We wagered conservatively (as in zero points) on a final question about NHL Playoffs in a recent virtual trivia game, which allowed us to move up from sixth to third in a recent virtual trivia game. We put “Letterkenny Shamrockettes” as our joke answer for the question, since nothing was on the line anyway. Now if the playoffs were in the category of the trading of insults, those salty-tongued women would most certainly be in contention to win a trophy of some sort!

Sadly, the chances of us getting an actual trivia question about the Canadian TV comedy series “Letterkenny” are probably about as good as getting a trivia question about the 1980s TV series “Knight Rider.” But…that’s OK! When you’re into trivia as much as our team, you just learn to roll with the punches and take your lumps when you flunk questions about series you’ve never watched – nor intend to ever watch – get asked about – or you miss the umpteenth trivia question about the Las Vegas band “The Killers!”

Here were our questions, which were slung to us by Virginia Beach, VA (formerly Chicago) based host John C., who reminisced during the game about that one time he drove a few hours from Chicago to Milan, MI to substitute as a host in a game that would determine which teams would go to a regional tournament.

“We were all impressed that you did that,” I said to the host John. I also reminded him about how he put the hammer down when the trivia crowd got a little too unruly and another team blurted out an answer (or something similar). Some of us kind of chatted amongst our selves and said we wished he’d take over as our regular host!!!

He joked, “I was really underemployed at that time.”

Ah, the crazy things we do in the pursuit of money – and trivia, right? I have plenty of stories about driving to tournaments and games in inclement weather, hiring an alternate team of “stunt doubles” when we had two tournaments on the same day (our stunt doubles wound up winning money, which we generously split with them), doing battle with a non-cooperative automated East Lansing parking garage, worrying about being able to get out of a crowded bar if a fire broke out while we were at a tournament and more, but those are stories for another time!

And the questions…

Round One
1) In the original 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, the song “Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead” refers to the death of which character? I always thought it would be fun to dress as her for Halloween, since nobody really knows what she looks like, besides her striped socks and red shoes.

2) Borders – Which U.S. state is the only one that borders only one other state?

3) Tennis – In 2019, at 15 years old, what American became the youngest player to ever qualify for the main draw at Wimbledon? We had no clue, so we put “Serena Williams Jr.” Mike said, “Girls aren’t called Junior.” I said, “Yes they are, what about Nancy Sinatra Jr.?” Nope, our silly guess was not correct!

4) Science – What is the two-word term for a diagram used to predict the possible genotypes of offspring produced by two individuals? I don’t remember coming across this term since high school science class. Mike didn’t remember, either, so miss.

Mystery One

We used his hair (or lack thereof) as a clue in our guesses, which allowed us to get all of these right. Though we thought the earliest movie at first might have been Blind Date, which was earlier than the actual correct movie, that didn’t hurt our guesses. Anyone else remember Blind Date? I actually saw that in theaters (it was NOT good). Probably one of Kim Basinger’s first films.

Round Two

5) Comics -Give the superhero name of either Wanda Maximoff or Pietro Maximoff, twin siblings who were introduced by Marvel Comics in 1964.

NERD POINT: Name both.

Got one, but not both, missed the nerd bonus.

6) leanor Shellstrop, Chidi Anagonye, and Tahani Al-Jamil are all characters on what TV series? Mike used to watch this show, also this was a FB virtual host clue, so both things helped here.

7) Singers – Who is the primary performer on the soundtrack to the 1996 film Evita, including on the song “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina?” Though I am a huge fan of the Broadway musical and can recite all of the lyrics of “Peron’s Latest Flame – which includes the words, “slut,” “bitch” and “whore,” I was not impressed with the movie. My mom didn’t think anything of 9 year old me listening to songs like this, though she might have raised an eyebrow when she heard me singing them!”

8) U.S. History – What series of programs, public works projects, and reforms was implemented by Franklin D. Roosevelt in response to the Great Depression?

Mystery Two

The answer to each clue will include a word with the letters “C-A-T” in order.

M1) Actress known for her roles in Gremlins and Fast Times at Ridgemont High

M2) Device used to launch a projectile a distance

M3) In musical notation, a playing style indicated by dots above notes meaning that they should be played shortly and with space in between

M4) 1961 war novel featuring a protagonist named Captain Yossarian

We were in sixth place out of seven teams going into the final. Not great! We decided to go all “not in” on the category of:

NHL Playoffs

There are two NHL franchises that have made the playoffs in at least 25 consecutive seasons but did NOT win the Stanley Cup during that time.

Name either of those franchises, whose streaks ended with the 1997-98 season and the 2005-06 season.

We moved up to third in the final standings. We’ll take that!

As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, that weird science teacher in Fast Times at Ridgemont High!