The Filibusters/ J and B Benky Championship

2009 Trivia Championship

Written by Lazers

Names edited by Hilts

Salerno’s stadium would be the site of the 2009 Trivia Championship, and J&B, perhaps rusty from inactivity as of late, arrived with the intention of once again kicking that damn door in!

J&B represented by: Hilts,Peppys, Stix, Nitenurse, Mike Trivia, Mo, Dragon, Mull and Lazesr. That’s right- the team found itself in the championship tournament without the “J” or the “B”, both out of town (in Detroit and San Diego, respectively).

The competition: Brothers & Sisters, Funky Monkey/Auntie Joannie (a mixed squad), Brown Chicken Brown Cow (dressed in matching t-shirts), Porch, Ramrod, Nordiques (team changes its name regularly to play on themes), Team Cobblestone, and defending champion Chicago Sharks.

Several rule changes have been incorporated for the championship:

No “free points” squares
Less tricks and contests
Only 1 “Ladies Only- Drink Faster” contest
Only 2 throws per team (may not be different from prior years, but I had nowhere else to put it)
1 extra category for the second round
1 subtle change to the Final Question(to be announced later, and I’m not so sure the word “subtle” in accurate)

Salerno’s was running late in preparing the food, and Benkowski takes a group vote on whether we should wait or try to squeeze in the first quarter of trivia. J&B was still missing Hilts and Mike Trivia at this point, and our vote was to wait. Despite the presence of an odd number of teams, the vote somehow tallied even. Benkowski says that he would like to start the event, but in deference to teams awaiting key players, he opts to wait a little longer (wow- is this the first pro-J&B ruling in trivia history?).

hilts and Mike Trivia arrive well before the food, and Benkowski eventually elects to start the trivia.

First Half: Multiple Oscar Winners/Big Sports Achievements/Name That Tune

Won Best Actor- 1989 and 2007?
Won Best Actress- 1999 and 2004?
Won Best Supporting Actor 1995 and Best Actor 1999?
Won Best Supporting Actress 1982 and Best Actress 1994?
Won Best Supporting Actor 1974 and Best Actor 1980?
Scored 31 touchdowns in 2006?
Within 200- Pete Rose’s MLB record for games played?
Within 100- Robert Parish’s NBA record for games played?
The longest stretch during which the Montreal Canadiens did not win the Stanley Cup began in which year?

Estimated to be the end of the first quarter: Chicago Sharks 250 Brothers & Sisters 220 Cobblestone 180 Nordiques 170 J&B 140 Brown Chicken 140 Funky Monkey 130 Ramrod 60 Porch 60

Finally, the food arrives. Benkowski allows teams to eat in order of their score through one quarter (two teams at a time). When it was time for J&B, the Brown Chicken team stormed the tables quickly. Although some of J&B managed to fill their plates, most of the team was left with empty pizza platters and food dishes. J&B remains at the buffet table, refusing to give any ground, a group of Al Secord clones crowding the goalie. Benkowski: “J&B has the filibuster position.”

Eventually, more food arrived. With everyone’s hunger satisfied, the game resumed.

Best Actor 1975 and 1997?
Best Actress 1960 and 1966?
Best Supporting Actor 1986 and 1999?
Best Actor 1954 and 1972?
Best Actress 1971 and 1979?
NFL record for most passing yards (team- season) with 5,232- happened in the 2000s?Within 100- Hank Aaron’s MLB record for career RBI?

With 9787, who holds the NBA record for most career free throws made?

Despite the limited number of trick spaces on the board, J&B of course hits one for the 180 point “Name That Tune” question- “Roll the Ball” challenge versus the Chicago Sharks instead of naming one of the damn easy songs played by guest musician, Benkowski Jr. (Was it just me, or did just about every song sound the same only with different lyrics?).

Scores at the half: Brothers & Sisters 800 J&B 580 Chicago Sharks 510 Funky Monkey 490 Brown Chicken 440 Nordiques 370 Ramrod 360 Cobblestone 300 Porch 200

Second half: Frank Thomas/Prime Time Emmy Awards 89 & 09/Name That Tune/2009 Celebrity Death

Note: for the 2008 Trivia Championship, one of the categories was Prime Time Emmy Awards 1966-2006. J&B should note the Emmy trend going into the 2010 Championship.

2009- Best Comedy?
1989- Best Comedy?
2009- Best Drama?
1989- Best Drama?
2009- Best Actor- Drama?
1989- Best Actor- Drama?
Frank Thomas’ career homer total?
Frank Thomas’ career homer total ties him with what two Hall of Famers?
Number of minor league games Frank Thomas played?

Scores after the third quarter: Brothers & Sisters 1080 Chicago Sharks 850 J&B 730 Funky Monkey 650 Nordiques 630 Brown Chicken 560 Cobblestone 500 Ramrod 420 Porch 350

2009- Best Actress- Drama?
1989- Best Actress- Drama?
1989- Best Supporting Actor- Drama?
1989- Best Supporting Actress- Comedy?
Within 20 points, Frank Thomas’ career slugging percentage?
Within 15 points, Frank Thomas’ career on-base percentage?
Within 24, Frank Thomas’ career RBI total?
Within 15, Frank Thomas’ career Doubles total?

Again, despite the limited number of trick spaces on the board, J&B of course hits another one for the 120 point “Name That Tune” question- “Ladies Only- Biggest Tattoo” challenge versus the Chicago Sharks. Neither of J&B’s ladies has any tattoos, but fortunately the Sharks didn’t have any ladies on their team at all. But, we lost control of the board without points, plus one of the Sharks then continued to make Jade Dragon Tattoo Parlor references throughout the rest of the night (he may have been hitting on Mo).

Scores going into the Final Question: Brothers & Sisters 1800 Chicago Sharks 1490 Nordiques 1130 J&B 1010 Cobblestone 980 Funky Monkey 810 Brown Chicken 740 Ramrod 540 Porch 450

Solid job by Porch to be in last place through every quarter of play.

Here is the layout of the Final Question and its not-so-subtle twist:

Four categories from which to choose

Four sets of questions in each category (A, B, C or D)

Teams pick their category and set of questions, one at a time

No two teams can pick the same Category/Set- all teams get their own group of questions

Questions and answers will be live, one team at a time

2 of 3 correct wins wager; all 3 correct wins 3000 bonus points

The categories: Chicago Streets & Locations, Countries of the World, Celebrity Year of Birth, and Pro Golf

Wow- those kind of suck.

J&B Wager: in fourth place and well behind the leader, J&B isn’t in the best of spots. It is decided to bet 951, which would defeat the team right behind us (Cobblestone) by 1 if they double. J&B figures it will need the bonus to have a chance at victory.

J&B Category: big debate here, with part of the team wanting to select Countries and part wanted to select Celebrity Year of Birth. The selection ended up as Celebrity Year of Birth with the main rationale being that we should be able to put up at least an educated guess for just about any celebrity likely to be named. With Benkowski, the Countries category had a bigger chance of being a minutia crapshoot.

Part II of the summary will provide a look at the situation J&B faced when it was time to answer, but the three celebrities given were: Paul Newman, Jimmy Kimmel, and Pele.

Moho?


Part II

First Quarter answers:
Daniel Day Lewis
Hillary Swank
Kevin Spacey
Jessica Lange
Robert DeNiro
LaDanian Tomlinson
3562 games
1611 games
1993

Second Quarter answers:
Jack Nicholson
Elizabeth Taylor
Michael Caine
Marlon Brando
Jane Fonda
St Louis Rams
2297 RBI
Karl Malone

Third Quarter answers:
30 Rock
Cheers
Mad Men
LA Law
Bryan Cranston
Carroll O’Connor
521 homers
Ted Williams and Willie McCovey
180 games

Fourth Quarter answers:
Glenn Close
Dana Delaney
Larry Drake
Rhea Perlman (note: per Wikipedia, Bebe Neuwirth won in 1990-1991)
.555 slugging percentage
.419 on-base percentage
1704 RBI
495 doubles

Final Question:

Porch- 450 points- Chicago Locations- got all 3 wrong- wagered it all- thanks for playing.

Ramrod- 540 points- Countries- got 1 out of 3 correct- wagered it all- thanks for playing.

After seeing the questions asked for the above Countries category, J&B thinks it may have made the correct decision in picking Celebrity Year of Birth. Population of Tonga, anyone?

Brown Chicken Brown Cow- 740 points- Countries- got 1 out of 3 correct- wagered it all- thanks for playing.

Funky Monkey/Auntie Joannie- 810 points- Chicago Locations- got 1 out of 3 correct- wagered it all- thanks for playing.

Wow- even if J&B doesn’t win its wager, leaving 59 points may loom large.

Cobblestone- 980 points- Chicago Locations- gets all 3 correct- wagered it all plus bonus points- up to 4960.

Or maybe not.


J&B- 1010- Celebrity Year of Birth (within 2 years, as usual):

Paul Newman- J&B guess: 1926. Answer: 1925. Correct
Jimmy Kimmel- J&B guess: 1966. Answer: 1967. Correct
Pele- J&B guess: 1942. Answer: 1940. Correct

Wagered 951 plus bonus points- up to 4961. The crowd “ooohs” and “aaahs”. J&B has to deke three other teams winning a decent wager plus bonus.


Nordiques- 1130 points- Chicago Locations:

Intersection of Route 41 and Route 19- Nord guess: Lake Shore Drive and Irving Park Road- Correct
Between Fullerton/Touhy, Cumberland/Lake Michigan- east/west road that has stretch of 6 blocks with no buildings or businesses- Nord guess: didn’t quite catch it- was it Berteau? Regardless- Incorrect (answer: Devon).
Didn’t catch question- Correct.

Wagered 1130- double up to 2260.

Chicago Sharks- 1490 points- Celebrity Year of Birth (within 2 years):

Richard Burton- Shark guess: 1921. Answer: 1925. Incorrect.
Eva Mendes- Shark guess: 1973. Answer: 1974. Correct.
Tina Turner- Shark guess: 1939. Answer: 1939. Correct.


Wagered 800- up to 2290.

Only one set of guesses to go, and Stix wants Eva Mendes to sit on his lap. I don’t think that went over well with Nitenurse.


Brothers & Sisters- 1800 points- Celebrity Year of Birth:

Marlon Brando- B&S guess: 1924. Answer: 1924. Correct.
Nicolas Cage- B&S guess: 1955. Answer: 1964. Incorrect.
Bonnie Raitt- didn’t hear the guess or answer, but Incorrect.

Wagered 1190- down to 610.

J&B is the 2009 Trivia Champions of the World! (Sounds of champagne corks popping and champagne spraying and not acting like J&B has been there before…. although I guess we hadn’t, at least not in Benkowski trivia…)

Solid game by the team. That “middle of the pack” wager that resulted in a 1-point victory is another great moment in the annals of J&B history. Congratulations to J&B on winning its first Benkowski ring!