Around the Horn, brought to you by King Cobra Malt Liquor

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  • Eagles set on trading for either Roy Williams or Chad Johnson, according to the source that broke the Asante Samuel deal.
  • Steve O. is going to be on WIP Thursday morning at around 9 a.m. talking about, get ready for this, the results of tonight’s American Idol. I’m not kidding. In other news, I have just lost all respect for Steve O.
  • Obama lost Ohio and Texas, and we here at JGT headquarters are pretty dejected today. In fact, there is only one thing that has cheered us up all day: The Obama mariachi song! This is real, not a spoof.
  • Happy birthday wishes to Canaan Banana, Zimbabwe’s first president. He is best known for having the name Canaan Banana.

Sixers, Tired of Echoes and Cobwebs, Practially Giving Tickets Away

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The Sixers have been playing in front of crowds similar in size to the ones who went to see the Pittsburgh Pythons before they hired astrologist Stockard Channing and changed their name to the Pisces and surrounded Moses Guthrie (played by Dr. J) with offbeat but talented role players. But I was surprised to open up my email from Travelzoo today and see that Sixers tix were $10. And the funny thing is, this is the most exciting team they’ve had since 2001. A lot of good young players with a lot of upside, a likable coach, and a fast breaking offense.

Outrage! JGT Gets Stabbed in the Back by Philly Weekly

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A few months ago, the Weekly approached me and asked me to tell them my 10 favorite bars for their upcoming “Beer Issue”. I happily obliged (free of charge, mind you), then today I opened it up to see which bars made the cut. I’m reading through when I came to this little gem: Fergie’s Pub. Philly’s Best quizzo (sorry Johnny Goodtimes) on Tuesday and Thursday nights… Now, this is no Philly Style Mag/Kildare’s situation. I have nothing but respect for Pat Hines, the Godfather of Philly quizzo, and nothing but love for Fergie’s, which is truly a great bar. And I’m sure that “Who hosts a better quiz, Pat or JGT?” is a perfectly legitimate argument. But not here. Not when I was a contributer to the freaking report. Rude! They also had Art and Tommy Up help with this report, and nowhere did I see that they were Philly’s 2nd best food blogger or 2nd best party promoter. Anyways, Philly Weekly, if you wanna make it up to me, I’ll let you know how. Just contact me.

BONUS THREAT! D-Mac, if you want to see Season 2 of Gladiators amongst friends without being forced to partake in a little something I like to call the “Hit and Run”, you had better make sure this gets cleared up.

Quizzo Bowl IV…It’s On!

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UPDATED:
BUY TICKETS HERE. First of all, what we already knew: Quizzo Bowl IV will be held on Saturday, March 29th at the Legendary Blue Horizon on 1314 North Broad Street at 8 p.m. But now’s the time to give you guys the scoop on what is going to be one of the most amazing shows in Philadelphia in 2008.

elvis_sing.jpg Headlining the show will be the biggest legend to ever hail from Johnny’s hometown of Nassawadox, VA: Black Elvis (aka Clearance Giddens). Black Elvis has been entertaining folks in Eastern Virginia for over 15 years, and reached the pinnacle of his fame in 1992 with an appearance on the Arsenio Hall Show and a role in the movie Honeymoon in Vegas. He continued to make occasional appearances on the Shore afterwards, but has only recently decided to begin a full fledged comeback, similar to the one that white Elvis undertook in 1968. Clearance begins his comeback at Quizzo Bowl IV.

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Doing a show in a building that had the word “legendary” in the title meant that my halftime act could only be one man: the Legendary WID. Wid used to sell out shows regularly at the historic Bottom Line in New York in the 1980s and has appeared on television countless times, from the old days on Make Me Laugh to a recent appearance on Fox’s 30 Seconds to Fame. Moreover, Wid is viewed as a legend by essentially every young comedian in the Philadelphia area, because not only is his brand of comedy sheer genius, but he goes out of his way to encourage and help new comedians in the local area. To see a bit of one of the Wid’s performances, click here. Opening for the WID will be longtime Johnny Goodtimes contributer and the 3rd place finisher in Philly’s funniest competition last year, Chip Chantry.
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And who is helping to make this event possible and keep ticket prices at a minimum? Zipcar has agreed to help sponsor the Quizzo Bowl, as have Sly Fox and Foobooz. Zipcar is a company that allows people to rent a car for a few hours at a time, and everything can be done online. When you sign up, you get a Zipcard. Once you have a Zipcard, you just make a reservation online, walk up to the car, unlock it with your Zipcard, and drive off. Gas and insurance are included. Pretty kool. The Locust Rendezvous, perhaps the most affordable bar in Center City, located at Broad and Locust, is also helping keep ticket prices to a minimum. As most of you know, Foobooz is Philadelphia’s premiere food and beverage website, run by one Mr. Trivia Art. The website has quickly established itself as a favorite of local gourmets and gourmands alike, and has received high praise from the City Paper, Philly Mag, and Philly Style Mag. Our third sponsor is Sly Fox Beer, who are going to provide the booze! Sly Fox opened their brewery and restaurant in Phoenixville in 1995, and have since expanded to Royersford. The brewery’s beers have medalled twice at the Great American Beer Festival and Sly Fox was named 3rd best brewpub in America on beeradvocate.com in 2003 and was named Best Brewery in Philadelphia by Philly Mag in 2004. The Beauty Shop Cafe, located on the corner of 20th and Fitzwater, is a great little coffee shop with great coffee, great tea (tea’s my new thing, trying to slow down on the coffee), and great snacks. The Philadelphia Pretzel Factory is cutting me a great deal on soft pretzels for snacks.

To purchase tickets, you can either click here or buy them from me at the various quizzos I perform at during the week.

For more info about Quizzo Bowl IV, click here. If you still have any questions, please contact me.

Tonight

Lots going on tonight. Quizzo at O’Neals at 8 p.m., and the Lovely Ginger is gonna swing by to get people excited about Beer Week. If you plan on playing at the Bards at 10 p.m., why not check out a free comedy show beforehand? Some of Philly’s best comedians, including Chip Chantry and Pat House, will be trying to earn a spot in the huge comedy festival that is going on in Montreal this summer. Comedy show starts at 8 p.m. at Helium (20th and Sansom), and reservations are recommended. Also quizzo going down at Triumph tonight at 9 p.m. tonight. Hope to see you tonight!

When Quizzos Attack

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Apparently, there was a bit of a rumble at the quizzo at Dirty Frank’s last week. According to Quizmaster Chris’s website: The game was delayed repeatedly by a drunken, violent Frank’s employee who no one seemed completely interested in controlling or removing. Apparently hitting people, loudly challenging the entire bar to a fight and throwing furniture isn’t enough to get a person fired let alone flagged, even barred within the same evening. Koob of the Kingdom was there, so I asked him for some more details, and he said: Some guy got hammered and him and his buddy started fake wrestling and it got kind of out of hand and it seemed like it was turning into an actual fight and then there was some girl in the middle of it crying and stuff. I didn’t really pay attention. I think he slapped the bouncer in the face at one point and eventually he left.

Last night I played at Tangier and then talked to Irish John afterwards. He told me that one time, some guy started shouting out answers, so he went over to him and: “I didn’t hit him hard enough to knock him down, but I hit him hard enough to let him know that he needed to quit shouting out the ******* answers.” One time he caught a guy in the bathroom with an encyclopedia. A few weeks later, this same guy left midway through a round after the question, “What is in a B-52?” was asked. He reappeared a few minutes later with the correct answer. Turns out, he had walked to the bar next door, asked the bartender what was in a B-52, and then returned. John gave him a lifetime ban. Of course, I almost got into a fight at Dark Horse quizzo once. But without question, my favorite quizzo attack was this one.

Big Things Poppin’

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  • First of all, major Quizzo Bowl announcements coming tomorrow on the site, as I will be filling you in on the band, sponsors, and the halftime act. Gonna try to send out my press release manana as well. It’s about time to get this party started.
  • Over at Foobooz, Trivia Art is trying to find a new word for that most unappetizing term, gastropub. Winner of best new term wins a $25 gift certificate to the cantina.
  • Tomorrow night, why not have a Tuesday night on the town? Start at 8 p.m. at Helium, where Chip Chantry is one of several local comedians trying out for a major Comedy Festival in Montreal this summer. The show is FREE, just make reservations first. Should wrap up at around 10 p.m., just in time to head over to the Bards for some quizzo.