys school, but can't you get any cheerleaders or some equivalent from the Cathedral School up and around the corner?

Going into the first commercial break, the Annandale dance team, dressed in red and white dances to a peppy song. It wasn't all that impressive. Sorry kids, I'm just being honest. Why do schools have dance teams?

Then Seneca Valley j/v cheerleaders cheer their team with a cheer built around their team members' names.

St. Albans and Seneca Valley are really having at it during Round 3. St. Albans leads.

St. Albans' pep band is all kids on guitars and a kid on the drums going into the second commercial break. Dance team/j/v cheerleaders are dancing to St. Albans pep band. Mac is really into the rock band. Mac: Let's "rock and roll!"

Going into Round 4:
St. Albans (320)
Annandale (180)
Seneca Valley (240)

Annandale is still stuck at 180. They must be sad.

St. Albans does quite well in the round where all the questions go to them, but no bonus.

Annandale is now racking up some points, but this is the round where all the questions go to them. But they sweep and get the bonus.

Seneca Valley is doing just fine, no bonus.

Going into Round 5:
St. Albans (460)
Annandale (365)
Seneca Valley (380)

Seneca Valley is now on a roll and is now approaching St. Albans.
How can Annandale have 416 points? They just fixed it to 415.
St. Albans still has a comfortable lead, up by 100 points. Now 120 points.
Now St. Albans has 600.

20 seconds left. 600-435-480.

Mac, face becoming animated: "And its the end of the game!"

ST. ALBANS WINS! 640-435-480. Go figure ... St. Albans has a winning track record when going up against public schools.

Mac congrats Annandale on their new orange "It's Academic" competition shirts. But they didn't win, so that must not matter much.

St. Albans' pep band is doing a Strokes cover to close out the show. The cheerleaders and dance teams can't dance to that. So people are just milling about as the credits roll across the screen.

Gonzaga, T.D. Woodson and Centreville next week. Will I do this next week? Probably not.

IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR SOME OTHER exciting local television programming ...

News Channel 8 is doing live coverage of the Montgomery County Thanksgiving Parade in Silver Spring with WJLA's Maureen Bunyan and Doug Hill.

The Geeks on Call float just went by on Ellsworth Drive. Maureen Bunyan is concerned about the size of the float because it can barely squeeze down the parade route.

Now the Potomac Valley Irish Wolfhound Club is making its way down the parade route. Look! Martin O'Malley is next, campaigning for governor. Montgomery Blair High School marching band is next. Doug Hill announces that this year's marching band theme is "school spirit." On-the-street reporter John Gonazales announces that Miss D.C. is coming up soon, as is the Hannukah balloon.

"It's a great day for dancing," declares Maureen Bunyan, following the performance of the Pure Energy Team real estate dancers, who are real estate professionals from Gerlach Real Estate all decked out in purple dance uniforms.

Dancing real estate agents? This must be the signal that liveblogging the parade must stop. There must be better things to do on a Saturday morning.