All it takes to be the elite, perfect, never miss a question ma’am trivia player – is to be willing to go back in time, completely change your pop culture experiences, become a different person while you’re at it and get a full frontal lobotomy! Just kidding about the lobotomy, that’s not likely to help you become a better trivia player! Or WILL it? Hmmm…are there YouTube videos to show one how to do this (do not search for such videos, as you will inevitably get sucked into watching even more horrible videos). Now pardon me while I fetch my cordless drill (JK, JK)!

So for me to have been able to conquer Sunday’s battery of questions, I would have to go back to 1989, when I was 17 years old and entering my senior year of high school. And instead of taping those episodes of 60 Minutes and 20/20 (for Current Events class) and watching “Unsolved Mysteries” and “The Simpsons,” why not watch that new series “Saved by the Bell” instead? And while I’m at it, why don’t I get so obsessed with the show that I wind up watching it every single week, and as an adult, buy the whole series on DVD? Then I can be all “bwa ha ha!” whenever we get a question with a bonus point to boot about “Saved by the Bell!”

However, since I do not have access to a time machine (yet), I can’t change my 1989 TV viewing habits and tell my 17 year old self to “Just watch Saved by the Bell, man – it’s super rad!” As punishment for not doing any of those things, I guess I’ll just have to take my lumps and miss any trivia questions we get about “Saved by the Bell!” Until I find someone who watched the show religiously – AND they join our team, anyway!

As that character Screech’s mother might wisely say while listening to Elvis’ greatest hits, “You can’t win ’em all, dear.” And with the very cursory “research” I did just now on this series, I also learned that the actor who played “Screech” – Dustin Neil Diamond – died just a couple of years ago. RIP! Did your parents name you after Neil Diamond (inquiring minds want to know)! My guess? Yes…yes they did! Geez, he was only 44, this is sad…

What’s NOT sad is finally getting together for live trivia with my “amigos” again! Our “Three Amigos” threesome has done trivia battle countless times over the past decade and change. And we can even bear hanging out with each other when trivia questions aren’t being asked! Anyone else have the warm fuzzies?

And here were our questions, some of which we got correct! We even got a question correct about “How I Met Your Mother!” Only because one of the actors from “Buffy” is in it!

Questions may be abbreviated…

Round One

1 Flowers – What flower was designated as the official floral emblem of the United States in 1986? And here a female player playing with two dudes was outvoted on her choice of flower…miss! 🙂

2 Presidents – Among U.S. presidents who did not die in office, who served the shortest amount of time at 895 days?

3 Drinks – What lemon infused cola was introduced by Pepsi in 200 and discontinued in the U.S. a few years later? In a very predictable plot “twist,” we missed this…

4 Schools – What school in the Big East Conference is located in a U.S. state capital city and has an athletic team nicknamed the Friars? FB clue.

Mystery Round One – Current Events (note – I was way more “up” on current events from 1989 because of that class! Or was it 1990?

Speaking of 1990, here’s a meme from “The Simpsons” (the episode where they’re trying to get Maggie’s bear back, and yes there is a point to this image):

M1 – What Ivy League school was sued by three minority advocacy groups, accusing the school of discrimination by giving preferential treatment to wealthy donors and alumni?

M2 – On June 28, what country changed its method for counting ages, officially adopting the international system that measures age from date of birth?

M3 – Who was announced as the new future host of “Wheel of Fortune,” replacing Pat Sajak once he retires?

M4 – On June 28, Domingo German became the 24th pitcher in MLB history, and the first from the Dominican Republic, to accomplish what feat?

We only got #1 correct, and it was a guess. Maybe we need to completely change our present pop culture experiences and pay more attention to the news? 🙂

Round Two

5 Islands – Which Hawaiian island is nicknamed “The Valley Isle?” We mistakenly chose the leper one.

6 Animals – The most common type of oceanic dolphin is known by what 10 letter nickname?

7 ’90s Movies – What American filmmaker is the title character in a 1994 film starring Johnny Depp?

8 TV Nicknames – What is the real first name of the character nicknamed “Screech” on the TV series “Saved by the Bell?” For a bonus point, what is his last name? Miss, miss (but you already knew that)!

Mystery Round Two

Ah, I don’t feel like typing these, here’s a pic:

We got all of these correct (yay Mike and Brad, this was pretty much all them).

We were somewhere near lobster and crab levels in terms of bottom dwellers. Please note that I did not make a tasteless joke about those Ocean’s Gate passengers! What? Do you REALLY want to know our score? Sigh…oh all right – thirty six points! But I don’t think we were in last!

We stupidly bet it all on the category of “Baby Names.” Where’s that time machine so I can un do that?

According to the Social Security Administration, Mary has been the most popular female baby name beginning with “M” in nine different decades since the 1880s. Name two of the other four names that have been the most popular female “M” names in at least one decade since the 1880s.

I REALLY wish the question would have required popular M names since the 1980s, not the 1880s! Clearly our guesses of Margaret and Marie were too old. Had the qualifier been “since the 1980s,” we might’ve come up with some of the correct names! But yeah…NO teams got this correct.

Round Three

9 Elements – What element gets its English name from the Latin word “aurum?”

10 Retailers – What retailer, the largest of its type in the U.S. was founded in 1948 in Binghamton, NY as a small fish supply stand? Miss.

11 This was an audio question, but because of that “Saved by the Bell” question we flubbed, I’ll make it a “words” question with a nerd bonus point. Ahem:

What animated adult science fiction series has aired for six seasons since 2013 and debuted on Adult Swim? For a nerd bonus point, name EITHER last name of the show’s two title characters.

12 NFL Teams – Other than the Bears and Packers, name one of the two current franchises that began playing in the NFL in the 1920s. Name both for a bonus point. Yay we got both!

Mystery Round Three – Visual

All correct.

Round Four

13 Games – What is two-word subtitle of the first Call of Duty video game series to not be set in World War II? Miss.

14 #1 Hits – What band’s first #1 lead single was from their debut studio album “Middle of the Road?” Miss…

15 Slogans – What tech company used the slogan “The Power to be Your Best” in the 1980s? Outvoted on my guess again, miss (to be fair I didn’t know it for sure). Hat trick of badness – three misses in a round! Will we keep our streak alive? Read on!

16 – Alphabet – What is the only letter in the NATO phonetic alphabet to be named for a month? Army brat Mike saved us from complete horridness…

Mystery Round Four – TV Casts

Missed 2 and 3.

We were in fourth going into the final this time. Not as bad!

U.S. History

The deadliest wildfire in recorded history is the Peshtigo Fire, which broke out the same day as the Great Michigan Fire and the Great Chicago fire in which decade of the 19th century?

I remember visiting the Sanilac Petroglyphs Historic State Park during the Plague of 2020 and hearing the curator talk about how that fire really, really ravaged the Thumb area of Michigan. But that amazing topsoil it left behind though…

Other teams ahead of us knew their history too, no change in standings.

We just might make this a semi-regular spot when we have nothing better to do on Sunday afternoons! We’ll see…

As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Patrick Bateman in American Psycho!