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Trivia Weekend
Listeners embark on trivia quest
By Jay Corn
Published:
Monday, February 14, 2005
Media Credit: Matthew Kaster
Sarah Sevcik (right) calls in an answer for TSI: team Canadian Bacon Chuppathingay. Their headquarters at Great Times Bistro served them well with several wireless Internet computers and multiple sources of caffeine for the 50-hour trivia marathon.
With the arrival of Friday's 5 p.m. start, more than 2,000 trivia sleuths from Germany to New Hampshire began the annual weekend-long quest towards trivia glory and coveted bragging rights.
SCSU President Roy Saigo effectively kicked off KVSC's 2005 trivia weekend by ceremoniously opening the competition and reading the weekend's first question, "What was the score of the first intercollegiate game played at the new Husky Stadium?"
From the time that first question was read until the contest's conclusion 50 hours later, Tim Lyon and his more than 30-person trivia team, Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women, set their sights on defending their 2004 trivia title against the 72 other teams seeking to unseat them.
"We have team members in Cleveland, Wisconsin and Alaska," Lyon said. "Our teammate in Alaska teaches Inuit Indians and doesn't have a toilet with running water, but she has a wireless broadband connection and she's really been helpful this weekend."
Although team members were barred from Stewart Hall for the contest's duration, teams were well connected to Stewart Hall's trivia nerve center. UTVS tag-teamed with KVSC in broadcasting the weekend's trivia marathon and fielded often comical calls from the after-bar crowds and team members strung out on caffeine. Following the trivia theme of "TSI:Trivia Scene Investigation," UTVS constructed a jailhouse set from which they filled their 50-hour time slot with a variety of skits, shows and replays of archived trivia video.
Adding another feather to UTVS' cap was the surprise of learning that the station was inducted into KVSC's elite trivia hall of fame for their dedication and contribution in producing trivia.
With less than 1,000 points separating the top five teams going into the weekend's final hours, veteran triviaholics like Lyon know that the point value of every question is important. So, when a question worth 500 points comes around, teams turn up their radio's volume just a little louder-knowing a correct answer can, in some cases, rescue a team's hopes for trivia victory. The pivotal and somewhat controversial late-hour mega-question may seem impossible at first read, but for teams paying close attention, the answer was comparatively easy.
The question: "Someone has been murdered. The only clues as to who is the murderer are the following five sequences of numbers: 19 (one and nine), 39 (three and nine), 74 (seven and four), 148 (one, four and eight) and 295 (two, nine and five). What we want to know is what is the maiden name of the victim's mother?" stumped many of the trivia teams, but the KVSC newsroom said that a "healthy handful" of teams answered the coded question correctly and those correct answers went a long way in determining final point standings.
The answer to the high point valued question that played a large part in determining the eventual final finishes was "HANKS." Abraham Lincoln's mother was Nancy HANKS Lincoln and the venerable Abe Lincoln was murdered by John Wikes Booth. Wilkes' name was an anagram of the combined letters in the answers to hour number one question nine, hour number three question nine, hour number seven question four, hour number 14 question eight and hour number 29 question five. Those five answers were OH BE INK HOT JOWLS, which is an anagram for John Wilkes Booth.
"That question was really clever, but simple if you knew what was going on," Lyon said. "The quality of all the questions were awesome and I thought there were very few throw-aways. My question would be, 'is a 500 point question that late in the competition appropriate?' It's not my contest though, I just play in it."
Stefan's Dreamsicle, Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women, Loose Meat Sandwiches, Pull Start Diesel, Panties WAAAY Too Tight and Voodoo Dolls engaged in a weekend-long point standing shuffle that the staff of KVSC said continued right up until the last question of the weekend was closed.
Although the master team roster for trivia weekend 2005 listed 72 teams, one more than last year's record high, the heavyweight trivia heads separated themselves from the rest of the pack early.
In fact, the top 25 teams after hour five were nearly identical to the top 25 teams after hour 45. Stefan's Dreamsicle, the eventual winner, broke through into the lead pack of top teams early on and never looked back. Existing seven years, Stefan's Dreamsicle was one of the youngest participating teams in this year's competition, but that didn't stop them from unseating the defending champion Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women by a healthy 250 points.
Adding to the weekend's carnival-like atmosphere, the Shake a Hamster Band set up shop in the KVSC studios and provided live music all weekend for the more than 2,000 participating contestants. In addition, the band wrote and recorded a near five minute 2005 trivia theme song that can be listened to and downloaded from the KVSC Web site.
While Bernick's Pepsi of St. Cloud served as the main corporate sponsor for trivia 2005, a notable amount of local businesses seized the weekend's opportunity for free advertising and donated food, beverages and services to the volunteer staff.
Panera Bread, Chipotle, Red Lobster, Fazzoli's and Cellular 2000 were just a few of the area businesses who participated in 2005's version of trivia.
After Sunday's award ceremony, teams and volunteers alike marched downtown to the Red Carpet to enjoy music from Shake a Hamster Band and celebrate another trivia's end. KVSC will have the complete book of 2005 questions ready by mid-March. Teams and interested parties wishing to obtain the book can e-mail KVSC.
