We assembled a “virtual” group of ‘Pods and some “supporting players” Saturday night for a Zoom-based Sporcle Live trivia game. Apparently we don’t know much about taffy! Seriously…if the candy ain’t made of chocolate – why bother eating it? OK, OK…maybe Life Savers and some other hard candies are pretty good, too! But taffy? Hard pass…
We had an unusual assemblage of players for this game – a mix of former ‘Pods regulars – Mike, Sam, David and myself, and some “supporting” players including Mike (aka “brother”), Melanie, Susan, Angela, JoAnne (aka “Mama Straight”) and Chris Straight (another brother). As usual, there were some random pets making cameo appearances, including Chris’ westie A.J., Mike and Mel’s cats Jessie and Murbella, and I think I may have heard Rocco meowing (Angela’s cat), but unsure if he actually wandered within camera view or not (he’s a bit camera shy, which is a shame since he’s such a dapper looking fellow).

Susan? We should’ve listened to your kids re: that taffy question! 😂

As for the game? We didn’t do so hot! We submitted answers that weren’t correct even when correct answers were suggested, talked ourselves out of correct answers (classic ‘Pods playbook). But the important thing is – we all had fun! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM! And it was good to see you again, “Mama Straight!” I’m glad you agree with me that Kevin Costner gets hotter with age 😉

The questions:

1. TV Title Characters – Truman and Adler are the last names of the title characters on what TV series that debuted on NBC in 1998?

2. Military – The German word panzer is most-commonly used in English to refer to what type of military vehicle?

3. 1990s Hits – What ska band had two top ten hits on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in the late 1990s with “The Impression That I Get” and “The Rascal King?”

4. Movie Settings – A 1988 baseball-related film starring Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins is primarily set in which U.S. state?

5. Candy – What taffy-like candy uses a picture of a smiling balloon on the packaging? Miss…

6. Stores – In 2003, what chain of stores converted some of their locations into GameRush stores, reverting back just a few years earlier? And…another miss. Will we miss three in a row? Read on!

7. Baseball – Name one of the two most recent American League teams to have opening day payrolls of more than $200 million, one in 2017 and the other in 2018. Nerd point for naming both – host also said players would LOSE points if not getting both correct, which we’ve never encountered in games before. Guess what we did? No points… (though we had one team correct).

8. Authors – Published in the 1930s, what American author wrote a series of novels that became known as the “Dustbowl Trilogy?”

9. Science – Optical, electron, and scanning probe are all types of what kind of scientific instrument?

10. Organizations – What do the letters FOTW stand for, in the name of the internet-based vexillological organization that was founded in 1994? Missing three question in a row didn’t do us any favors, and talking ourselves out of two correct mystery round answers didn’t help either! 😅

Mystery – This Day in History (October 3)

M1 – On this day in 1992, musician Sinead O’Connor controversially ripped up a picture of the Pope on what television program?

M2 – On this day in 1951, which MLB team won the National League pennant on a three-run home run by Bobby Thompson, known as the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World?” Susan suggested the right answer, but nope…

M3 – On this day in 1929, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was given what new name by King Alexander I?

M4 – On this day in 1949, the first black-owned radio station in the United States began broadcasting in what city? Sam suggested the right answer, then we started talking about at least five different other cities, and well – you know how this shook out!

We had 45 points going into the final. Uh, we had fun and that was what really mattered, right?

Final Category – Elections
In what decade was the last U.S. presidential election in which California was NOT worth the most electoral votes?

Nope…

Mike and I would later sign on to play a “twisted titles” themed trivia game in which we fared a bit better, a recap of that will be posted separately later.
Next trivia get-together? Can’t say when that will happen…As always, go Pods, and stay classy, Mighty, Mighty Bosstones!