REPORT FOR APRIL 2017
We had yet again, a dark and stormy but rainy night and the House made it over 100 participants with 3 missing teams. We missed Synaptic Gap, I’ll Ask the Questions and a newcomer Hic Est Locus translation: This is the Place. The House averaged a generally typical 56% as the scores moderated a bit from the previous month.
Every team but two got it that no state in the US has a “Q” in its name---the two wrong answers were Z and J forgetting Arizona and New Jersey. Question two eventually provided some attention. It asked about the last NHL team Bobby Hull played for. After several seasons with the Winnipeg Jets of the WHA league, he played in his last 20 some games for Winnipeg AND Hartford as those two teams joined the NHL in 1978-9 so credit was given to all. Mybad. I would not have asked the question had I double-checked my source. “Trick” or “gotcha” questions are not really appropriate; I try to avoid them. All but one team got the Barometer question and most knew about Krakatoa, which is an alternate way to spell the island of Krakatau. Check it out. The spelling was “debated” for a while last Wednesday. I made up the questions to this session several months ago not anticipating the birthday of the founder of “modern” North Korea but with all the news lately about that strange part of the world, most knew that their calendar started 106 years ago. Only 4 teams knew the ridiculous length of all of the DNA in our bodies and they were For the Record, the Spuds, Trivia Trailblazers and the Trivia Menches. Good going. Most knew that Beethoven wrote 9 symphonies. All added up, it was a strong 64% showing for the round with Cheap Date out in front with a score of 9 and the Blondies, Boom Down, Trivia Menches and We Know Stuff with 8.
Round two came down to earth with a modest 51% grade. Most knew George of Seinfeld used “Latvian Orthodox” as his religion to date a girl. Many knew France was the most visited country but 3 usually very talented teams suggested Saudi Arabia which surprised me as that country does not rank in the top 25 in the world- Croatia is 25th. All but one team knew that Afghanistan’s invasion by Russia created difficulties for the 1980 Olympics. Only two teams knew that Tony Sheridan was a singer with the Beatles and they were Space Cadets and the Boomers. A few teams (Cheap Date, the Hotel team, Thistle Rocks, In Vino, We Know Stuff and the British Bulldogs) knew the forest tool, the peavey. At this point, We Know Stuff took the lead with 15 followed by In Vino and Cheap Date with 14 and 4 teams were tied with 13 and they were the Boom Downers, the Daughters of E.D. Boit, Space Cadets and the Bulldogs.
Round three delivered a 54% success rate with less than half understanding the pictures of the five-cent mini hamburgers as the 1950s with too many suggesting the 1930s. The multi-use word “UP” was only answered by the Crusaders, Boom Down and the Hotel de Ville. Only one team did not know Juicy Fruit gum and stated “Tooty Fruity”- not bad. Every team knew the Ten Commandments as the film being portrayed in the drive-in. The national dish of the Ukraine was not answered so well as pirogues was a popular response. The Good Brothers were known by the Record, the Debaters and several others including the Ministry and the Daughters. Not so many determined that Las Vegas was the biggest city since 1900. Among these winners were For the Record and Eli’s Angels along with Trivia Trailblazers.
Round 4 also had a 54% score and at the end of the round We Know Stuff and the Daughters were in first place with 27 out of 40 possible points. Taco Bell’s “Think Outside the Bun” was answered by a few as was the male sheep (Tup). The Harpy was known by Cashew, Aquavit, Hotel people, Cheap Dates and Green Eggs. Many combinations were suggested such as horse, rabbit and pig, eagle and lion, dragon and feathered beast, vulture and humans, monkey and eagle, horse and bird, rabbit and goat, eagle and goat, scorpion and goat (wow) and the only snake entry with an eagle. Eagles got a bad rap here. Only four teams (Trivia Menches, We Know Stuff, Positive Vibrations and the Crusaders knew about song writer Diane Warren. The completion of the Roddick Gate was known by several including the Hotelers, Space Cadets, Otto Maass players, the Ministry, British Bulldogs, Boom Down, Interobang and the Blonde Artifacts.
The fifth round scored 61% with only two missing the composition of the Catholic wafer. To my surprise, almost all knew about the toxic snakes in Australia. I would have said some African country before I checked it out. A few teams mentioned India. The Ministry got the exact year of the “All-Girl” rodeo (1949). The Boom Downers and the Otto Maass squad also got it within two years. Several teams knew the prescription letters T.I.D. as three times a day and We Know Stuff knew the Latin. Impressive! Rihanna is quite popular as most teams knew the music question.
The next to last round was 53% showing a quite consistent pattern for the evening. We have a very literate crowd as all knew the origin of the Heathcliff character. Even the relatively obscure 5-pin bowling top score was known by 7 teams including Double Pair a Docs, For the Record and the Spuds. Quite a few got Jennifer Lopez in the music question but it was impressive (meaning- I would not have known myself) of the other in the apparently famous duet pair of Ja Rule by The Four Horsemen, Cashew, the Space Cadets and the Menches.
Going into the last round the scores were close with Hotel de Ville and Cashew in third with 39, The Daughters of E. D. Boit in second and We Know Stuff in first with 41. The round scored 54% with most everyone saying the Yankees had the most victories but no one came up with the Giants. The reason is that the Giants started in 1883 and the Yankees in 1903 although the Yankees have the highest win percentage of all teams in MLB. Most all teams knew the orange colour of the NHL referees’ arm band. Every team knew the too-easy question of ascorbic acid as vitamin C.
There were a few play-offs and congratulations go to The Daughters of E.D. Boit for coming up with the tie-breaker answer against We Know Stuff. The question was the number of persons who eat in a McDonald’s each day (~70 million). The Daughter team was closer. One other play-off was won by In Vino with an astounding pronouncement about the number of cider bottles in a large rack and only being off by 1 bottle out of 651 (my count but I could have been off a bit).
STANDINGS FOR THE MARCH CONTEST
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