It was one of those trivia games that made us feel like Andy DuFresne in Shawshank Redemption. Rather than the river of shit that DuFresne had to crawl through during his prison escape, we crawled through a “river” of rough, rough trivia questions (including blowing nine points on a question that should have been a “gimme”) – and came out clean on the other side. The “war history” final question clearly did damage equivalent to that of Fat Man and Little Boy combined on the teams at Sticks – with nearly every team running up their wager slips right away (presumably to wager full points) – with every single team ultimately getting it wrong. War is Hell! Who said that? George S. Patton? No – Google tells me that was William Tecumseh Sherman…makes sense from the man who led the famous “March to the Sea” in the U.S. Civil War. Here’s the whole quote:

“It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell.”

It appears that we are at the top of Sticks’ venue standings for both Monday and Thursday’s trivia nights. I know it’s early in the season, and it’s not a position we’re too likely to hold onto without a scrappy fight – but for now – we’ll take it!

As for the game, we finished first for the night with 97 total points and a $10 gift card – only because the team that finished one point ahead of us didn’t claim their gift card before leaving. Uh, OK? As I said before – “We’ll take it!”

We had a couple of special “guests” in our group, with Rod and Kennedy joining our “crew” for the night in addition to myself, Mike and Evan. You could tell they were from a warmer climate because they both kept their heavy coats on for the entire game, while us Michiganians seemed OK in our lightweight jackets/hoodies…

And the questions…

Game One

1. Keyboards – What punctuation mark shares a key with the numeral 1? 10

2. Rock Bands – What rock band has released studio albums titled Wasting Light, Sonic Highways and Concrete Gold – their seventh, eighth and ninth albums respectively? Miss for 1.

3. Electricity – the reciprocal of electrical electrical resistance, what is the term or the measure of the ease of passing an electric current through a substance? 5

4. Book Titles – The Children’s Crusade: A Dirty Dance With Death is the alternate title of what Kurt Vonnegut novel? I could only come up with two Kurt Vonnegut novel titles, thankfully the first one Evan and I both came up with was correct, 4.

I ALWAYS think of the 1986 movie Back to School every time we get a question about Kurt Vonnegut! In this movie, Dangerfield’s filthy rich character, Thornton Melon, pays Kurt Vonnegut to write a paper about…Kurt Vonnegut. He gets incensed when his professor flunks him on the paper, and says “Whomever you paid to write this paper obviously doesn’t know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut.”

5. Photography – What do the letters S and R stand for when referring to a SLR camera? There was more to this question but I didn’t write it all down – missed this for 3 and missed the bonus for knowing the meaning for both letters.

6. Baseball Numbers – In 2019, pitcher Adam Ottavio became the first player in New York Yankees’ franchise history to wear what jersey # – which is the last single digit number to be retired by the team? Miss for 2.

7. Mountains – Located in the Snowy Mountains, the summit of Mt. Kosciusko is the highest point in what southern hemisphere country? Miss for 6. First sign that this was was going to be a “bumpy ride!”

8. Math Terms – What is the 10-letter term for an expression in mathematics that consists of multiple algebraic terms that can be combined using addition, subtraction, multiplication or division? Evan and I (yes me) teamed up on this and were able to come up with the right word at the last second (it was one of those instances where when you hear someone say the correct answer, you know it’s right – and that’s what Evan did), got this for 9. I “made up” a math term that had what would be the last six correct letters when I was brainstorming, but with the wrong prefix. Doesn’t matter HOW you come up with the answer as long as you come up with the answer! Dumb luck? We’ll take it!

9. Storage – Floppy disks were primarily manufactured in different sizes of 8 inches, 5 1/4 inches and what third size? Anyone else out there remember cassette drives for computers, which meant it took as long as 15 minutes to load a game?  Oh the things us Gen X kids suffered through (LOL)! Mike was the big hero hero here for 7.

10. 2018 Movies – February, 2018 was the first month ever in North American box office history for a movie to reach $1B, largely thanks to what film which accounted for 43 percent of all ticket sales? 8

Mystery – Current Events

M1 – What southern city will play host to different groups of Democratic presidential candidates for debates?

M2 – President Donald Trump recently tweeted what animal inadvertantly referencing what misspelled country in the UK?

M3 – In a recent Instagram post, actress Jenna Fischer displayed a cake with the word “Gloria” on it after what pro sports team won a championship?

M4 – On June 17, what author, fashion designer and mother of Anderson Cooper died at the age of 95?

Missed #1 (though we did discuss the correct city).

Scores – Sixteen total teams – with Where’s Tim was in first with 58 points, with Dirty Mike and the Boys in second, and us in third with 52 points.

Final Category – War History

On Popular Mechanics 2016 list of the 20 most important battles of World War II, six took place in the Pacific theater, including the Battle of Midway and the Battle of Iwo Jima. Name one of the other four Pacific theater battles on this list.

Nope….

Final standings: Don’t Touch My Hair, 34; Where’s Tim, 38.

We were hoping game one would just be a “warm up game” as I like to say when the first half goes terribly –  and game two would go a bit better…

Game Two

1. Directors – What director nicknamed “The Master of Suspense” directed more than 50 feature films and made cameo appearances in many of them? Our team is famous for f—ing up more detailed questions about this director that we’ve had in too many MTL games to count….but this was an easy one to start the game, 10.

2. Car Logos – What color is the snake in the Alfa Romeo logo? This was the FB clue…and we f—ed it up for 9 (yes really). This was my bad. I just…misunderstood the question and thought they wanted to know the color of the snake’s tongue. Yes, one of my teammates did kind of “spank” me for this one (not literally LOL)…Ouch – someone bring a black mamba snaked to just put me out of my misery (better than hearing Mike harp on me for missing this 🙂 )

3. Competitions – What athletic competition whose initials are YOG was the first contest in Singapore held in 2010? Miss for 1.

4. Band Leaders – Audio clue, had to ID composer/bandleader responsible for 1939 tune that was playing… 8.

5. Presidents – Name one of the first two presidents to die in the 20th century – doing so nearly six months apart (both for a bonus point)? Evan and I teamed up here and got both for 7.

6. Art – What seven-letter word beginning with “F” flourished in the early 20th century, and is associated with Henri Matisse? Miss for 4.

7. Bridges – What bridge was originally known as the East River Bridge before getting its current name in 1915? When we had this category, I was hoping the correct answer would be “that bridge in Saturday Night Fever that John Travolta’s friend jumped from and died,” but alas, it wasn’t…(someday that will be the correct answer)! Got this for 5.

8. Measures – In the International System of Units, what is the standard measurement for mass? Miss for 6…

9. Billiards – Of the solid colored balls in a standard game of billiards, three are found on a standard traffic light – give the number of two of those three balls. Good guesses for 3.

10. TV Shows – What sport is central to the TV series Coach? I originally thought of “Coach” from Cheers, glad my teammates “checked” me here, got this for 2.

Visual Mystery –

Got all of these.

Scores – Dirty Mike and the Boys were in first with 59 points, we were in fifth with 45 points. Fifteen total teams – lowest score – 11!

Final Category – Comic Strips

On May 27, 2000, what comic strip was referenced in dozens of other strips by authors who were paying homage to the winner of the National Cartoonist Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award?

We handed in our slip, and I took a potty break. While in the bathroom, I started to second guess myself on that answer and think about a different cartoonist who had a similar “tribute” when he died…thankfully our answer did wind up being correct (whew)!

This put us in third at the end, but the host gave us the second place gift card because the team ahead of us left before they could receive it. TC finished ahead of us.

Until next time, which is TBD, but most likely Monday. As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, you chimpanzees of Gombe!