A lively group of people who’d never played a trivia game before wound up taking the first place prize Monday in a My Trivia Live game at Powell’s Pub. They almost immediately knew the answer to a tough final question – you could hear them talking about how they were going to divide their prize from across the bar – and could easily hear their revelry when they got that question right – and a couple of other stumpers. Nicely done! Who knew Rwanda had a nickname? Not us! As for us, we did not know the final question – but still managed to win a third place prize, and logged the top score of the night heading into the final. Before the game, a couple of guys watching a NCAA basketball game on TV wound up exchanging some…ugly words. Here’s a snippet…”Your team (OSU) is overrated (repeated)” – and “You think you’re a tough guy?” Mike and I almost sat between these two, and when I saw there was a table open behind us, we moved there. I just had a…feeling. Did I have a bad feeling about this, like in “Star Wars?” Yes, you could say I did! I wasn’t comfortable sitting right next to one of these guys, and I couldn’t quite explain it. My instincts proved later to be spot on!

Here in Michigan, the Michigan/OSU rivalry is legendary. In Scotland, the rivalry between these two teams – Celtic (in stripes) – and Rangers – is just as legendary. Wearing the wrong jersey in the wrong place can get you mugged – or worse!

Things were kind of escalating a bit, their voices were getting louder – though both stayed in their seats and basically just shouted at each other. We pretty much had a front-row seat to all of this…and were just a few feet away! Then another player walked over to them, immediately started talking to one of the guys, touching his shoulder, looking him right in the eyes, talking right into his ear. After a little bit of that “horse whispering,” as I called it, the guy calmed down – and so did the other guy.

There’s a scene in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers where the character Aragorn acts as “horse whisperer” to this horse whose name is Brego. This horse’s primary rider, Theodred (son of King Theoden) was recently killed in battle and Aragorn helped calm the unruly horse by speaking Elvish to it. Because everyone knows all horses understand Elvish!

We made sure to thank him for settling this dispute – and he said humbly, “They were killing the trivia vibe.” Priceless! Since this guy is a teacher, he is probably no stranger to conflicts – and having to step in to try to bring the calm. It really was a thing to watch (really…you had to be there). Thankfully no one needed to intervene when I was telling Mike to STFU about us blowing nearly the whole halftime round about sports awards (we went with my guesses instead of choosing what our D&D die said we should choose). As anyone who has ever played D&D knows, the “bones” aren’t always right! And neither were all of our answers…read on to see the questions!
Round One
1. Boy Bands (we groaned when we heard this category) – How many members made up the ’90s boy band Hanson? 5
2. TV – On what HBO show does Larry David play a fictionalized version of himself? 3
3. SCIENCE! – What element with the atomic number 93 is named for both a planet – and the Roman god of the sea? 1 Good start to the game…
Round Two
1. Celebrity Marriages – Dax Shepard has been married to what actress since 2013? 5
2. Retail – Named after the river near where the company’s founders settled, what company, founded in 1938, was originally a hat company and is now a clothing/outdoor equipment retailer? 3
3. Album Covers – Released in 2014, what female artist’s album cover features a Polaroid photo of the female artist -wearing a shirt with seagulls on it? Host George, sensing the whole lotta “duh” from the crowd, said aloud that he was wondering whether he should give the name of the album. A couple of teams said “Yes, do that.” A short time later, he said that the album was called 1989, which thankfully, I knew. We missed the bonus question asking for what two members of the Beatles are wearing white shoes on the “Abbey Road” album cover. Is this our “sacrifice” for having aced the whole Beatles anagrams mystery round last Thursday at Sticks? Funny, Mike was talking recently about wanting to make the “Abbey Road” album cover one of his “pet” categories, lol…Mike talked with host George after the game, and George said to him that he hates “age specific” trivia questions. It’s not a matter of whether a question is “too young” or “too old,” but make it kind of a mix.
Round Three
1. Movie Characters – Joel Goodson is the lead character in what ’80s movie? Ours was the only team handing this one in right away…sometimes you’ve just gotta say “What the f—?” Quote from that movie!
2. Coaches – Phil Jackson is famous for coaching what NBA team who won several championships in the 1990s? My “second” guess on this one was correct (d’oh)! Our “sports guy” Brad was not able to come out for this game. Too bad…we would not have had to resort to using “the bones” to figure out the halftime question answers had he been there! Miss for 1.
3. Planets – Which planet’s rings are the only ones visible from Earth? 3.
Halftime – match the college football award named for a player and the position it is awarded for.
Players – Ray Guy, Davy O’Brien, Lou Groza and Jim Thorpe. The positions – quarterback, placekicker, punter, defensive back.
Without Brad, I had to try stepping in here (ugh)…all I knew was that Jim Thorpe was a minority, so I guessed that he would probably not be given a “popular guy” position like quarterback – nor would he be given a “specialty” position like punter or placekicker. That whacked out logic turned out to be correct! My whacked out logic did not work on any of these others…for the record, the d4’s “picks” were all spot on (except we did go with my Jim Thorpe guess). Tragedy! 
Halftime scores: Three-way tie with 20 points – Ham Wallets, Says Who and ???; ‘Pods, 27; One is the Loneliest Number, 30, Dan Smith, 33, and Smoot (?), 36.
Round Four (John joined in on the fun here)
1. States – In what state is the Valley of “Ten Thousand Smokes”? Newsletter clue, 6.
2. Automobiles – The Terrain is a crossover sold under what specific brand?
3. TV – Casey Webb took over Adam Richman’s hosting job on what reality TV show? I pulled right guess from the ass here…
You Pick Challenge George asked this question to determine the team picking the “You Pick” category – how many groups of rings does Saturn have? Mike originally had what would have been the closest guess, but changed it to an answer that was too high. Closest team without going over got to choose the category. Which wound up being…
Round Five
1. Fictional Places – The “Double R” diner is featured in what short-lived 1990s series that was rebooted in 2017? Yay for picking this category! 6
2. Nicknames – What African country is known as “The Land of A Thousand Hills?” Huh? We guessed a country close to the right one geographically, but nope…there was one team cheering (the one that would end up winning the night). Miss for 2.
3. Actresses – Who is the current highest paid actress according to Forbes? George gave a “hint” that he was “surprised” by the answer…we considered the right woman, but missed this for 4.
Round Six
1. Athletes – Who wrote a book called “It’s Not About the Bra,” which chronicled the U.S. Women’s Soccer team’s 1999 World Cup win? Thankfully we only needed the last name…I brain farted on her first name (though I knew what letter it started with), got this for 6. Yay, this “kind of” helped make up for us blowing almost the whole sportsball halftime round!

Why was such a big deal made about this? Soccer player from previous question gets celebratory – and slightly more naked – after winning the U.S. Women’s Soccer World Cup in 1999. Come on…a sports bra is just a skimpy shirt! She’s not showing her tits!

2. Presidents – Franklin Pierce was what number president?
3. Money – What credit card company has a logo of a gladiator on its travelers checks and credit cards?
Finished regular round with 57 points, which put us in first.
Final Category – Books
Mary Rodgers, daughter of Richard Rodgers, wrote what book, which was made into both a 1976 film and a 2003 film? We put down a film that was made and then re-made by a different person – did not wager any points.
Team Balls moved up from fifth (44 points) to first and got this. Team Dan Smith wagered low and also got it, managing to beat our score by just one point (well played…well played…you win this round). Our next outing will be our Arbor Brewing Company – Corner gig on Wednesday. Go Pods, and stay classy, Dax Shepard!