Gotta work on questions for tonight, so Week in Review will be posted manana. If you haven’t done so already, check out the write up on Barry Bonds or on Richard Nixon, and add your own two cents on either.
Month: August 2007
Sad News
I have extremely sad news to pass along. Rob Schiller, the captain of the renowned Champs team (on the right, holding the money), passed away yesterday. He was best known in the quizzo community for hosting quizzo at Rembrandt’s, and for being one of the biggest (and funniest) smack talkers on the local quizzo circuit. He was a consumate jokester, a man of my own heart, always trying to bring the spirit of the wrestling world into quizzo. (He also had the smarts to back it up, as his team is well known for being one of the best in the city.) He demanded that his team enter to theme music before the past two Quizzo Bowls, and revelled in the cacophony of boos that rained down upon he and the rest of his teammates as he held his hands to the sky and then snagged french fries off unsuspecting people’s plates. About the stolen food, he explained to the City Paper in a write up about the team last year, “We were just trying to save some money.” As heartbroken as I am to hear of his passing, I take a small amount of solace in the fact that every memory I have of Rob brings a smile to my face. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and his many friends.
She Blinded Me With Science Quizzo Tonight!
When: Tonight, 7 p.m.
Where: Franklin Institute
What: Science Quizzo, with a dash of Egyptology
Who: You and me.
How: You show up, I ask questions, they show crazy stuff on the ceiling, we have fun.
This team won the Constitution Center Quizzo
Yeah, I’m kind of a numbskull, so I threw their paper away before I did my write up on the Constitution Center quizzo from last friday and forgot their team name. I do remember that they kicked some A, finishing with an impressive 110. Anyways, there is one more Constition Center quizzo, coming next Friday night. Hope to see you there!
Let’s Learn!
I think it would kinda kool to learn a bit more about the questions I ask, so on Fridays I wanna start talking a bit more about them.
1. What animal is known as the sea cow
-The manatee. Have you been to hornymanatee.com?
2. What does CHUD stand for?
–Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller.DId you realize that both John Goodman and Daniel Stern were in this film?
3. In what year did the last cigarette commercial air?
a) 1966 b) 1970 c) 1974 d) 1978
-The answer is B. Here is an actual cigarette commercial from the 1960s. Amazing.
4. In 1893, the Supreme COurt decided that this was a vegetable.
-Tomato. Yep, the argument made it all the way to the Supreme Court in Nix vs. Hedden, because there were tariffs against veggies but not fruits. The Court technically got it wrong.
5. This dolphin, named after the Asian river it inhabits, is now though to be extinct.
Yangtze. It is the first vertebrate to be driven to extinction by man in 50 years. At least that’s what the activist scientists are telling us. Exxon’s PR team says that the Yangtze River Dolphins have never been more plentiful, and Darth Ern believes them.
6. Who did Barry Bonds hit #756 off of?
Mike Bacsik, who handled it extremely well.
7. Whose head was Caesar offered in a basket when he arrived in Egypt in 48 BC?
Pompey’s, which began the chain of events that put Cleopatra in power
Around the Horn, Brought to you by Lucia and my Mom
-Looks like my niece is already working on her Elvis snear.
-City Paper says that the Locust Rendezvous has the best fries in the city.
–What song should Brett Myers enter his games to? I think “Muskrat Love” by Captain and Tennille would be epic. Or “Sailing” by Christopher Cross.
–Excuse me, sir, do you know that there is a monkey on your head?
-Happy Birthday Kurtis Blow! The video to the song Basketball is the Citizen Kane of music videos. Or at least the Ishtar of music videos. The dunk by the white guy with the moustache and mullet is nothing short of remarkable.
The Metro Column
Here’s the latest. I think it’s kinda funny.
P.S. It reads a little choppy on the Metro site, so I am also posting it below.
Science Quizzo at the Franklin!
This friday night at 7 p.m., I’ll be hosting another science quizzo at the Franklin Institute in the planetarium. If you haven’t been to one of these yet, I highly encourage it. Ask anyone whose been to one, they are a blast. Quizzo, trippy stuff up on the ceiling, booze, all the ingredients for a weird night, and weird nights are always the best. (Well, there was that one weird night that got a little too weird, but I was in college and I thought they were just normal brownies.) Anyways, don’t be too intimidated if your not that great at science…see, neither am I. In fact, I suck at science. I consistently got Cs and Ds in science throughout high school, and I only passed Chemistry because the teacher didn’t want to have me in his class again. (I know that’s why you passed me, Mr. Mysko. I know.) The only thing I hate worse than science are science nerds. So rest assured, I will be using the term “science” as loosely as possible, while still staying honest. That being said, science nerds, there will still be enough science questions to keep you people as happy as it is possible for a science nerd to truly be. And study up on your Egypt knowledge, as well. The event is part of the Golden Ticket Promotion, and members of the winning team will all get free passes to the King Tut exhibit. Sweet! Oh, and it’s free to play. See ya there!!!
The New Home Run King
It was, all in all, a fairly majestic moment, regardless of how you feel about Barry Bonds. He got The Natural treatment, fireworks exploding as he circled the bases. But for most baseball fans outside of San Francisco, it was a bittersweet moment at best, a sad recognition that a classy warrior like Hank Aaron was being passed by an arrogant ass who had used steroids to improve his power.
But baseball has always been a game filled with cheaters. In fact, it is part of what we celebrate about the game. Pitchers have used Vaseline on the tips of their caps since they invented Vaseline, and used a nail files for reasons that had nothing to do with manicuring. Phillies pitcher Kevin Gross was suspended for 10 games in 1987 for having sandpaper in his glove. In 1961, Norm Cash won the AL batting championship with a .361 batting average, way above his career average. After he retired, he admitted that he had corked his bat that year. In the late 1960s, the Chicago White Sox kept their baseballs in a humidor for weeks, so that they would be heavy and help their pitchers. If a grounds crews doesn’t soak the area around first base when a renowned base stealer has come to town, it’s not doing it’s job, and in the 1950s the Phillies grounds crew added a little incline to the third base line, so Rickie Ashburn’s numerous bunts would all stay fair. Hell, last year, Kenny Rogers was shown to have stick ’em on his pitching hand when he shut down the Yankees in the ALDS.
Quick notes
Be back with some thoughts on Bonds this afternoon, but in the meantime, I’m still working on my Metro piece (thanks for you help last night). Here’s a couple of quick things worth checking out;
-The Democrats prove that they’re spineless when dealing with Alberto.
-Faith on Tap, a group that meets regularly to discuss religion, has their weekly happy hour every Thursday…at the Devil’s Alley. Brilliant.
–Newsweek challenges the Darth Erns of the world on global warming
-Happy birthday JC Chasez! Don’t listen to the haters, JC, just keep doing how you do.