A Baby Boomer, two Gen X’ers and two Millennials walked into a bar…specifically, Oscar’s Sports & Grill Saturday, and managed to win a spot in the Sporcle Live league championship! It was a very “age diverse” group of players, with the ages ranging from 30 to 56. The age spread proved especially helpful when we had a question that asked about a word shared in song titles by Tennessee Ernie Ford, Ringo Starr AND Fallout Boy. Brad, who is 56, knew the Ringo Starr song instantly, and the two 30-somethings both knew the Fallout Boy song.

We were joined by newcomer Adam G, who is one of Evan’s longtime trivia teammates. Special shout out to One is the Loneliest Number for logging the highest score of the night (his team already secured its tournament spot last Thursday so he was not “officially” in contention on Saturday). He was already in first at the venue, so had 15 “tournament” points as opposed our 4, so that definitely gave him an advantage in game two! Our focus on Saturday was just to beat the qualified teams – not all of the teams in the room – which was reflected in our wagering strategy on both final questions. Call us lazy if ya want, but after having unsuccessfully battled for a tournament spot Wednesday at Corner Brewery, I think we all deserved to have a “fun” night of trivia without too many “nail biting” moments! We’ll save the “nail biting” for the championship on Sunday…

And…the questions!

Game One

1. Food – What food processing technique involves immersing the food in brine or vinegar in order to preserve it? 10

2. Emoji – In the 2017 film “Emoji Movie,” what is the three-letter last name of Gene, that matches the emoji he is supposed to represent? Miss…for 3. Meh!

3. Song Titles – What number appears in hit song titles by Tennessee Ernie Ford, Ringo Starr and Fallout Boy? For an extra “nerd” bonus point, name at least two of these songs. Missed the bonus, got this for 9.

4. Brand Names – What brand of pepper spray currently owned by Personal Defense Products is trademarked due to its popularity? 8

5. Actors Who Write – What actor, who won the Academy Award for best actor in both 2004 and 2009 also penned the book “Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff” in 2018? Miss for 1.

6. Mottos – What state has the appropriately shortest state motto with the word “Hope?” We cued in to the “hint” word “shortest” here but did not want to risk it for more than 4.

7. Non-Musical Bands – Shadow bands, thin, wavy lines of alternating light and dark can be seen moving and undulating in parallel on plain-colored surfaces during what kind of event? This is not exactly how the question was worded, got this for 5.

8. Time – The term “duodecennial” occurs every how many years? Two, 12, 20 or 200? The “guys” all collaborated on this one with success (thank goodness, I was NO help here), 6. Funny anecdote, both Adam and I both joked that this question would be about the Pink Floyd song, which he started humming…

9. Animated TV – What animated series featured supporting characters named Otto Scratchansniff, Hello Nurse and Ralph Guard? YES! FINALLY A TRIVIA QUESTION ABOUT THIS SERIES! OK, I’ll calm down now! But…can a “Ren and Stimpy” question be far off? Pretty please? 🙂 7

10. Agencies – In terms of government agencies, what does the letter “A” stand for in the agency abbreviated NEA? We joked that it stood for the “National Elephant Association,” whose motto is ‘You can have my elephant when you pry it out of my cold, dead hands.” Yeah…maybe we were having a bit TOO much fun…got this for 2.

Mystery – “KR” initials. All answers will be people with these initials.

1. Director, producer and actor who also narrated “The Great Warning”

2. Actress appearing in several Marvel TV shows

3. Senior adviser under George W. Bush

4. Singer whose highest charting song was “Dilemma” in 2002

Got all of these.

We were in first heading into the final with 62 points, out of nine teams playing.

Final Category – History and Literature

Marco Polo was an emissary for an Asian ruler whose name is one letter longer than title of poem by an English romantic poet. Name that poet, poem title or ruler.

Wagered 13 and got it. This got us a first place prize…

The scores among the three teams in contention heading into game two:

Let’s Get It, 23; Fork My Life Where Did I Park My Unicorn, 46 and ‘Pods, 77.

Kind of a strange feeling having this kind of lead in a deciding game! Compare that to last Wednesday’s game when we went into game two knowing that no matter how well we did, we had NO chance at victory! Except winning the first place gift card WAS kind of nice…

Game Two

1. Instruments – What instrument is a half-size flute and is the smallest of the woodwind instruments – and the highest pitched? 10 Three former “band nerds” were at this trivia game, all of whom played different instruments (this was probably a first for our team).

2. Glass – What brand of glass bakeware and mixing bowls was introduced in 1908 by Corning? 9

3. Memorials – Gutzon and Lincoln Borglum are the father and son team who designed and built what national monument? 8

4. Sitcoms – What British sitcom originally aired from 2006 to 2013 and featured characters named Maurice, Roy and Jen, whom all worked for Reinhold Industries? Adam all over this one for 7.

5. Poems – Who was the subject of a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem with these words: In the hour of darkness and peril and need, The people will waken and listen to hear

The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed?” 6

6. Mascots – Two different Division One universities – one in the Mid American conference, and the other in the Mountain West conference, both have mascots called “Buster Bronco.” Name one of these, both for a “nerd” bonus point. Helpful that one of these mascots is for a university in the same state where Brad got his master’s degree…got both of these for 5.

7. Games – Aggies, ducks, alleys, mibs and steelies are pieces used in what game? 4

8. Capitals – Dakar is the capital of what West African country? 3

9. Abbreviations – What does the letter F stand for in FM? 2

10. Disney – What was the name of the whale in the 1940 film Pinocchio? Our only miss of the regular round for 1. This is the second time in about a month we missed a trivia question involving whales. Clearly our team needs a cetacean expert! 🐳

Mystery – Name the comedy movies released in 1996 featuring the following athletes:

1. Shaquille O’Neal

2. Roger Clemens

3. Lee Trevino

4. Jim Brown

Missed #4.

Finished round in first with 59 points.

Final Category – Baseball Players

“Pudge” Rodriguez played with six MLB teams during his career but only won the World Series with one of these teams. Name that team.

Got this, but did not wager (did not need to). Missed out on prizes…

Only one more “chapter” to write in this Sporcle Live season, which will be the story of the league championship. Our next trivia outing will be our My Trivia Live game Monday at Powell’s, which will be the last game of that season. After that, we’ll taking a well-deserved break from trivia games for a bit! See y’all in the league championship next Sunday, Go Pods! Am I forgetting anything? Oh yeah…stay classy, Karl Rove!