On Philly Sports History, we’ve got some really interesting stuff posted.
Larry Mendte talks about his favorite Philly sports memories.
The Phillies played in the first game ever broadcast on the radio.
Black Landlord frontman Maxx recalls his favorite sports memory.
This week’s question is in honor of our new quiz: In what constellation will you find the North Star, or Polaris?
Last year, Travel and Leisure listed their Top 20 smartest cities in America. DC was #1. Austin was #5. Denver was #8. Nashville was #15. Dallas was #25. Philadelphia was #31. Well, the next time you run into someone who writes for Travel and Leisure magazine, do me a favor and invite them to take said mag and shove it directly up their ass. Because last night, instead of just taking random polls as to which cities are smartest, we took it to the test. And for the 3rd consecutive time, Philly came out on top. And while the first two quizzes were played using Philly rules, this time we did everything the way they do it in those other 6 cities. We gave them home field advantage, we asked their questions and played by their rules. And we still came out on top. So next time someone tells you about some meaningless poll where they rank us below all of these other cities, ask them what criteria they use. Because when it is determined objectively, Philly is smarter than any other city in America. Time and time again.
But yeah, Travel and Leisure, good job with those “polls’. They’re also a great way to determine intelligence, I’m sure. Maybe this year you can throw darts at city names to determine rankings! But while you’re drawing names out of a hat, we’ll be kicking ass.
The real beauty of winning this event? Denver now has to present us with the Cup, which we get to name. So start thinking about what we should name this Cup, as it will retain this name in perpetuity.
And if any other nerds in any other city are reading this and want a piece, give us a time and date. We’ll be there. With bells on our feet and shanks in our pockets.
Here’s the final scores. (And yes, Dallas is just as dumb as we thought they were. To be fair, though, judging by their scores I assume that half of the teams in Dallas didn’t get to play because they couldn’t figure out how the front door to the bar worked.)
Scores determined by averaging scores of the Top 5 finishers in each city. The same quiz was asked last night in 7 different cities, including Philadelphia.
As my old hometown paper used to say, “A fine time was had by all.” Well, except perhaps for Steak Em up, who, after beating the Specific Jawns by 34 points on Thursday night, lost to them by 2 on Sunday night at the JGTSI. The quiz, which was also played in 6 other cities in across the US, and had Philly taking on those cities, was done in Denver style. That way, if Philly won, there could be no excuses from those Mile High morons who have quickly become our fiercest nerd rivals in the US. Final scores from other cities are coming soon. The Denver style quiz (which is a little heavier on pop culture and a little lighter on sports than mine) seemed to work out just fine for the Jawns, who played almost every week of the JGTSI without getting a single win. But they brought their A-game on Sunday night, and when the dust settled, had a shocking 82-80 shutout of Steak Em Up. In addition to the questions, there was also a terrific performance from the Terrence Brown trio, and National Mechanics was a terrific venue for the event. I definitely want to do another event there soon. All of the scores are after the jump.
First Place: The Jams 107
2nd Place: Magnus ver Magnusson 102
3rd Place: Honey Badgers 85
First Place: Steak Em Up 119
2nd Place: Million Dollar Robot Baby 107
3rd Place: Exhausted Nihilists 92
First Place: Savage Ear 106
2nd Place: Mysterious Mr. Mapother 103
3rd Place: L. Ron Hubbard’s Diabetics 102
One of the questions last night at quizzo was, “The city of Pripyat is a ghost town because of something that happened in the 1980s. What was it?” Pretty easy question. The answer was Chernobyl. But while everyone knows the word “Chernobyl”, not everyone knows Pripyat. It was quite a bustling city, with 50,000 residents at the time of its evacuation (about the size of Harrisburg). There were schools, restaurants, cafes, playgrounds, a bus system, and even a ferris wheel (above). Of course, the accident didn’t just destroy the cities of Chernobyl (pop. 14,000) and Pripyat, but numerous nearby cities and towns. Ultimately about 350,000 people were evacuated (That would be the equivalent of evacuating Pittsburgh and Harrisburg.) And while it makes for an interesting trivia question, it is important to be reminded that all of those people had a story. Here is an excellent short film, called The Door, that reminds us of that. It is also worth noting that there is still a lot of controversy about what long-term effects the radiation had on first responders (known as liquidators), and how much money they should get from the government. Sound familiar?
Here are some incredible photos taken of Pripyat in 2006 by photog Tom Bossi. Well worth a look. Extremely creepy. Speaking of creepy, check out this video of Pripyat before, during, and after the disaster.
Gonna be an early NFC East matchup on Sunday, as in addition to Albuquerque and Denver, we’ll also be taking on teams in Dallas and DC. Here’s how it will work:
Our top 5 team scores will be measured against those 4 cities’ top 5 scores. Whoever averages the highest will be the winner, and that city will receive the Cup, which will be presented at either Geek Bowl or Quizzo Bowl (depending on who wins). If Philly wins, we get to name the cup whatever we want, and we can defend it anytime we want.
The event starts this Sunday at National Mechanics at 7 p.m. The Terrence Brown trio will be entertaining between rounds. We had them perform a couple of years ago at an event at Urban Saloon and they were terrific. If you want to earn an invite, and have not received one yet, you can do so by either finishing first or second in one of our quizzes this week. You’ve got four more chances to be a part of the excitement and help bring the Cup to Philadelphia. If anyone has any questions, please post them below.
Gordon Gekko’s famous “Greed is good” line in the movie Wall Street was based on an actual statement that this man made in a speech in 1986: “I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself.” A few months after giving the speech, the man in question was arrested for being too greedy. Who was he?
