It was the end of a very, very annoying week. Tons of rainy weather, add to that lots of work annoyances and, well – what other reason could there be to fill a small cooler with some cold hard seltzers, head to the “game room” in the basement and play some virtual trivia with friends?

It was just me, Mike and longtime friend Michelle, but also added to our player mix was David C., who was visiting his mama in Baltimore – who also joined the game – sharing stories about her noble attempts to teach young street toughs in Philly in the fine art of…putting together complete sentences. The struggle is real, as it was for our team, which was in 10th place going into the final after having missed only one regular round question, one nerd point and two mystery round answers. And the final about sitcoms, which is not a strong category for us (we don’t tend to watch any of the new ones). Friday night trivia nights with Cleveland host Jill have become quite competitive national trivia competitions!

1. Famous Words – In 1969, who first said on television, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”? I just saw a movie with Charlize Theron in it not long ago where her character said that this guy pushed another astronaut out of the way to make sure he was the first guy on the moon. Movies can be very educational!

2. Universities – Amherst, Dartmouth, and Lowell are cities that are home to three of the satellite campuses of which state’s university system?

3. Abbreviations – What do any three of the letters in ESRB stand for, in terms of the organization that assigns letters to video games based on the games’ content, including violent and sexual content?

4. Vocalists – “One Love/People Get Ready” is a song by a band featuring what lead vocalist? Strange how he and Peter Tosh died so suddenly and while so young, while Bunny Wailer lived a full life. Did he steal their juju?

5. Literature – A heavily fictionalized version of the French captain known as d’Artagnan is central to works by what author, who was born in 1802? This author’s name is so fun to mispronounce…

6. Brands – What brand of corn chips and dipping sauces founded in San Antonio has a name that means “fried” in Spanish?

7. Announcers – On ABC’s re-broadcast of the fight billed as “The Sunshine Showdown,” what announcer repeatedly exclaimed “Down goes Frazier!”?
NERD POINT: Within one, in what year did this fight take place? Most of us weren’t quick to think of the right announcer, thankfully David helped come up with the right colorful gentleman. Sadly, we missed the bonus by being a year off from the range we needed to be. And of COURSE we had to mention the “drag race” scene from Better Off Dead, involving two Asian guys wearing yellow blazers who learned to speak English by listening to this announcer speaking on “Wide World of Sports.”

8. Museums – In 2007, the World of Coca-Cola, a museum dedicated to the history of The Coca-Cola Company, opened in what U.S. city?

9. TV Plots – What sitcom that aired on Fox from 2010-2014 stars Lucas Neff as a 23-year-old who becomes a single father living with his family after his daughter’s mother is sentenced to death for being a serial killer? I think I’d much rather watch a series about his daughter’s mother – maybe that’s just me? Though that series might not have a laugh track. Or would it? “Oops, looks like the cops found that body I pushed into the ravine,” or “Uh oh, I left my fingerprints on that .44 Magnum.” Miss.

10. Animals – What three-letter name is given to a long-haired bovine animal that primarily lives in the Himalayas and Tibet? Apparently the boys and girls of this species have different names. Who knew? We still got this right, but this was just something that we discussed for a bit.

Mystery – Clint Eastwood quotes

Name the film starring Clint Eastwood based on the quote delivered by his character.

M1. “There’s two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig.”

M2. “Deserve’s got nothing to do with it.”

M3. “You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do you, punk?”

M4. “Get off my lawn.”

We only got #2 and #4 correct.

We were in 10th place with 58 points heading into the final. And we decided to wager it all on a category we don’t know much about, which was…

Final Category – Sitcoms

According to Nielsen ratings, what was the highest-rated sitcom of the 2019-2020 television season, and the only one that finished in the top ten?

Nope, we didn’t even discuss this series. He is pretty much the same character in every movie he plays, so an easy mistake for non-experts.

That’s “probably” it for this week’s trivial pursuits. As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, The Outlaw Josey Wales!