Elbo Room 2010 Trivia Tournament FINALS

It did not start out as a good day.  I had spent the last 48 hours hacking and wheezing, my body violently battling a 24-hour cold that wanted to stay an extra day.  At about 445pm, I got a text message from my trivia teammate Jeremy that they might be late for the Elbo Room tournament finals.  I told Jeremy not to worry, get to the Elbo Room as soon as he could, General James is always late.

And sure enough, General James shows up at 710pm for a 730pm game.  D’oh!

The seven teams that qualified for the tournament were there, and just seconds before General James asked the first question, Jeremy and Alexis arrived, straight from their Ultimate games at the UAlbany campus.  Of course Jeremy’s team won again, apparently he’s now 5-1 in Ultimate, while Alexis had to scoot out of her game so that they could get to the tournament finals.

Hey, it’s the money round.  We all gotta make some sacrifices.

This is an enhanced trivia tournament round – after every five questions, a bonus question is asked, in which one can bet whatever amount of points they’ve accumulated.  What I’m going to do now is list the questions, then list how the trivia teams did after the five regular questions – and then after the big-point question.  Answers to the questions will appear at the bottom of the blog.

And just like in Trivia Bowl, the host handed out lunch bags, in which we were to put our cell phones.  No impression of impropriety here.  Also, the Con-Fear-Acy team (the merged team of Mayhem and Brown Van Experience) had to play the finals without Kramer, who as an employee of Elbo Room couldn’t play in the finals.

• (2 points) What musician is known as “The Man in Black”?
• (4 points) In terms of surface area, what Great Lake is the smallest?
• (6 points) In what decade did the Chicago Blackhawks last win the Stanley Cup?
• (8 points) What was the first rock group to put the lyrics to their songs on their album cover?
• (10 points) What was the first state to ban smoking in public restaurants?

We raced through the first round, using our double-chance option on whether it was Lake Erie or Lake Ontario (it was Lake Ontario), and at the end of the round we had a perfect score of 30.

Elbo Room Trivia Standings – End Round 1

Trivia Team	Points
Street Academy	30
Stern Fans	30
Big Red Machine	22
Da Bears	22
Skidmarks	22
Woo Hoo a Go Go	12
Con-Fear-Acy	6

The first bonus question was on the category of 20th century music.  We put in 25 of our 30 points on the bet.

The question was “What one-hit wonder had a hit in 2000 with the song ‘Absolutely’ (The Story of a Girl)?”

Alexis nearly leaped over the table, telling me, “It’s Nine Days.  Nine Days.  And they’re not a one-hit wonder.  I love their entire album.”

Hey, if she’s that passionate about Nine Days as I am about Dragon or Goanna, gotta go with it.

The correct answer was “Nine Days.” Street Academy FTW! (That’s Street Academy For The Win, not any other possible connotation of the initials FTW)

Elbo Room Trivia Standings – End Round 1 and Bonus

Trivia Team	Points
Street Academy	55
Woo Hoo a Go Go	24
Stern Fans	20
Big Red Machine	11
Skidmarks	7
Da Bears	0
Con-Fear-Acy	0

So now we go back to the second round of questions, including a double-bonus question.

• (2 points) What is another name for a box of three-flavored ice cream?
• (4 points) In what city will you find the Great American Ballpark?
• (6 points) What singer recorded a song called “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) for the 2010 World Cup?
• (double bonus, 8 points apiece) On what two HBO series will you find characters named Bill Henrickson and Ray Drecker?
• (10 points) What actress, who died in 1989, had ten Academy Award nominations, won two Academy Awards, and had a pop song named after her?

We passed on the world cup question, and only got one of the two HBO shows (we had no idea what show had a character named Ray Drecker).  Still, we had a decent lead, as can be seen below.

Elbo Room Trivia Standings – End Round 2

Trivia Team	Points
Street Academy	79
Big Red Machine	41
Stern Fans	40
Woo Hoo a Go Go	40
Skidmarks	37
Con-Fear-Acy	32
Da Bears	26

The next bonus question was on the category of television.

“What was the longest running prime-time animated series before the Simpsons came along?”

This was my answer.  I ran the slip up to General James as if I was sliding down the back of a brontosaurus on my way to my car, to pick up Wilma and go see The Monster at the local stone-age drive in theater.

Yep, it was The Flintstones.  Street Academy FTW!!

Elbo Room Trivia Standings – End Round 2 and Bonus

Trivia Team	Points
Street Academy	108
Woo Hoo a Go Go	80
Big Red Machine	71
Skidmarks	57
Da Bears	52
Con-Fear-Acy	52
Stern Fans	51

After a halftime break, more questions – including a quadruple bonus question that could be worth a maximum of 32 points.

• (2 points) According to their history, in what decade were the first buffalo wings made at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo?
• (4 points) Bern is the capital of what country?
• (6 points) Who created the TV show Lost, and directed the movie Cloverfield?
• (quadruple bonus, 8 points per correct answer) What were the last four cities to host the Major League Baseball All-Star Game?
• (10 points) What was the name of the nightclub that burned during a Great White concert?

We did pretty well in this round, only missing one of the quadruple bonus questions.  So after three rounds, a nice commanding lead for Street Academy.

Elbo Room Trivia Standings – End Round 3

Trivia Team	Points
Street Academy	154
Stern Fans	101
Woo Hoo a Go Go	98
Skidmarks	93
Big Red Machine	87
Con-Fear-Acy	84
Da Bears	76

The third-round bonus question was in the category “Guess the age.”

I hate this.  We had teams that were close enough to pass us with a correct answer, and “Guess the Age” wasn’t exactly my strong suit.  After much discussion with my teammates, we went with a safe bet.

The question was – How old will Donald Trump be when he celebrates his birthday this month?

Yikes.  We bounced between 60 and 65, trying to guesstimate The Donald’s age based upon how old his kids were.  We went with 65.

Apparently, The Donald will turn 64 this year.  Yikes.

We took a hit – but not a big hit.  Not as bad as some other teams did.

Elbo Room Trivia Standings – End Round 3 and Bonus

Trivia Team	Points
Street Academy	131
Stern Fans	89
Big Red Machine	87
Skidmarks	73
Con-Fear-Acy	54
Da Bears	51
Woo Hoo a Go Go	0

So now it came down to the final questions.

• (4 points) A boy named Falcon was involved in what recent hoax?
• (6 points) What city once had a baseball stadium named Forbes Field?
• (triple bonus – 8 points per correct answer) Duran Duran has three members with the last name Taylor.  What are their first names?
• (10 points) Against which team did Roy Halliday toss his perfect game this year?

We missed one of the Durannies, and then when it came to the 10-pointer, I wrote down “Marlins” – and Jeremy thought it was the Rays.  I said it had to be the Marlins, since I didn’t think the win came against an interleague opponent.  We thought and thought.  I kept “Marlins” on the slip, and I said to my teammates, “I’m handing it up.  If I’m wrong … it’s on me.”

I wasn’t wrong.  Street Academy FTW!!!

Elbo Room Trivia Standings – End Round 4

Trivia Team	Points
Street Academy	167
Stern Fans	133
Big Red Machine	115
Da Bears	95
Skidmarks	89
Con-Fear-Acy	78
Woo Hoo a Go Go	12

The final question category would be on “Famous Plane Crashes.”

Oh lord.  This could be anything.  Anything at all.  Who died in a plane crash.  Where did it crash.  In what year did “Airplane!” come out.  How many men were shot down by the Red Baron.

We decided that the only way we could get the money at this point was to bet 100 points – which would have been double our closest opponent, Stern Fans, plus one point.

The final question.

“The plane crash that killed John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife originated from what state?”

I think I know this.  I seem to recall that commuter flights from the New York metropolitan area often came from small airports like Teterboro in New Jersey.  I wrote down New Jersey.  Then I talked with my teammates.  We weren’t sure if it was New Jersey or New York.  I kept thinking that JFK Jr would have had to deal with a lot of bureaucratic red tape and FAA requirements to fly a small turboprop out of LaGuardia or JFK Airport, so maybe he flew out of Newark or Teterboro or one of the other tiny airports out of New Jersey.  “I think we should go with New Jersey,” I said.  “If I’m wrong … it’s on me.”

“Chuck,” Jeremy said, “I hope you’re as wrong as you were on that Roy Halliday question.”

I smiled.  The slip was placed on General James’ table for scoring.

Then it was finger-crossing time.  “Haven’t we been in this position before?” Jeremy asked. “How many times have we held the lead and lost it on the final question?”

“Too many times,” I smiled.

But this time I had a good feeling about our chances.  And as General James read the answers off – Big Red Machine and Da Bears said the airplane flew from New York, while Skidmarks said it flew out of South Carolina, the other four teams went with New Jersey.

It wasn’t Teterboro Airport he flew out of.  It was Essex County Airport – which, by the way – is in – as I say in my best Fred Armisen impression of David Paterson – NOO JUR ZEE!!!!

STREET ACADEMY WINS THE ELBO ROOM TRIVIA TOURNAMENT AND THE BIG $1,500 PRIZE!!!

WHOOOOO!!!!!

Lots of congratulations all around for my teammates; and several members of other teams came over to shake hands and offer congratulations.  It was a tough tournament, and every team in that room had a solid opportunity to win.  One question or the other, and any one of six other teams would be cheering like crazy and I’d be writing this blog congratulating them.

Now I could be prideful and say that there was no doubt we were going to win this game.  If it had been just me on the team, it would have been grandiose showboating. But I’ve got solid teammates here in Jeremy and Alexis, and with them Street Academy wins the tournament.

Yeah, people can say, “Boy, Chuck, that attendance clause sure helped you get in the tournament,” and you would be right.  The fact of the matter is, Street Academy got in.  And Street Academy won.  QED.

Let’s see… Trivia Bowl… Elbo Room Tournament… in the same year… yeah, that feels REALLY good…

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ANSWERS:

• Johnny Cash
• Lake Ontario
• 1960’s
• The Beatles
• California
• 9 Days
• Neapolitan
• Cincinnati
• Shakira
• Big Love, Hung
• Bette Davis
• The Flintstones
• 1960’s
• Switzerland
• JJ Abrams
• New York, St. Louis, San Francisco, Pittsburgh
• The Station
• 64
• Balloon Boy
• Pittsburgh
• John, Andy, Roger
• Florida Marlins
• New Jersey