As many of you know, being fans of Hugh Hewitt as I am, that the Lord High Commissioner has paid us Minnesotans the honor of a visit and two remote shows from the biggest state fair in America. Hugh came into town this morning with Michael Medved (who brought his lovely family along with him), and both accepted a challenge by the gang at Fraters Libertas to joust at Keegan's Pub in their Thursday night trivia challenge.

Hugh knew that he faced the buzzsaw that is the Fraters gang at trivia, since they win almost every week at Keegan's (also a new Northern Alliance sponsor). He prepared his team carefully -- he picked Michael Medved and his wife along with James Lileks, while the Elder, Brian "Saint Paul" Ward and the Atomizer picked up a ringer, Mike Nelson of Mystery Science Theater 3000. When the dust settled, the two teams of trivia titans wound up with a draw, at 14.

But that's not the end of the story.

The Lord High Commissioner did not count on other members of the Northern Alliance taking part in this battle, and foolishly scoffed at their last minute entry. This third team consisted of Mitch Berg, Chumley Wonderbar, Kevin from The Patriot, and yours truly, Captain Ed, and we called ourselves the Leftovers. Hugh felt so secure in his assured victory that he challenged our motley group to a wager. If he outscored us, he would take control of our blogs for a day. If we outscored him, then we would take control of the nerve center of the Hugh Hewitt media empire for a day, firing off missives to the well-oiled machine comprised by the Commissioner's minions around the world.

Plus, there was one significant side bet that Hugh could not resist.

How did this turn out? Well, the Little Leftovers That Could wound up scoring a 17, good enough for second place overall and trouncing the Dream Team. We knew how many stitches there were in a baseball (108), the definition of helmithphobia (fear of worms), and the current won-loss records for the Cleveland Indians (64-64) and the Twins (71-55). We even smoked Medved on a movie question, for Pete's sake! In what movie did Clint Eastwood say, "Go ahead -- make my day"? Sudden Impact ... not Magnum Force, as Team Hewitt answered. (To be fair, Medved traveled all day, and his wife flew in from Tel Aviv early this morning and probably hadn't slept in 30 hours.)

And take a good look at this picture of The Leftovers, which clockwise from top left is Chumley, Kevin, Mitch, and myself with the jacket and cap on.

Take a good look at the cap.

That's right -- Hugh got beaten by a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. And that little side bet? Hugh has to wear my cap for the Saturday show at the Minnesota State Fair. Be sure to tune in on The Patriot or on our Internet stream to listen to the wails of agony, especially when I turn on the fiber-optic lighted logo. (No, I'm not kidding.) And be sure to check in on Captain's Quarters, where I will post a picture of Hugh wearing it.

If he goes the whole hour wearing it, I'll do something to compensate him for his pain, but don't tell him that.

FLASH UPDATE, 8/27 8:09 PM: Hugh's claiming that Chumley Wonderbar has made some sort of statement against interest that absolves Hugh of following through on his bet. All I can see on Chumley's post is a lot of the same classless bragging in which I indulged above ... so you have to tune in tomorrow to the Northern Alliance Radio Network in order to hear the thrilling conclusion of this deepening legal mystery! (Roger L. Simon, please contact us -- we may need your expertise.) Don't forget to enable pop-ups in order for the stream to work properly.

And Hugh ... I'm Bringing It (the cap) On!

I like Hugh's suggestion in his post for a Vegas trivia tournament for bloggers, but they should remove their Internet access when we arrive. No one will come down to the casinos -- we'll all be sitting in our rooms, writing biting commentary in our underwear. It's what we do, after all.

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