As a testament to how clueless some of our players on the ‘Pods (Miskatonic University Fighting Cephalopods) trivia team are, sometimes we wander into big sporting event brouhahas without knowing anything about it beforehand. Like that time we went out for a trivia game in October, 2016 when the Chicago Cubs were, of all things, advancing to the World Series for the first time in at least a couple of years. Decades? Scores? That long? Really? Wow, no wonder everyone was so excited!

As memory serves, the game was at Oscar’s in Saline, MI, and it was a packed, packed house with a substitute host, who held down the fort quite nicely under the chaotic circumstances. Yes, there were quite a lot of Cubs fans in the house, even though this was a Southeast Michigan bar (woe be it for me to question things to do with sports loyalties).

Fast forward to March, 2023, and a thing called “March Madness” was occurring, involving, as a more sport minded-teammate explained to me, an important game in a basketball tournament – with Michigan State battling Kansas State. A quick view of the cheerleaders for Kansas State brought it all home for me:

“Hey, their team wears purple uniforms.” I was quite mesmerized by the sparkly purple pom-poms the Wildcats cheerleaders were shaking vigorously. It should be noted for those cave dwellers out there in Michigan that Michigan State athletic teams, conversely, wear green and white uniforms. So it was a rare athletic battle of purple – versus green – which are the team colors for our trivia team! How cool, right?

I do happen to love the color purple, though not quite as much as Vicky Vale pretended to like purple in the 1989 Batman film:

Sadly, despite their best efforts, the Spartans didn’t happen to win this hotly fought March Madness game! I know quite a lot of Spartan fans, and really, I am genuinely sorry you guys didn’t win! 😦

As it turned out, sad news for the Spartan fans turned out to be good news for a group of four trivia players doing battle in a packed, packed, bar with only two bartenders serving drinks to lines of customers up to 10 deep most of the night. That’s right – 130 total points (enough to get us a “high score” badge on our league stats), one second place and one first place win. We lost out on first on a tiebreaker in game one. And we got BOTH FINAL QUESTIONS CORRECT! I know, I know, I wouldn’t believe me if I were you, either!

As if the purple and green basketball battle wasn’t enough to slack my jaw, that very same night the Northern Lights were glowing over my brother’s house in Michigan’s U.P. Does this mean the stars were right for us to win? I think an argument could definitely stand up in court for that! May I present exhibit A:

Now how about some (abbreviated) game questions?

Round One/Game One

1 Anatomy – In humans, the medulla oblongata is located immediately below what major organ?

2 Villains – Claude Frollo is the villain in what Disney animated film released in the 1990s?

3 Games – In what 1981 Atari arcade game do players control a bug blaster to eliminate an arthropod that is descending from the top of the screen through a field of mushrooms?

4 TV Settings – The TV sitcom “Everybody Hates Chris,” which aired from 2005 to 2007, is set in what decade? Apparently it’s best if you don’t think too much about Chris Rock’s actual age when trying to think of the correct answer for this, we were off by a decade.

Mystery Round One

All About Omar – All correct responses will have to do with people named Omar

M1 – Ilhan Omar has represented what U.S. state since 2019?

M2 – Omar Gooding hosted what early ’90s game show on Nickelodeon?

M3 – Actor Omar Sharif was nominated for best supporting actor for what 1962 historical drama film?

M4 – U.S. Army Officer Omar Bradley is best known for his service during what war?

Missed #2.

Round Two

5 Boy Bands – What boy band’s only charting single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart was “Hold Me” which peaked at #62 in 1985? This was not our actual question, instead we heard an audio clip of the song. I would not have known the answer no matter which way the question was presented! I did list this band as one being active at the time, we just picked a different band that had a charting hit the same year with “Oh Sheila” even though we knew it wasn’t the correct answer. I didn’t think the correct band would have had a charting single so late (best not to overthink boy bands questions, mental note). I would guess not too many teams got this one correct at our bar! Whew, as Taylor Swift would say, “Shake it off!” Moving on…

6 World Cities – Valparaiso, Puna Arenas and La Sirena are among the major non-capital cities of what South American country on the west coast? For a nerd point, name the capital city of this country. Got both.

7 Entertainment – Two men with the last name Corriveau and Corley are the founders of what entertainment and restaurant chain that was first opened in 1982? Our NG (new gangsta Pod) Mr. E with the right guess.

8 Condiments – What hot sauce was first produced in the 1940s by a Thai woman named Thamon Chakkapak in a town that gives the sauce its name? FB clue.

Mystery Round Two

NBA Anagrams

Identify the NBA team based on the following scrambled letter sets:

M1 – Cost Nice Bolts

M2 – Cordial Mango

M3 – Proton Rotators

M4 – Egg Under Vents

Got all of these (this was all Mr. E’s doing)

Final Question One –

State Borders

We were in a three-way tie for first going into this final with 48 points.

There are three U.S. states that share a border with six other U.S. states as well as a border with Canada. Name two of those states.

We really had to work at this, but we got it, which meant a two-way tiebreaker for first. We had to answer this question:

How long is the border between Ontario and the United States?

We were way too high our our guess, we won a second place $10 prize. We gave the prize to Brad and Mr. E to split, Brad wound up letting Mr. E having it, which he used to brave a long line and buy drinks for Mike and I later (can you feel the love)!

Round Three (Game Two)

9 Home – In the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the 1939 film it inspired, Dorothy is able to return home with the help of what items? Two different answers accepted here.

10 Jobs – What do the letters EMT stand for in terms of health care professionals who commonly work in ambulances?

11 Sports Numbers – In baseball and softball, a double play scored as 643 involves what three defensive positions? Brad and Mr. E were in charge of this one (thanks guys)!

12 Mythology – In Greek mythology, what is described as having the body of a man and the head and tail of a bull?

Mystery Round Three – Visual

Got all of these.

Round Four

13 Mountains – The highest mountain in Europe is Mount Elbrus, located in what mountain range between the Black and Caspian seas? Miss.

14 Planets – Which terrestrial planet in the solar system is the only one that rotates clockwise, with the sun rising in the west and setting in the east? “Space Man” Mike all over this one.

15 Groups – In 1990, two groups with numbers in their names were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – one formed in Detroit, the other formed in New Jersey. Name one of those bands, both for a bonus point. Yay a question they needed me to answer! Thanks Dad for being a fan of the New Jersey based band (even if I am not a huge fan of falsetto voices)!

16 Magazines – What magazine with a seven-letter name was originally founded in 1905 as a newspaper to cover theater and Vaudeville in New York but is now known for its film coverage as well?

Mystery Round Four

Author Mashup – Identify the correct author based on a mashup of their literary titles.

M1 – The Grapes of Cannery Row

M2 – Gregor and the Code of Mockingjay

M3 – The Bonesetter’s Joy Luck Club

M4 – The Runaway Pelican Brief

We hiccupped a bit on #3, but thankfully we thought of the right person.

We were in first with 53 points going into the final. We were totally expecting to blow it.

Final Category – U.S. Presidents

I did something I hadn’t done in a trivia game for a long, long time – I jotted down a list of U.S. presidents in order (clearly I’m rusty because I forgot about Millard Fillmore)! Also thank the Gods I didn’t have to answer a question about a president past JFK for this because he’s as far as I got! Whew!

Our question:

There are two U.S. presidents with the last name “Harrison.” Name any of the decades in which they served as president.

I was a little nervous here, because I am definitely not an expert in this president subcategory (I need to brush up on this). Also, as I said before, I’m a bit rusty. Normally I’m decent at naming the exact years presidents die in office, but in this case, I was one year off with one of these guys (for shame). Good thing that didn’t hurt us, and a good thing two different decades were accepted as correct for the other guy! So we got this right, held onto our lead (something we’re usually terrible at doing) and won first place!

If the Spartans had to lose in order for us to have a good trivia night? Hey, I’m sorry, but weird things like this happen with our trivia team too often!

We’ll be back at “The Corner” next week. As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, teenage Ricky Martin!