Many people wonder whether or not it is possible to freeze to death in the middle of the dessert. They ought to come out to ‘Burque and sit out on the enclosed patio with the trivia team on a Tuesday night. Every damn one of us either wound up wearing a jacket or shivering uncontrollably. Eleven corpsicles strove to finish Showdown before their fingers were frozen to the Playmakers. As you will see, we almost did.
Worn-up Round
1. The Powerline 856, made by Daisy Manufacturing, is a: BB GUN. 2. He made headlines in the sport of tennis in 1958: ASHLEY COOPER. 3. Ceremonial kachina faces or masks are used in this Native American culture: HOPI. 4. Mario of ‘Mario Bros.’ fame always seems to be wearing a ___ hat: RED. 5. Jiggery-pokery is a term meaning: TRICKERY. 6. ___ golfer Zach Johnson won this year’s British Open: AMERICAN. 7. Timber, prairie and Mojave are all types of: RATTLESNAKES. 8. Diamond Baratta is one of the world’s most noted ___ firms: INTERIOR DESIGN. 9. A Lazy Susan is a: ROTATING TRAY. 10. ___comedian Trevor Noah will soon be the new host of ‘The Daily Show’: SOUTH AFRICAN.
No one on the team knew anything about interior design firms. But we knew plenty about the other nine questions.
Ground-down Round
1. In 1928, he became the first Catholic to win the Democratic Party presidential nomination: AL SMITH. 2. Cayuga Lake is the longest of this state’s Finger Lakes: NEW YORK. 3. Something called BIIB037 has been in the news this year. What is it? EXPERIMENTAL DRUG. 4. Which automobile innovator was arrested as a suspected Nazi collaborator in 1945? FERDINAND PORSCHE. 5. The city of Gaborone serves as the capital of: BOTSWANA. 6. Which animals belong to the order Cetacea? PORPOISES. 7. Blue Balliett wrote this popular children’s book in 2004: CHASING VERMEER. 8. Which historic aircraft is housed at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in Oregon? SPRUCE GOOSE. 9. To find ___, a good idea is to find the ore called pitchblende: URANIUM. 10. Jerry Ciccoritti is an award-winning Canadian: MOVIE DIRECTOR. 11. The Centers for Disease Control was founded in 1945 to help stem the spread of: MALARIA. 12. Who, or what is Najib Razak? MALAYSIAN POLITICIAN.
That was a bit more challenging than the first round. The team needed the third clue to answer GD’s 3, 4, 7, 10, 11 and 12.
Scatology Round
S1. Wine v World Population Which wine term is mismatched with its meaning? BOUQUET – HIGH CLASS. {DUFF was the quickest to sniff out this answer.}
S2. BATTLES v human anatomy The Battle of Five Forks took place in the final few days of this conflict: U.S. CIVIL WAR. {CHILL got thar fustest with the mostest.}
S3. LITERATURE v World Rivers Malachi Constant is the protagonist of an acclaimed novel by: KURT VONNEGUT JR. {Nobody really knew this well enough to make the call.}
S4. Human anatomy v WINE Which wine is made from the Gamay grape? BEAUJOLAIS. {BLZBUB crushed this one.}
S5. World Rivers v BATTLES The Battle of Zama brought an end to the Second ___ War: PUNIC. {DUFF suffered the inevitable puns after answering this one.}
S6. World Population v LITERATURE In what book does the character of John Thornton meet an untimely death: CALL OF THE WILD. {Unfortunately, the team could only narrow it down to two of the five possibilities.}
With only two of the questions needing third-clue rescue, the team did OK for this round.
Frightening Round
1. The ___ Pasty is a British lunch and dinner staple: CORNISH. 2. What retailer is a well-known as a maker of home furniture? THOMASVILLE. 3. Which musical instrument typically has seven pedals? HARP. 4. In the world of Marvel Comics, Serpentina is a/an ___ character: X-MEN. 5. Oskar Groening, dubbed the __ of Auschwitz, was just convicted of war crimes in Germany: BOOKKEEPER. 6. Raijin is the name of a ___ thunder god: JAPANESE. 7. A bellwether is someone who: INITIATES TRENDS.
We don’t want to HARP on our failures. But after missing F3, we took a serpentine route to the wrong answer on F4. Fortunately we got the high-value questions after that.
Py-Ram-It Round
P1. Ludwig van Beethoven’s ‘Ah! Perfido’ is a: CONCERT ARIA. {We flubbed this one, once again pointing out the need to recruit a fine-arts team member.}
P2. Curacao is an island located just north of: VENEZUELA. {CHILL was the first to chase away our blue liqueur blues.}
P3. Which Shakespeare character says, ‘O, I am fortune’s fool’? ROMEO. {Wherefore did we miss Romeo? Fools with bad fortune we are.}
P4. This plant contains capsaicin, which has strong pain-relieving properties: RED PEPPER. {Greek chorus. A relatively easy question in a state where everyone knows what Scoville Units measure.}
P5. It was established by George Bancroft in 1845 at a former Army post called Fort Severn: U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY. {Old war-dog BLZBUB was the first to establish this answer.}
FINAL TRAGEDY Topic: RUSSIAN EMPERORS
What Russian Emperor fought against Napoleon Bonaparte during the Napoleonic Wars?
1. Boris the Brave 2. Alexander I 3. Nicholas II 4. Ivan the Terrible 5. Peter the Great
The order of the eliminations was 5, 4, 1, and 3, leaving #2, ALEXANDER I, as the correct answer. DUFF made this call even before most of us had finished reading the question. We were inclined to go with him, a well-know history expert.
The team could have had a great score were it not for the miscues in the countdown and pyramid rounds. As it was the top score were still good enough to match our team average. They were 47455, 46818, 46765, 45643, 45337 and 44820, for a team composite of 46172 points.
This would only be good enough for SIXTEENTH Place for all teams displayed on the ‘Network Rankings’ page on game night. Owning to the fluke where non-registered players do not have their scores entered into the official team scores, The BWW Gibby gang moved up to 15th in the official ratings. But hey, we are not turning away in disgust with a Top 20 finish in a tough game.
Congrats go to the folks at Danny K’s for their top non-Borg finish at 55594 points. They were followed by Chicago Loop (54177) and The Fellowship (50573).
_________________ }}}--( (x) (x) )---> Oh my gawd, they killed Ken Z. You bastards!
|