Baaaaaa ba ba ba baaaaa! BA! BA! BA! (funky sax solo)

If you couldn’t tell (and I know that you COULD tell), that’s what the theme song from Night Court looks like in post subject form.  The aesthetic pleasure rings true even in a different medium, don’t you think?  Night Court.  Man.  FORESHADOWING MUCH?!?!!!  Maybe.

Well, cutting to the chase, we didn’t win.  In fact, we really didn’t do very well.  We missed 6 questions (numbers 7, 9, 11, 13, 14 and 16) and only ended up with 100 points going into the bonus.  What really hurts was that 4 of the 6 misses were of the “we-have-2-options-so-for-a-

lark-let’s-go-with-the-wrong-answer” type.  And one of them we had a short list of possibilities and we chose…poorly then as well (since we had at least 3 choices it’s not quite as galling, but it still hurts).  HOWEVER, we did nail the bonus like a dimestore hooker during Fleet Week, whatever that means (I think it has something to do with an admiral’s hat, like Cap’n Crunch wears; I don’t know if it entails you and the Cap’n making it happen though). And it was a tricky one too!  So, despite our many failings,
we still ended up in the money, hitting 3rd place.  This of course makes our misses all the more painful because a couple of lucky breaks would have put us on top of the world (looking down on creation).  I guess it was not to be.  I’ll chalk it up to being rusty.

In case you’re wondering, our team name was Stately Wayne Manor (TM).  I thought it was appropriate, and, since we couldn’t seem to come up with another good Batman name, away we went.  (I realize now that “Batman’s a Scientist” might have worked, but it just doesn’t have the same ooomph, ya know?)  By the way, if you haven’t yet seen Batman than do it.  Fantastic.  Even if you have to fly to Miami to do it, do it.  Also, this was Dr. Smith’s last hurrah.  Everything appears to be set, and he’s leaving for the Commonwealth of Virginia directly.  He got to write some of the questions (swearing not to help his team with his questions), but they weren’t all his.  Apparently his questions were a bit too hard for the Red Bull and Jaegermeister crowd, so, after using Smith questions for questions 1 & 2, I think his contributions were tabled until the later rounds.  SEGUE!  Here be questions!

1.  Camden Yards is the home stadium of what MLB team?  (This one is actually a trick question, technically speaking.  The FIELD is called Camden Yards, but the park itself is known as Oriole Park.  At any rate, it’s the Orioles.   This was one of the questions that people thought was too hard, which was strange because for no apparent reason the Orioles-Blue Jays game from Baltimore on the Oriole channel was being aired on at least 2 TVs in the joint.  Anywho.)

2.  What series of books was penned under the pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon?  (The Hardy Boys!  We totally guessed on this one and got it right.  Callou callai!  Really there aren’t a lot of series of books from which to choose.)

3.  Who is Kurt Cobain’s widow?  (Courtney Love.  I wanted to make a tasteless joke about her being his murderer too, but I’m not really cool enough to pull it off.  So, instead, I’ll reference the Weird Al video for “Smells Like Nirvana.”  Remember that Weird Al video “Smells Like Nirvana?”  Totally cool enough to pull that yukfest off.)

4.  From what kingdom did Greece gain its independence in 1825?  (The Ottoman Empire.  Nailed it.  Those crazy Turkeys and their being stuffed with chicken and duck thing.  Cuh-razy.)

5.  Who are the 2 families fighting in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet?  (The Danes and the DiCaprios.  Hi-yo!  Actually the Capulets and Montagues.)

6.  Who starred in the following films: “The Goonies”, “Encino Man”, and “Memphis Belle”?  (Sean Astin.  This was also a guess.  I know “The Goonies” and I’m sure that I’ve seen “Encino Man,” but it was still pretty much just blind luck.  No love for Short Round/Data though?  WTF?! )

7.  In which amusement park will you find the 310 ft. tall roller coaster Millennium Force?  (And thus begins our descent into maddening failure.  The correct answer is Cedar Point, which Dad mentioned.  I half-heartedly suggested King’s Island in Cincinnati, but it was enough to sway Dad, so we put King’s Island.  Gwaaaargh!!)

8.  On this day in 1995, Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp discovered what?  (Hey!  Remember the 90s?  Crazy times man.  MTV and such.  Anyway, if you DO remember the 90s, than perhaps you remember the Hale-Bopp Comet, discovered by lunatic street preacher Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp, finest butcher in all of South Boston and the man pulling strings at Tammany Hall.  Seriously though, I think they were astrologists or something.)

9.  “Wham”, “Drowning Girl”, and “Look Mickey” were all paintings by what pop artist?  (Dad and I both assumed that pop artist=Andy Warhol, so we erroneously put Warhol.  Dad pondered whether there were any other pop artists of note, and I mentioned Roy Liechtenstein, but I dismissed him as too obscure.   I mean, really, Roy Liechtenstein? Apparently, yes, really Roy Liechtenstein.  Gwaaaargh!!)

10.  What movie has the Beach Boys, a frisbee-catching dog, and Sarah Jessica Parker?  (Right in my wheelhouse.  Flight of the Navigator.  There was a mad dash between me and Chris to get the answer in first, and I sadly lost.  Still, awesome stuff.  Compliance!)

11.What NFL legend is known as “The Blonde Bomber?”  (Terry Bradshaw.  We put Boomer Esiason.  We debated between the 2, but finally opted for the much Blonder Boomer.  In our defense, Bradshaw was bald, so he really should have been the Bald Bomber.  And Boomer still has that hair.  Sometimes I see Boomer Esiason and he’s put a blue streak in his hair and I’m all like “What’s with the hair?” and he’s all “Oh, I went to a Twisted Sister concert..” and I’m all “Never heard of HER.” and he’s all “It’s not a she, it’s a he.  Actually, it’s a them.”  Compliance! )

12.  Which amendment gives us the right to not have soldiers in our home?  (Very poorly worded question…anywhoo, the right answer is the 3rd Amendment, which is what we put!  Incidentally, I was walking back to the seat with Chris and he asked what we put.  Upon telling him that we put the 3rd Amendment, he flatly told me that we were wrong and that it was actually the 2nd Amendment.  Much like Howard Hesseman trying to keep David under lock and key, he was misguided.  Compliance!)

13.  The so-called “Football War” in 1969 took place between what 2 countries?  (The right answer: El Salvador and Honduras.  The hilarious answer: Budweiserstan and the BudLight Emirates.  Get it?  Like the Bud Bowl!  There were beers that were playing football!!  Anyway, we answered neither.  Not that it mattered but we put Brazil and the UK, assuming that the war actually took place on the soccer field.  But we honestly didn’t know this one, so no hard feelings.)

14.  Sentinel Falls, the 2nd highest waterfall in North America, is in what park?  (Tarnation!  It’s in Yosemite National Park, which we did not put.  We put Yellowstone, which I’m sure has at least one big famous kick-ass waterfall.  Maybe it was in Jellystone…like Booboo Falls or something.  Oh well.  Point is, this is another one we talked ourselves out of.  Gwaaargh!!)

15.  Who is the tiny green being from outer space who appeared in the later episodes of “The Flintstones”?  (The Great Gazoo!  I know, I know, you thought it was Ozmodiar, but he’s actually a little green alien that only Homer can see.  “Damn straight, Troy my man!”  Err…Compliance!)

16.  Who was the first woman to dunk a basketball in a professional game?  (There are really 2 WNBA players to trot out.  One of them, Lisa Leslie, was the first woman to dunk a basketball professionally, so we naturally stayed away from her.  The other, Cheryl Swoopes, is a well-rounded individual with an awesome last name for sports.  Isn’t that more important?  By the way, there was a fight in a WNBA game yesterday, and I saw at least 3 news outlets cover the story with the tagline “Womens Basket-Brawl.”  Fair, balanced, and priceless! )

BONUS!!  Category: TV Shows.  Right up our alley! 
Q:  6 characters are given.  Name the television shows in which they appeared.  The characters: Dr. Dick Solomon, Winnie Cooper, Carla Tortelli, Trixie Norton, Laura Winslow, and Dan Fielding.  (Dr. Dick Solomon is from “3rd Rock From The Sun”;  Winnie Cooper is from “The Wonder Years”;  Carla Tortelli is from “Cheers”;  Trixie Norton was from “The Honeymooners”;  Laura Winslow was from “Family Matters”; and Dan Fielding was from NIGHT COURT!!!!!!  Mel Torme!  I knew all of the except “The Honeymooners,” which Dad got.  Apparently that was the one that tripped everybody up, because only three teams got all of the questions right, us and the 2 teams that beat us.  But I think we earned our treat.  Compliance!)

So, there you have it.  Compliance!