Who is the singer they called Old Blue Eyes, with connections to the mafia? In Greek mythology, what was the name of god of war? On what date did President Bush declare an end to major combat in Iraq?

Is this useless information? Yeah, unless you’re trying to make A&T’s quiz bowl team, as I am. Why else would I care?

And I don’t mean to scare you, but there are others, at A&T and every other HBCU, who have collected these trivia-type facts during life without a place or occasion to put them to use. Hello, quiz bowl.

Here’s how it works: Every year, car ?” manufacturer Honda sponsors a quiz bowl for the top black colleges. Of all the black colleges, only 64 are invited to Florida. The tournament is in Orlando, Fla. and the winners get money for their school.

The hard part, from my understanding, is making the team. Each university holds an in-house quiz bowl tournament among different student organizations. There is also a “core” group of quiz bowl hopefuls, constantly studying and preparing for the Orlando tournament.

The top performers from the campus tournament and the brightest from the core group are selected by the A&T quiz bowl team coach to compete in Florida. The competition is tough.

The 64 teams are divided into eight divisions. Each team in each division spends the first two days playing teams in the same division. The top two teams from each division then advance to the playoff round of 16.

A&T has qualified for the playoffs every year since 1996, but never won a national championship. A&T reached the quarterfinals in 2002, the school’s highest finish ever. Last year’s team ?” Brian Marsh, Shannon Banks, William Griffin, Jamal Payne and Justin Bullock ?” lost in the first round of the playoffs to eventual runner-up Morehouse College.

Maybe this will be the year A&T wins the championship, or at least beats six-time winner Florida A&M. I just hope I make the team and get the chance to compete against some of the best and brightest.

Answers: Franks Sinatra, Ares, May 2.

• Chad Roberts