STANDINGS AND FINAL REPORT FOR OCTOBER 2015

REPORT FOR OCT 2015

We had a full house last week with nearly 110 players and 32 teams.  There was a waiting list of three and one called to cancel and there were two no-shows (please phone ahead if you cannot come) so the waiting list was accommodated. The overall average was 39.5/70 (56%) with a low round (#5) of 48% and the highest 73% in round 2.  This round saw the ultimate winners (Cashew) who scored a perfect 10 along with The Hacks.

There were a number of new teams including Brain Adams, Eli’s Angles, Four Horsemen and Freudian Slips.  Also new was the team of Don’t Think Twice who found themselves leading after the first round along with Boom Down with 8.  It is possible the newcomers achieved this early lead due to a “player trade” with team 42.  However, DTT tanked in rounds 3 and 4 and wound up in 16^th place.  Team 42 who reformed their line-up adding the Dean of Students, Andre Costopolous, wound up a point short of Don’t Think Twice at the end.

Ten teams recognized an early picture of Ernest Hemingway.  I did not mention his name thinking all would recognize him but I was asked by one of the younger teams “Who was that in question #1”.   Fair enough.  I forget that time marches on. Gerascophobia was correctly identified as fear of aging by 25 teams with alternative answers given as fear of giraffes, snails, flowers, windows, pills, scratching and lightening.  Four teams (Otto Maass, the Bulldogs, Cheap Date and Boom Down) selected 1925 for the first in flight movie.  Too many said 1945.  All 32 teams knew that the nasty husband of Tina Turner was named Ike.

Round 2 was the easiest of the night with an average of 73% as previously mentioned and newcomers the Gordie Brown Fan Club had 9 and 10 teams scored 8.  The leader after this round was Cashew with their perfect score and Don’t Think Twice, the Hacks and Boom Down were tied for second.  The question about the last province to grant women the right to vote was re-adjudicated in that Newfoundland, being the last province to join Canada was de facto the last although the “spirit” of the question was the 1940 law in Quebec.  Both answers were post facto awarded a point but it made no change for the prize-winners.

Eight teams got that the Corvette was the starting car in the Indi-500 and these were, Cheap Dates, Rabblerousers, Eli’s Angles, Cashew, the Spuds, 42, the Hacks and Trivia Now.  The Ministry was the most consistent scorer of the night with 7 +/- 1 for all the rounds but this group of car experts missed the Indie question.  Twenty three teams knew the movie “Anaconda” and that surprised me in spite of the famous actors.  This 18 year old film only got 2 stars from Rotten Tomatoes so it must have been JLo that gave the fame.  One team suggested “The Thing” which was the title of a couple of recent films but the first of this name scared me to death as a very, extremely young child in 1951, “starring” James Arness, the eventual lead in the TV series “Gunsmoke”.  There goes a trivia question that nobody would have answered.

Round 3 had an average of a more “normal” 57% but Cashew maintained their hold on first place and the Space Cadets moved into second.  I apparently sounded somewhat incredulous at this finding and was critiqued at the end of the night for my seeming mockery but truth to tell, it was that they had been for the early years of Trivia near the bottom but have consistently been much better and it was in recognition of this transformation that created the remark.  Go Cadets.  The question as to the psychotic General in “Dr. Strangelove” was answered by only 4 teams including Cheap Date with Col. Ripper, the Space Cadets with Ripper, the Ministry was close enough with Jack Ripperton and only In Vino Veritas got it fully with General Jack D. Ripper.  Some interesting alternatives were Generals Washington, Kong and Cheeseburger.  Wow.  The ultimate second place finisher, Crusader Rabbit Redux suggested another of that movie’s characters with Buck Turgidson (played by George C. Scott).  Good try indeed.  All but three teams knew how many lines there were in a limerick.  The wrong answers were two suggestions of 6 and one of 13.  The next day Professor David Covo sent me some limericks that were in good taste and shown below:

The limerick packs laughs anatomical

In space that is quite economical -

But the good ones I’ve seen

            So seldom are clean,

And the clean ones so seldom are comical.

and a clean Nantucket example:

A builder named Bob from Nantucket

Saves all his old shingles for luck – it

            Avoids those mistakes

            Between shingles and shakes,

That he keeps for the Cape in a bucket.

In response, Hotel de Ville team mate Cyrus Bilimoira kindly sent a few examples decrying his team’s consistency in coming “fourth” due to the constant doubting of first answers posed.  Here is one of them:

There once was a quiz-master named Harpp

Who entertained the room boy he's sharp(p).


The Hotel-de-Villers

          Made their games such thrillers


By second-guessing and floundering like carp(p)

 Only two teams knew “irons” was a term in horse racing (stirrups) and these were the consistently good team of the Blond Artifacts and the youthful squad of I’ll Ask the Questions.  Ten teams including Green Eggs, Crusader Rabbit, Eli’s Angles, The Bulldogs, Hacks, Spuds, Rabble Rousers and Positive Vibrations knew Churchill’s wife’s name.  The Broadway musical “Beautiful” was identified (Carole King) by the Dewey Decibels, Rock Stars, Double Pair a Docs, Trivia Trailblazers and Thistle Rocks.  This latter team who won last year’s title slipped tonight and their Captain is moving to Ontario so they are reorganizing.  Maybe Rob Wiliams can find his way back for some of the coming contests.  That team was always in the running.

Round 4 came in at 51% and a fair number correctly got that question about the only female who was not asked for a sex test as Princess Anne including For the Record, the Bulldogs, Thistle Rocks and the Blonde Artifacts.  All but one identified the E.U. flag but not many knew that Germany was the home base for the Great Dane dog and some of these were the Gordie Brown Fan Club, the Ministry, the Spuds, Eli’s Angels and Green Eggs.  Quite a few teams knew about the Office of Strategic Services (pre-CIA) as the OSS but maybe they knew our own Office for Science and Society better as the question was given a hint.  Successful teams included 42, the Gordies, the Brain Adams, Cashew and the Blonds.  One team suggested O.S.D. and another SSMU. Hmmmm.  I thought the question about 5-time Oscar winner “The Apartment” would stump more teams but about half got it right.  Finally, only second-place finisher Crusader Rabbit Redux knew what a deltiologist was (collector of postcards) although a member of Don’t Think Twice knew how to pronounce it but their team guessed gravel stones.

Round 5 was the hardest one of the night at 48%.  It got off to a slow start with only four teams knowing that the Dodo bird became extinct in the 17^th century.  These were the winner Cashew, the third place finisher, the Ministry, newcomer Gordie’s fans and the Otto Maass group.  Only 6 teams identified Reagan as the U.S. president who was “not smart enough to lie”.  Most of the house knew Turner’s art work.  All but 5 teams knew the most populous cities in Africa with several incorrectly suggesting Johannesburg.  Only 5 teams knew that Teddy Roosevelt wrote so many books (37).  These were the Ma What’s, the Artifacts, Bulldogs, Don’t Think Twice and the Double Pair a Docs.

Round 6 started with Cashew in the lead (the usual Dynamic Duo filled out their allotted 4 seats to good advantage) although the round was only at the 50% level.  Almost all knew Rabat was the capital of Morocco and the only Hun the house knew was Attila and that was correct for all but 2 teams.  One of the two had Attila and chose another famous person.  The Freudians, Blonds, Bulldogs, Boomers, Thistle Rocks and the Trailblazers knew (or guessed) 100 for the number of tiles in Scrabble and the rest said the following (in no special order): 180, 102, 112, 104, 64, 144, 120, 128, 75, 92, 80, 69, 72 , 78, 106, 168, 96, 70 and……400. Wow.

At this point, Cashew led by two and cruised home with one of the three 8s in Round 7 (58%).  Only two knew that the collective description for horses is a haras (spelled different ways).  One team suggested hares- that was good and most said either hyenas or camels.  An outcry was experienced in question #5 that asked about “A Man for All Seasons”.  I guess I was drifting off when I checked in on Thomas Becket instead of Thomas More.  MyBad.  A mixen was not identified as dung or compost by many (7 teams).  The McGill yearbook picture was dated well by Positive Vibrations to the very year (1949) and the Four Horseman, Thistle Rocks, Don’t Think Twice, the Spuds, the Brain Adams and the youngest crew, The Gordies were close enough for a point.

Thank you for playing and thanks to the scoring team of Angela, Cordelia and Alexander for keeping the books as well as Kim Stephenson from our Bookstore for sorting the cash for the Centraide finances and contributing book prizes and helpful edits. Also thanks to our University Advancement and the Faculty Club for other prizes.

Register for the November 12.  It should be available early this week.

STANDINGS FOR THE OCTOBER CONTEST