We were definitely not the “Best in Show” in our most recent live trivia game at the YpsiAlehouse! What’s with the dog reference, you ask? Did our game go the dogs? Well, yes (and no)! Did they ask about dog shows in the game? Yes indeedy! Did they ask about the comedy movie Best in Show? No, but our trivia host Emily F. did mention the movie on the mic!

Anyone else out there see the 2000 film Best in Show? I know, I know – the dry humor involved in a Christopher Guest “mockumentary” style film might not be for you! But I thought it was a hilarious send-up of the world of dog shows – and from what owners of show dogs have told me, the movie hits pretty close to the truth! We actually have a “dog show guy” on our trivia team named Brad, whom at the moment, owns three purebred Scottish deerhounds. They kind of resemble Irish wolfhounds, though they are leaner in build.

Our team was not “Best in Show,” like Winky the Norwich terrier in the movie (which is pictured along with actors Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara above). Those honors went to the “Street Smarts” team, who finished first for the night – with a second place in game one – and a first place prize in game two. They are clearly one of the “teams to beat” at this bar!

Here were our questions:

Game 1/Round 1

1 Symbols – The letter “R” inside of a circle is the typographical symbol for what kind of trademark?

2 Restaurants – What kind of animal is depicted in the logo for Hooters restaurants?

3 2010s Films – What 2012 film starring Taylor Kitsch as the title character is based on the novel A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs?

4 Beer – What Molson Coors beer brand shares its name with the state nickname of Pennsylvania?

Got all of these correct.

Mystery Round One – Three Years Apart

Each clue includes TWO events that took place three years apart. Name EITHER of those years.

M1 Smoking is banned on all U.S. flights AND the first inauguration of Bill Clinton takes place

M2 Saddam Hussein is captured as part of Operation Red Dawn AND the video game Roblox is released

M3 Cuba and the United States reestablish diplomatic relations and Meghan Markle marries Prince Harry

M4 Michael Jackson releases the album “Thriller” and Back to the Future is released

Missed #2.

Round 2

5 Emmy Awards – In the 1990s, who was the only man to win the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host, doing so in 1996? Thank you for making this the FB clue (we would not have known this otherwise).

6 What European capital city is located roughly 40 miles to the west of the city of Bratislava? Miss…

7 Speeches – Name either of the words that fill the blanks in the following quote from a 1964 speech by Malcolm X:

“This is why I say it’s the (blank) or the (blank), it’s liberty or death.”

Nerd point, name both.

We thought “flag” and “noose” were good guesses, but they were not correct…

8 Comic Strips – Tess Trueheart is the wife of what comic strip detective? Sooner or later we’d get a question in this round correct after missing two in a row (that’s a reference to the movie that this comic strip was based on, maybe some of you will get it).

Mystery Round 2 – Visual

We only got one of these correct (do not remember which one).

We were in sixth going into the final with 41 points. That religion mystery round made us either want to find religion – or lose our religion! I learned recently that the phrase “losing your religion” is a popular phrase in the southern U.S. and refers to someone being mad as Hell and not being able to take it anymore. Well, I’m paraphrasing, of course (and referring to a great quote from the 1976 movie Network).

I think we were in sixth going into the final with 41 points.

Final Question Game One – Film Series

A 1987 film subtitled “The Revenge,” which used the tagline “This time, it’s personal,” is the fourth and final installment in what franchise?

Got this correct and finished in fourth place with 56 points.

Game 2/Round 3

9 Languages – What is by far the most spoken dialect of Chinese? Brad was all over this, he said he works with a lot of people who speak this as their first language.

10 1990s Singles – Britney Spears had four Billboard Hot 100 charting singles released in the 1990s, including “…Baby One More Time.” Name one of the other three singles. Nerd point, name two.

I wish I’d known the “answer guy” had wagered eight points on this so I could tell him how toxic of a plan that was! Ouch…this would hurt us…we put down 2000s singles as our guesses for EIGHT!

11 Sports TV – This was an audio clue of music associated with a sport that is very popular in Canada.

12 US History – The Articles of Confederation were officially in effect for most of which decade of the 18th century, before being replaced by the Constitution?

Mystery Round 3 – Before and After

Combine the two clues to form a single answer – answers may share a word, part of a word or a syllable

M1 Lively, high-kicking style of dance popularized in France AND nation whose capital is Ottawa

M2 Court show presided over by a woman with the last name Sheindlin AND author of the books Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret and Superfudge

M3 Artist who released the 1978 single “I Will Survive” AND artist who released the 2002 album “Come Away With Me”

M4 Fictional Connecticut town that is a main setting in “Gilmore Girls” AND 2000 sci-fi film starring Kevin Bacon

Missed #4, we knew the second clue, not the first (I wanted our “answer guy” to put in “Whore” as the first word in the answer as a joke…

Round 4

13 Directors – The highest-grossing film at the domestic box office by director Brian DePalma is what 1996 action movie based on a TV franchise? I can name at least a couple of movies directed by this guy –The Untouchables – and Scarface. As for the movie we needed for this answer, we were stumped and put in Charlie’s Angels as our guess out of desperation.

14 Stadiums – Which NFL team spent two seasons playing at TCF Bank Stadium on the campus of a local university before moving to U.S. Bank Stadium in 2016? Miss…

15 Statues – What Michelangelo statue housed at the Academy of Florence had its foot damaged by a man with a hammer in 1991? Seriously, who lets people into art museums with hammers?

16 United Nations – What agency of the United Nations has a name that is abbreviated WHO?

Mystery Round 4 – Country Music (Yikes!)

Put the following country music artists in order based on the numbers of studio albums they have released in total, beginning with the LEAST.

Toby Keith, Mickey Guyton, George Strait, Miranda Lambert

“Answer guy” decided to take a potty break rather than attempt to answer these, so he gave me his phone and I started to think (I actually like it when trivia questions really make you “think,” as opposed to just trying to remember facts, dates, names, what have you).

Here’s a bit about how my thought processes were when I tackled this question – “Gee, I’ve never heard of (blank), so they’re probably a really new kid on the country music scene. I’ve heard of (blank), so they’ve been around a bit longer perhaps? And I was pretty darn sure who the person with the most studio albums was, so I put the other person ahead of them.

And…OMG – WE GOT ALL OF THESE RIGHT! We did get a little celebratory! All the more so considering all of the other mistakes we made in this round (here’s a roundup) – eight points on that Britney Spears question, missed that sports TV audio clue, missed the directors question and the stadiums question…

We were in dead last going into the final with 39 points. Would the final category be kind to us?

Game Two Final Question – Dogs

We had to lean on our “dog guy” for this one! “Brad, you’re going up to bat for us here,” I said – “Please hit a home run!”

There are seven breed groups that compete in the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show – sporting, working, toy, non-sporting, hound, herding and what seventh group that has produced the most winners – by far?

Got this, but was not enough to put us in the prize zone (seriously we’re just happy whenever we get BOTH final questions correct)! I’m going to give the game MVP award to Brad for knowing about the annoying, yappy dog breed that tends to win a lot of competitions!

We wound up finishing in third overall. I honestly don’t know which dog in the Best in Show movie came in third place, but we’ll pretend it was the bloodhound owned by the character that Christopher Guest played in the movie!

As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, all of you super annoying, super yappy…terriers!