The Results of Summer Bowl VI

Saturday afternoon.  Over two dozen teams at the Holiday Inn Express in Latham for the sixth annual summertime trivia championship.

And I had to make sure that a pattern didn’t continue.

See, the Street Academy trivia team has won three of the previous five trophies – all in odd-numbered Summer Bowl events.  And then we’ve lost the trophy on even-numbered Summer Bowls.

We’re the defending champions.  We won Summer Bowl V.

Now it’s Summer Bowl VI.  Time to break the trend.

My team included Jeff Shubert, who helped win Summer Bowl V with me.  I also had an additional teammate – Alfreda Tillman.

You don’t know Alfreda Tillman?  Trust me.  She’s a Street Academy team member from way back.

As in way back in 1981.

Yes, THAT Street Academy trivia team.

“I’m just coming to watch the game, Chuck,” she smiled.

“Don’t worry,” I replied, “you could have the right answer and we might not.”

The teams were introduced.  Lots of new names that I don’t remember or recall.  Lots of classic legacy teams.

And after all the teams were announced – along with a 30-second “BOOO” chant for the Street Academy squad – it’s time to play.

And if you want to play along, here’s the questions.  Remember, you can pass on two questions, and you can use a “double-chance” to answer one question, if you’re right you get points, if you’re wrong you lose twice the points.

Let’s do this.

First round.

• (2 pts) Who recently won the British Open golf tournament?
• (4 pts) Which “Friends” cast member just turned 48 today?
• (6 pts) The collection of resorts known as Club Med are headquartered in what European city?
• (8 pts) Presidents Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford each died at what ripe old age?
• (10 pts) In the “Lethal Weapon” series, Mel Gibson’s character Riggs has what first name?

We knew the first answer was Zack Johnson, and Frieda knew the Friends cast member as Matt LeBlanc – remember that part where I said that there were questions that someone might know cold?  Frieda and Jeff both knew Riggs’ first name was Martin.  But the other two questions – Club Med in Paris, Reagan and Ford dying in 93 – we had no idea.  Burned off the skips early.  Finished the first round with 14 points, while the leader – previous Summer Bowl winner Tap This! – had a nice 8-point lead.

Second round.

• (2 pts) What state borders Arizona to the north?
• (4 pts) Who played “Noah” in a 2014 movie?
• (6 pts) What comic actor died at the age of 33 in 1982?
• (8 pts – double bonus) Who were the starting pitchers at the Baseball All-Star Game in 2015?
• (10 pts) Very early in his career, who was responsible for directing the 1993 16-minute film called “I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meat Hook, and Now I have a 3-Picutre Deal with Disney?”

By the way, the answers were Utah, Russell Crowe, John Belushi, and the double bonus was Zack Greinke and Dallas Keuchel.  Most teams did well, as did we.

But that 10-point question.  Owtch.  We had no idea.  Even when host Kevin Baker gave all of us a hint by saying the person is better known as an actor now…

Still nothing.  This is how desperate we were.  We thought that it was someone against type, and we wrote down – of all people – Adam Sandler.

Well, only three teams got the answer correct – the film was directed by some guy named Ben Affleck.  Yeah, so completely out of left field it was still flying out of an Iranian airport.

Meanwhile, Tap This! nearly ran the table, and still held on to a nice lead.

Third quarter.  Here we go.

• (2 pts) What was Jorge Posada’s uniform number?
• (4 pts) A 2008 film title had a Chihuahua from what city?
• (6 pts) In what U.S. city is Sky Harbor International Airport?
• (8 pts – quadruple bonus) What are the states of birth for Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly?
• (10 pts) On this date in 2000, 113 people were killed when what airliner suffered its one and only deadly crash?

Jeff knew instantly – his forte is Yankees trivia – that Jorge Posada wore #20.  All of knew that the Chihuahua came from Beverly Hills.  And we got three of the four in the quadruple bonus – Elvis Presley from Mississippi, Jerry Lee Lewis from Louisiana, and Buddy Holly from Texas.  By the way, Johnny Cash is from Arkansas.  Did not know.

But none of us ever flew to Phoenix in our lifetimes, which means we missed the six-pointer, and for some reason I thought the deadly crash came from ValuJet, and not the Concorde.  We were wrong.  It’s on me.  And now Tap This is holding on to that lead and the finish line is in sight.

• (4 pts) How many different men have been married to Pamela Anderson?
• (6 pts) Who was named the Associated Press’s Male Athlete of the Year four years in a row from 2002 to 2005?
• (8 pts – triple bonus) Who were the lead actors in the 2014 films “Non-Stop,” “Sabotage,” and “Need for Speed”?
• (10 pts) In what Midwestern city can you eat a hot dog at a chain of restaurants called National Coney Island?

Just for the record, Pamela Anderson has married three men.  God help them.  And Lance Armstrong was the AP Male Athlete of the Year, we got that with the help of our double chance option.  And the three action stars – Liam Neeson, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Aaron Paul – helped us.

But that damn hot dog question.  All three of us had no guess.  We wrote down Chicago.  Apparently it’s Detroit.

The final category – the “bet your points” category – is Poets and Presidents.

We had 60 points; we bet all of them.

“Poet and writer C.S. Lewis died on the same day and year as what U.S. President?”

Okay, now we had to know when C.S. Lewis lived and when he died, and then hope we could match him up with the death of a President.  Any President.  Even the guy from The West Wing.

No idea.  Although we thought it might be the same date as the death of Kennedy or Truman, we went on a limb and thought that C.S. Lewis might have lived to the early 1970’s, and possibly passed away on the same day as Lyndon Johnson.

And if Lyndon Johnson had been correct, we would have won.

Except that about ten teams ahead of us said John F. Kennedy.

Including Tap This, who said John F. Kennedy.

Sure enough… both C.S. Lewis and Aldous Huxley died on November 22, 1963.

Same day as … yeah, you guessed it.

And that answer gave Tap This the win – and, for the second time in Summer Bowl history – the championship (they won Summer Bowl II).

With that, of course, congratulations are in order.  Tap This is now a two-time, two-time Summer Bowl champion, and their 7 1/2 team members (yes, one of them had a baby) earned a well-deserved championship.  Congratulations, Tap This, celebrate that win and enjoy it all year.

And my thanks to my teammates Jeff and Frieda, we played well and we had a good time doing it.

Thanks to all the teams who came out and played, whether you finished near the top or near the bottom, it was a great game, the questions were tough but fair, and it was a fun summer event.

And I hope to see all of you back for Summer Bowl VII.

Oh wait, that’s an odd-numbered event.

And if tradition holds true…