Hipsters

Before we start I'll say that if you never want to miss one of these posts (I always feel weird asking for subs, but it feels especially fraudulent when I'm posting this at half nine on a Thursday, two weeks late. But don't let that stop you), or if you really don't want to spend any time on Twitter to find them, then you can subscribe to receive them directly in your email inbox. There should be a box hanging around somewhere over here (*does the YouTube pointy thing) if you fancy that, but let's get on with this.

One of my biggest heroes is Andy Murray (I liked him before it was cool). His 5-set epic versus Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second round of the Australian Open last week was one of the most gargantuan efforts I've ever seen in a sporting context. His first round win over Matteo Berrettini was his first at a Slam over a top 20 player in his "Metal Hip Era", which is perhaps the most steampunk "era" in the history of tennis.

Rafa Nadal used to wear a vest sometimes, and Roger Federer had a ponytail for a bit, but none of those really compare to the replacement of an entire body part with an inorganic material. Djokovic has looked pretty much the same for his entire career - if we wanted to split it into 'eras' we might have 'pre-unvaccination' and 'post-unvaccination'...

All of this to ask a simple question. That Murray-Kokkinakis match lasted 5 hours 45 mins, and ended after 4am. How well do you think you could quiz in a similar situation? How well could anyone? The mental faculties responsible for information recall would be craving sleep, and more than one buzzer would be pressed by a slumping head rather than a finger, I imagine. I'm sure there have been 'quizathons' in the past which demonstrate this effect in real life, so if you know of any could you please send me some details?

Anyway - I only just remembered that I needed to do this, having forgotten to add it to my to-do list last night, so with my apologies to Bristol and Queen's, this is going to have to be a quick one. There's simply not enough time to do otherwise - especially given the fact my gf added 'get an early night' to the bottom of the list, further constraining things.

Bristol qualified for the second round via the play-offs, though they scored an impressive 185 points in both of their matches, while Queen's only scored 165 in their first rounder. More impressive is the fact that Bristol's opponents were of higher quality than Queen's, scoring 195 and 150, rather than 105. So, despite their opening loss, Bristol came into this as clear favourites, by my reckoning.

Living up to this bill from the off, Bristol took the first starter through Ortega. Richardson and MacLaughlin, with a pair of educated guesses, further established their lead and they were sixty five points clear going into the first picture round.

This was where Queen's finally got off the mark, with Duffy's JFK giving them their first ten points. They took a hat-trick on the bonuses, but it was business as usual after that, with Ortega's second reestablishing the Avonsiders lead. A neg from MacLaughlin (whose name I am repeatedly spelling wrong on my first attempt) gave Queen's the opportunity to steal some points, but they didn't manage, and Richardson returned on the next starter as Bristol closed in on the hundred point mark.

A nimble buzz from Sharry gave Queen's a bonus set on film scores by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Donnelly knows that The Social Network was written by Aaron Sorkin, and makes the leap that he 'probably directed it too', but unfortunately he's wrong. They get the other two bonuses, but are unable to build any momentum with back-to-back starters and MacLaughlin (got it right this time) thwarts them again. The gap is seventy five going into the music round.

No one gets Joanna Newsom on the starter, but MacLaughlin wins the bonuses with a quick buzz of zinc next time out. He takes the following starter too, before Queen's finally manage a sequence of two in a row. It doesn't make much of a dent though, and when Bristol take the second picture starter there's categorically no chance of a Queen's comeback.

Bristol 205 - 90 Queen's, Belfast

Another solid performance from Bristol, especially MacLaughlin, who continues to shine. They'll be a tough opponent in the quarter-finals for sure, and I'd be quite surprised if they don't make the semis. Commiserations to Queen's, who weren't bad, but simply came up against a stronger team today.