Traditional TD rules apply here:
1.) Answer one question in each set you think others will not. Your total for that question corresponds to the number of people who answer the same question you do. Like a round of golf, the lowest cumulative score including bonuses will be the winner.
2.) One drop and one sheep are available for you to use, if needed. There are no bonuses for answering all questions.
3.) Incorrect responses will add five (5) points on top of the sheep’s total.
*After some issues in my previous TDs, I’m modifying my stance on spelling. If a response is misspelled but I can still identify what you’re going for, I’ll count it.
* The bonus round is free of penalty for incorrect guesses so take a stab! (I enjoy sharing the best/funniest wrong answers, so just be wary of what you write).
* If you find something incorrect or malfunctioning, please feel free to shoot me a PM or reply in the thread and I will do all I can to make a fix in a timely manner.
* Submit responses via this form or by private message no later than (roughly) Tuesday, March 10 at 2:59 a.m. EST (Monday at midnight for you folks on the west coast). Reveal starts early Tuesday morning; there might be a three-hour window between the time I just listed and the reveal start.
Have fun and good luck! Let’s play!
1.) Green Mountains
Vermont is the Green Mountain State. Here’s a photo gallery of Green things. Identify one.
2.) Presidential Pride
Vermont has been the home state for two United States presidents, Chester Arthur and Calvin Coolidge. Coolidge is a local ... “hero” (I guess) where I’m from. I lived in his hometown of Plymouth for a few years, about five minutes away from the Coolidge homestead. Cal also attended what was the precursor to my high school in the next town over, then known as the BR Academy; the current iteration of the high school opened around 1940 in a new building and is closing for good in June 2020. The high school’s sports teams became known as the “Presidents,” in his honor. Beef up on these United States presidential trivia facts.
- Truman lived in this building while the White House was under repair
- This was Bill Clinton’s last name at birth
- The only president born in New Hampshire, he was able to deliver long addresses without notes
- The only bachelor president, Buchanan defeated this first Republican presidential candidate in 1856
- This president was killed by anarchist Leon Czolgosz
- The most recent president to be elected without having any prior political experience
- During the War of 1812, this first lady famously saved Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of George Washington
- Born in Shoreham, Vermont, Levi P. Morton was whose vice president?
- He issued the Emancipation Proclamation
- Longtime rivals, Adams and Jefferson both died on which holiday in 1826?
3.) Winter sports and Olympic Excellence
Winter sports are popular among "flatlanders" who travel to our various mountain resorts in the winter - I lived in a ski town for a few years but never was interested in those activities. Vermont has groomed several Olympic talents, including skiing and boarding medalists in Hannah Teter (from Belmont and attended Okemo Mountain School), Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain), and Mikaela Shiffrin (Burke Mountain School).
Given the Olympian (summer and winter athletes are on the list), name their sport.
- Picabo Street
- Torah Bright
- former football players Sam McGuffie & Herschel Walker (...almost)
- Chad le Clos
- Aly Raisman
- Sidney Crosby
- Bonnie Blair
- Roy Oswalt
- Serena Williams
- Shelley Fraser-Pryce
- Michael Jordan
In Vermont, we have four seasons: Mud, ski, hunting and sugaring. Maple syrup and its production are pastimes of many a hearty Vermonter each winter-spring. I have jumbled up the names of various types of trees. Unscramble one!
- rbchi
- lnawut
- peurcs
- yhercr
- asrsfasas
- ramycseo
- qieasou
- oridlasfgu
- emhockl
- toncodwoto
- yabnna
5.) Montpelier
It’s a sort of well-known fact that Montpelier, our state’s capital, is the only one without a McDonald’s - the closest one is just outside city limits. Given a notable menu item, identify the major restaurant chain where you can (or could have, in some cases) purchase that item.
- 10 pc. Chicken McNuggets
- Frosty
- Smoky Mountain Barbeque (Chicken)
- Gordita Supreme
- MeatZZa
- Italian BMT
- Blizzard
- All-American Roastburger
- Louisiana Rub Chicken
- Double-Double
- Beyond Avocado Taco
6.) Covered Bridges and Your Neighbors
The uniqueness of Vermont is espoused in detail in the SNL Neo-Confederate skit from a few years ago. They discuss at length the good things about Vermont, among them your neighbors waving hello from porches, farmer's markets, dogs with bandannas, and covered bridges, all of which are true statements. Vermont is also the only landlocked nation of the six New England states - you get to know your neighbors rather well. There are two sets of five questions; choose one landlocked nation from the following list and identify their neighbor with the largest land area, or answer a question about bridges.
- Bolivia
- Lesotho
- San Marino
- Liechtenstein
- Moldova
- The Tappan Zee bridge is officially named after which former New York governor, as of 2017?
- Until the mid 2000s, the Cornish-Windsor Bridge was the longest covered bridge in the United States. Windsor is in Vermont. What state is Cornish in?
- This type of bridge features support triangles
- The Ponte Vecchio can be found in which nation?
- This 801-foot bridge famously spans the Thames
7.) Springfield
Artists of various kinds live all throughout the state. Springfield, VT won a film contest explaining why they should host the American premiere of the Simpsons Movie in 2007, and this was a pretty big deal throughout the region at the time. If I think hard enough I can still see that large statue of Homer grabbing a donut in the theater's window - I do not know if it's still there. Identify one of these famous people who have appeared on The Simpsons.
- Stone Poneys singer and “Plow King” spokeswoman
- 74-time Jeopardy champion and robot teacher
- MLB pitching legend and hypnotized chicken
- “Walk this Way” singers and Flaming Moe’s performers
- “You’ve Got A Friend” singer and Space Shuttle assistant
- Luke Skywalker, sci-fi convention star and impromptu Sprint spokesperson
- Recently deceased comic creator; “Broke, or made it better?”
- Primatologist and Pennsylvania Ape Reserve worker
- Recently deceased theoretical physicist and cosmologist, “280 IQ” guy and Donut Shaped Universe Believer
- “Radical Chic” writer and Vermont poetry festival attendee
8.) Champ the Lake Monster
Champ is an urban legend associated with Lake Champlain, just don't tell my boss he's fake. Baseball's single-A short season Vermont Lake Monsters (affiliated with the Oakland Athletics) take their name from this myth. I had the good fortune of seeing a young Addison Russell play for the Lake Monsters shortly after he was drafted in 2012, and the Lake Monsters have a beautiful home in Centennial Field. Answer a question about other famous hoaxes, fakers, pranksters and tall tales.
- A recent CNN article posited if this famous Loch’s monster was actually an eel
- Manti Te’o, inspired by the death of fake girlfriend Lennay Kekua, keyed an undefeated 2012 regular season for this college’s football team
- In 1912, Charles Dawson claimed he had discovered what he thought to be the missing link between man and ape, eventually leading to the hoax of this “man”
- Sidd Finch was a french-horn playing flamethrower for this Big Apple baseball team.. until he wasn’t
- This man of myth was accompanied by his blue ox, Babe
- His “The War of the Worlds” broadcast in 1938 caused mass panic
- Clifford Irving is well known for writing a fake autobiography on this reclusive tycoon
- A 1998 April Fool’s Day prank by this fast food chain advertised a specially designed Left-Handed Whopper
- A late-season episode of this sitcom finds D.J. Tanner and her senior class lifting their principal’s car on the school’s roof
- Moltres, Zapdos and Darkrai are among the group of “legendary” characters in this card game and anime; they figure prominently into the universe’s origins and myths
- The nationally syndicated Elvis Duran and the Morning Show has become famous for its daily prank call segments with this name
9.) Fall Fun
Vermont is well known for its foliage and various fall festivals. Pumpkins, leaves, corn mazes, scarecrows, hay rides, high school soccer and football. Exciting stuff! This is also an excuse for me to say that cold apple cider is awesome.
Name a variety of apple.
10. Vermont history
Vermont history and geography was a focal point of my 3rd and 4th grade social studies classes. Answer a question about the state’s history, culture and famous people.
- Can you hear this politician “scream”ing in 2004?
- This famous medical test patient survived a large iron rod being driven through his head in a freak railroad construction accident near the town of Cavendish
- In 1609, this French explorer found a lake soon to be named after him and claimed Vermont as part of New France
- High school teams in Divisions II, III, and IV play their basketball state championship games at the famous Auditorium in this city, the self-proclaimed Granite Center of the World
- Ethan Allen is most closely associated with this group that he led around the time of the American Revolution
- Cohen and Greenfield went into the ice cream business using these first names of theirs
- The first check from this federal program was issued to Vermont resident Ida Fuller in 1940
- T.J. Sorentine’s three-pointer (from the Parking Lot!) helped the UVM men's basketball team to the program’s first NCAA Tournament win in 2005, defeating this former Big East and current ACC team
- After Jason Aldean made a ton of money in 2009 singing about a big green tractor, he better have thanked this 19th century Vermont man, whose green tractors are still popular today
- Vermont’s state fair is held in this city
BONUS: Scrap Heap and Bonuses
Here’s a sampler of questions that did not make the cut and bonuses that I had originally scattered throughout the quiz. Answer as many of these extras as you can; -1 per correct response, -9 for sweeping the set. No penalties for incorrect guesses.
- This author invented snow golf, painting his balls red so he could see them on the snow covered-courses of Vermont
- A UVM alumnus wrote this 1997 short story that was later adapted into a 21st century Best Picture nominated film about Wyoming sheep herders
- I’ve long thought that the first step toward learnding… er.. learning, is admitting that you know nothing. That said, who is my favorite Simpsons character?
- What’s Vermont’s capital city?
- Who is my favorite president? (Hint, review the question intros. Don’t overthink it LOL.)
- Liechtenstein and what Asian nation are the only two that are double landlocked?
- This Saturday Evening Post illustrator drew inspiration from his time in Arlington, Vermont