You know it’s an odd trivia night indeed when I’m stumped by an ’80s music audio clue! Thankfully one of my teammates, Kimberly, was able to hit it out of the park! I just didn’t really listen to country music in the 1980s, though it was pretty popular in the area where I grew up (maybe I was just trying to be a rebel)? We played our second-to-last game at Original Gravity Brewing Co. Thursday, and didn’t “exactly” get the result we wanted – no prizes, still sitting in third place going into next week’s venue tourney. We’ve had some pretty good games lately, with us winning a $100 first place prize in the ’80s movies theme night, and Evan (E) playing his first solo game Saturday and winning a $15 first place prize. I know that those favors from the trivia gods need to be paid back with bad games from time to time! Best get this shitty game out of the way before next week! Despite the prizeless showing and 85 point finish, moods were generally good all around on this trivia night, which was hosted by Sporcle Live Kevin Breck, whom was subbing for regular host Sporcle Live with Lauren. Our players this time were myself, Mike, Brad, Kimberly and Evan (the latter two teamed up REALLY well on a “l’il” musicians mystery round). And (drum roll)…the questions!

1. Novels – Give the real name of either of the title characters in the novel that published in 1950 that begins with “Lucy looks into a wardrobe.” Well, we knew that the wardrobe probably didn’t have a name, so that was a good start (LOL)! What would be a good name for a Wardrobe? Ward Cleaver? We got this for 10.

2. 2000s Music – What 2003 single was the only single by Fountains of Wayne to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 charts? Kim gets the fist bump here, 2.

3. Art Words – The second word in “papier mache” is French derived and means what? Chewed, glued, starched, or wet? Miss for 3, though we considered the right answer, based on Kim saying, “French people can be really, really weird.”

4. Racing – Give the name of either major U.S. city in the names of any horses winning the Triple Crown. Got for 9. We were SO worried this would be about car racing! Nice work Brad!

5. Europe – (seriously…you don’t want to continue reading this recap – this is going to be a Franz Ferdinand style tragedy) Large due to its indented coastline and more than 50,000 islands, what European country has the largest amount of coastline of all of the countries in Europe? The host gave us the clue that “it’s not Russia.” And we have a new rule on our trivia team – whenever someone says, “What else could it be” during question brainstorming? Do not wager high! We did…we wagered 8 and missed (beats head on table).

6. Disney – What is the only Disney film title character that has no dialogue for the entire film? 5

7. SNL – What former SNL cast member portrayed Sean Connery in “Celebrity Jeopardy” skits? Evan was all over this one like The Colonel on fried chicken…7

8. Desserts – What is the anatomical name given to slender sponge cakes used in tiramisu? 6

9. Card Games – Post mortem (among other terms that I did not write down) is used to describe varieties of what card game? FB clue.

10. Amendments – What two words fill in the blanks of this line from the Fifth Amendment – “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without (two words)? This may be slightly paraphrased, got for 1.

Mystery – “L’il” artist – Given the names and release years of the following singles, name the artist with names beginning with “L’il.” Ugh…this sounded like a “recent music” category…glad I had a couple of players step up up to tackle these (nicely done, Evan and Kim)!

1. Bounce With Me, 2000; Let me, 2005; and Puppy Love, 2001

2. Get Low, 2003; Snap Yo Fingers, 2006; Turn Down For What; 2014

3. Save Dat Money, 2015; Professional Rapper, 2015; Freaky Friday, 2018

4. Mild Pop, 2008; Six Foot Seven Foot, 2010 and No Frogs, 2017

Missed #3. Still better than I would do! The only “Little” artist I could match to a song title would be Little Richard!

Scores: Twelve teams, scores 33 to 63, with This Is Sparta in first. We were in third with 53 points, Big Heads Big Hearts were in fourth with 50 (tied with one other team) and Where’s Trey was in ninth with 40 (these are the main league teams in contention at OG).

Final Category – MLB Pitchers

Of the 24 Major League Baseball pitchers who have at least 300 wins, five of them pitched their last game in the MLB in the 1980s.

Name any one of those pitchers.

We wagered just two points on this one and missed.

Top finishers: ???, 64; and Big Heads Big Hearts, 70 (moved up from fourth).

Game Two

1. International Trips – Calvin Coolidge in 1928 and Barack Obama in 2016 were the most recent sitting U.S. presidents to visit what national capital city? Evan nails this for 5.

2. Film Duos – Name one of the actors playing either Bobby Riggs or Billie Jean King in the 2017 film Battle of the Sexes,” both of whom also appeared in the movie Crazy Stupid Love. Name both actors for a “nerd” bonus point. Kim all over this for 10 plus the bonus.

3. Cups – The “Territorial Cup,” first played in 1899; was a championship game for two rival colleges in what U.S. state, which was a territory at the time? For the first time in this entire night I may have helped contribute to a correct answer, just because I tried to study statehood dates a while back! But we only got this for 2.

4. Companies – George Foreman was the spokesperson for what auto repair company from 1993 to 2010? This company was founded in Houston, and is currently headquartered in Charlotte, N.C. Miss for 3.

5. Harry Potter – Although he is mentioned in a previous book, in what HP novel does the character Sirius Black first appear? 9. Me knowing a HP answer? Is this weirder than me not knowing the ’80s music audio clue coming up?

6. Conditions – What is the medical term for the condition commonly known as low blood sugar? 8

7. Comedians – What comedian appears as himself on a self-titled parody of a public access talk show on “Adult Swim?” Miss for 1, never heard of it.

8. ’80s Hits – Identify the artist singing “Proud to be an American.” I was slack-jawed on this one, saying I wasn’t quite “white” enough to get into country music as a teenager (nor am I now). And this song kind of matched Kim’s “patriotic” clothing ensemble (accessorizing one’s outfits to match trivia questions is SO important lol)! Sh– Kim knows, woot! 7

9. Cars – You should have stopped reading after the “Europe” debacle in game one! Why are you still reading? Oy…Besides the United States, name one of the two other countries producing the most cars. We picked one of the top car producing companies, but didn’t go high enough. Now to sit inside my parked car in the garage and start it (lol)! Would that even work since it’s a partial hybrid? It didn’t work on “South Park” when Cartman tried doing this with a hybrid car! Miss for 6.

10. Gaming – In a standard six-dice set used in tabletop games (read….Dungeons and Dragons), how many faces does the die with the most faces have? I was kind of confused by this question at first, but my teammates were not. I guess I never thought of them as “faces,” aren’t they “sides?” Semantics! 4.

Visual Mystery –

Scores – Twelve teams, 25 points to 58 with Flannel PJs in first. We were in third with 54 points, This is Sparta were two points ahead with 56; Where’s Trey behind us with 52 points, and Big Heads Big Hearts had 50 points.

Final Category – Movie Music

Four of the last eight Grammy Awards for Best Song Written for Visual Media have been awarded to songs featured in animated films.

Name two of those four films.

Got one, not both…wagered 20 (commence sobbing). This was clearly not our game!

Did not write down the game winners, neither were “league” teams. The teams wagering zero were smart cookies!

Well, there’s just one more chapter to write, and that will have to wait until next week, when we play the venue tournament game. Look for a game recap on Sunday, we may have a “representative ‘Pod” at Oscars. As always, Go Pods, and stay classy L’il Jon!