There were two trivia teams with the same team name – in different languages – playing at Maplewood Lanes (Saline, MI) in Friday’s My Trivia Live joint.” One was a regular league team called “Shalom, Bitches!” The other was “Boshuda, Bitches!” The former team name translates to “Greetings, bitches” in Hebrew, and also means “Peace.” The latter team name, when translated from the “Star Wars” language Huttese (the language spoken by Jabba the Hutt and his peoples), means “Greetings, bitches.” We played under the latter team name as a nod to the opening of “The Last Jedi.” Interesting we used a “Star Wars” inspired name in this place, which I would call a “Mos Eisley” trivia spot. This means a highly competitive trivia spot frequented primarily by a mixture of barhop and regular teams (and occasional visiting teams, such as ours, though it may not necessarily be a hive of scum and villainy! Though it almost turned into a hive of scum and villainy after someone shouted out an answer, necessitating a harder question (now where’s my light saber)? As for the game, we (myself , Mike, Brad and Evan) were in second going into the final question with only 49 points! The first place team had just four more points. You MTL players probably know that means it was a rough question set! We missed the final question, so did not get to answer the $100 jackpot question about ancient trees, which all of the teams missed. Read on to find out more about those questions and some of the gnarly regular round questions!
Round One
1. Stadiums – In what decade did the Pontiac Silverdome open? I remembered my older brother going to events here in this decade during the very, very brief time he was involved in Cub Scouts…3
2. Logos – What type of transportation is depicted in the logo for “Toys for Tots?” I drew a crude picture of this, got this for 5.
3. Food – What company currently owns Oreos? This question was thrown out because someone shouted out the correct answer, so it was replaced with this question:
3. Children’s Literature (thanks a lot, Mr. Loudmouth) – What children’s character did Hugh Lofting create? Miss.
Round Two
1. Governors – Within one, how many governors has the state of Michigan had since 1835? Miss.
2. Landmarks – What U.S. city would you be in if standing by Buckingham Fountain? Brad was all over this one…and we joked that it MUST be named for Lindsay Buckingham, whose main claim to fame was banging Stevie Nicks. Then “someone” said “Who DIDN’T bang Stevie Nicks back in the day,” and the conversation turned to her having been visited by Prince during a recording session for her hit single “Stand Back,” on which he played keyboards (uncredited). So did Prince bang her too as payment for having been an impromptu session musician? Maybe not, since she was a newlywed at the time…But maybe she will do a “tell all” book and tell us more about this fascinating story!
3. Cartoons – Airing in the ’90s, what comedian starred in the series “Little Rosie?” Picked the wrong Rosie, but Evan was all over this bonus question – “All Grown Up” was a spinoff of what animated series? So no points for this question…I think quite a few teams probably picked the same wrong Rosie as us…
Round Three
1. Reality TV – This was NOT really a reality TV question, thank goodness, though a current TV series was mentioned in the question, which I did not write down. How many babies do you have if you have quintuplets? Precious “gimme” after a couple of rough, rough questions (partially thanks to “Mr. Nabisco.” Curse you!).
2. Books to Movie – What R.J. Palacio novel adapted into a 2017 movie features a child with Treacher Collins syndrome? Mike asked if it was “Arthur Treacher” syndrome… anyone remember when those restaurants used to be EVERYWHERE? I got this one just because I happened to visit a box office web site before our recent doomed trivia tournament, lol…otherwise I would not have any idea this movie existed. Serendipity!
3. Artists – What American painter is credited with creating “Nighthawks” and “House by the Railroad?” Brain farts all around, miss.

Parody of “Nighthawks” featuring Star Wars characters.

Halftime – Which travel site was created first of the following pairs?
Hotwire or Expedia?
Priceline or Travelocity?
Trip Advisor or Air B&B?
Trivago or Orbitz?
Missed #2.
Thirteen teams, scores 16 to 35 with “Shalom, Bitches” in first. We were tied for fourth with 25 points along with three other teams.
Round Four
1. TV Series – The mini-series Rich Man, Poor Man was based on the lives of what family? Newsletter answer, 6.
2. Royalty – Meghan Markle, whom is currently engaged to Prince Harry, previously starred on what USA Network show? Miss, though we considered right guess.
3. Geography – What country does Argentina and Brazil border? This is exactly how the question was worded. We got this because of a geography question I failed in last Monday’s game asking for countries in South America NOT bordering Brazil. Yay for learning from past mistakes? This is the first of two such questions in this game!
Round Five
1. Currency – Tögrög is the official currency used in what East Asian country? Mike was all over this one, this country’s capital is his favorite world capital. You might be a geography nerd if you have a “favorite” world capital city! Mine is Ouagadougou, though Antananarivo is a close runner up! I think Brad’s favorite is Zagreb, though he is also fond of Djibouti, lol…
2. What U.S. state has mistletoe as the official state flower? A miss in a trivia game from a year or two ago helped me nail this one…and this was the second question of the night we got because of previous f— ups!
3. Constellations – What constellation is known for its “W” shape, similar to Cassiopea and shares its name with the Latin word for “lizard?” Miss.
Round Six
1. Groups – What is the collective name for a group of hummingbirds? Miss.
2. Video Games – What video game franchise featured Dirk the Daring and Princess Daphne? Miss. And doesn’t Dirk the Daring sound kind of like a porn star name? Or am I just thinking of Dirk Diggler from “Boogie Nights?”

Dirk Diggler in Boogie Nights, as played by Mark Wahlberg, who apparently wants to be “forgiven” for making this movie since he is a devout Catholic. How many Hail Marys does one need to do for appearing in a movie while wearing a prosthetic schlong?

3. Awards – The Cy Young award is given annually to an athlete in what sport? Even I would know this one, nice “gimme” to end this rough, rough game!
Scores going into the final:
Twelve teams, scores 36 to 53, with Shalom Bitches in first, just ahead of Boshuda, Bitches (aka ‘Pods) with 49 points. Shout out to the most inappropriate team name of the night – “Carrie Fisher: One Year Sober.” Groan! RIP Carrie Fisher! 😦 Low blow, guys!
Final Category – Music
What heavy metal band’s album was the first to be preserved in the Library of Congress because of its historical importance? Name the band, not the album.
We talked about the right band, but hemmed and hawed a bit too much about what was considered “metal.” Though the band we did pick was definitely a “metal” band, just too old for this answer.
Finalists were Oedipus, One is the Loneliest Number and Useless, Useless Knowledge, who all had a chance to answer this $100 jackpot question:
Outside of the U.S. what country has the oldest living tree?
Nobody got it, so the jackpot goes up to $150 next week.
And this was our “makeup game” for missing last Wednesday’s game. We’ll be back in the saddle next Wednesday at Wurst. An “afternoon delight’ game is also planned for next Monday at the Canton Bistro, featuring myself and Stacy, whom will be helping warm the bench of Kim’s brand-spanking new MTL team. Merry Christmas, Kim (LOL). Her team has just one more game to attempt to qualify for a semifinals spot because of Christmas and New Year’s Day games being on Mondays. Wish us luck, those Monday questions have been rough the past couple of outings! As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Lewis Cass, George Milliken, Jennifer Granholm, John Engler (ask Mike about the time his dad beat up John Engler…true, true story) – and….I can’t name any other governors of Michigan right now! Isn’t that sad? Was James Ingram a governor? Silly…I mean Ingham…Calhoun? Berrien? Houghton? Those are county names, but were these guys also governors? That’s all folks, over ‘n out! Need to learn more about who previously helmed this great state! )