When at last I am given my dues,

And injustice deliciously squared.

Be prepared!

The Lion King-1994

Show me a trivia contest. Tell me about a tricky word puzzle.  Offer me a mental challenge. You will have my mostly undivided attention and a  ball point pen will magically appear at my fingertips–pencils are for losers. Every vacation is preceded by a trip to Barnes and Noble to pick up the latest edition of Games Magazine, a publication my dad introduced me to 40 years ago and which still features the best variety of brain teasers on paper. The drive to tennis on Sunday mornings always includes listening to Will Shortz and the weekly puzzle on NPR. Every shot I miss can be blamed on my mind being lost in the maze of challenges like  “Take six different letters. Repeat them in the same order. Then repeat them again — making 18 letters altogether. Finally add “tebasket” at the end. If you have the right letters and you space them appropriately, you’ll complete a sensible sentence. What is it?” Got that?

But my current addiction is “3 for Free,” the challenge Lin Brehmer and Mary Dixon feature every morning at 6:40 on WXRT. They play clips from three songs or movies, you tweet in the titles, and first one in with the right response gets a “shout out” on the radio. No cash, no tickets, no swag, just a shout out.  But the competition is fierce with the names of repeat winners etched in my frontal cortex.

In the interest of universal access, I present some tips for being a champion and having your name spread over the airwaves by Mr. Brehmer, your best friend in the whole world. Be prepared to shine.

1.  Get a twitter account. Not something everyone in the ‘XRT demographic (old rockers who saw the Beatles live in 1966) necessarily have.
2. Get a radio. Forget online streaming for this one. Because of the buffering delay your answer will be too late to win (of course most of this demographic has never heard of online streaming.)
3. Listen to the dynamic duo at 6:30. They most likely will give a hint to the subject of that day’s clips.
4. Find a website that lists movies/songs that feature the topic in #3. Memorize the list.
5. Pre-enter @93xrt and some likely answeres into a tweet. Nothing wrong with getting a head start, and you can always delete.
6. Twiddle your thumbs during the song playing from 6:37 to 6:40.
7. 6:40. OK, here come the clips. Listen and fill in your answers. Avoid brain freeze, that panicky moment when you could even forget your wife’s name. A delay of a millisecond is deadly.
8. Proof read, especially if  Autocorrect is on. “The Devil Wears Pravda” is not, and never will be, a Meryl Streep movie title.
9. Send your tweet and pray.
10. Swear loudly as Lin announces that Joel Reese has won again.

Yes, just as in life, no matter how you prepare, you will probably lose more than you win. But all that planning keeps your brain sharp, and in our demographic, don’t we need that?

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