REPORT FOR JANUARY 2017

REPORT FOR JANUARY 2017

There were 106 in the House for this cold night’s competition.  The We Know Stuff team continued on their streak of finishing very well and scored an overall 57 (81%) certainly an “A” grade when the average for all teams returned to a more “normal” 56% effort.  As seems always the case, 2-3 teams signed on but failed to show.  Please let us know if you are unable to attend as some fledgling teams would like to play but the “word” is that we are always booked.  Almost -but not quite.

The first question asked for an “era” time-frame when the first women graduated from McGill (1888) and one team (Trivia Now..) got it exactly.  There were only 5 other teams within the +/- 4 range and these were 42, Double Pair, Cashew, Otto Maass, We Know and the Blond Artifacts- all teams seem to have a McGill base so maybe they studied up for this.  Ten teams got Stephen Leacock as the founder of the McGill Daily including a new squad from the Faculty of Science/UA area named as the Synaptic Consolidators.  Only 5 teams knew that the term Smack referred to a collection of jellyfish including the Bulldogs, the Blondies, We Know Stuff, In Vino and the Ministry.  Most everyone knew that Rush could create odd sounds associated with the Toronto airport but I was a bit sorry to play this piece as one cannot really dance to it, hum it or even listen.  This is my “tweet” for the night.  We Know Stuff obtained the only 10/10 score of the night and the average for this round was 60%.

Round 2 was apparently much tougher with a score of 46% and the We Know squad only missed one- the largest gland in the body as did the whole House except for Positive Vibrations (liver).  It is a good thing that the Boxer Rebellion and Mutiny on the Bounty were asked as just about everyone got both, otherwise the score would have been even lower for the teams.  More than half knew the approximate time that women’s basketball was introduced at McGill (1918-19).  Only 7 teams knew the era of the “It’s ok to give the woman of the house a vacuum cleaner as a Christmas present” and these were We Know, Positive Vibrations, the Bulldogs, Blondies, Eli’s Angels, Cashew and Thistle Rocks.  Most of these teams had members that might have had a hand in experiencing the ad, or could relate to it from parental units.  At this stage, We Know had 19/20 and led the Space Cadets who were at 15 (tied with the Blond Artifacts) and they were followed by the ever enthusiastic In Vino team and the Ministry at 14.

Round 3 was the easiest of the night with a 72% score and 5 teams had 9/10 including the We Know Stuff, Cheap Date, Blond Artifacts, Four Horsemen and 42.  All but one team knew that George was the name of 6 British Kings and 9 knew Colcannon Night was a celebration in Newfoundland.  I thought that was a pretty good response for a fairly tough question although multiple-choice helps to remind one of the possibilities.  All but one team knew about Nurse Ratched from the great “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” film.  That team said Nurse Crabtree.  Not a bad shot.  Clearly it was a memorable film and the Nurse was very well remembered.  All but one knew the isosceles triangle shape and the same score obtained for the home country for Pope Francis so overall, it was a good round including many recognizing the Metro notes on door closing.

Round 4 was a bit more difficult with a score of 59%.  Many knew the unusual Echidna although it was a multiple-choice pick.  Only 4 did not know the oak leaf.  Only one team did not know the Victoria Cross—impressive indeed.  Three did not know the Corinthian column shape.  Most missed the number of McGill athletic teams in 1949 with most suggesting it was 11 men and 5 for the women as opposed to the actual numbers of 16 men’s and 10 women’s teams.  I thought this was a significant effort for 68 years ago for McGill with sports such as archery, fencing and rifle for the women and water polo and cricket for the men.

The round after the break fell to a 47% success rate and all but one knew the black and white segment in “The Wizard of Oz” but only 6 teams knew the first film of Johnny Depp and they were We Know, Four Horsemen, Otto Maass, In Vino, Bulldogs and the Trivia Menches.  Some of the other guesses for Johnny’s film included “Pretty in Pink”, “Fast Times of Ridgemont High”, “Heaven Can Wait”, ”Weird Science”, “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” amongst many others.  The great hit “Earth Angel” was thought to be performed by The Platters but it was The Penguins who delivered that rendition and only the Crusader Rabbit team along with the Space Cadets, In Vivo and We Know Stuff got it right.

Round 6 showed up with the overall average for the night at 55%.  It has been interesting to me that by far, most overall events have this score although October and November scored 67% and 61% respectively.  All but four teams knew that the Gulf of Mexico was the largest gulf.  Several teams know about the Black Hand and even more knew who Xerxes was as the man who defeated the Spartans at Thermopylae.  Impressive.  Quite a few knew about the bracket to hold a lampshade as a harp but the Space Cadets considered that it was for me at a party with the lampshade.  Not yet, but it could happen!   Almost all knew that St. James Place was orange in the game of Monopoly but in contrast, only two teams (In Vino and the Blond Artifacts) knew Ron Hynes for the music question.  Several votes were given for Stompin’ Tom (very different voice however).  In a desperate stab, our friends from Architecture opined it was Fergus McFIsh.  Wanting to acknowledge a possible good guess, a quick check of Google affords the disparate -The Bristol magazine, twin bed mattress and Citizen Dog Comic Strip.  Wow.

The last round showed a 57% score and 6 teams got “Lazy Bones” as the name of the first remote TV changer including the Hotel group (getting back in the game after Fergus), We Know Stuff, Boom Down, Space Cadets, Cheap Dates and 42.  Most said Change Man.  All wrong answers were made up.  Only 5 knew Chico was the eldest of the Marx brothers.  All but 4 knew Kuwait City was the capital of Kuwait.  Finally, all got the music question due to my math error as it provided confusion as to a possible answer.  I was not trying a “trick” math question by suggesting that the Simon and Garfunkel song was #1 40 years ago when it was 50 years ago.  I just erred so a “bonus” right answer was given as the question was not really answerable with the 40 year statement.

Thanks as usual to our hard-working and effective graders, Jocelyn, Julia and Cordelia and thanks also to the procurer of items associated with the Bookstore, Kim Stephenson, who also as you know, keeps the books on our annual contribution to Centraide. Also I want to acknowledge University Advancement for other gifts along with the Office for Science and Society from the Chemistry Department.

THE STANDINGS FOR ROUND THREE OF SEASON 7 ARE PRESENTED BELOW

STANDINGS FOR THE JANUARY CONTEST

OVERALL RESULTS TO DATE