A groundhog seeing his or her shadow might be a sign of early spring (or just a sign that the groundhog is horny). Some male groundhogs do pause from hibernation to make sure their “harems” are in place, then go back to sleep for a while (this is all true…it’s SCIENCE!). Another surefire sign that spring is on the way is when our team visits Original Gravity Brewing Co. for its Sporcle Live trivia scene! Considering how awfully we fared on the questions, maybe it’s time to go back to hibernating! We managed to get both final questions right AND wagered points on them – but were utterly slain by a gauntlet of regular round questions, including an obscure “doctor, cop lawyer” TV show question in the mystery round. Jim Caviezel? Who the hell is that? Isn’t he that Christian Bale look alike who played Jesus or something? And this exhausts all of my knowledge of actor Jim Caviezel! Good news is both final question categories were topics I’ve studied lately, so I’ll take that as a moral victory…I guess? We managed to finish with a respectable 114 points, but no prizes. Clearly this was just not our night, though I will say one of the brewery’s latest beers in their lineup – the Lampin Lager – was quite good! I need a break from the hoppy beers every now and then. They are also offering ciders now, which seemed to be a popular offering. And the questions…

Game One

1. Explorers – What European country was the birthplace of Marco Polo? 5

2. Game Shows – What Food Network TV game show has the initials GGG? This question is abbreviated. When I heard the answer, I thought of something…completely different than the show’s actual concept. Here’s what MY show would look like: shopping for others (sneaking embarrassing items, like hemhorroid creams, into other people’s shopping carts when they’re not looking), grocery cornhole (tossing items into carts from a distance), grocery cart slalom (maneuvering a cart quickly down a crowded grocery aisle), and grocery cart “chicken.” Competitors are allowed to do whatever it takes to slow their rivals from checking out and leaving the store, including writing personal checks without having any ID, using expired credit cards, purchasing items without working bar codes, etc. Yup, we missed this for 1. BTW, I LOVE playing grocery cart cornhole (though I have never attempted to use hard/fragile items).

3. Companies – Kitchen Aid, Maytag, Jenn-Air and Amana are all brands under what corporation’s name? We put in a good guess, but missed for 2.

4. ’80s Movies (now THIS is more like it…) – What actress playing Tracy Turnblad in the 1988 John Waters film “Hairspray” was a former talk show host? Judging from some of the groans I heard when the answer was revealed, this question may have been a bit too old for the crowd. This is the same place where someone whined about a 1981 movie (Raiders of the Lost Ark), saying “I wasn’t even born yet.” LOL…10

5. Comics – What was the first name of the original creator of “Family Circus?” FB clue, 9

6. Time – Other than Nevada, name one of the two states containing at least one county in either the Pacific or Mountain time zones? Way off, miss for 4. IT GETS WORSE! You might want to stop reading here…unless you’re evil and want to bathe in your own schadenfreude! 🙂

7. Grammy Awards – Name any other artist nominated for “best new artist” at the most recent Grammy Awards besides Alessia Cara. Nope, miss for 3.

8. Bones – The ossicles are bones found in what part of the human body? 8

9. Pass – What active NFL quarterback is second behind Peyton Manning for the most passing yards completed in a single season? One of these days, one of these days…the most popular guy I put down on quarterbacks questions WILL BE CORRECT! But on this night, he was not…miss for SIX.

10. Rules – What board game’s rules’ describe starting play by having players start out in the hexagonal shaped center and moving down the spokes toward the outer circular rim? I played SO much of this game in the ’80s with my brother, his dumb girlfriend (did not know difference between Atlantic/Pacific oceans AND was the valedictorian of her class), my mom, etc. I remember being accused of memorizing the answer cards, which of course only happened by accident! When I was way too quick to answer “cyclamates” on the artificial sweetener question, they had some words for me! Got this for 7

Mystery – Before and After

1. UK air warfare division and fictional barrier protecting people from attacks

2. Only Billboard Hot 100 hit for Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and species of both Marlin and Nemo

3. Wesley Johnson, Deandre Jordan and Austin Reeves and former CBS crime series starring Jim Caviezel

4. Dystopic Margaret Atwood novel and animated series featuring characters named Baloo, Wildcat and Rebecca (among others)

Missed #3, Sporcle Live with Lauren said this question was a stumper for most of the teams. Well played, Sporcle – well played!

We had just 48 points going into the final.

Game One scores going into the final: Thirteen teams, scores 12 (jeez glad to know we weren’t the only ones having a rough game) to 63, with This Is Sparta in first. We were in seventh playing under the name “You’re In a Tentacle Porno, Charlie Brown!” with 48 points.

Final Category – Olympic History

Mike whined: “Again?” Since we just had an Olympic history question on Wednesday. I say it’s fair game since Olympics are, you know, going on right now and stuff. He’s not quite so charitable…and as per our playbook, we discussed what to wager, with Mike wanting to go nothing, and me saying no, let’s wager. So we wagered 10. You’ve all probably seen THAT episode before, right? 🙂

The first Winter Olympic Games that was held outside of Europe or North America was held in what decade?

Got it, but not enough to land in the silver or gold medal zone, lol…Game winners were team #10, 74; and Motley Crue, 82.

Are you still reading? Because game two is going to be much, much worse! Well…OK, but don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Game Two

1. Populations – After China, what is the most populous country with a two-syllable name ? For an extra nerd bonus point, what is the most populous nation with more than four syllables in its name (not including the United States)? Missed both for 4.

2. Arcade Games – Audio clue of arcade game released in 1981 (yay, a little treat for Mike…), got this for 5.

3. Bread – Although used in English to mean a type of sandwich, the word “Bahnmi” is the word for bread in what language? We knew we didn’t have a clue on this one, so we wrote down a long list of languages (none of which will be correct), including: Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi, Aramaic, Ancient Egyptian, Latin, Sanskrit, Klingon, Elvish, Pig Latin, Urdu, Fortran, Babylonian, Sumerian, Bocce, moisture vaporators language in Star Wars, Amharic, ASCII. Miss for 3.

4. Tennis (my prayer for being about ’80s tennis was not answered) – In 1999, who won what was called the “Golden Slam” (which should totally be a Denny’s breakfast item), which included winning the Australian Open, U.S. Open, French Open and an Olympic gold medal? Mike had right guess, but we went with mine instead…slam! Miss for 2.

5. SNL – Within two, how old was the youngest SNL host of all time when they hosted in 1982? I REALLY should’ve paid more attention to the year…miss for 6. I was thinking of one of the people who was the youngest cast member, not a host. Damn…now I feel like a little girl lost! Sorry…that HAD to be written.

6. Pets in Books – In the 19th Century novel “Treasure Island,” the parrot Captain Flint belongs to what pirate? 10

7. Bands – What alternative rock band released a 1996 album titled “Fashion Nugget,” which included the songs “The Distance” as well as a cover of “I Will Survive?” And special thanks to host Lauren for playing Mike’s song request by this band (Short Skirt Long Jacket), got this for 8.

8. Ships – I got all excited when I heard this as a category…”Hey Mike…this is YOUR kind of knowledge!”

And the question..In what war was did the U.S.S. Constitution earn the nickname “Old Ironsides?” 7

9. Stocks – (please no…just no…) Sealy, a subsidiary of Temper Sealy International, trades under what double letter symbol? Miss for 1.

This will leave us with a seven-point slip to use on the next question (nail biter)!

10. Actors – Who played the men’s hockey coach in the 2004 film “Miracle?” OK, Mike, I will agree with you here… I am now calling “Uncle” on the Olympics-related questions! Miss for 7. Pardon me while I start beating my head repeatedly with a hockey stick and cutting myself with freshly sharpened skates, lol…

Visual Mystery

Missed #3 and #4, our “flag guy” Brad probably would have helped us here.

Scores – Twelve teams, scores 9 to 61 with Big Heads Big Hearts (playing under a pseudonym I did not write down) in first. Nice job on a rough round of questions, guys! We were in sixth with 36 points.

Final Category – Animated Movies

Nope. No way in HELL would Mike be able to talk me out of wagering ballsy on this! 🙂

Of the 19 feature-length films released by Pixar Animation Studios, only four did not get nominated for any Academy Awards. Name two of those four films. Our host said that there were actually five correct films.

Our bar only had to name one, but we would have been able to name both. Funny…we played in a bar on Wednesday where both of our final questions were made more difficult…and played in a bar Thursday where the host offered the easier version! Hosts have to do what’s best for their trivia crowds…

BHBH held onto their lead, and I am unsure who finished second. Until next time, which will be Monday. We are skipping our Saturday game for this week only, but should be back at it next Saturday (work schedule/weather permitting). Good luck to all of the teams playing in that “invitational” tournament Sunday at Haymaker Ann Arbor! We will definitely want to know which team goes home with the “gold!” As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Kurt Russell!