by Daniel Sternbach ('14)

Speed. Reflexes. Hand-eye coordination. Sweat. Tears. Intelligence. Can you guess which sport I am thinking about when referring to these things?

That's right: college bowl. Three times a year, we, the MTA college bowl team venture out of our own fortress, aka the MTA building, and into the academic battlefield known as Yeshiva League College Bowl. Thursday, November 7 marked the first of our intellectual gladiator bouts this season. In college bowl, four players on from each team are each given a buzzer. An intellectual question is read by a highly trained professional teacher. The object is to buzz in as quickly as possible to give the answer. Buzz in too early and get the question wrong, your team loses a point. Buzz in too late and the other team might just beat you too it. The long day began at 9:50 am as we took the subway to Heschel. There, the varsity team played three schools. First came our mortal enemies, Ramaz. Although the contest was hard fought and close the whole way through, we came up just shy of a victory. The next match pitted us against the mighty Westchester team. Buzzer after bloodcurdling buzzer could be heard throughout the match as the battle raged on. Westchester came within a point with less than a minute left, but in the end could not defeat the Lions. With our newly found confidence, we easily defeated the Flatbush team by doubling their score. In the end, we came out 2-1, a respectable and competitive record, worthy of both the praise and glory of a well-earned Starbucks visit after the horrors of the combat had ceased.