St. Bedes Cup

written by Lazers
names edited bby Hilts
This past Saturday evening, J&B returned to St. Bede’s to defend its 2008 championship. As the competition filled the church basement, Hilts read aloud from one of the talisman: “I want that emotion—I need that emotion—and I – will have that emotion!”

The championship roster returned intact: Moho, Chemical Man, Peppys/Hammer, Dragon, Chem’s friend Trivia, Gf, Nite Nurse, Stix, Hilts and Lazers

The format remained the same: 12 categories of questions, with breaks after each group of 3. To the dismay of J&B, bonus points again were raffled off for correctly answering trivia questions posted by a nun. Also, it was fortunate that J&B was placed at a table near the front, as the sound system was terrible. At times, the St. Bede’s trivia made Benkowski look like a professional.

The night also featured the promise of a Bonus Trivia battle after the main event.

After winning last year with a point total in the mid-90s, J&B decides to put forth a 2009 estimate of 93 points, used for tiebreaker purposes. The rationale was that, should J&B manage a point total matching last year’s winning amount, the tiebreaker is less likely to be needed.

Category 1: Food and Drink

What are the top two selling spices in the world?
What was the original flavor of the Twinkie filling?
What was the first commercially produced breakfast cereal?

Category 2: Ad Slogans

“What’ll you have?”
“From the land of sky blue water”
“Lifts and separates”

Category 3: Presidential

Who was the youngest person to become President?
Who was President during the USA’s first centennial?
Which President served the shortest term in office?

Through the first three categories, J&B was announced as the leader with what was estimated to be 24 out of 30 correct.

In a bit of coincidence, prior to the start of trivia, it was wondered if the Hooters menu included with my order of 20 hot wings would prove to be a source for answers. Sure enough, one of the Ad Slogans asked was, “Delightfully tacky, yet refined.”

Category 4: Literature

Which Dr Seuss book is the 3rd largest selling book in the English language?
What are the first names of the Finch family in “To Kill A Mockingbird”?
According to “Animal Farm”, which are the smartest animals?

Category 5: Movies

Al Pacino won his only “Best Actor” Oscar for what film?
What was the name of the judge’s nephew in “Caddyshack”?
Johnny Depp appeared in what classic horror film?

Category 6: Where in the World Am I?

Okay, this category was visual, so no questions here.

After six categories, J&B was not ranked in the top three. Estimated around 21 of 30 correct answers in this past segment.

It was during the Movies category that J&B started to get testy, I think primarily from the question asking for the spelling of the current governor of California’s name.

Category 7: Sports

What quarterback once threw 70 passes in one game (NFL)?
What was the first team sport added to the Olympics (1900)?
Who was the first golfer to win more than $1 million in official earnings in a single year?

Category 8: Science

What is a haboob?
A snowflake has how many sides or points?
What color of the rainbow is on the inside of the arc (generally defined 7-color rainbow)?

Category 9: Name That Tune: The Day the Music Died

Okay, this category was audio, looking for the artist for each song played. The common thread was that each artist was deceased. With Stix in attendance, J&B had hoped the music category would offer a chance to gain some ground on the other teams. Unfortunately, this category proved to be pathetically easy. J&B missed only one, and I think the result would have been the same even if Stix were not there.

After nine categories, J&B was tied for third. It was during this intermission that J&B submitted its entry into the Bonus Trivia battle. For that battle, teams had to select from one of three general categories: Sports, Movies or 80s (those would have 30 questions each, broken down by three sub-categories). After seeing the sports questions from the last round (and fearing the “Fashion/Fads/Trends” sub-category for the 80s), J&B decides to select the Movie category and stick with it…unless the moderators announce that the Bonus Trivia Sports category would instead be “Sports People Actually Follow”.

Category 10: “Rod”

Who did Blagojevich run against for governor in 2002?
What is Blagojevich’s real first name?
Where did Blagojevich get his Law degree?

Category 11: Chicago Sports Champions

Who scored the first touchdown in the ’85 season Superbowl?
Which Chicago team has the most world championships?
Who had the winning shot in game 6 of the ’97 NBA Finals?

Category 12: Chronology

Okay, this category was visual, as each team was given a sheet with 15 events on it. Teams had to place the events in chronological order. Events ranged from the Louisiana Purchase Treaty to the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

The “Rod” category was the worst category ever, featuring an overall huge batch of “who really cares” questions. Perhaps it simply was sour grapes due to getting only 3 correct answers, but J&B hated that category.

The Chicago Champions category featured one question for which the moderators undoubtedly provided an incorrect answer. The question was something along the lines of “whom did the Cubs beat in their last World Series win?” If the question meant on a “by game” basis, the answer is the Detroit Tigers in Game 6 of the 1945 Series. If the question meant on a “by series” basis, the answer is the Detroit Tigers in the 1908 Series (Game 5 won the Series). Under no interpretation can the St. Bede’s provided answer of “White Sox” be correct. J&B assumes they meant “first” rather than “last” World Series game victory.

Since the Chronology category had 15 questions instead of 10, it is unknown if scores were prorated or based upon a total of 125 questions total. If prorated, that could help explain the difference between the J&B estimate for questions it answered correctly and the total given by the moderators.

The Bonus Trivia event included another fee and started soon after the main event ended. J&B guesses it will get 23 out of 30 correct as a tiebreaker prediction.

Category 1: Movie Taglines

This black and white movie was filmed almost entirely in one room. The tagline is “Life is in Their Hands – Death is on Their Minds!”
This film starred Johnny Depp as Private Gator Lerner. What film’s tagline is “The First Casualty of War is Innocence.”?
Ronald Reagan was considered for the role of Mr. Braddock in the 1967 film whose tagline is “This is Benjamin. He is worried about his future.”

Category 2: Actors and Roles

What was Olivia Newton John’s character’s first and last name in “Grease”?
How many James Bond movies did Roger Moore star in?
What actor’s birth name is Marion Morrison?

Category 3: The Oscars

Name 2 of the 3 musicals to win the Best Picture Oscar in the 1960s?
Who has hosted the Oscar Award ceremony for a record 16 times?
What actor has won the most Oscars: Katherine Hepburn, Tom Hanks or Meryl Streep?

Home players?

Part II



Main Event Answers:

Pepper and mustard

Banana

Shredded wheat

Pabst Blue Ribbon

Hamm’s

Playtex Cross-Your-Heart bra

T Roosevelt

U Grant

W Harrison

Green Eggs & Ham

Atticus, Jeremy (Jem) and Jean Louise (Scout)

Pigs

Scent of a Woman

Spaulding

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Drew Bledsoe

Soccer

Curtis Strange

Sandstorm

6 points

Violet

Roland Burris

Milorad

Pepperdine

Matt Suhey

Chicago Bears

Steve Kerr



Bonus Trivia Answers:

12 Angry Men

Platoon

The Graduate

Sandy Olsson

7 Bond movies

John Wayne

My Fair Lady, West Side Story, and Sound of Music

Bob Hope

Katherine Hepburn


J&B is announced as the 4th place team in the Main Event with 89 points. Since 4th place paid nothing, it is assumed the result for the defending champions was announced as a taunt. J&B estimated it had 92 correct. Prorating the final question could account for 2 of that difference, with the remaining difference probably being a science question asking how to pasteurize something- Pat thought our answer of “boil it” was too specific for what they were looking for as an answer. J&B does not argue the incorrect answer for the Cub question, as the difference to move up into a money slot was more than one.

J&B had 27 of 30 correct for the Bonus Trivia…falling 1 short of the winning total of 28 (I do not know which category the winning team selected). J&B blames the inclusion of St. Bede’s specific questions as the difference (for the Hollywood category, one question asked: “What St. Bede school ’77 graduate portrayed the character Henry in ‘There Will Be Blood’”? Answer: Kevin O’Connor).


When all was said and done, J&B coughed up $175 to finish as the bubble team in two different trivia battles. I don’t know if it will be a Sunday at Groucho’s or on a return visit to Benkowski trivia, but somewhere and sometime soon, there are some other trivia teams that are going to get an old-fashioned J&B ass-whoopin’!