Ruminations about the "legend" (Sorry, Anne :->)
by Gary Ng [a.k.a. LASHER]
Peel Pub 1, Montreal, Canada
Everybody has heard about NTN's own urban
legend, DAVETV. Is he the NTN bogeyman? Is he good or bad for the game?
Everybody, including myself, has had an opinion on DAVETV but it has always
been based, not on an actual face-to-face meeting, but on hearsay filtered
through the grapevine. Well, I finally met the phenomenon known as DAVETV one
September afternoon at the PEEL
PUB and this is what I got from it.
BACKGROUND
Most NTN players have seen that name DAVETV flash before them on the TOP 20
LOCATION WINNERS board. They have seen it in the afternoon, in the evening
and late at night. It can appear at anytime and when it does, it usually is
accompanied by a very high score. In most games, DAVETV is very competitive
but he seems to have more than his share of high rankings. If there is a
repeat game, then DAVETV is usually also there. It is because of his high
performances that he has become the fodder for NTN gossip. DAVETV seems to be
too good, if that is possible.
My PEEL PUB colleague, SLUG, runs a NTN web page on his account and has a section on DAVETV. Previously, he had compiled and posted many of the rumours that were (are still) floating around in that section of his webpage. QUARK, a DAVETV booster, saw this page in it's previous form and made a copy for the man himself. DAVETV was none too pleased with what he read and vowed to come down from Toronto to Montreal and make his presence known a few days later [Wednesday].
On Wednesday, I went down to the PEEL PUB at 3 p.m. By then, DAVETV and his
buddy QUARK were comfortably seated with SLUG and were well into a
game of Countdown. Physically, DAVETV is a nondescript 35-40 year old man. He
is of normal build, maybe on the skinny side. I really can't give a detailed
description of him because he has no distinguishing traits. He could blend in
anywhere. What I did notice was that, despite the Pub's one player one
machine rule, DAVETV had four machines in front of him. DAVETV DOES PLAY WITH
MULTIPLE MACHINES. I came up and introduced myself not as LASHER but as Gary.
I played with a nonsense name and observed DAVETV at work. While he was
playing, I questioned him about himself and his playing habits. I hope the
following is an informative look at DAVETV.
Did I really meet DAVETV?
No one outside Toronto is really sure who DAVETV is. Descriptions of him have
greatly varied. The person who I met did play NTN well by himself. He also
matches the description given to me by HYRAX, a Toronto player at UNICORN's,
and from another Montreal player named SPIKE who met him last year in
Toronto.
How does DAVETV play?
DAVETV usually plays with five machines. He constantly rearranges his
machines pointwise from highest to lowest and enters the answer first to his
best machine. He says he plays with five machines so that he can safeguard
himself from losing a good score. I personally think that this is from his
habit of trying to generate a high average score for the bar that he is
playing at. DAVETV did not appear to split answers, i.e. enter different
answers into different machines, but the three games we shared were quite
easy so he didn't have to hedge. When the game is over, he does switch the
name on the best machine to DAVETV.
How much does DAVETV play?
When asked, DAVETV replied that he plays an average of twenty [20] hours per
week. He says that he has played up to forty [40] hours some weeks.
What does DAVETV do when he isn't playing?
DAVETV seemed to imply that he is a construction worker who is "between
jobs". He said that he was then working at JOE MERCURY [formerly, The Range]
doing renovation work in exchange for room and board. This profession has
been mentioned in previous speculations about DAVETV.
How good a player is DAVETV?
DAVETV did considerable damage to the Peel Pub's top ten boards during his
brief four-hour stay here. He left two 14000+ scores as DAVETV. [I managed to
beat him in one of our games and put up my own 14000+ score.] He did leave
lower scores (in the 12000 point range) as FRITZD and FLASHR. This appears to
be evidence in favour of his vain habit of not using his DAVETV name when his
scores are not up to his standards. This could have also served a second
purpose of payback because it is well known in Montreal that he and
FRITZ [a DAVETV wannabe who plays at La Cage] have met and do not like
each other. DAVETV also told me that he figured out that it was I, LASHER,
who was using the name BUM TV and ranking on the network top twenty boards
the past few months.
What is DAVETV's personality?
DAVETV did not act like a madman while he was here. He appeared to be
outgoing. He talked freely with SLUG and myself while he was playing. He was
not obsessed with the game while it was on. He answered all of my questions.
A plus for him in my books was how calm he was when he discovered that I was
LASHER. He asked me if I was playing as BUM TV and then why. I told him that
it felt like a "fun" thing to do based on his bad name among fellow NTN
players. He took that in stride but the thing he couldn't understand was why
I would give up high scores as LASHER and rank as BUM TV. I told him that he
would only notice the BUM TV scores if they were high.
DAVETV did let on that it bothered him that he faces a lot of resentment in
Toronto over his playing. He has been banned from some locations in town. He
said that his problems come from weaker players who can't beat him and hate
him as a result. He said that he had no problems among his fellow elite
players in Toronto.
Does DAVETV have a "little black book"?
Yes, DAVETV had that black notebook with him but I didn't discover its
purpose. It was bulging with papers stuffed between the sheets but at no time
during his stay did he start scribbling anything into it.
More DAVETV facts:
DAVETV came over to Montreal JUST to play NTN at the Peel Pub. He left
Toronto by train the earlier that morning and arrived in Montreal later on
that Wednesday afternoon. He played four hours of NTN and then headed back to
Toronto that evening. The train ticket was provided to him by QUARK who works
for the train company. [I have seen him playing in other cities outside
Toronto so this is apparently not uncommon for him.]
DAVETV drank beer while he was playing at the Pub. He gave beer to SLUG and
offered some to me. I remember his friend picking up the bill for the beer.
DAVETV did contribute to the payment of, at least, one of the pitchers.
DAVETV: The Final Word
How is DAVETV as a player and as a person? DAVETV, the player, is very good
at what he does. He plays well and usually formulates an idea of the answer
before the choices come up. On the other hand, it can't be determined to what
degree his average scores benefits from the sheer amounts of games he plays
and the recognition of repeat questions.
DAVETV, the person, was a surprise. He was on his best behaviour when he played at the Pub. Unfortunately, this opinion is brought down somewhat by the confirmation of his lifestyle. DAVETV does play too much. DAVETV does play multiple machines. Bursts of his arrogance do come out at times. Is DAVETV a modern day Rasputin with a circle of followers that provide him beer and train tickets just to stay close to the DAVETV mystique? Or is DAVETV a type of performer who parlays his NTN skills into food and money? Is DAVETV the organ grinder or is he the monkey? In my book, he is just an enigma that's there. There are plenty of other barflies out there who play just as much as DAVETV and try to do the same thing.
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