Answers will be in the comments.

Our “three amigos” visited Powell’s Pub for its My Trivia Live night Monday, and won a first place MTL prize – which is something we haven’t done in…quite a while! Granted, we haven’t been playing a lot of MTL games in the past six months or so, but it still felt pretty…sweet! We’ve been kind of a “commitment phobic” trivia team as of late – but may be starting to think about visiting Powell’s a bit more often – especially if weather actually starts to be a bit more favorable! Even though it was pretty bone-chillingly cold on this early March night, our team’s “devil may care” intrepid cyclist Brad still managed to hop on his bike and come out to play – and we’re glad he did – since he steered us away from potential disaster on a couple of questions.

There was definitely some good competition in the room on this trivia night – with team All Aboard (aka the “train whistle team”), One is the Loneliest Number (aka Two’s Company), Ham Wallets – and a “mystery” team whose name I didn’t catch (who wound up doing quite well). OITLN/TC wound up sitting right behind us, so I had to enforce a “gag order” on my teammates (keep answers to yo’ self). Ha….as if any of our brainstorming would be any help to THEM? Bwa ha ha ha! 🙂 They actually had a bit of a rough night – last time we battled them at Powell’s, they snagged a near perfect score of 70 going into the final, and would win the Powell’s/McShane’s joint jackpot prize the following night. All hot streaks have to end sometime, right? I know too well what THAT’s like!

And how about those questions?

Round  One

1. Christmas  Songs – How  many  horses  are  mentioned  in  the  lyrics to Jingle  Bells? 5

2. Geography  – Located  almost  entirely  in  the  Eastern  hemisphere, what  country  is  the  world’s  largest  by  land  area? 3

3. Painters  – Who  painted  the  ceiling  of  the  Sistine Chapel? 1

Round Two

1.  Festivals  – The  Woodstock  Music  Festival  was  so  named  because  organizers  wanted  the  festival  to  be  held  in  which  U.S. state? 5

2. Oscar  Winners  – Doing  so  in  1975, the sequel  to  what  film  was  the  first sequel  to  win  best  picture? 3

3. ’80s Albums  – Released  in  November  1982, what  album  became  the  top  selling  1980s  album? For  a  three  point  bonus, what British  band’s 1985  album  was the  top  selling  U.K. album? Risked  the  bonus  but  missed  – my bad  – I knew the right  band  released  that  album in  1985, but  wasn’t  sure  the  band was  British…risked  those  three  points  for  “nothing…” Miss  for  1.

Round  3

1. Racetracks – At  which  track  is  the  Kentucky  Derby  held  annually? 5

2. The  Truth  Is  Out  There  – In  which  U.S. state  would  you  find  Area  51? Mike  and  I  both  had  what  we  thought  were  the  correct  guesses, Brad helped us “fly” in the  correct  direction, 1.

3. NFL  Nicknames  -What  running  back, who  died in  1999, was  nicknamed  “Sweetness?” 3

Halftime – Given the release years and opening movie lines, identify the movies.

1. 1999 – “People are always asking if I know Tyler Durden.” No shame in using this photo (pretty much everyone is going to know this answer anyway).

2. 1986 – “I was 12 going on 13 first time I saw a dead human being.”

3. 1998 – “If you can’t spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker.”

4. 1990 – “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.”

Got all of these for two points each – plus an additional two points for getting all of them correct.

Scores – Six teams – scores 26 to 36. We were in first, tied with team All Aboard.

Round Four

1. Classic TV – What is Col. Hogan’s code name on Hogan’s Heroes?

2. Countries  – What  country  has  the  most  coastline  and  borders  three oceans? 4

3. Mountains  – In  what  Western  mountain range  is Mt. Albert located? 2

Round  5

1. Poetry  – Which  poet’s work  mentioned  the  line “Two  ships  passing  in  the  night?” It  can  be  painful  pulling  poets  out  of  the  ass, thankfully  the  one  we  guessed  was  correct, 2.

2. Mork  and  Mindy  – What  was  Mork’s child’s name? 4.  I used to have a Mork and Mindy T-shirt – and was…devastated when I wore it to a friend’s house for a sleepover – and DIDN’T GET THE SHIRT BACK. Not surprisingly, things started going a bit “sour” with this friendship after this incident. I’ll bet it got chewed up by their dog or something and nobody wanted to own up, LOL…

My brother and I at the Detroit Zoo, circa 1979. Look how we’re BOTH wearing novelty shirts! This is the only evidence I have of me having that Mork & Mindy T-shirt…

3. Animal  Terms – A “flanking” refers  to  12 or  more  of  what  farm  animal? Miss for 6. Host Stacy indicated that all teams missed this – and threw  this  question  out. The next question was  our  replacement  question…

3.  Space Exploration  – What  was  the  first  spacecraft  to  land  on  Mars? 6 (triviagasm moment for Mike).

Round  6

1. Alphabets  – How many  letters  are  in  the standard  Hawaiian  alphabet? Miss for 4.

2. Athletes  – What  professional  tennis  player  was  stabbed  by  a  fan  in  1993? Miss for 6 (double  fault  for  me)!

3. Birds – What  bird  is  born  with  grey  feathers  which  become  pink  as they  mature  due  to  their  diet of brine  shrimp? 2

Scores: Seven teams – scores 41 to 70, with All Aboard “chugging” ahead to the top spot. We were in second with 62 points.

Final Category – MTV

Originally airing from 1991 to 1995, what was the name of the MTV animated showcase program in which shows such as Beavis and Butt-Head made their debut?

This one could NOT have been more in our wheelhouse… Mike and I both fondly recalled being students at CMU when this show was “the” show to watch – and hearing a virtual “chorus” of Beavis and Butt-Head snickering (both from TVs and from students watching the TVs) while we walked the corridors (many students kept their doors open). I also remembered one of the show’s funniest quotes:

Whenever you see a cake and a baseball bat in the same video, the cake’s gonna get his ass kicked.

Sadly, this question was not in the wheelhouse of some of the older players (having been on the other side of these questions, I can empathize)!  Our teammate Brad – whom is about 10 years older than us – would have been clueless about this question, which I’d call a classic “Gen X” question! Usually it’s us who are too young/clueless to know many of  these MTL answers (may I refer to the case of Flip Wilson vs. The ‘Pods, in which the ‘Pods resoundingly lost the case).  The devil made us miss that question!

I actually kind of like “drag” comedy!

Ah, you baby boomers out there will get this “Geraldine” reference, won’t you? To read more about this epic final question miss, read this blog I wrote about it.

Final standings: Ham Wallets, 88; Team #2, 98 and ‘Pods, 124.

We’ll be out again for some more trivial pursuits on Thursday at Original Gravity (as always, I am required by my legal staff to say “weather permitting). We haven’t been to this trivia spot in about a month. As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Walter Peyton!