Grrr. Two final questions in a row where we’ve been burned on statehood questions! It’s time to start learning EXACTLY when all 50 states joined the f—ing union! I have a decent head for dates, why not put my silly brain to use – beer money is on the line, after all! Where to start, where to start? Maybe take this quiz over…and over…and over until I master it ? Hmmm, it’s not like I haven’t resorted to that method when learning things for trivia before! How many times I have I taken the “nations of the world” quiz (hastily looks at Sporcle stats), wow, 96 times? How about the Big Four Sports quiz? Yeah, 49 times on that one! Never again will we miss a “statehood” question (shakes fist angrily)! Despite missing two final questions in the past two games about statehood, we did manage to get SOME questions right in our My Trivia Live game last night at The Wurst Bar, though we did not win any prizes! We remain in second in the bar’s standings behind “The Pants Team” (lol this is not the first rivalry we’ve had with a trivia team with the name “pants” in it…oh the irony, *cough* More Beer Less Pants). We are, so far, keeping the third place “Tongue Twister” team at bay, with 55 points dividing us and them. And here…we go!
Round One
1. Fast Food – In 1971, what fast food chain began using the slogan “You deserve a break today?” While we’re on the subject of fast food, does anyone else remember when Arthur Treacher’s Fish and Chips restaurants used to be everywhere? Per Wikipedia, at the peak of its popularity in the late 1970s (dating myself here), there were more than 800 stores! As of 2016, only eight of these places remain – in Ohio, New York and New Jersey. Mike and I were talking about defunct restaurant chains and mentioned this one. Guess they are still kicking around! Wish I’d known this on our recent road trip through Ohio! Sam, have you ever eaten at the locations in Rochester, NY? Anyone else craving fish and chips yet? 🙂 I’ll stop before this turns into a food porn piece!

Drool, how about some malt vinegar on those fish pieces and fries? A former co-worker of mine turned me on to the delights of malt vinegar, Jesus is that stuff good!

2. Elements – The atomic number assigned to an element refers to what number of what found in an atom’s nucleus? Brad the scientist all over this one…
3. Scotland – Which city in Scotland is larger by population – Edinburgh – or Glasgow? Unnecessary miss, but that’s all I’m going to say about that. Oh, all right! That was all my bad, guys – but hey, I will (spoiler) make up for it later by nailing the three point bonus, so there 😉
Round Two
1. State Mottos – What state’s motto is “North to the Future?”
2. Music – The lead guitarist for what band hit Abby Hoffman with his guitar while Hoffman was protesting at Woodstock? There was more to this question, but this is the gist of it.
3. Fear – When this category was announced, we thought the subject would be phobias, but nope… What actor terrorized Nick Nolte’s family in the 1991 remake of “Cape Fear?” And for an extra three point bonus, what actor was the family patriarch in the 1962 film “Cape Fear” who was terrorized by actor Robert Mitchum? I was pretty certain of the right guy, and thankfully guest player Sylvia helped back me up. Girls gotta stick together? Because after that Scottish city flub, my teammates were gun-shy about risking the points on this one! Yay, I’m still on the team!

This image actually ties into TWO of these questions! One of them is coming up…

Round Three
1. Olympians – For what event did Italian Alberto Tomba win gold medals? Brad all over this…but we had to convince host Stacy that the word we put down was synonymous with this sport before she would give us the points.
2. Food – In 1879, what was invented after the inventor noticed that certain chemicals on his hand made dinner rolls taste sweet? A bit of debate, but got it.
3. Founding Fathers – The illegitimate son of what founding father caused controversy during the American Revolution by remaining a steadfast Loyalist? He served as governor of New Jersey. Miss.
Halftime – Name four of the five actors receiving a primetime Emmy award for best lead actor in a comedy series airing between 1990 and 1999.
Managed to get two correct.
Twelve teams in the mix, scores 5 to 30, with us in first.
Round Four
1. What state’s constitution was the first to ban slavery? Newsletter answer.
2. Music – What country singer was part of the Tennessee Three, the Highwaymen and went on to have a legendary solo career? Hm, we had a question about this guy in our game Saturday. Thankfully Sylvia was all over this one, though I grew up in the country, I never got into country music!
3. Newspapers – What newspaper feature originated as as sports feature called “Champs and Chumps,” and later evolved into a feature by what name involving various fantastic feats? “Believe it or not,” we missed this.
Round Five
1. Historical Figures – What was Malcolm X’s “real” last name? There was some confusion as to whether “real name” meant “birth name” or “legal name.” Picked right one.
2. Birthdays – Nine of the 10 most common birthdays occur in what month of the year? I noticed recently that a good number of my Facebook friends have birthdays in this month.
3. Inventions – What 1879 invention originated as a product commonly found in bathrooms and used as a surgical dressing? We were thrown off by the word “dressing” here, missed this.
Round Six
1. World Leaders – What was Vladimir Ulaynov’s alias? Initially had right guess, but nope…
2. Amusement Parks – What two main categories are used to designate parking areas at Walt Disney World? Nope…flashback to 1981 when I was on a trip to Florida with my mom and brother and we couldn’t find our car at the end of a long day at Walt Disney World! We spent over an hour looking for it. My mom later joked that it wound up being in the “Goofy” lot…how my mom managed to get through that ordeal with strangling us kids and leaving us for dead right there, I’ll never know! I can only imagine the whining…”I’m hungry…” “My feet are tired…” “I’m sunburned…” “That Mickey mascot scared me…” Maybe this is why I don’t like furries or costumed mascots! Watershed moment, people! Oh yeah, I don’t like nutcrackers, either – imagine having to work in a place where you’re faced with them on a daily basis! I think they’re just creepy AF 🙂 If they made a horror movie featuring nutcrackers, I couldn’t watch it! 
3. Beverages – What soft drink was invented as a morphine substitute for a Civil War general?

Poor Marge ends up “accidentally” shoplifting while under the stress of caring for her sick family.

Scores: Team Pants was in first with 53, we were right behind with 52 points, and Tongue Twisters were in fifth with 27.
Final Category – U.S. States
Two states were admitted into statehood under President Benjamin Harrison and because of shuffled paperwork, nobody knows what state was admitted first. What were those two states? We briefly discussed the right states, but nope, it was not to be. Damn it all, statehood! Just you wait – I will conquer you yet! Or as Nikita Khrushchev said, “We will bury you.” Wow, how scary is THAT phrase? One of us will be warming the bench tonight at Original Gravity Brewing Co. in order to play the seventh qualifying game for next week’s venue tournament. Yes, we pretty much did the bare minimum. As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, William Franklin!