The hypothetical Jeopardy! category you would own
I’VE HAD A POTENTIAL BREAKTHROUGH TODAY. Come, experience it with me. I’ve decided that instead of asking athletes “what do you do in your spare time?” I henceforth shall ask them this:
“If you were a contestant on Jeopardy, what category could come on the board that you feel like you would sweep?”
In other words, in what aspect of your life are you the expert, even when flanked by two really smart know-it-alls with incredibly fast buzzer thumbs?
At the risk of being slightly immodest, this is without a doubt the best question in the history of questions; all other questions bow, retch and weep before it. How would you answer it? I’ll start.
My Ownership Categories:
Orioles Standouts of ’89
John Mellencamp — The Early Years
Bowel Movement Slang
!Comida Mexicana!
B-Horror Bonanza
August 23, 2012 - 12:15 PM
Hope you’re prepared for a lot of responses like this…
– Drake lyrics for $500, Alex.
– [5 minutes of awkward silence] I don’t know, man.
Personally, I’d go with “Post-Paul Westhead George Mason basketball” or “Porn Stars of the 90s.”
Ryan–You mean like the time we asked the football player at a high school that shall remain nameless in a written questionnaire: “Outside of football, what do you enjoy doing?”
His answer: “Football.”
I’ll take “The Andy Griffith Show” for $2,000 Alex.
Baseball Stars of the 1960′s and their Cards for @2,000
Coca-Cola Bottle Caps of NFL All-Pros of the 1960′s for $2,000
NBA Stars of the 1960′s for $2,000
Anybody sense a theme here?
Yes, sir! Big fan of justafan’s “Coca-Cola Bottle Caps of NFL All-Pros of the 1960′s for $2,000″ and Ryan’s “Porn Stars of the 90s.”
How about “SI Swimsuit Editions”, “The Girls of Tiger Woods”, “WAGS of the NFL – 2010 on”, “Coughlin and Body Paint”, “Dancing With The Stars – Solo Edition” and “Legs of Lindsey”
“Beach Volleyball Bikini Butts”?
“Attributes of the Williams Sisters”?
The list is endless.
And if the only thing you care abour outside of football is more football, well, your life is a little limited but so what?
Star trek (original) trivia
Andy Griffith Trivia
70′s pop song lyrics
The Civil War
State Capitals
Virginia Tech Football
Today’s trivia: Name the only actor to appear in Star Trek, Lost in Space, and in Mayberry.
Hint: I believe he was in the First Vacation movie too.
“The many ways in which I’ve been beaten senseless at the poker table” for $1,000.
Joe Biden`s gaffes-includes both daily doubles.
The Andy Griffith Show
Orioles futility in the 2000s
’70s Punk Rock
Monty Python
Barry is a Moron (actually not a category, but the answer to many questions)
“The Dukes of Hazzard,” “Cereals box prizes” “NBA stars of the 90s,” “Bill Murray/Chevy Chase movie lines,” and “Sports to Bible stories analogies.” Lots of money spent on degrees for this bounty of knowledge.
On a side note, here’s a neat article about the Kings possibly moving to Virginia Beach.
http://insidebiz.com/news/sources-sacramento-kings-may-move-virginia-beach-arena-deal-works
The NBA would thrive there I believe.
Travis,
The Virginia Squires did so well there…..
I’d beat the crap out of you in “Bowel Movement Slang,” I’d flush you down the toilet without you so much as squeezing out even a dingle of an answer.
As to my best, I’d have to say my top category would be “VT Basketball, the Stokes’ Era (or error)”, followed up by “Frank Beamer, the early years” – both because there were so few around who’d know anything but me.
I’d then have to throw in some “Baseball – the Disco era” followed by some “NFL, the electric football years” and it wouldn’t be complete without a category near and dear to my heart “NASCAR, when they didn’t enunciate”
I’d like to put my wife up against all of you in the Andy Griffith Show category. She’d leave you guys weeping and crying. I’ve never seen anybody with more useless information in her head about a TV show. It is amazing. She can literally pull out bizarre stuff. She can tell you all of the episodes that Andy smoked in (which isn’t many), and just start randomly going along with the dialogue. It is freaky scary.
Rick — So wait — you haven’t had all “VT Basketball–the Stokes Era” professionally expunged from your mind? I do think you might stand alone there if so.
Family Guy for 1000, Alex!
1970′s Rock Trivia for 1000 Alex!
Playboy Centerfolds of the 70′s for a 1000 Alex!
Wait, I forgot this was a sports blog…..
Redskins of the 70′s for a 1000 Alex!
1990′s in the NBA.
“Star Trek: The Next Generation”, “Star Trek: Voyager,” “Babylon 5″, “Star Wars”, and possibly “Psych.”
Yep, I’m a nerd and damn proud of it.
Rick H, I didn’t know that a dingleberry was something that dried and hung onto a dog’s butt. Who knew?
I tried, but the professional help just didn’t work. Attempted everything, frontal lobotomy, shock therapy, you name it, but the Mbindo Dongo impact just couldn’t be erased.
I’d probably own:
-Dead-Ball Era Baseball
-1980′s Vintage Alternative Music
-The Sopranos, Except for the Exceptionally Disappointing Fourth Season
-Appalachian cuisine
And for Final Jeopardy:
-The Nude Scenes of Jennifer Jason Leigh
Time Wasting Internet Blogs
Hokie Al – THANK YOU !!!!!!!!
I also thought “Vomitology” (the vocabulary of puke) could be a possible, or, “Drinking Games”.
89Hoo — Haha! You think you’ve got that market cornered against THIS crowd?
The Squires floated around the state too much, never really identified with the area. Plus, I’d bet a lot has changed since the 70s. I just think if they did it right and went all out, there is a lot of potential. But, maybe I’m the optimist.
I would pay money to watch Ralph and Original Greg go head to head on Country Songs category. HokieGal and Hokie24 for the Name that Movie category. That would have me cracking up.
Hey, Aaron, why don’t you lobby your boss to have the Roanoke Times host the McFarling Game Show with you as the host, and the blog crowd as the contestants? I think the rating will be through the roof. During “commercial break” where the RT promote fake (or real product), Randy King can be the voice over announcer like on Jeopardy.
I would love that.
’89-’90 Loyola Marymount Men’s Basketball
The 1980′s Oakland A’s
Worthless baseball cards of the late 80s
1980s music
Names of players in 4th and Inches
The Walking Dead
“Time Wasting Internet Blogs”
TWIB notes??
Used to love TWIB notes. “This is Mel Allen…”
MM–I’m guessing “Who is Cecelio Guante?” would be one of the answers on your “worthless baseball cards of the late 80s” category. Lord knows how many times I asked that question when opening packs as a youth, let alone on a game show.
Let’s do it, Trev!
I think HokieGal would demolish me in movie trivia. I just happened to hit a hot spot for a few days in a row. But if you keep the movies in the pointless comedy genre, I’ve got a fighting chance.
I’m pretty good at Name That Tune (hearing it, not reading lyrics), and I’d be good at trivia from That 70′s Show and The Big Bang Theory.
I have an (unopened) 88 Topps Rak-Pak with McGwire-Santiago-Guante on the front. Figured I would retire when I was about 24 off of that thing. Didn’t work out too well…
I’ll let it go for the first $500 that is offered to me!
“Who is Rick Schu?”
Wonder if Billy Ripken still has that infamous bat?
Bob H, Henry Gibson? The clerk at the hotel at the Grand Canyon??
This is why the Yellow Jackets will sting the Hokies:
In 2003, Miami finished 9th, VT’s first ever win over a team that finished in the AP top-10.
In 2004, VT beat Miami (then 9th), but the U finished 11th. VT also beat WVU (then 6th), but the Mountaineers finished unranked…all the while VT lost to the eventual champions and runners-up in USC and Auburn.
In 2005, VT lost to a then #5 Miami that went on to finish 17th, while VT finished 7th after beating Louisville in the infamous Marcus Stomp bowl.
In 2006, VT beat a then #10 Clemson that finished the year unranked. VT ended the year losing to an unranked Georgia team (that did finsih ranked at 23rd).
2007, VT lost to 2 then #2 teams: LSU (Eventual Champion), and BC (finished 11th, beat BC later when BC was #12). VT also lost to a then #8 Kansas team that finished 7th.
2008, VT neither played nor beat any team in the top-10…the closest was #12 Cincinnati in the Orange Bowl, who finished 17th.
In 2009, VT opened by losing to then #5 Alabama, the eventual Champions (third time in 6 years that VT lost to an eventual champion early in the season). VT also beat a then #9 Miami, but the U finished 19th.
In 2010, VT opened with losing to then #3 Boise State and then #4 Stanford. QUite likely, Boise will finish around 8th, and Stanford will finish 3rd or 4th.
So yeah, no matter how you look at it, VT has just 1 win against an actual ‘elite’ football program that finished the season ranked in the top-10. And it’s not that VT has beaten a whole bunch of then top-10 programs and dropped them from the rankings, VT loses to those teams too.
So I guess those 10-11 win seasons, winning ACC titles on a fairly regular basis, and getting blasted in games against better teams is about what we can look forward to. Unfortunately it’s what we’ve largely had for a long time with promises that the program is capable of more…but the track record simply doesn’t back up the talk of bigger and better things. The big-hype talk is akin to clamors of ‘the big one’ hitting SoCal, then realizing it doesn’t even set off a car alarm.
My Jeopardy category would probably have to be ST:TNG based, but could also go for Star Trek: Voyager too, not so much with DS9…haven’t seen it all the way through yet. Star Wars, at least Episodes IV-VI would also work. And given my ability to pull out random memorable movie quotes from the 80′s and 90′s…if there was a category on those, my wife would attest that I’d own it…I annoy the hell out of her with it…
MM,
No, although he was uncredited also. Think of the bartender who “fake shot” Clark.
His name is Michael J. Pollard. He kind of shows up in alot of places on 60′s TV. He was Cousin Virgil. He was in ST in the “Miri” episode (which included Kim Darby from True Grit fame), and he was in a B&W Lost in Space as a character who was on the other side of the mirror that Penny passed through.
I thought someone might guess Clint Howard, who was in ST, and often in Mayberry, but I don’t think he was ever in Lost in Space.
Danger Will Robinson!
Bob H. Who is Michael J Pollard?
Bob H. Can’t believe I didn’t read all the comments before I posted. And there you are. Have to admit I checked my facts. I saw he was on Lost in Space and recalled he was on Andy Griffith.
the 1993 Phillies
Suspected Steriod Users in Sports
I nominate Barry for the blog role of the little kid sitting at the Thanksgiving dinner table that blurts out something about a topic nobody else at the table is talking about.
And, on that baseball card front, if any of you guys want to get together and do some wheeling and dealing, I’ve got some various years I’m trying to fill out on baseball cards. I’ve got a whole closet full, have some Topps gaps in the 80′s, early 90′s.
Speaking of the Virginia Squires, one of those guys’ cards is one of my best basketball cards – an afro laden dude named Julius Erving, his rookie card. Pretty sweet.
Oh, I am sorry BobH, the answer is “Who is Randy Lowell?”
http://www.imfdb.org/w/images/thumb/0/02/Vac_001.jpg/500px-Vac_001.jpg
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0237850/
I’ll take ‘Vacation’ trivia for $1000, Alex.
“This character in the movie is married to Jane Seymour.”
“Who is the motorcycle cop that pulls them over after the dog was tied on the bumper?”
Correct, and played by James Keach who is also Stacy Keach’s brother.
rpotts12, Pollard was also that homeless guy in Scrooged that mistakes Bill Murray’s character for Richard Burton. That scene cracks me up every time.
If Barry was talking about teams that VT plays that either finish the previous season in the top ten or start the season in the top ten, wth does this year’s Georgia Tech team have to do with any of it??!!?
I’ll take “Who Is This Idiot?” For $500.
He was a C average student and named the president of the United States.
“Who is George Bush, Jr?”
Who’s Barry talking to?
I’ve got a feeling that according to Barry, we’re gonna have to hear about jackets stinging, panthers biting, bearcats scratching, etc etc. Whatever the flavor of the week is. Who do you actually pull for Barry? Or are you just one of those haters that puts more effort into hating other teams than you do supporting your own team? That’s kinda sad.
Bob H, I think Pollard was also in Bonnie and Clyde. Maybe the driver or something; anyway, he was always in the car.
Pollard was also the guy who turned in Bonnie and Clyde (Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway).
Like I say, he kind of shows up everywhere.
Trevor,
I think that could have been Biden except he was 76th out of 85 in his class which makes him probably a C- GPA and is only VPOTUS.
Definitely qualifies on the idiot category though!
Bob H, Are you sure it wasn’t actually M.J. Pollard’s father (played by Dub Taylor, who was also in several TAGS episodes) that turned in Bonnie and Clyde?
muscle cars of the 60′s
nascar of the 70′s
Skip Carrey quotes of the 80′s
ACC basketball of the 90′s
hokie mugshots of the 2000.’s
Pollard (C W Moss is the character I think) who told then where they would find B&C, his dad set it up.
Goos movie. Gene Hackman also in it.
Bob H, another Mayberry alum appeared in B&C. Denver Pyle (Briscoe Darling) played a sheriff.