Considering that I used to be very good at the board game Trivial Pursuit back in the 1980s, and even appeared on JEOPARDY! in the 1990s, it may be surprising that I had never participated on a trivia team before.
Then Chuck Miller invited me to participate in something called Summer Bowl VIII , and I agreed. I had a real concern, though: I know pretty much know nothing that happened in pop culture in the past 20 years, so I thought I would not be able to contribute.
Here are the questions, but you have to go to Chuck’s page for the answers.
(2 pts) Who is older, Harrison Ford or Tommy Lee Jones?
I knew that Al Gore and Tommy Lee Jones were roommates in college, which helped my thinking. We got it.
(4 pts) What pop star appears in the 7th season premiere of Game of Thrones?
I wouldn’t have known this except it became an Internet sensation. Poor guy. We got this.
(6 pts) Who starred in the 1990’s action film Barb Wire?
I had no idea, but we got this.
(8 pts) Where will Super Bowl 52 be held?
I had no clue. I think about the next Super Bowl in about December. We missed this.
(10 pts) Passing away in 1962, Raymond Kaighn was the last survivor to play the first game of what sport?
This we figured out, mostly because there are aren’t that many sports that old for which we’d know a starting date.
Round 2:
(2 pts) Which amusement park is older, Disneyland or Walt Disney World?
E-Z, especially if you grew up with Disney’s Wonderful World of Color, though I saw it in black and white.
(4 pts) What type of insect is also known as a “pharaoh”?
No one in the house knew this.
(6 pts) For which team did O.J. Simpson play his last NFL game?
I was 95% sure it was the team that it was, maybe from my trip to Canton last year. We got it.
(8 pts – double bonus) Jared Leto is the lead singer of what rock band, and he started his acting career with what TV show?
I actually watched the show, but the band I had no idea, though a teammate did.
(10 pts) In what decade was the first time a President earned a six-figure salary?
We tried to suss this out. Surely it was by the 1960s, because I grew up knowing the President made $100,000, which BTW is now $400,000. We wisely passed.
We’re in 7th place out of 25 teams. Round 3:
(2 pts) After “Go”, “the Jail” and “Free Parking,” what is the other corner called in a game of Monopoly?
E-Z
(4 pts) Dr. Seuss was born in what state?
I’ve been to places honoring Ted Geisel. We all knew this.
(6 pts) What rapper / actor appeared in the John Carpenter film “Ghosts of Mars”?
No idea, and we muffed this.
(8 pts – quadruple bonus) Name the last four baseball players to earn the Triple Crown.
This was maddening. Chuck knew three of them straight off, and we agreed that the fourth one was much more recent. Chuck and I knew his team and his ethnicity but could NOT come up with his name. This is the kind of maddening thing I hated in this game.
(10 pts) The song “Rock You Like a Hurricane” was recorded by a band who originated in what country?
I had no clue, but teammates did.
Still in 7th place, 28 points behind the leaders.
Final round. Ready?
(4 pts) – Actress / model Emily Ratajkowski first appeared in a 2013 music video for what song?
Nope. But a radio personality mentioned this recently, and that helped us get it.
(6 pts) – What 60’s rock band had an early song called “Boris the Spider”?
We all knew this.
(8 pts – triple bonus) Of the current Justices of the Supreme Court, name the three with the most years of service on the Court.
We worked on this for almost the whole allotted time. Someone suggested David Souter, but I knew that he had retired because I had heard him speak subsequent to that. We GOT it.
(10 pts – John Ratzenberger appeared in the Pixar film “A Bug’s Life” as what character?
I saw the move, but it blurs in the memory with Antz We passed.
“Still in 7th place. 102 points. There’s a two-way tie for the lead… at 130.
“The final question involves American highways. Bet everything.
“Beginning at the top of New York State, and going through Syracuse, Interstate 81 ends in what Southern state?”
Two of us made an educated guess, which was correct, but left us in second place, out of the $500 pot. If I could only have remembered that 4th Triple Crown winner…
Still, it was kind of fun.