REPORT FOR MARCH, 2016
There were a few fewer players in this contest compared with January but the competition was intense. I must say at the outset, some corrections were made after the event on three questions. I apparently had an outdated summary of the lowest population density for the provinces and it turns out that Newfoundland and Labrador won out over Saskatchewan 1.4 to 1.8 persons per square mile. Also, the “error bar” for the questions on the year of the Moonrise and the 1960s super market were inconsistently graded for a few teams and finally, it was pointed out by the Boomers that a lion did indeed exist on the rooftop of the Music Building and was shown by a photo which I checked. The angle of the west side of that building also has a lion and the shape of that wall was all but identical to the picture shown of RVC on the night of Trivia. The Gordie Brown team was the only other one to get a point here as NO team has apparently noticed the Sherbrooke side of RVC. I would like to put more campus photos in the event. The consequence of the corrections is that the overall evening’s standings changed very slightly and of course the prizes were altered but at least the data is correct. I want to mention that there are over 2,100 evaluations made each session so forgiveness is requested however errors in population density remain a stain.
Round one scored 53% that is about average and all but six teams knew the Lumberjack enjoyed wearing women’s clothing. ONLY the Mighty Dendrites got the oldest University (founded 849) in Morocco. The most popular answer was Bologna (1088). There are differences of opinion as to the oldest but the date for Morocco’s establishment wins out by the Guinness Record book. Slightly more than a statistical answer for the Queen of Spades’ direction showed perhaps some House expertise in cards. The ultimate winner, Cashew, the Bulldogs, Boom Down, Rabble Rousers, Trivia Trailblazers, the Hotel team, Positive Vibrations, the Spuds, Thistle Rocks and Green Eggs knew that Dolly Parton was only married once while the Dendrites suggested the most at six.
Round two proved to be the lowest scoring of the night with only 41% success for the House. I find it interesting that over and over again, while there are modest round variations, the overall score for the events rarely differ by more than one or two percent from about 55% . One of the most successful questions of the night was the piloerection query where all but the chemists got it right and they chose the “swelling of the eardrums” and given that the sound was way up for that question and their station was right in front of the left-side speaker, it was not a bad stab. It was almost good enough to give them a point but not quite. Only three teams knew that Parcheesi was the answer to the Indian game and they were the Crusaders, the British Bulldogs and 42. Most all teams got the singers for question 10 although the musical capacities of the strong Hotel team seem to be in need of repair as they said Lionel Ritchie and Tina Turner. Sigh. Most knew that Kitchener used to be Berlin, Ontario but not so many could name the four “dous” words; many got three. Nine teams got the weevil for the odd name “Zyzzyva” and this was above a statistical guess of about 6. The teams were Trivia Now, Green Eggs, In Vino, the Gordies, Thistle Rocks, Space Cadets, Cashew, the Crusaders and the Blondies. I take it as a point of pride that the other distracters were reasonably distracting.
There was a rebound in Round three to 61% with many knowing the modern harp add-ons. Bruxomania delivered a host of definitions including many who said is was a desire for Brussels sprouts with other responses including a lover of beer, hair brushing, burping, swearing, love of eating, books, bridges, making loud noises, a love of darkness, tooth brushing and a love of Brussels, Belgium. The successful teams were Green Eggs, Rabble Rousers, Double Pair, the Spuds, the Hacks and the Trivia Trailblazers. EVERY team knew that Tennessee was the home of Jack Daniel’s whiskey. Salut. Every team but one knew Butch Cassidy and all but six knew Burt Bachrach was the originator of the “Raindrops” song. The Otto Maass team was a bit out of phase suggesting Bing Crosby. Many knew it was Ben E. King who sang “Stand by Me”.
Round 4 scored only 43%. As stated above, no team got the actual picture of Royal Victoria College but as a lion was perched (different angle) on the Music Building, credits were given to the Gordie Brown team and the Boomers. Other guesses were Morrice Hall, Duggan House, Redpath Museum, Dawson Hall, Department of English, Birks Chapel, Faculty Club, Arts Building, McDoogall ?, Macdonald-Harrington, Macdonald Engineering, Morse (sic) Hall and Schulich Library. Go Lions. Many knew the “West Wing” theme. The question about the “Sing a Song of Sixpence” as to the number of blackbirds was a bit shabby on the answers with incorrect ones being 4, 9, 23, 25 and 26. Everybody knew the “Village People” but only the Trailblazers, Green Eggs and Boom Down knew they were six in number and the Bulldogs came in at ten!
Round 5 scored 61% after the break and all but three got at least four of the six the “occupations” of the Village People. Every team but one knew the film “Juno” and the selection for the lone error was “Matilda”. All but four teams knew trebuchet as the ancient catapult device. I am surprised as the other names were ancient war-devices and not just made-up names. Miss Moneypenny was known from the James Bond films by all but two and the names suggested were “M” and “Q”. Finally Kim Carnes was well-identified by the “Betty Davis Eyes” song that I still can’t wrestle out of my head. This is one of the non-perks of this activity.
Round 6 scored another 61% with the lead answer being “non-sequitur” but three teams disagreed with one phrase in “Pig-Latin”, another as “sine qui (sic) non” and one elaborate “post hoc ergo procter (sic) loc” which translates as “after this, therefore, because of this”. This was an impressive try and without the aid of Google which I of course, do have as this is being written up. Note the use of the term “sic” in ( ). This should be the subject of a question in the future but as I am working on April 2017 right now, you will all forget when the time comes. All but three recognized Paul Newman’s youthful picture (a delinquent apparently) and the wrong guesses were Marlon Brando (?), Steve McQueen and James Dean. Numerous U.S. presidents were selected for the first to use TV in a press conference and only TWO noted JFK (In Vino, and Don’t Think Twice). To be remembered is that JFK was really the first to utilize the power of TV and of course that is what won him the debate against Nixon. The radio audience thought that Nixon won the debate but the TV audience knew JFK was the top debater. Half the House (15) knew that Jim Croce sang “Leroy Brown” and I noted most of the House mouthing if not singing along. Maybe it was a generational thing as there were some “younger” teams like Don’t Think Twice, the Gordie Brown group and I’ll Ask the Questions who said Bobby Darin (older than Jim Croce, Buddy Holly (also older than Jim Croce) and Boz Scaggs so maybe it is not generational as to music. I will try to spread out the time of the questions a bit more but Rap questions are not so likely to make their way in as they have to be researched and listened to many times and I am not up for that.
The last Round gave the top score of the night with 71% and FOUR perfect 10s earned by Cashew, Cheap Date, Double Pair-a-Docs and the Four Horsemen- congratulations. All but one team got the “floating hand” in the toothpaste ad. Many knew Zorro (not spelled Zoro but of course this was counted as correct) as the character in “The Curse of Capistrano”. Only two missed the capitol of Australia and several knew Carrie Underwood as the female singer in the last music question but only the top team of the night knew Brad Paisley as the male singer and it was fitting as they won by a single point.
Thanks as usual to our hard-working graders, Jocelyn, Cordelia and Alex as well as our procurer of items associated with the Bookstore, Kim Stephenson who also as you know, keeps the books on our annual ~$3K 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.
Please register for the April 12th event (Tuesday); it will be available on the Mon. 21st
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STANDINGS FOR THE MARCH CONTEST
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