Slop Bookended by Perfection

written by D.L.

It was a good thing that Hilts provided the title summation of last night’s trivia at TC Pub, otherwise the summary could have ended up with an adult-themed reference to Rachael Ray pleasuring herself with salmon. Initially, it didn’t look like the pub held enough people to hold a decent trivia battle, but the regular Bar crew rolled in just in time to defend their victory from two weeks ago.

J&B represented by: Chemical Man, Hilts, Stix, Dragon and Lazers. J&B Hall-of-Famer Moho made a post-trivia appearance.

The competition: Bar, War Pigs, and Team 14.

TC Pub represented by: the return of Glasses. Dragon suggests that nickname should be updated, as we haven’t seen her wearing glasses in ages. I vote to keep the primary nickname the same- it stirs good memories.

First Half: Piniella & Guillen/Movie Lines/Celebrity Birth Years

A different look to “Throw the ball” tricks as Benkowski unveils a spankin’ new Hammermill box.

In Piniella’s 19 years of managing, average number of ejections per year?
Guillen is 10th in Sox history with 68 _______?
Guillen is 10th is Sox history with 240 _______? (bad guess from Team 14: homers)

J&B takes the early advantage with a massive first quarter, nailing 9 out of 9 questions (twice being halted by the recent “no more than 4 in a row” rule). Hilts: “Could this be that elusive J&B perfect game?”

The perfect game is broken up early in the second quarter with a movie line: “You know, a lot of people go to college for 7 years.” “I know, they’re called doctors.” (bad guess from J&B: Animal House)

The Bar has a huge second quarter, leaving halftime scores at: Bar 1570 J&B 970 War Pigs 550 Team 14 440

Second Half: General Sports/National Enquirer/Music

The music category includes a “sing for 10 seconds” option when a team doesn’t know an answer. The option never is used.

1985- sang “We Built This City” (one word)

While sitting with Team 14, Glasses answers two music questions on behalf of the Bar. Someone complains that she isn’t part of the Bar. However, she earlier won a Ladies Only challenge on behalf of the Bar. Benkowski: “She showed her tattoo for the Bar. That’s like being blood siblings.”

Once again, the Bar is faced with a Ladies Only challenge with the Biggest Tattoo option. From the earlier challenge, the Bar knows that Glasses has a larger tattoo than the only other woman playing in the trivia game (from War Pigs). When the Bar selects the Biggest Tattoo challenge again, Benkowski hesitates. Benkowski: “That’s not in the spirit of the game.” Coincidentally, I had earlier mentioned that the third main Bar guy didn’t have a nickname. Stix had reminded me that we once nicknamed him Lawyer. As if to emphasize Stix’s reminder, Lawyer went into full defense mode to argue the Bar’s case. Benkowski lets the second Biggest Tattoo victory stand for the Bar but promises, “you won’t get me again.”

After the Bar correctly guesses the name of the place where the French Open is played, Benkowski: “The Bar, with posters of French structures on their ceiling, gets the points.” The Bar also was accused of having posters of Joan Rivers and Barbara Bush on their ceilings.

Controversy erupts with the last question of the second half: Ladies Only- choice either to “act crazy on the microphone for 5 seconds” OR lose your turn and lose 200 points. Neither the War Pigs’ woman nor Glasses would agree to take the microphone. The Bar is incensed when Benkowski deducts 200 points from their score (as I assume he did to War Pigs).

Scores into Final Question: J&B 2490 Bar 2140 War Pigs 1170 Team 14 1080

Choice of Final Category: White Sox History, Yankee History, or most recent edition of Rolling Stone magazine.

War Pigs selects Rolling Stone. All other teams select White Sox.

3 of 5 wins wager. All 5 wins 3000 bonus points.

J&B wagers 1791 (aka “The Classic).

White Sox: From the 1960s to the 2000s, name the Sox pitchers who led the team in single-season victories the most amount of times in each decade. Clues-
· 60s- Two pitchers tied with leading the team in victories twice.
· 70s- One pitcher led the team three times.
· 80s- One pitcher led the team three times.
· 90s- One pitcher led the team four times.
· 00s- One pitcher led the team three times.

Yankees:
Yankee all-time leader in RBI with 1,995?
Yankee all-time leader in triples with 163?
Yankee all-time leader in stolen bases with 326?
Yankee all-time leader in hits with 2,721?
Yankee all-time leader in at-bats with 8,102?

(Note: since nobody selected the category, we asked Benkowski to give us the Yankee questions after trivia ended.)

Since J&B immediately delved into discussion of the White Sox question, I didn’t catch most of the Rolling Stone questions. Sorry.

Gentlemen?



PART II

Part II

After much debate (mainly for the 80s), J&B guesses: Gary Peters and Joel Horlen (60s), Wilbur Wood (70s), Britt Burns (80s), Jack McDowell (90s) and Mark Buehrle (00s).

First Half Answers:
3
Triples
Doubles
Tommy Boy

Second Half Answers:
Starship
Roland Garros

Final Question:

Team 14- 1080- Sox- guess Phil McCracken, Seymour Butts, and a series of similar names that Benkowski refused to read- wagered 1080- thanks for playing.

War Pigs- 1170- Rolling Stone- guess $8500 (no), Cheap Trick (no- correct answer was Ratt), Bob Segar (no- correct answer was Ben Folds), “Hot Hot Hot” (no- correct answer was “Sick Sick Sick”), and Bo Diddley (correct)- wagered 1165- down to 5 points.

Bar- 2140- Sox- guesses Hoyt Wilhelm and Ted Lyons (no), Wilbur Wood (correct), Richard Dotson (no), Jack McDowell (correct) and Mark Buehrle (correct)- wagered 351- up to 2491 (and hoping J&B doesn’t win its wager).

J&B- 2490- Sox- guesses Horlen and Peters (correct), Wood (correct), Burns (correct), McDowell (correct) and Buehrle (correct)- wagers 1791- with bonus, up to 7281 (although Benkowski announced it as 6000 and change) and a return to the Winners’ Circle.

Yankee Answers:
RBI- Lou Gehrig
Triples- Lou Gehrig
Steals- Rickey Henderson
Hits- Lou Gehrig
At-bats- Mickey Mantle

All Yankee answers verified this morning, per baseball-reference.com (Bill questioned the Mantle answer). J&B would have won its wager but probably not the bonus.

As follow-up to the J&B debate over the 80s Sox answer (and curiosity over leaders in the late 80s seasons):
1980: Britt Burns (15-13)
1981: Britt Burns (10-6)
1982: Lamar Hoyt (19-15)
1983: Lamar Hoyt (24-10)
1984: Tom Seaver (15-11)
1985: Britt Burns (18-11)
1986: Joe Cowley (11-11)
1987: Floyd Bannister (16-11)
1988: Jerry Reuss (13-9)
1989: Melido Perez (11-14)

Boy, those late-80s were a golden era for White Sox baseball, eh?

As indicated earlier, Moho made an appearance after trivia ended. Best result was a great J&B tirade speculating on Benkowski Trivia being played in Japan. There also was a bit of Speed Racer discussion with Glasses (as well as Bill indicating displeasure with the casting of Christina Ricci as Trixie for the upcoming movie).

Next trivia night in two weeks: June 21st.


(names edited by hilts)