Because they found out they could make more money selling more ads, Fred Roggin's was told he could add an extra half hour to "The Challenge" -- that NFL post-post-game show on KNBC Channel 4 that comes on every Sunday night after the NBC national game. But with that additional 30 minutes, he's cut back the number of trivia questions in the audience participation "Challenge" from nine to eight.
"It fit better with the segments in the show," Roggin admitted.
Fine. Give our brain that much less to dig through.
Although, considering the "Rapid Fire" segment that was added in, he might consider taking that out entirely and making "The Challenge" a 12-question exercise.
So it was back to school, Week 1 of the second edition of the Challenge, and on the whole, the questions were on par with last year. Not too far out there, but not easy enough to make a joke of things. You gotta know your stuff.
We don't actually recall how we did a year ago .... oh, wait, we'll do some research ... maybe we were in the top 188 last year. After week 13, we don't have any records on the blog search that kept it in the memory bank.
Just as well. We started OK, faded in the middle, and perhaps lost interest. It happens. It was around Christmas time and we got busy and couldn't schedule our lives around the show.
This year, we've committed to trying again, although stretching this over an hour has only made it twice as painful to participate.
Tighten it up. Maybe drop that whole "Rapid Fire" segment, or cut it down to just getting five right for the restaurant coupon (because no one's ever gonna get it), and give us playing on the computer a couple more questions to guess at. Or just ask Patrick Alog easier questions. Oh, they can't get any easier, can they?
At least Petros Papadakis got to call Atlanta QB Joey Harrington "a dork." The night wasn't a total loss.
For openers, I had 7 of 8 right and scored 190 points, which was a tie for 22nd place with a couple other guys, 90 points behind winner Tommy Tedros.
Alog, one of the champs from last year, actually was below me..... for the first time ever.
Top 25 must be good for something, right? Even a cheesy little football.
Yo, Alan Oda: I edged you out, too. The game is on.
And Mrs. Roggin? I didn't even see her name for anyone with 150 or more points. Bring on the smacktalk again like last year, OK?
Again, I did this with the delay that a TiVo and DirecTV causes, so my points could have actually been better. That's the handicap I deal with. Not an excuse, but just to explain how it is.
And if you haven't signed up, it's a week to week thing. You just fall behind on the season champ. Get on the site and get logged in, lame-o.

So here's how the Week 1 questions fell, with the right answers (and then our answers) below:

Q1: Joe Montana led the 49ers to how many Super Bowl titles?
A: 2
B: 5
C: 4
D: 3

Q2: Make the call: What is the proper ruling? (A video of Washington's Clinton Portis is shown where he runs toward the goal line, fumbles, the ball rolls forward over the goal line and out of bounds)
A: Touchdown
B: Fumble
C: Touchback, Houston ball
D: Down by contact, Washington ball

Q3: Who is the only college football player to win the Heisman Trophy twice?
A: O.J. Simpson
B: Archie Griffin
C: Ty Detmer
D: Vinny Testaverde

Q4: Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce went to which local high school?
A: Morningside
B: Inglewood
C: Crenshaw
D: Compton Dominguez

Q5: (An audio question) Which French athlete is singing this song?
A: Thierry Henry
B: Tony Parker
C: Joakim Noah
D: Zinedine Zidane

Q6: What Ivy League law school did Ducks GM Brian Burke attend?
A: Harvard
B: Yale
C: Princeton
D: Columbia

Q7: Dusty Baker played in how many World Series as a member of the Dodgers?
A: 1
B: 4
C: 2
D: 3

Q8: Who is the only golfer in PGA history to hit a hole in one on a par 4?
A: Tiger Woods
B: John Daly
C: Andrew Magee
D: Arnold Palmer

Here's how it shook out: