Another Night at Trivia

The best I've ever done at Trivia was winning a disputed first place at a very small school fundraiser trivia event.

So, when Marcia (Friend #3) announced her intention to Win It All at the Teddy J United Way Trivia, I was skeptical. TeddyJ Trivia is the biggest in Saint Louis.

 

She said she was assembling a dream team and I was key. We agreed Gary was not as key, but he could come if we couldn't rustle up another player. As it turned out, he came and filled out the team, which also included Friend #2 and Spouse, Laura and Spouse, plus Anne, who deserves a number (I dub Anne Friend #9).

The powerhouses were Marcia and Evan, Laura's spouse. I was useless and only contributed one answer during the Governmental Departments round. I also think I spawned the good-natured chorus of boos for the Department of Labor, given the worry they've caused us these last few months.

My other contribution was to back Anne up during a debate over one question: “What Southern Hemisphere constellation is half-man, half-horse?”

Marcia in her lust for gold scribbled down Sagittarius without consulting anyone, but Anne stopped her. “Southern hemisphere. Sagittarius is northern hemisphere. We never see the southern hemisphere constellations.”

“This is true.” I said. “Big Dot in New Zealand sees a rabbit in the moon and all sorts of peculiar things.”

Marcia scratched out Sagittarius and said, “So what's it called?”

Anne said, “I don't know. The Centaur? Centauri? Centaurus? Centaurum?”

Marcia wrote “Centaur.” Then she scribbled it out and wrote in Sagittarius again.

“No” I insisted, “It can't be Sagittarius, that's the wrong hemisphere.” She scribbled out Sagittarius and wrote "The Centaur."

Then I had an inspiration. “It's not The Centaur! It's Centauri. Like the nearest star, Alpha Centrauri.”

“That's not a constellation, that's a star,” She stubbornly scratched out "The Centaur" and replaced it with “Sagittarius.”

I lamely argued that Alpha Centarui could be a star in the Centauri constellation, but she was not moved. We went with Sagittarius.

I am sure that at this moment, you are all saying, "Alpha Centarui IS a star in the Centaurus constellation, everyone knows THAT.”  And you are right, so it follows we were wrong. It's moot anyway, since we never wrote down the actual name of the constellation, which is “Centaurus.”

It only came up again when we eventually actually placed third, right behind a two-way tie for first. Anne laughed, “We could have said we were first if you'd listened to me about the constellation.”

I am very smug about coming in third, actually. It's quite an accomplishment, and came with a ten dollar gift card. I could use it to buy this ...

 

... and put it on Marcia's desk.

Comments

[Big Dot]

Proud, and somewhat unnerved, by the name-check, and that my, er, rabbiting on so randomly could have an effect on an event on the other side of the world. It's the closest I've ever felt to a butterfly - other than, you know, indulging in the sort of thinking that leads to things like the Rabbit in the Moon.
But well done on third against so many teams! Yay.

[Hattie]

Only ten bucks for that art treasure?

[theQueen]

Big Dot - We did a closer analysis when we got back and we were truly only one point away from a three way first place tie. So, so close.
Hattie - Many plastic things can be had for ten bucks.