Winners and New Champions: Shirt Pleat (DLCC)
Oh, we've had protests before, and costumes, and chants and merriment, but this year's Netroots Nation Chaiman's Pub Quiz featured two elements we've never seen before, and which I will strive to bring back (1) singing, and (2) live tiebreaker questions.
On the first, see, I'm a showtunes fan. My daughters are too. And there's nothing quite like a good singalong. When in Motown, one has to show some respect to the history, which led to the second round of questions here, for which Paul Hogarth was quite generous in leading the room in singing the answers, as well as a 7 song afterparty thereafter.
As for that tiebreaker: well, there are no two teams with a more storied tradition and rivalry in our tournament than the DK staff (Sea Org) and the Calitics crew, this year competing as Six Californias. When it turned out that they were tied for third place, well, we couldn't just have them share the box of goodies, so ...
David Dayen v. Arjun Jaikumar. The judges await the the battle.
[Actually, we had them go back-and-forth naming members of Michigan's Congressional delegation. Arjun Jaikumar outlasted David Dayen with the 11th of 14 members named.]
In addition, awards were presented in the following categories:
Best Cheer: Mic Check!
Best Costume: Eau de troit
Best Ruminant Signs: Moar Goatz
Best Team Name: It Is Our Sincerely Held Religious Belief That Pub Quiz Team Names Are An Abortifacient, Therefore We Object To Completing This Form
Best Burmese Flag: Shock & Awesome & The Pythons
Best Penmanship: Sea Org
Laura Packard and the #ReadyForBonin team share some second-place Orange Faygo
Anyway, with apologies for the severe delay, here's the questions from this year's quiz.
Round One: Ford
Variations on a theme.
12 questions, 1 pt each (more or less)
Q1
Henry Ford's only son, and he named a car after him.
Q2
This was the most popular car model for American police cruisers over the past 15 years.
Q3
LBJ once said this person was "so dumb he can't fart and chew gum at the same time."
Q4
What you can do after you finish climbing every mountain, according to the Mother Abbess.
Q5
During an August 2007 joint appearance on Meet the Press, Markos Moulitsas invited him to come to the next year’s Netroots Nation conference. He came.
Q6
According to hitchhiking slang, he's a hoopy frood who really knows where his towel is.
Q7
The Onion’s AV Club described this Andrew "Dice" Clay film as "a creepy valentine to suspended adolescence and boorish misogyny."
Q8
Following his father into public service, he was the Democratic nominee in Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District in 2002.
Q9
Former resident Mark Twain once wrote of it, "Of all the beautiful towns it has been my fortune to see this is the chief."
Q10
While serving as U.S. Senator from 1885 until his death in 1893, he and his wife also endowed a university to serve as a memorial to their only son.
Q11
Holds the record for most Oscar wins for Best Director.
Q12
Casey Affleck received his only Oscar nomination for his title role in this film. (2pts)
Round 2: Detroit Rock City
Fill in the blank in these music lyrics, all from Michigan-based artists, recorded in Motown, or referring to the Great Lakes State
12 questions, worth 2 points each.
Q1
There ain't no mountain high enough
Ain't no valley low enough
Ain't no ____
To keep me from getting to you
--Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
Q2
I can turn a gray sky blue.
I can make it rain, whenever I want it to.
Oh, I can build a castle from ___
I can make a ship sail on dry land.
--The Temptations, “Can’t Get Next To You”
Q3
“Kathy,” I said, as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
“Michigan seems like a dream to me now
It took me four days to _____
I’ve come to look for America”
--Simon and Garfunkel, “America”
Q4
I woke last night to the sound of thunder
How far off I sat and wondered
Started _______
Ain't it funny how the night moves
--Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, “Night Moves”
Q5
I'm about to give you all of my money
And all I'm askin' in return, honey
Is to give me my ____
When you get home
--Aretha Franklin, “Respect”
Q6
Fee, fee, fi, fi, fo-fo, fum
Look at Molly now, here she comes
Wearin' her wig hat and shades to match
She's got _______
--Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, “Devil With A Blue Dress”
Q7
Don't wanna hear about it
Every single one's got a story to tell
Everyone knows about it
From _______ to ______
--White Stripes, “Seven Nation Army”
Q8
For there's __, ___, ___
And the king of all Sir Duke
And with a voice like Ella's ringing out
There's no way the band can lose
--Stevie Wonder, “Sir Duke”
Q9
Just like ____ did
I try to keep my sadness hid
--Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, “Tears of a Clown”
Q10
Yeah, I probably got a couple of screws up in my head loose
But no worse than what's going on in your parents' bedrooms
Sometimes I wanna get on TV and just let loose,
But can't. But it's cool for _______
--Eminem, “The Real Slim Shady”
Q11
The Northern Lights and the Southern Comfort
And it don't even matter if the veins are punctured
All the crackheads, the critics, the cynics
And all my heroes in _____
--Kid Rock, “Bawitdaba”
Q12
There are five men name-checked in Madonna’s “Vogue”. Name them.
(2 pts for four, 3 pts for all five.)
Adam Conner believed that he would win.
Round 3:
WOLVERINES!!
Welcome to wherever you are. 3pts each.
Q1
Is a baby wolverine known as a kit, a cub, a pup, or a leveret?
Q2
This University of Michigan alum's screenplay credits (or co-credits) include The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and The Big Chill.
Q3
This one-time Great Alaska Shootout star is the leading scorer in University of Michigan basketball history.
Q4
With her partner Charlie White, this University of Michigan student won the gold medal in Ice Dancing at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Q5
Michigan Senator Carl Levin, when running for reelection to the Senate in 1984, defeated a University of Michigan alum who flew twice in space, once on the Skylab-3 mission and once as commander of the third space shuttle mission. Name him.
Q6
In 1997, this UM alum became the youngest-ever recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor; her memoir, Stand Up Straight and Sing! was published this year.
Q7
This fictional organization, funded by the Hanso Foundation, was created by a pair of UM doctoral students in 1970.
Q8
This UM alum has earned EGOT if you count the honorary Oscar he won in 2011, though his most famous film role may be one in which he is not seen.
Q9
Years after attending the UM School of Public Health, he went on to found the Tonton Macoute, which was decidedly not involved in promotion of public health.
Q10
Charlie Sheen, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, or C. Thomas Howell: which one does not appear in Red Dawn?
Q11
In how many released films has Hugh Jackman played Wolverine?
Q12
What is the first song Hugh Jackman sings in his Olivier Award-nominated performance as Curly in the musical Oklahoma?
Results are here, and, as always, this could not have happened without the judges: Katherine, Shayera, Jill, and Genevieve, thank you.