1. According to legend, Led Zeppelin got their name (and their blimp logo) after what fellow rock ‘n’ roll legend said their band would sink “like a lead balloon”?

 Answer: >Keith Moon of The Who<

 2. Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, and what other band are widely considered to be the original “big four” of the Seattle grunge movement?

 Answer: >Alice in Chains<

 3. What was the first album to be manufactured on CD in the U.S.? 

 Answer: >Born in the U.S.A.<

Explanations:

 1. Instead of turning in to a sports trivia blog, now it’s turning in to an English rock band trivia blog.  I don’t know what gives Keith Moon the right to criticize other bands.  He was the freakin drummer.  It would be one thing if Roger Daltrey came out against your sound, but unless his criticism was that he didn’t like their drumming, I don’t think I would pay much attention to him.  I’m not really sure if the quoted part is true.  Lead Zepplin was a term John Entwistle, bassist for the Who, used to describe a bad gig.  After appearing as the Yardbirds and then the New Yardbirds and then the artist formerly known as the New Yardbirds, the band dropped the ‘a’ in “lead” so Americans wouldn’t pronounce it “leed,” as in the first zeppelin in the oh-so-effective zeppelin armada.  It can only be thwarted by surface to air ANYTHING.  By the way, thanks for the name, band-who-can-barely-come-up-with-a-name.  The Who was once The Confederates, then The Detours, followed by the High Numbers, and I don’t know, maybe they changed their name again when no one was looking.

 2. Did I say these were the main four?  Because I meant the only four.  Sure I suppose if you are someone really in to showing off that you know more about music than everyone else, or someone just really into Grunge, you could probably rattle off a couple dozen more band names, but no one likes those someones.  Even outside Seattle, the Grunge movement can claim Stone Temple Pilots and…etc.  By the way, did anyone see that shitty Jim Carrey movie 23?  What was up with that?  One of the coincidences was that Kurt Cobain’s birth year (1967) and death year (1994) both add up to 23 (1+9+6+7=1+9+9+4=23).  This is the lamest shit ever.  By that logic, wouldn’t anyone born in 1968 who died in 1995 make the number 24 a miraculous number to drive an otherwise sane person to the brink of making a terrible movie.  Maybe in the sequel we’ll find out that if you add up all the dates in Eddie Vedder’s birthday, you get shut-the-fuck-up-Jim-Carrey.

 3. I’m calling bullshit on my own question.  The first album to be released on CD was Billy Joel’s 52nd Street, whatever the hell that is.  The first artist to sell a million albums on CD was the Dire Straights.  The first artist to convert all of his albums to CD was David Bowie.  And the best selling CD of all time was the Beatles 1.  Needless to say, none of these are the right answer I was looking for, because those first ones weren’t manufactured in the U.S.  Someone, somewhere thought it would be hyper-appropriate if the first album CD that was “born in the U.S.A.” was fittingly titled.  Lame.

1. Which of the Beatles was the first to have a solo Number 1 hit?

Answer: >George Harrison<

2. Before the Beatles came along, what was the name of the Liverpool band formed by John Lennon in 1957?

Answer: >The Quarrymen<

3. Quick, name 7 Beatles albums. Do it!

Answer: >A Hard Day’s Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, Magical Mystery Tour, Abbey Road, Let it Be<

Explanations:

1. George Harrison, aka “the forgotten Beatle,” somehow knew when to hop off the Beatlesmania bandwagon. Or at the very least he was tired of being overshadowed by his fellow band members. His album was the soundtrack for a movie entitled Wonderwall, which I am told is no relation to the angsty ballad by the similarly British group, Oasis. A bizarre turn of events, as Harrison is considered by Beatles experts, or at least me, to have the least successful solo career. John Lennon had his whole thing with the Plastic Ono Band; Paul McCartney went on to release an album entitled McCartney, and the equally creatively titled McCartney II. And Ringo Starr went on to a lot of VH1 specials. Just kidding, he had an album called Ringo, and then he was on Shining Time Station!

2. It was still the Quarrymen when Stuart Sutcliffe suggested they change their name to the Beatles as an homage to Buddy Holly and Crickets, as their first recorded song, “That’ll Be the Day,” was a Buddy Holly original. It was then they hired drummer Pete Best, only to realize he was not, as his name indicated, the “best,” and 2 years later replaced him with Ringo Starr. “Love Me Do” was the Beatles first song to be a hit on the UK charts and the first to reach number 1 on the U.S. charts.

3. There are several not listed here, including Please Please Me, and all their anthologies. The Abbey Road cover art, perhaps one of the most famous album covers in music history, shows from left to right, George, Paul, Ringo, and John leading the line or opposite order if you want to know first to last. This could be a trivia question by itself, a sort of British Mount Rushmore recall question. For some reason, Paul is barefoot, damn hippie. “Yesterday” is considered to be the most covered song ever written. Their manager, Brian Epstein, managed several other musical acts. It must have been a little frustrating for those other groups. “Any day now, Epstein keeps telling us, we’ll make it big like his other client, the Beatles.” And it happened just like Epstein said, which is why everyone knows the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas, The Fourmost, and Cilla Black. Just kidding, Epstein died at 32 of a drug overdose, but no doubt if he had just had a little more time…

1. What was the name of the piece of land Crocodile Dundee owns in the Outback?

Answer: >Billongamick<

2. Who is the only artist since Elvis Presley to reach the benchmark of 50 Gold albums?

Answer: >Barbra Streisand<

3. In 1994, who was the first celebrity to be featured in the “Got Milk?” milk mustache ad campaign?

Answer: >Naomi Campbell<

Explanations:

1. God, I hate Duffy. I attend a team trivia pub quiz every few weeks at a bar in Austin, and the host asks a lot of obscure questions about TV and films from the 80s. I was only alive for 6 years of that decade, so I don’t have a very vivid memory of detailed movie lines and TV show theme songs from the era of crimped hair, Dr. Martens, and dresses with shoulder pads. Unfortunately, I haven’t back tracked to fill myself in on the gaps. This would include questions from the classic fish-out-of-water story “Crocodile” Dundee, released in 1986 with sequels released in 1988 and 2001. Dundee’s first name is Michael, but he goes by Mick, and the land he owns was given the name Billongamick, because it “belongs to Mick.” Our fateful, borderline-alcoholic trivia host asked the question as “Where was Crocodile Dundee born?” And no one knows the answer to that, not even the screenplay writers, because that isn’t ever given in any of the movies. He should have asked a question similar to the question I asked above. I’ll forgive him this time, because I don’t fare much better with questions from modern entertainment, such as the name of the monster from South Park with a Patrick Duffy leg (Scuzzlebutt) and the name of the funeral home from Six Feet Under (Fisher & Sons).

2. On a recent cruise, I participated in a team trivia with my family, and this very question was asked, which made me realize that I don’t know what a Gold album even is. A Gold album has sold 500,000 units, and a Platinum album has sold 1,000,000 units (Diamond Platinum is 10,000,000). The only hint the trivia host (the oaf who somehow earned the title “Cruise Director”) gave us was that it is a female solo artist. At first I thought Madonna, but then thought that was too obvious, so we ended up putting Cher (still wrong). The weird part about this question is that even the best selling artist of all time, The Beatles, doesn’t have as many Gold records as Barbra Streisand. She has simply released a shit ton of albums.

3. Originally started by the California Milk Processor Board (apparently that’s thing) with the infamous ad where peanut butter sticks to the roof of a colonial historian’s mouth, causing him to miss out on a $10,000 trivia question that is quite literally on the tip of his tongue, the slogan was licensed by the National Milk Processor Board (apparently that’s also a thing), and combined with the “Where’s your moustache?” campaign in 1995. From Michael Vick to Vanna White – the beginnings of an interesting episode of Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher – hundreds of celebrities have followed Campbell’s example, because for some reason, appearing in an ad to support milk consumption seems less like selling out than appearing in an ad for the Verizon Network (I’m looking at you, Luke Wilson). In 2006, the campaign was translated into Spanish, and read “Toma Leche?” or “Do you take and drink milk?” I guess those corny “Milk: it does a body good,” ads where the scrawny boy drinks milk and over time becomes a sexy man didn’t work very well when people realized milk doesn’t actually make you more attractive or improve your game.

1. Archie Griffin was the first gentleman to win what sports award in two consecutive years?

Answer: >Heisman Trophy<

2. Who was the quarterback for the New York Jets during Super Bowl III, who guaranteed victory over the Baltimore Colts?

Answer: >Joe Namath<

3. What is the longest field goal ever kicked in NFL history?

Answer: >63 yards<

Explanations:

1. I thought this would be a fun multiple choice question, and you could use different things like MVP, Coach of the Year, etc. But, then I decided not to do that. For a while I got Archie Griffin confused with Archie Manning, the latter being the father Peyton and Eli Manning, and also Caucasian as opposed to Black. Good old Archie (the Black one) from Ohio State won the award in ’74 and ’75, the only person to have ever won it twice, making him by default the first. These two awards really help Ohio State in their count of 7 total Heisman winners, tied with Notre Dame and USC. Texas only has two, Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams. Tim Tebow was the first and only sophomore to win the award. I have to be clear that all of these stats are current as of this blogs posting date, but subject to change.

2. This blog is quickly turning into a sports blog and losing its humorous edge. You know, that sharp, cutting wit that characterized my early entries. Don’t give me that look. My entries were both sharp and witty. I would hardly call this a blowout. The final score was 16-7. Is it really guaranteeing a victory if you win by less than 10 points? This was back in the days when the AFL and NFL were newly merged, but for some reason they weren’t calling them the ACF and NCF yet. Probably because Super Bowl III was played in 1969, and the merger didn’t take place until 1970, but that’s too many dates to remember, so it’s easier just to assume the first Super Bowl happened at the same time as the merger. At the time of this post, the Steelers win for the most Super Bowl wins with 6. The Cowboys win for the most Super Bowl apperances with 8! And Dave’s precious San Francisco 49ers, all they did was win 5 Super Bowls, the same number the Cowboys won. Their only distinction is winning every Super Bowl they’ve played in, a distinction held by only 3 other times, but these teams have only won one each.

3. The old 63 yarder was performed by Tom Dempsey and Jason Elam, although Dempsey’s performance is less impressive, since it was in 1970 when kickers were allowed to use a tee. Elam’s was in 1998. Mike Vanderjagt is considered to be one of the better kickers of the NFL. I say “better,” because kickers aren’t distinct enough to have a “best.” VJ, as his friends call him, holds the record for most consecutive field goals and highest percentage (a career of over 100; there were a few kickers who came in, went 17 for 17, then got injured and never played again, but that’s not too impressive). Second for most consecutive FGs is Gary Anderson. I love this story. This guy played for the Minnesota Vikings and had a perfect regular season, making all 35 attempted field goals and all 59 extra points. When the Vikings made it to the NFC Championship Game, they were up 27-20 with 2:07 left in the 4th quarter and went for a field goal to make it a 2-score game. Anderson missed, and their opponent, the Atlanta Falcons, drove down the field to score the game tying touchdown, going on to win it in overtime. So sad. Also, the most field goals in a game is 8 by Rob Bironas.

1. In what part of the former Soviet Union did the Chernobyl nuclear disaster occur?

Answer: >Ukraine<

2. In 1991, the Russian city of Leningrad changed its name back to what?

Answer: >Saint Petersburg<

3. Which Roman Emperor made Sunday a religious holiday??

Answer: >Constantine<

Explanations:

1. For a while there, it was “The Ukraine.” Then, they dropped the “The” because they realized how lame it was. The break up of the USSR was a boon to all (thank you Gorbachev). Russia was allowed to remain as the largest country by area, and we got a lot of spin off countries, including Ukraine. A lot of people think most of the “stan” countries are in the Middle East, like Pakistan and Afghanistan, but the USSR churned out a bunch of –stans, like Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and the one everyone through was made up just for the Borat movie but is actually real, Kazakhstan. Now with 10% more silent H’s. Then we have Latvia, where all the Russian hotties live. Georgia, which the U.S. had first. Lithuania, which might as well be in Western Europe, since it does all the Europe stuff. You know, E.U., NATO, immigrating to America, etc. And then there a few others that bring the total to 15. Not bad. But what if you divided your land into 50 smaller regions, and said they would need to follow all the laws of the nation while being able to create laws of their own, too. Now, that’s democracy at work. Oh wait, did I say democracy? I meant bureaucracy. Oh, and the Chernobyl thing was in 1986.

2. When I visited the Wikipedia site, it said “”Leningrad” redirects here.” That’s cute. If stealing “Georgia” wasn’t enough, they decided to steal the name of one of the worst cities in Florida, too. When they rename Armenia to Nashville, I may get suspicious. St. Pete’s (as the locals refer to it) was the capital city of the Russian Empire from 1713-1918 (lot of teens) with the exception of 4 years somewhere in there when the city and country were “on a break.” After the Russian Revolution of 1917, they moved the capital to Moscow, and 7 years later in 1924, they changed the name of the former capital to Leningrad as a rebranding effort to increase tourism, to honor Lenin, and just for miscellaneous Russian dickishness reasons. Apparently, they had buyer’s remorse in 1991 when they decided to rename it back to St. Petersburg. No one could seem to find the damn place, but the street sign business was booming.

3. According to a certain web-based user-content driven encyclopedia, Constantine’s complete Christian name was Caesar Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus. His friends called him “flava flav” for short. Come on, man, that’s a lot of names. And the initials don’t even spell out anything funny. C-F-V-A-C-A. You can’t even make a clever anagram out of that. Constantine was the first Christian Roman Emperor, so he also sometimes goes by the name Constantine I. Any Constantines who may have come before him were too Pagan to be counted. Constantine is known for his many great reforms: religious, monetary, judiciary, etc. But I’m sure you could read all about him on a certain collaborative, non-profit internet encyclopedia project.

1. What whimsical tale was written by Sergei Prokofiev to introduce children to the instruments of the orchestra?

Answer: >Peter and the Wolf<

2. In 1956, what company introduced the first wireless remote control?

Answer: >Zenith<

3. Recall the presidents on Mt. Rushmore as they appear from left to right. Do it!

Answer: >Washington, Jefferson, T. Roosevelt, Lincoln<

Explanations:

1. Does anyone else remember taking the required music class that everyone took in elementary school? It didn’t matter if you could or couldn’t sing, everyone had to take it. What happened? When in our adult lives do we become self-conscious about our talents or lack-there-of? Why are some adults afraid of singing, unless it’s drunk at a karaoke bar? Children have a sort of unabashed sense of naïveté, which is wonderfully pure and inspiring. They can sing their hearts out no matter how bad they sound. It isn’t until young adulthood when our sense of social self silences the inner child’s foolhardy pluck.
Anyway, it was in that very same music class that I first discovered this wonderful orchestral piece, which accompanied a very “pre-LCD projector age” slide show. Come to think of it, there are a lot of wolves in fairy tales, so Prokofiev was probably just following a formula. From the Boy Who Cried Wolf to Little Red Riding Hood, wolves, perhaps only second to witches, seem to be the go-to evil character in childhood folk stories. Here’s a run down of the cast and their respective instruments. Bird: flute, Duck: oboe, Cat: clarinet, Grandfather: bassoon, Wolf: French horns, Hunters: woodwind theme, with gunshots on timpani and bass drum, Peter: string instruments.

2. So, this question is a little confusing (or cornfusing if you’re Cajun) because Zenith and its subsidiaries have gone through several name changes. On top of this, there are several companies in other fields called Zenith, including an aircraft company, an oilfield company, a watchmaker, a motorcycle manufacturer, and a Nigerian Bank (so that’s where my money from that prince seeking refuge in the U.S. will probably be wired from. Where is that money, anyway?). Zenith Electronics Corp. (the one with the red lightning Z logo that we’re probably all familiar with), has been advancing new technologies, from short-wave radio to hearing aids since 1918. That was until 1999, when it was acquired by LG and they took credit for these new technologies. The company is perhaps best known as a pioneer in the TV remote control business. Isn’t Pioneer an electronics company, too? Really, that company should be the pioneer in everything, as their name indicates. Zenith should only specialize in putting TVs on high shelves and such. I read an article that said the producers of the AMC series Mad Men, in their never ending quest to be historically accurate, went through hell and high water to acquire one of the original Zenith Space Commander 600 remote controls for the show. It’s a real shame we don’t name our remote controls anymore. I would have a lot more appreciation for my TiVo, if came with the Saturn Voyager 5000 remote control.

3. Interesting bit of trivia: the original monument was designed to show the figures from head to waste, but insufficient funding cut the project short (you can find images of the original model online). I’m glad they had enough for at least the heads. It would be awkward if you had to identify the presidents by their hair and eyes. It’s a real shame budgeting wasn’t a strong suit of Calvin Coolidge. The area of South Dakota where Mt. Rushmore sits used to belong to the Lakota Tribe, which makes it a point of contention among many Native Americans, as we stole their land and literally carved the faces of our leaders into their mountain.

1. Napoleon fought the Battle of Waterloo, but in what country would you actually find Waterloo?

Answer: >Belgium<

2. Lake Titicaca is in Peru and what other country?

Answer: >Bolivia<

3. What 4 states have boundaries that convene at one point to form the “Four Corners?”

Answer: >Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah<

Explanations:

1. The Battle of Waterloo took place in June of 1815, shortly after Napoleon escaped (or excaped if you’re gangsta) from exile on the island of Elba. Here’s the problem with being the commanding officer of the military AND the head of state at the same time: when you lose, you lose big. In this case, it was Napoleon vs. the Duke of Wellington, who I’m pretty sure invented Beef Wellington, although that suspicion has yet to be confirmed by the internets. It was Napoleon’s army vs. the Duke’s Coalition forces. I’m not French history expert, so I couldn’t really tell you why it was fought in Belgium and not France. But the important thing to know is that it wasn’t fought in Canada.

2. Although the origin of the name Titicaca is unknown, it will forever go down in the books as one of the funniest geographical names of our time. Just like Walla Walla, Washington, except these two are examples are funny because they sound unusual to say. Some of the best funny place names are funny because they are words that mean something different in English, like Condom, France, Fucking, Austria, and Hell, Norway. Two out of three are sexual names, which makes me wonder about cartographers. I always have trouble with this question, because I always think of the two landlocked countries in South American, which are Paraguay and Bolivia.

3. While most of the region belongs to a Navajo Tribe, the largest and pretty much only metropolitan city in the area is Farmington, New Mexico. If you call that a metropolitan city. I’ve never heard of it, so I’m guessing they don’t have very clearly defined zoning rules. Your address is in Arizona, but your kids go to school in the New Mexico; your cable bills go through Colorado and your utility bill is from Utah. You’re registered to vote in three states, even though you never vote in any of them, but for some reason you pay income taxes in all four states. Don’t worry, you make up for it from the stipends you get from living on an Indian reservation. Arizona doesn’t participate in daylight savings, so you’re constantly an hour late or an hour early to places, but at least you’re able to pick up 3 dozen radio stations.

1. Which group governs in a plutocracy?

Answer: >the most wealthy<

2. What type of mythological creature was tasked with forging thunderbolts for mighty Zeus?

Answer: >Cyclops<

3. What Greek god is the first mentioned in the Hippocratic Oath, a version of which is still used today by medical students?

Answer: >Apollo<

Explanations:

1. Those who are fans of Pluto, of course. The dog, not the former planet. This is opposed to a Platocracy, which is governed by the most philosophical. Also, it’s different from an oligarchy, but I don’t quite see how. Terms that end in –cracy are very interesting. You can take most any root or prefix and stick it at the beginning to make a society ruled by “blank.” For example, gynocracy would be political rule by women. Similarly, you can add “phobia” to the end of these roots to get “fear of.” Gynophobia would be fear of women, or at least fear of OB/GYNs. If you know your Greek roots, you can have fun with this. Kleptocracy is rule by thieves. So, I suppose Kleptophobia is fear of getting things stolen. Add to this the suffix –mania, meaning “addicted to or getting extreme enjoyment from.” Kleptomania is enjoyment of stealing. Let’s take another example. Theocracy is rule by the clergy. Theophobia is fear of religious law. And Theomania is people who are really into religious law. And guys named Theo. Of course, if you really want to confuse someone, you can use all three. Dendrocracymaniaphobia is a fear of loving a government of the trees. A pedophobicocraticmaniac is someone who loves a government ruled by the fear of children. Now, if you add the suffix -philia, meaning sexual attraction to, you could have an even longer nonsensical word. Necromaniaphobiaphiliaocracy is a government ruled by those with a sexual attraction to someone who is afraid of a person who loves dead people. I better stop now. Both the readers of this blog and my spell check are about to kill me.

2. Cyclops, or “The One Eyed Wonder,” which is his stage name on the carnival freak show circuit, is perhaps best known from Homer’s The Odyssey. Odysseus encounters the Cyclops Polyphemus (whose name is Greek for “famous,” or at least many-femus) on an island creatively called the Island of the Cyclopses. Poly-P, as Polyphemus likes to be called, is the leader of the Cyclopses and I assume acting editor-in-chief of the Cyclops Picayune. Or at least Editor Emeritus. I’m kind of surprised Homer didn’t name him something a little more fitting of a Cyclops, something like Mono-optimus. The other well known Cyclops is the character from X-Men, played in the X-Men film series by James Marsden, better known for handing over his man card after appearing in 27 Dresses. No, wait, did I say “man card,” I meant “testicles.” By the way, if you thought Pegasus was the answer to this question, good guess. It was Pegasus who took the lightning bolts to Zeus, but the Cyclopses who actually created them.

3. Most likely developed by Hippocrates, the Father of Modern Medicine, or at least Pythagoras, who developed the Pythagorean Theorem and the idea that an octave should have 8 notes. Well, he probably decided a musical scale should have eight notes and called it an octave later. It would have been pretty easy to get the number eight if you already knew it was called an “octave.” The original and classic versions of the oath reference several minor gods in addition to Apollo, who likely heads the list because he is the god of medicine and healing. He also happens to be the god of archery, so maybe there’s an archer’s oath that also contains his name. In newer versions of the oath, some take him out, because it’s Pagan or whatever, but they’re going to be awfully upset when Hades comes to take away a disproportionate share of their patients.

1. At 9:04 in the morning on September 2, 1945, what famous American military figure affixed his signature to Japan’s Instrument of Surrender aboard the U.S.S. Missouri?

Answer: >General Douglas MacArthur<

2. What famous general was known as Old Blood and Guts?

Answer: >George S.  Patton<

3. What American was made a Brigadier General at the age of 23?

Answer: >George Custer<

Explanations:

1. My question wasn’t quite so wordy at first. It originally just read something like “Who afixed his signature to the Japanese Instrument of Surrender?” Then I realized that there were many people’s signatures on it, including representatives from Japan, which at the time was called the United Soviet Socialists of Japan, China, which at the time was called the Commonwealth of China, the Neatherlands, which at the time was the Dominion of Holland, and also the Kingdom of Canada and the Kingdom of New Zealand. Wait a minute, something is off about that last sentence. I think there needed to be a comma after the word “then.” Well, if I haven’t proofread any of my previous posts, I’m definitely not going to start now.
The other part of the question I wanted to clarify was which Japanese Instrument of Surrender, because I wanted to clarify that I wasn’t talking about a Shakuhachi Flute, Taiko drum, or Yamatogoto, a portable Japanese piano, much like our accordion.
MacArthur, or Duggy-Mac as he liked to be called, is best known for his involvement in the Pacific theatre of World War II, as well as his involvement in World War I, the Korean War, and the War of the Roses…somehow. That was until he disagreed with President Truman on something and was removed from office. True story.

2. Before there was a film called Patton, it was the name of a guy. He got the nickname after a reporter misquoted him as saying “It takes blood and brains to win a war.” I can see the confusion, since “brains” and “guts” sound so much alike and share so many letters.
The film Patton starred George C. Scott in the title role. His performance earned him an Oscar, but he turned it down, because he didn’t like the idea of voting and competing with other actors. He wouldn’t be the last actor to refuse the award. Two years later, Marlon Brando turned down the Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in the Godfather. But that was because he was too fat to accept it. Take THAT 1970s American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

3. Before you act too impressed, realize that he was about to turn 24 in like a month. Standards were lower back then, too. It’s like winning the World Series of Poker when you’re 21 was a lot easier when there were only like 100 players as opposed to a field of over 5,000. This is what happens when you graduate from military school right as the Civil War breaks out. A lot of people who rank higher than you die, and you take their place. Interestingly, I’ve already mentioned Custer in a previous post about Little Big Horn. I believe my thoughts on it were that it was probably some sort of mistranslation, as a horn is not often simultaneously big and little at the same time. You could have said medium-sized horn, maybe. Also, I said something about how it took place in Montana and something about Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, but I’m a little vague on the details. You know you’ve been blogging too long when you start repeating yourself.

1. In what year did the original basketball “Dream Team” (composed of NBA players) compete?

Answer: >1992<

2. Who was the first non-referee to toss the coin at the beginning of a Super Bowl game?

Answer: >Red Grange<

3. The San Francisco Giants were slated to play what team in the 1989 World Series when an earthquake rocked the city’s Candlestick Park?

Answer: >Oakland A’s<

Explanations:

1. U.S. Men’s Basketball teams are 16-0 for coming away with medals from the Olympic Games (13 golds, baby!!). We only got the bronze twice in 1988 and 2004, and we got silver once, but we refused it. We threw it back over the fence like John Kerry did with his medals from Vietnam…also because they weren’t gold. Mentioning the Olympics in the last entry got me thinking. Usually I try to avoid asking questions about one specific year, perferring to ask about a decade. But narrowing it down by every 4 years, it’s practically a multiple choice question. It’s not like I was asking for the year that New Coke came out (1985). Hey, speaking of which, who were the market researchers that decided that Coca-Cola, perhaps the most valuable brand in the world, needed to be re-vamped. Let’s admit to the public that our soda isn’t great, and that we actually need to make a new version of it. Can you imagine a New McDonalds or a New Nike? What was wrong with the old one? I’m surprised they were ever able to regain their footing.
Anyway, of 1992′s “Dream Team,” ten of the 12 were named one of the 50 best basketball players of all time by ESPN. There were a lot of numbers in that sentence, but it boils down to this team kicking culo and taking nombres in Barcelona. Or Barthelona as they say it. Lispy-McLisperson overthere. Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, I think they even had Jackie Robinson in there somehow. Quite the line-up. Then they had all the product placement. Dream Team Dreamsicles. That tie in during I Dream of Genie re-runs. Plus, there was some strange product called New Budweiser. No one really knew what it was, but it was way better than Old Budweiser.

2. Red Grange, (apparently it’s legal to name your child that) is for some reason considered to be the greatest college football player of all time. I’d never heard of him, so I googled his picture. He just looks like a scrappy kid from Brooklyn selling newspapers. I guess in the days of leather helmets, standards weren’t as high. He played for Illionois in college and then went on to play for the Chicago Bears and then the New York Yankees, which apparently used to be a football team.
So, Grange became the first non-official to do the coin flip back at Super Bowl XII. You can see the complete list of coin flippers here: http://football.about.com/od/histo2/a/SBcointoss.htm
Some of the standouts include OJ Simpson, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, and Dan Marino. Some of the stranger ones were Tom Brady at Super Bowl XL, since he was still an active player when he performed the coin flip. Also, former president George H. W. Bush. He’s just…so…wrinkly.

3. I’m not really sure where I intended to go with this entry. I just throught it was interesting, the whole “Battle of the Bay.” I like it when a city is torn apart. I mean by a sports rivalry, not by the Loma Prieta Earthquake. What I mean is I like the idea of a championship game based on an inner-city rivalry, brother against brother, or at least, neighbor against neighbor. A World Series of Yankees vs. Mets or White Socks vs. Cubs. A Super Bowl of Jets vs. Giants or Jaguars vs. Bucaneers. I count Tampa Bay and Jacksonville as the same city, because they both suck. The A’s swept the Giants, and it was the first World Series where the losing team never held the lead. That must be pretty discouraging. That and the earthquake.