Tag: local

Registration for the Second annual Kiwanis Sports Trivia Championship is coming to a close.  The date of the contest is January 30th but if you want to enter, you’ll need to register by January 15th.  Do it now!  You can register at Kiwanis’ web site they have set up for the event.

The Sports Trivia Contest will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Champaign, Illinois. Event organizer Steve Zahos is mum on the types of questions being asked other than to say that there are a few new categories.  Indeed, he is right.  Here is the list:

• Illini Men’s Basketball
• St. Louis Cardinals
• National Football League
• What’s The Number?
• Illini Football
• Super Bowls
• Chicago Cubs
• NCAA Men’s Basketball
• Major League Baseball
• Chicago Bears

Alas, I don’t remember What’s the Number, Super Bowls or NCAA Men’s Basketball from last year. 

Team Zealot will once again make an appearance this year.  The good news is that we can’t do much worse than last year.  There’s Room for Improvement!  That’s our slogan and we’re sticking with it.

Shawn and I took part in today’s C-U Kiwanis Sports Trivia Championship at the Hilton Garden Inn.  There were a few words we could use to describe our performance today.  Among the printable ones are “humiliating”, “pitiful”, and “put in our place”. 

No, we didn’t do very well. 

But we DID have fun and the Kiwanis event’s purpose was to raise money for a couple good causes, most notably the Don Moyer’s Boys and Girls Club. 

“Captain”.  I like the sound of that.

Here’s page 1 of the General Baseball round questions (click to enlarge).

Shawn and I did pretty well on the General Baseball round.  I’m embarrassed to say we did better on the St Louis Cardinals round than the Chicago Cubs round (ouch).  I was happy I got this one right:  “What are the dimensions to centerfield in Wrigley Field?”  400 feet.

The judges tabulating the scores.

A representative from the “Dave’s Guys” team accepting the $1000 check prize.

Kudos to “Dave’s Guys” who won it all.  It was a good fight.  It came down to a two-way tie at the end and a tie-breaker was necessary.  The tie-breaker was brutal, it seemed.  Ten questions, no multiple choice.  We knew that both teams had deserved to be there because the Championship came down to one question.  “Dave’s Guys” had to answer EVERY question in order to win it all.  Congratulations to them.

Event Organizer Jim Sheppard

MC Brian Barnhart

 

Thanks to the Kiwanis for a great time.  Jim Sheppard (former PA announcer of the Illini) did a great job organizing the event.  Brian Barnhart (broadcaster for the Illini and former broadcaster for the Angels) used his awesome voice as the MC.  Thanks also to my good friend and teammate Shawn, who at least made it fun and answered the questions I couldn’t. 

The Kiwanis say they plan to do this again so we plan to avenge our mediocre performance.

If you’re in the Champaign-Urbana area, tomorrow (January 15) is the last day to register for the Kiwanis’ Sports Trivia Championship.  The Championship will take place on January 31 at 2pm.  I get the sense that the deadline is pretty hard and fast so sign up now!

Here is the sign-up page.

Not only have I registered for the contest but I’m teaming up with Shawn Lee (yes, teams are allowed).  Some of you might remember Shawn from a few episodes of our now defunct podcast, Baseball Zealot Radio.  Shawn is the webmaster of the Vermilion Voles vintage base ball team.  He’s even been known to pick up a bat for them as well. 

Shawn and I are obviously pretty good at the baseball trivia bit.  But the Kiwanis will be throwing in some Illini sports trivia our way, too (Chicago Bears, too).  Shawn’s a Rutgers man so he won’t be much help with that I suppose. 

Time to brush up on my Illinois sports history, I guess.  Now if only they would include Illini Baseball, I would smoke ‘em all.

Go Team Zealot!