Trivia Bowl VIII … and the champion is …

Saturday afternoon.  1:00 p.m.  Thirty-six teams have arrived at Wolf’s 1-11 on Wolf Road, ready to claim the championship of championships.

My Street Academy trivia team was ready.  Joining me at the table were Jeremy and Alexis, as well as trivia host Marc Palozzi and his father Dennis (both of whom helped Street Academy win Trivia Bowl VI), and special ringer Jen O’Leary, she of the trivia team Team Schooled.

We were ready.  So was everybody else.  This game was big.  And every team had their eyes on the prize.

The big wing bowl with a big wooden base on it.

Now I should note that if you’ve played regular competitive team trivia in the Capital District, you’ve probably heard a ton of questions and figured you could run the table.

That being said, I’m reposting the questions here from Trivia Bowl 8 – as well as the answers for same.  I’m also posting the answers that we gave, and how we came up with them.  So feel free to play along.

Here’s the first quarter, along with the point values.

• (2 pts) What is the first name of Vice-President Joe Biden’s wife?
• (4 pts) For what war was the U.S. Medal of Honor awarded a record 1,522 times?
• (6 pts) What 2000 film spawned a sequel that was subtitled “Armed and Fabulous”?
• (8 pts – double bonus) Although the Black Eyed Peas entered at Super Bowl XLV, what two performers made cameo appearances during BEP’s performance?
• (10 pts) Between his time as both a head coach and assistant NFL coach, Super Bowl 46 will mark how many appearances for Bill Belichick in a Super Bowl?

Question 1.  I wrote down “Marilyn” on the answer slip.

“I don’t think it’s Marilyn,” said Jeremy.

“Okay,” I replied, “what name do you think it is?”

“I want to say Jill – I think that’s his wife’s first name.”

Okay, makes sense.  I scribbled out Marilyn and wrote Jill.  Handed in the slip.

The answer was Jill.  And with that in mind, we picked up two points.  Unfortunately, we doubled down on the second question – answering World War II and Vietnam – only to discover the correct answer was the Civil War.  And the minute host Kevin Baker announced that Street Academy had doubled down and lost 8 points, there were cheers throughout the restaurant.

Thanks a lot, people. 😦

We did know that the 6-pointer was “Miss Congeniality,” and that Slash and Usher were the special cameo guests.  But we calculated 7 appearances by Bill Belichick in the Super Bowl – unfortunately, there were eight.  Started out slow again.  A team called WT’s United – playing out of the Washington Tavern – had a perfect first round and the lead.

Here’s round two.

• (2 pts) Which of the Chicago baseball teams was the first to win a World Series?
• (4 pts) In what 2011 Kevin James film does Sylvester Stallone voice a character named Joe the Lion?
• (6 pts) The Dungeness Crab takes its name from a town in what U.S. State?
• (8 pts – double bonus) Who was director and who was the lead actor in the 1999 movie Bringing Out the Dead?
• (10 pts – Of the top ten tallest buildings in the United States, four are in New York City, four are in Chicago, one is in Los Angeles – and where is the tenth one?

We hit the first two questions – White Sox and Zookeeper – but we had no idea about the Dungeness Crab.  Jen said that it could be Maryland or Washington, and that she thought this question had been used before, but she couldn’t remember.  We had a consensus and said Maryland.  Our consensus was wrong.  it was Washington.  GRRR

Combine that with skipping the movie question – for all we knew, it could have been directed by Rob Zombie and starred Bruce Campbell, except that it was really directed by Martin Scorsese and starred Nicolas Cage – and that we completely bombed on the building question by saying Seattle’s Space Needle instead of the Bank of America Plaza in Chicago Atlanta…

After ten questions, we had negative four points.  Negative four points.  And the WT’s United was still in the lead, with 62 points.  Wowie.

This was rough.  It was as rough as anyone could imagine for us.

“Guys,” I said, “We may not win this thing.”

“That’s what you think,” Marc said to me.  “We didn’t come here to lose.”

“No we didn’t,” said Jen.

And I thought about something at that moment.  As long as we keep playing, as long as we keep trying, as long as we don’t give up – we still have a shot.  All we have to do is proceed like it’s a two-minute drill in the fourth quarter of the game.  Run, pass, run, pass, force them to take a penalty, move the chains.  Move the chains.

Here’s the next round of questions.

• (2 pts) Which member of the Beatles did Jack Black portray in the movie Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story?
• (4 pts) What number season of American Idol was won by Carrie Underwood?
• (6 pts) Which Friends cast member’s early roles included a part on a short-lived NBC series called Misfits of Science?
• (8 pts – quadruple bonus question) Not counting work for animated films, name the four movies with Jonah Hill in the cast over the last two years?
• (10 pts) What U.S. City’s hockey team won the Stanley Cup in 1917, folded in 1924, and never had amajor league hockey team ever again?

Time for the comeback.

Paul McCartney.  Answer correct.  “Move the chains,” I said.

Fourth season of American Idol.  Answer correct.  “Move the chains,” I said.

Courteney Cox.  Answer correct.  Move the chains.

We put our heads together and said Moneyball, Get Him to the Greek, The Sitter and Cyrus.  Move the chains.

And we were one of the only teams to get the Stanley Cup winner from 1917 – the Seattle Metropolitans.  MOVE THOSE CHAINS!!

A four-pointer was next – if Katy Perry didn’t use her mother’s maiden name as a stage name, she would have always been confused with what actress?  It was Kate Hudson.  MOVE THOSE CHAINS!

Then a big six-pointer that worked toward our favor.  What is the last name of the oldest living Presidential child?  It’s John Eisenhower.  Say it with me – MOVE THOSE CHAINS!!

The triple bonus – name the three solo artists who have sold 100 million LP’s as a solo artist, and another 100 million LP’s as a member of a group.  We added and subtracted and crossed out and crossed in – and we came up with Paul McCartney, Phil Collins and Justin Timberlake.  Yeah, we left Michael Jackson out, simply because we didn’t think the Jackson 5 sold 100 million albums.  We should have left him in and crossed Justin Timberlake out.

The ten-pointer was also a rough one – Despite its headquarters being in New York City, the United Nations Charter was signed in 1945 in what West Coast city?

We came up with five locations – Los Angeles, Seattle, San Diego, San Francisco and Honolulu.  We had a skip to burn, and we burned it.  The answer was San Francisco.

Now we’re at 76 points.  Nine teams are ahead of us, including WT’s United (118), Team Gretchen (90), and two prior Trivia Bowl champions with 86 points apiece, Team Load and Stop The Bus.

“Go big or go home?” Marc said to me.

“Go big or go home,” I replied.  76 on my betting sheet.

Before the question was asked, however, there was a special presentation made.  When the Trivia Bowl received a new base, the original nameplate denoting the trophy as the “Hooters Trivia Bowl” was removed.  And Pete Lynch, the captain and founder of Lynch’s Mob – the team that won the first two Trivia Bowls – was given the original Hooters nameplate to keep.  Very nice touch.

Now back to the game.

The final question was on Actors.  “What 21st century Best Actor Oscar winner was also nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in the same year?”

We talked amongst ourselves, and all we could come up with was George Clooney.  Up went the slip.

The other answers came up one by one.  Colin Firth.  Philip Seymour Hoffman.  George Clooney.  Jeff Bridges.

Team Load said Jamie Foxx.

Team Stop the Bus said Jamie Foxx.

Team Gretchen said Jamie Foxx.

It was all up to WT’s United.  And they went with Sean Penn.

Well, it wasn’t George Clooney.  And it wasn’t Sean Penn.

It was in 2003, he was nominated for Collateral – and he won for Ray – and his name was Jamie Foxx.

Which means… we have a brand new Trivia Bowl champion, a team that plays out of the Hill Street Cafe, a team named after their favorite server – welcome to the list of champions, Team Gretchen!!

Once again, congratulations to the newest Trivia Bowl Champions, Team Gretchen from Hill Street Cafe.  They are the first trivia team to represent a bar with trivia host PJ, and they are the third team in the past four years to win in their first-ever Trivia Bowl appearance.

And if you want to see a photo gallery from Trivia Bowl… it’s right here.

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It was a great night, it was a great game.  And now the countdown begins once again… for Trivia Bowl IX.