Monday, April 9, 2018 Game Recap and Discussion [SPOILERS]

[seaborgium]

Theodore Roosevelt and Harry Truman acceded to the presidency in their first year as VP, so it would be more than three years for both of them to be sworn in as winners of presidential elections. Ford, of course, never won an election. Harding and JFK both died in the second half of their terms, but between Harding's death being in August and Inauguration Day being in March at that time, Coolidge went five months longer between oaths.

[twelvefootboy]

Boy, that was a little painful. None of them knew beans about baseball but they pretty much went straight down the category? That set me up to think it was going to be a long slog! It got better, but this isn't how I remembered Lily Chen's games. I get the Bethlehem brain fart, but nobody rebounded Jerusalem?

Easy pickings for LBJ and I didn't even bother with the math on HST or TR. I didn't think they'd be cruel enough to negbait it like that. I re-read the clue hoping for a loophole - if it had read "less than 14 months later", I'd have thrown in Obama - oops not 20th century. Obama had to do it twice the same day since idiot (edited for rudeness) John Roberts failed to render it correctly - his one job!

So Sheldon had a shot if he freezes at 11K? I'd think so, but I could see trying to bump it into the 14's to be sure.

[IronNeck]

But this is the college tourney, and they underestimate the kids every time.

Eh, on this particular day, they estimated them quite well. Let's hope it was an aberration and the rest of the tournament lives up to the high level of the last College tourney, which was surprisingly excellent and featured a number of strong players.

I would've passed out if any of them had gotten the Braves, after B.S. was a TS.

I didn't know "blown save" but instantly knew what team Smoltz played for. A lot of casuals know certain famous players but not the more in-depth terms.

"Esprit de corps" is something that I wouldn't have gotten off the top of my head, but is very decipherable from simply thinking of French terms related to the military ending with "corps".

FJ was a well-written, well-conceived clue, if not especially difficult.

[This Is Kirk!]

I said Truman for FJ!. Oops.

Truman was my first thought, but then I did the math and realized it must be LBJ instead.

[CasketRomance]

I said Truman for FJ!. Oops.

Aced the Saves category. Can't say the same about the college players.

same here...funny how they had a clue with greg holland in it...his stellar season got him paid and today he made his debut for the st louis cardinals...well that didn't go too well for him...about as bad as the brewers answer was for his clue...wretched

[CasketRomance]

Got to LBJ with time to spare, but starting at 1901 and working forward I got hung up on Coolidge for some dumb reason (I keep forgetting when in '23 Harding croaked). Not that either of them will be WCs with those scores, but that was a terrible wager by Sheldon.

Speaking of overvalued clues, "capital of Ecuador" for $2000?!?!

I was convinced that it had to be a trick question somehow. But this is the college tourney, and they underestimate the kids every time.

I would've passed out if any of them had gotten the Braves, after B.S. was a TS. Not as inconceivable as that Purple People Eaters clue from a while back, but it would've been shocking to me.

That Mariano Rivera RBI clue made me smile.

Ah, K-Rod. Sorry, Mets fans.

really thought metallica or enter sandman was going to be associated with that clue when i saw his name...was disappointed that it was about an rbi

[CasketRomance]

Niagara Falls is "upstate" New York? That was enough to make me clam. I would've thought "upstate" literally meant "up", as in Watertown or Saratoga Springs. In what backwards world is literally the westernmost part of the state considered "up"?

I also thought the Rowling category was extremely YEKIOYD. I doubt anyone's gonna know the Snitch or Dementors unless they're a superdork who's read every book 500 times.

"Residence hall" joins the "NHO in the top box" pile, and also strikes me as an overly generational clue.

I thought Delilah was by far the easiest in the Bible category. And how did they get Esther of all things?

Maybe it was my exhaustion from work, but I just couldn't get the wheels turning on this one. My WAG was "whoever took over after the one president who resigned" but I was too tired to even remember who that was. In a more coherent state of mind, I might've still glommed onto Ford and totally forgotten all about JFK anyway.

i got snitch correct and have never read a harry potter book or seen a harry potter movie...is pretty common trivia knowledge these days without really seeking it out

[Anachronism]

I guess knowledge is somewhat generational.

Baseball, our former National Pastime, generated mostly sit and stares. Given the abysmal job MLB has done over the last couple of decades (game times increasing at a rate that would make the people at CERN blush, commercial breaks now longer than the games themselves, telecasts consisting of nothing but extreme closeups of people - both on-field and off - masticating and expectorating like uncouth camels), I haven't even bothered trying to get my son hooked as I was as a kid. There's no way he'd watch.

Quidditch, the imaginary pastime of elite Brits, generated plenty of enthusiasm and a full run. I did give my son a copy of the Hogwarts collection when he was younger. It's really good stuff compared to most YA. You don't need to have read the books 500 times to get those questions - they were pretty basic to the series.

Anyway, ten relatively easy clues there and a relatively easy game and a relatively easy FJ. But they could just as easily make it all about popular music from the '10s and recent movies and I'd be the one sitting and staring. So I'll assume the kidsters want me off of their lawn with my easy comments.

[CasketRomance]

I guess knowledge is somewhat generational.

Baseball, our former National Pastime, generated mostly sit and stares. Given the abysmal job MLB has done over the last couple of decades (game times increasing at a rate that would make the people at CERN blush, commercial breaks now longer than the games themselves, telecasts consisting of nothing but extreme closeups of people - both on-field and off - masticating and expectorating like uncouth camels), I haven't even bothered trying to get my son hooked as I was as a kid. There's no way he'd watch.

Quidditch, the imaginary pastime of elite Brits, generated plenty of enthusiasm and a full run. I did give my son a copy of the Hogwarts collection when he was younger. It's really good stuff compared to most YA. You don't need to have read the books 500 times to get those questions - they were pretty basic to the series.

Anyway, ten relatively easy clues there and a relatively easy game and a relatively easy FJ. But they could just as easily make it all about popular music from the '10s and recent movies and I'd be the one sitting and staring. So I'll assume the kidsters want me off of their lawn with my easy comments.

the commercials are awful when the games are on national tv...way longer than during a non nationally televised game...i have actually found so far this year that on nationally televised games, the breaks between half innings are shorter than in the previous years...i go back to a game i was watching from one i went to to avoid commercials and i actually missed pitches...used to have it timed pretty accurately...not so much this year so far...about 30 seconds less commercials between innings it seems....but baseball and commercials have nothing on nba games...i was tracking my dfs teams on saturday and the thunder/rockets games had 8 minutes left and pelicans/warriors game had already finished...and they started at the same fricking time

[IronNeck]

Baseball, our former National Pastime, generated mostly sit and stares. Given the abysmal job MLB has done over the last couple of decades (game times increasing at a rate that would make the people at CERN blush, commercial breaks now longer than the games themselves, telecasts consisting of nothing but extreme closeups of people - both on-field and off - masticating and expectorating like uncouth camels), I haven't even bothered trying to get my son hooked as I was as a kid. There's no way he'd watch.

There's also the issue of the game being ruthlessly, horribly boring for most people under the age of 50. My girlfriend and I recently went to a SF Giants game paid by for her work, along with a free $100 in spending cash. The best part of the game was the free food. Most exciting part was when a batter got beaned by a pitch. Otherwise, it was more dull than watching paint dry. (By contrast, when we watched a Sharks hockey game, it was exciting as hell)

As for "National Pastime", dude, that might have been true back in the 1950's, but it ignores that most people living here now are immigrants, descendants of them, from radically different cultures, etc. For instance, I was born in Russia. No one gives a damn about baseball there. My girlfriend is of Mexican descent. Baseball has some popularity there, but nowhere near as much as soccer or boxing.

[OrangeSAM]

For the FJ, I was thinking of somebody who took the oath of office for VP and then, 14 months later, took the oath of office for President. This satisfies the wording of the clue...

I was tripped up identically, and far too late I decided that "VP, then president" does NOT satisty the clue's wording. (the category references the president, then the clue only says "the oath"... that's pretty solidly presidential.)

I call that a good FJ, albeit one I would've probably missed.

I don't think so. The clue said "the oath", not "an oath". The two oaths are different.

[seaborgium]

I also thought the Rowling category was extremely YEKIOYD. I doubt anyone's gonna know the Snitch or Dementors unless they're a superdork who's read every book 500 times.

I got the Snitch and Dementors without having read or watched a Harry Potter installment in its entirety. I knew the Snitch was an important item in Quidditch, and I knew Dementors were a thing in the HP universe without knowing exactly what they were, and their respective clues spurred me to guess them.


The Remus Lupin clue reminded me of an exchange I had with someone on Facebook, whose kids I know better than I know her, and who knows an aunt or two of mine better than she knows me. One of her daughters shared some "What HP character are you?" link with her result being Nymphadora Tonks, and I expressed disbelief that there was actually a character named that; her mom then expressed disbelief that I hadn't read the HP books, extolling "the pure pleasure of a different world well-constructed." (I have e-mail notifications, and the post has been deleted, so I have her exact words but not mine.) I called the character names something like "a relentless exercise in single entendre," and in response to her saying "what kind of character is named 'Remus Lupin'?" I said "Remus is a mythological founder of Rome who was raised by a she-wolf with his brother; Lupin is from the Latin word for wolf. She's beating me over the head with it."

[opusthepenguin]

Boy, that was a little painful. None of them knew beans about baseball but they pretty much went straight down the category?

It's a championship quarterfinal. All clues will be revealed. May as well get the awkward ones over with. Not necessarily sound strategically, but as a viewer, I approved.

[Bartleby]

I would've passed out if any of them had gotten the Braves, after B.S. was a TS.

I didn't know "blown save" but instantly knew what team Smoltz played for. A lot of casuals know certain famous players but not the more in-depth terms.

Same here. Smoltz = Braves is much more of a front page of the sports section piece of trivia compared to the box score minutia of "blown save."

[Leander]

Baseball, our former National Pastime, generated mostly sit and stares. Given the abysmal job MLB has done over the last couple of decades (game times increasing at a rate that would make the people at CERN blush, commercial breaks now longer than the games themselves, telecasts consisting of nothing but extreme closeups of people - both on-field and off - masticating and expectorating like uncouth camels), I haven't even bothered trying to get my son hooked as I was as a kid. There's no way he'd watch.

There's also the issue of the game being ruthlessly, horribly boring for most people under the age of 50. My girlfriend and I recently went to a SF Giants game paid by for her work, along with a free $100 in spending cash. The best part of the game was the free food. Most exciting part was when a batter got beaned by a pitch. Otherwise, it was more dull than watching paint dry. (By contrast, when we watched a Sharks hockey game, it was exciting as hell)

As for "National Pastime", dude, that might have been true back in the 1950's, but it ignores that most people living here now are immigrants, descendants of them, from radically different cultures, etc. For instance, I was born in Russia. No one gives a damn about baseball there. My girlfriend is of Mexican descent. Baseball has some popularity there, but nowhere near as much as soccer or boxing.

Believe it or not, most Americans in the 1950’s were immigrants or descendants of immigrants from radically different cultures.

[floridagator]

if it had read "less than 14 months later", I'd have thrown in Obama - oops not 20th century. Obama had to do it twice the same day since idiot John Roberts failed to render it correctly - his one

Reagan in 1985 and Obama in 2013 took the oath twice on consecutive days because the Constitutional Inauguration Day fell on Sunday. I don't know if Eisenhower did the same in 1957. 28 year calendar cycle you know.

[John Boy]

I'm really trying to figure out how two bright college students could miss this FJ, even if Hannah may have simply missed the 20th Century part of the clue.

Ya know, even if she missed that part, she ignored the fact that Cleveland took the oath of office twice, EIGHT YEARS apart because of serving nonconsecutive terms.

I'm trying to wrap my brains around the notion that a bunch of bright college students seem to know more about Qwidditch (sp?) than about baseball. One more sign that I've lived too long.

How's this for Lach Trash: Plymouth Rock, RBI, Rolaids, blown save, Atlanta Braves, Jerusalem, St. Paul, pulsar, aplomb (a precall here), and alb. $9200 plus an all-in get on FJ: I won this game---a tournament game---from the fourth podium.

[kickerofelves]

Niagara Falls is "upstate" New York? That was enough to make me clam. I would've thought "upstate" literally meant "up", as in Watertown or Saratoga Springs. In what backwards world is literally the westernmost part of the state considered "up"?

The old joke is that everything north of 14th Street is "upstate".

[IronNeck]

Baseball, our former National Pastime, generated mostly sit and stares. Given the abysmal job MLB has done over the last couple of decades (game times increasing at a rate that would make the people at CERN blush, commercial breaks now longer than the games themselves, telecasts consisting of nothing but extreme closeups of people - both on-field and off - masticating and expectorating like uncouth camels), I haven't even bothered trying to get my son hooked as I was as a kid. There's no way he'd watch.

There's also the issue of the game being ruthlessly, horribly boring for most people under the age of 50. My girlfriend and I recently went to a SF Giants game paid by for her work, along with a free $100 in spending cash. The best part of the game was the free food. Most exciting part was when a batter got beaned by a pitch. Otherwise, it was more dull than watching paint dry. (By contrast, when we watched a Sharks hockey game, it was exciting as hell)

As for "National Pastime", dude, that might have been true back in the 1950's, but it ignores that most people living here now are immigrants, descendants of them, from radically different cultures, etc. For instance, I was born in Russia. No one gives a damn about baseball there. My girlfriend is of Mexican descent. Baseball has some popularity there, but nowhere near as much as soccer or boxing.

Believe it or not, most Americans in the 1950’s were immigrants or descendants of immigrants from radically different cultures.

Not even remotely true.

The subject is, however, wildly off-topic, so you can PM me if you wish to discuss it further.

[This Is Kirk!]

There's also the issue of the game being ruthlessly, horribly boring for most people under the age of 50.

Obviously it's not for everyone, but those of us who enjoy the game don't think it's boring. Yes, I'd like to see the length of an average MLB game decrease, but I could say that about just about every major pro sport.