It was a really good game for just the two of us, right up until that pesky (shakes fist) final question! It was in a category we “thought” we knew a few things about, but as it turns out…we did not know quite enough about the category of “Great Lakes States.” Simply living in the state we believe to be the greatest of the Great Lakes States was not enough. Don’t believe Michigan’s the best of the Great Lakes states? Allow me to explain! We have coastlines on four of the Great Lakes, including the best one of all, which is the aptly named “Superior.”

Had we actually played with teammates – including two former teammates who both moved out of state – we might have had a chance. Especially if we played with that guy who works at the Mayo Clinic – and that guy who went to college in one of the cities we needed to know for the final question. Had someone even mentioned the city names to me, I would’ve said…hmmmm! That might be it!

Oh well, sometimes you just don’t know the answers! We still didn’t do too badly, we wound up in fifth place going into the final question amongst a very full competitive group of players from across the U.S.

Here were the questions:

Round One
1) Founders – Which Founding Father was the first U.S. postmaster general, the sixth president of Pennsylvania, and also served as U.S. minister to Sweden and France?

2) Sponsors – Beginning with the 2017-18 season, Walt Disney World became the first jersey sponsor for which NBA team? Come on Mike! I know SOME sportsball stuff! Got this for max points, a rarity for a sporty question (take it when you can get it).

3) Subtitles – The Crimes of Grindelwald is the subtitle of the second film in what series? Teamwork prevailed here, got this.

4) Software – In 2017, Adobe announced that it would end support for what computer software, which was removed entirely from web browsers by early 2021? I said to Mike, “This is a ‘you’ question. Take it away!” Thankfully he did!

Mystery One –

Got all of these correct.

Round Two

5) Lawsuits – Due to service charges on top of its concert ticket prices, what rock band sued Ticketmaster in 1994 and boycotted the company’s venues for over three years? We discussed two “litigious” bands from the time we could think of, thankfully picked the right one. However, we did not do so well on the nerd point part of the question:

NERD POINT: What is this band’s highest-charting song on the Billboard Hot 100?

Only one team got this nerd point.

6) Elements – What element makes up 78% of Earth’s atmosphere, far more than other gases? Normally these questions kill us in trivia games, not so on this night since we actually got it! It was a close call, though – Mike said, “It can’t be X element, if it were, we’d die.”

7) More Founders – What fast casual restaurant chain was founded by Lovie Yancey in 1947, who retained sole ownership until 1990?

The restaurant is referenced in the rap songs “It Was a Good Day” by Ice Cube and “Going Back to Cali” by the Notorious B.I.G.

Thank the trivia gods this was one of the host clues posted before the game, even though I “sort of” know the lyrics to “It was a good day!”

8) U.S. Geography – Which U.S. state is the namesake for a large plateau nicknamed “Red Rock Country,” which actually covers parts of four states and is home to many U.S. national parks? Another “close call,” question – with us being torn between two states. I said “X” band played a live concert here in the 80s, so it’s this state, and not that state.”

Mystery Two –

Missed #4. We were in fifth with 50 points going into the final question – the top team had 53 points (yes the point spreads were quite tight in this game).

Final Category – Great Lakes States

What nine-letter name is shared by two cities, both with populations above 100,000, in two different states that border the Great Lakes?

It is the third-most populous city in one state and the fourth-most populous in the other.

Some cities we discussed included Columbus (can’t be that because it’s the most populous city in Ohio), Sheboygan/Cheboygan (can’t be those because not populous enough), Allentown, Milwaukee and Cleveland. Yeah…you could see we were getting kind of desperate. Clearly this answer was not going to magically appear in our brains.

Oh well, it was still fun! As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, George Orwell!