STANDINGS AND REPORT FOR JANUARY 2015
It was indeed a full house on the 15th of January. Two teams did not show but two other walk-ins were there to fill the room with a record 112 people and 31 teams. Good for Centraide. It was a photo-finish at the end and the newish team of The Blond Artifacts (Artefacts?) squeezed ahead of Thistle Rocks by a single point, rallying in the final round for the win. The Hotel gang and the Ministry tied for 3rd place and the Hotel folks won the playoff. The Dewey Decibels were 5th and Boom Down and the Duo of Cashew tied for 6th.
The best new kids on the block were “42”, a threat for the established teams. They are from Teaching and Learning Services who bettered their name by a point and were discovered trash-talking with the Space Cadets before we started. The Cadets edged them out by a point and won 10th place for the night. The Space team tied with the Rabble Rousers and Rock Stars.
Round 1 was fairly easy with a nearly 70% score and the exuberant In Vino group made a 9 to lead after this stanza. Speaking of exuberant, the 42 squad gets the nod for most enthusiastic team of the night. Hopefully, they will maintain that energy for the rest of the season. Many knew how long the film “Wolf of Wall Street” was and used the math to get the correct number of bad “F” words in the film (506). Since I did not know the flavour of hazelnuts, I thought that would challenge some but I failed badly as every team answered it correctly. Most all knew that Fred Astaire danced with a vacuum cleaner although 42 must have thought that Fred was stronger than he looks and suggested a washing machine. A few other teams also said that. I will not embarrass them here. As mentioned, a 70% overall score for a round is just about a record so all the questions were decently answered including a 29/31 performance for knowing Dolly Parton as the last answer of the round.
Round 2 delivered a more normal score of 54% and 11 teams did not think that “hocus pocus” had any source instead of two reasonable ones. Eleven teams knew that Italy was where NBA star Kobe Bryant spent much of his childhood including Cashew, Rock Stars, Secret Society, Thistle Rocks (they better get that one), For the Record, Dewey Decibels, Trivia Now, I’ll Ask the Questions and the up and coming Space Cadets. Half the teams knew (or guessed?) that Montreal was where Day Care started in North America although few put down 1888 as the starting point and these were For the Record, Mighty Dentrites, It's in the Element and the eventual winners of the night, The Blonde Arifacts. Almost all knew Harpper Lee as the one-book author (“To Kill a Mockingbird”). Many knew that 1957 was when the Democrats in the U.S. were in power but that there was still a Mideast Plan going on via Eisenhower, a Republican. All but two teams knew the strange PSY of the even stranger dance. One of those missing that question was the normally very savvy In Vino team. Good for them for not knowing. The Ma What squad were the ONLY ones who got South Africa as the owner of the Prince Edward Islands. This was admittedly a nasty question. Just keeping up “standards”. Hah.
The overall score for Round 3 was at a high 67% with a number of easy targets. The Andes were known by 24/31 teams and a similar number understood “Roger” meant received. All but two knew that Laurier was on the price of entry to Trivia although there was one stab at one William Smith. Hmmm. Most all knew that the bull’s eye in the game of Darts was worth 50 points. The Trivia Trailblazers, Cashew, Dewey Decibels and the Ministry knew that cable TV came in as early as 1948 and this permitted the Ministry to secure the only perfect 10/10 round of the entire night. The chemistry team of Otto Maass (walk-ons) came up with a 9 along with Cashew. Leonard Cohen’s deep voice (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member) was also recognized by most all in the House.
The fourth round was more difficult at 52% with For the Record scoring a high of 8. Most knew that Italy bordered the two square-flag countries and many more than I would have thought knew that Austria was the home of the super skydiver. We have a smart group. Nine teams knew that Jackie Stewart (“It’s a great day for a motor-car race”) including the Bulldogs, Green Eggs, Thistle Rocks, Boom Down, the Spuds, Rock Stars, Rabble Rousers and For the Record as well as the Space Cadets. Twelve teams knew about Meerschaum pipes including the Ministry, the Hotel gang, Cashew and 42. I am afraid that the steam-generated sound caused all the answers to be wrong with most people saying Nova Scotia- logical, but New Brunswick has a coast too. Many including an employee of FedEX who showed me his business card, understood the FedEx arrow. A nice sketch of the logo by the I’ll Ask the Questions team was also presented. I was impressed that all teams knew Robyn Fenty (Rihanna) was from the West Indies and many got Barbados as the correct answer.
Many teams “tanked” in Round 5 that showed only a 46% score overall. The Spuds, 42, the Aachen Bones and Black Hole had their troubles. The question about Mike Tyson saying he might just “fade into Bolivian” was correctly answered as a malapropism by the Diviners, I’ll Ask the Questions, Ma What!, In Vino, Green Eggs, the Ministry and the Blondies. Quite a few suggested that the remark was a “spoonerism” which is in fact, altered phrases like “shake a tower” instead of “take a shower”. Only the Otto Maass team and the Space Cadets said 1925 for the year that the federal government started searching for a new flag for Canada. Others guessed 1919, which was in the right direction. I fooled only one team as to the origin of the term “doubting Thomas” as we appear to have many biblical experts in the House. Could that be true? ONLY the Blonde Artifacts got that Victoria is the crime capital (rate) of Canada as most said Toronto. Totals—yes, but not rate per population. There was a gap in cheese knowledge (the answer was Tilset from Russia) and some said Velveeta! And another team said Cheez-Whiz! Cheez!! A few got it that dogs were the origin of the name of the Canary Islands (canis = dog in Latin). Most everyone knew about Mariah Carey and we will keep her away from the game for the near future.
In Round 6 (56%), the Ma What’s were the only team to know the term for rubber tire shards on the highway- alligator or road gator. Excellent. There were many interesting tries such as dark shizzle, snake skin, road kill, shrapnel, re-tread, shreddies, rubber ducky, flapjack, tumbleweed, deadwood, reshreads, eel, rubber road kill, caterpillar, treadkill (good one by Cashew) scrap by 42 and the Deweys said shredded wheat- new product for tires! I think I will have to stop having too many Montreal “firsts” as I think I am being second-guessed when the peanut butter patent question came up- five teams got it right but they were the Hotel clan, Cashew and Thistle Rocks (experience and excellence) and the Space Cadets were correct as well along with Charlemagne. Good answer however. Nineteen teams knew the temperature question for Montreal of high/low at 38C. These included Akavavit, Marginalia, For the Record, Jerry and the Digaloids, Boom Down, Secret Society, Diviners and the math-rich team of 42. Fourteen teams knew the young John Wayne including the Bulldogs and Spuds but the Otto Maass team suggested Frank Sinatra- a Hoboken, N.J. native. Wow. Frank born in Iowa? The mind boggles! I fooled only two teams with the origin of “check mate”. Quite a few knew the Renoir painting and Sugar Man and all but one team knew the Katy Perry question. I have to toughen up here.
The last round scored a decent 61% for a net for the evening of a fairly normal 58%. Everyone uses ATM machines it seems. All correct. Lots of teams knew Wyoming as the lowest populated U.S. state. Impressive. Peggy’s Cove was the answer (or Nova Scotia) for the lighthouse post office including It’s in the Element—well done. The superhero known best was Bruce Banner (Hulk). A few knew that Maine is NOT the most northern point in the lower 48. Almost everyone knew Dancing Queen as the big song for ABBA- one of the few errors was the Blonde Artifacts however they got the other 9 correct in this round and edged out Thistle Rocks and claimed their first sessional victory thus loosening the grip of the Ministry somewhat. One would be wise not to count out the Ministry for the final three sessions however. It has been reported they are practicing for the March round.
Some summary statistics: 18 teams have played all 3 rounds and 10 more have done 2. This means that 28 teams are in the running as we deduct the lowest score. There are 9 single event teams making 37 participant teams.
Thank you all for coming and thanks to the scoring team of Julia, Kayleigh, Sara and Alexander for keeping the books as well as Kim Stephenson from our Bookstore for sorting the cash for the Centraide finances and contributing edits and questions.
Please register for the MARCH 18th event as soon as possible.
STANDINGS FOR THE JANUARY CONTEST
Jerry and the Dingaloids 30 Akvavit 23 Overall 58%
OVERALL STANDINGS AFTER 3 ROUNDS
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