3/13/2011

Another sports question tonight, but this one was a little more obscure: What is the Charlie Conacher Humanitarian Award? This is an award in the world of professional hockey that was named after NHL Hall of Famer Charlie Conacher. It was given to an NHL player who made an "outstanding contribution to humanitarian or community service projects". The award was given out annually from 1969 to 1984 and then retired by the NHL. A similar award has been given out since 1988, The King Clancy Memorial Trophy. It also goes to the top humanitarian in the NHL each year.

Difficulty: 3 - Fully Engaged

Theme: Feeling Sleuthy

3/12/2011

Tonight's question was a juicy sports statistic that would have flustered most other guides: What is Michigan's record vs Ohio State in men's ice hockey? It turns out that the Michigan Wolverines have owned the Ohio State Buckeyes in men's hockey. They have an all-time record of 65-30-11 against them. You can slice this series up in many ways and Michigan is dominant in all of them. 33-12-6 at home, 28-15-5 on the road, 4-2-11 in overtime, 4-3-0 on neutral ice, and 7-3-0 in the last 10 meetings.

Difficulty: 4 - Very Challenging

Theme: Stats Nut

3/04/2011

I am a total baseball and statistics geek so even the toughest baseball questions don't phase me. I got one of those tonight: What is the Cubs projected 2011 opening day lineup? Luckily, I knew right where to find a depth chart for the Cubs online but it still left me with a lot of typing to do, and some of those names aren't that easy to spell.

Left Field - Alfonso Soriano
Center Field - Marlon Byrd
Right Field - Kosuke Fukudome
Third Base - Aramis Ramirez
Short Stop - Starlin Castro
Second Base - Blake De Witt
First Base - Carlos Pena
Catcher - Geovany Soto
Pitcher - Ryan Dempster

As a die hard Boston Red Sox fan I was very happy to see the Cubs pick up Carlos Pena and Matt Garza. I like Pena but he seems to hit about .500 against the BoSox who are his hometown team. He grew up in Mass. and attended Northeastern. I dislike watching Garza because he spits between every pitch, sometimes multiple times. It is monumentally disgusting to watch him pitch a game.

Difficulty: 4 - Very Challenging

Theme: Baseball Rocks

2/24/2011

I got a question tonight about what half marathon Todd Faulkner is training for. "Uh,oh" I thought, "another lonely guy is asking a question about himself". But that thought turned out to be totally wrong. Todd Faulkner is actually a TV reporter who works for WPSD, the NBC affiliate in Paducah, Kentucky. Todd is a sports reporter and even has a regular series called Todd's Get Fit Reports about eating and living healthy. He started the series in 2009 and has lost 55 pounds and 10 inches from his waist while doing it. He is indeed training for an upcoming half marathon, the Paducah Iron Mom Half Marathon on May 7, 2011. Color me impressed!

Difficulty: 3 - Fully Engaged

2/22/2011

Every so often you get a question that has stumped a previous guide but is so important that it's immediately asked again so you get a chance to find the answer they couldn't. I got one of those tonight: Where was Babe Ruth's first home run hit?

This one took some digging but I eventually determined that the Babe's first home run occurred on May 6, 1915 when he played for the Boston Red Sox. Fittingly, the team they played that day was the New York Yankees and the game was played at the Polo Grounds in New York City. Yay me!

Difficulty: 4 - Very Challenging

2/21/2011

Got a question tonight about the length of a high school hockey period in Minnesota. I did not realize that high school hockey games are shorter than college or professional hockey games but they are, at least in Minnesota they are. All varsity games, both boys and girls, consist of three 17-minute periods there. Junior varsity periods can be anywhere from 15 to 17 minutes long by mutual agreement. College, pro, and international games consist of three 20-minute periods in case you were wondering.

Difficulty: 3 - Fully Engaged

2/12/2011

My favorite question today was: What's the record for most goals scored in a college hockey game? It turns out the record for most goals scored in a NCAA Division One game is 28 goals way back in 1968. Yes, Northeastern beat Brown 21-7 in a HOCKEY game on 12/17/1968. Imagine being a fan at that game. You go to the bathroom and you could easily miss 3 or 4 goals. That game makes the NHL All Star game look like a defensive battle.

Difficulty: 2 - Ho Hum

2/11/2011

Got a question today about who led the MLB in Strikeouts in 1915. The answer was Pete Alexander who had 241 Ks for the Philadelphia Athletics. More amazing than that is that Pete won 31 games that year for the As. Many pitchers don't even get 31 starts in a season now and the season is 8 games longer now than it was then - 162 games vs 154.

Difficulty: 1 - Slam Dunk!