Ladies and gentlemen, the long dry season is over – it’s Knowl- edge Bowl time!

Yessiree, for the next seven months, my life (or at least my Friday mornings) will be jam-packed with buzzer-slapping, brain- wracking, inside-joking, cookie-munching fun. As a result, my columns will be similarly stuffed with refer- ences to these antics.

Last year, I started writ- ing columns in the middle of the Knowledge Bowl season. The first column I wrote on the topic never reached your eyes – I sent two columns into the Times that didn’t pass muster be- fore my third effort, which concerned tips...