Yet another trivia update: Victorious for the second game in the row this time moving a little farther down Westport Road and taking the prize at the Westport Flea Market. Yes, not since the days of Tom Emansky’s back to back to back AAU championship teams has their been a consistently dominating performance equaling that of the Kai Badgers. Ok, maybe winning bar trivia isn’t that impressive a feat but I’m getting to the point where it is legitimately becoming a second income. I’m not just covering tonight’s bar tab, I’m carrying the bar tab for the week.
(Tonight’s insanely dumb knowledge that wins me money: Knowing that the only team that ever traded Pete Rose were the Montreal Expos, being able to identify the Men Without Hats video “The Safety Dance” from one still image, knowing who voiced Mr. Incredible and that Ric Flair’s entrance music (and the theme from 2001) is called Thus Spake Zarathustra. Though I am still pissed that I wasn’t able to recognize Falco’s “Rock Me Amadeus” from the still frame of the video. I thought it was a Roxy Music video for some reason.)
Given that I talk about trivia a lot and since that is what a lot of this blog is about I might as well explain why I know all of this stuff. I mean, I’ll never state that being able to rattle off information on the Simpsons or being able to quote Monty Python incessantly is a useful skill and to be honest, it probably isn’t something that one is looking for in a mate. But sadly, this is my best skill so it deserves to be discussed.
I am blessed with a photographic memory, which most people will confuse with intelligence and I’ve never really done anything to change that misconception. It’s why I’m really good in a classroom or on a test, all I do is memorize everything and then when I get a test paper I effectively hit print and list everything back out again. That’s not intelligence or showing the ability to create leaps of logic but it does result in good grades. But as I’ve found out, my memory is best on subjects I like and really poor on subjects I don’t enjoy. So, despite the fact that I had to study them in every electrical engineering class for three years I could never memorize Maxwell’s equations, even though they were the basis of my entire first career. But if you ask me what Alf’s name was I can immediately answer “Gordon Schumway.”
That memory isn’t well organized though and that is probably the key to my trivia ability. Let’s take the question “What was the only team to ever trade Pete Rose?” Most people would immediately think of the two teams most associated with Pete Rose: the Reds and the Phillies. Here is how my brain works. “Ok, this is a high point question so it isn’t going to be easy. Now I know that Pete Rose played for the Expos because I saw him hit a ball off of Lee Smith’s shoulder into a double play in a Cubs-Expos game as a kid so obviously it is the Expos. Henry Cotto caught the ball off of Smith’s shoulder and Andre Dawson (who was still with the Expos at the time and was my favorite player) had a home run in that game.” Did I know the correct answer? Yes. Did I know it for a reason that would make any sense at all? No.
And I do (and have for a very long time) study trivia. I read a lot of those general knowledge books, one of my favorites being the Why Things Are series. That is why I can take a run at so many different subjects, I’ve basically read up on all of them. I never bought these books to win contests or to show that I know more than other people. It really ties in to who I am. See, it amazes me every day that there is stuff that I don’t know. Like the fact that I don’t know all the bones in the human body or how a fax machine works or how to build a toaster. And that is what keeps me going, the fact that I can always learn something new and find out something that I didn’t know before. To some people I think that they are frightened by all of this information that they don’t know or don’t understand. I just view it as another mountain to conquer and one that is a lot more enjoyable than most.
1 comment:
No offense to your dominance of the trivia scene, but if you guys are going to continue making the rounds, you need to come up with a better name than Kai Badgers. Cobra Kai was cool and a great 80's reference, and Badgers itself isn't that bad (though I can't stand Wisconsin-Madison) but when you put them together it's pretty weak.
Since you're going to be broadcasting this name in bars all over KC, why not run a "Help pick a great trivia name" contest on the blog and come up with something worth broadcasting?
Dr. Wang and his medical staff is killer, but reserved for when you, me and Super are playing at the Backer. But there has to be a host of great names out there.
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