(NOTE: This update was written early Friday evening, Sept 30, covering games through Thursday, Sept. 29. It was initially given no category, so no one saw it other than maybe Dave. I recategorized it early on Saturday evening, Sept. 30.)
Ryan and I are in a trivia contest called the Learned League. Friday we finished a 5-week season with quizzes every work day (25 in all), each quiz having 6 questions, and each day facing off against a different opponent, against whom you can play defense by how you set the values of the questions for them. The questions can be on any topic. They are seldom about baseball, which might explain why both of us struggle. In the season we just finished, I ended 11 – 12 – 2, and Ryan…. well, he did even worse.
On the last day, here was question #1:
Q1. | GAMES/SPORT — Identify the baseball star pictured here. Click here |
To save you having to click there, here is the picture:
42% of Learned League contestants got this one right. I’ll give you a hint: the most common wrong answer was Bryce Harper (6%). This means 52% of contestants guessed someone else, with no more than 6% guessing any other single person. (My truly brilliant daughter Melissa is also a Learned League member. She guessed Ace McBattyface. That is not the right answer.)
That takes care of the good. Now for the bad and the ugly:
Who is this? Bill James says he ranks #1 all time on one of our remaining criteria. As for the other — well, surprisingly (to me) he had a 12-year MLB career in which he amassed a total of about 25 WAR — so he was worth an average of 2 WAR a year, definitely above average. So maybe we need someone else here:
This EWIe “leads” MLB in negative WAR this year, at -2.4 fWAR. He’s got the title sewn up since the man in second place (Gerardo Parra) only has -1.8 fWAR with three games to go. Our mystery man is not like Altuve, Segura, etc: EWIes who thrive. He’s one who stinks like a EWIe should. Can you name him?
The rest of the Learned League last day of the season went like this:
Q2. | GEOGRAPHY — Upon the completion of its full route in 1889, what were the eastern and western terminuses of the original passenger train service dubbed the Orient Express? (Note: two cities required in answer.) |
Q3. | LIFESTYLE — This is an example of a cosmetic applicator designed and marketed for the application of what? Note that the term itself is edited from the photo. Click here |
Q4. | MATH — An equilateral triangle has all sides of equal length, while an isosceles triangle has exactly two sides the same length. What’s the accompanying term for any triangle with all sides of different lengths? |
Q5. | WORLD HIST — What is the two-word title customarily conferred by a British monarch on his or her eldest daughter? There have officially been seven such title-holders, including the incumbent Anne, the oldest daughter of Elizabeth II (and her second eldest child after Charles) |
Q6. | POP MUSIC — What smash hit song, the biggest in the career of country music group Little Big Town, won both the Song of the Year and Single of the Year at the CMA Awards in 2015, as well as the Best Country Song at the 2016 Grammys (losing to Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” for Song of the Year Grammy)? |
I got 4 of these right, thanks to a good guess on #5. I should have gotten #4 right — 67% of Learned League contestants did — but I blanked on it. #6 was completely out of the question for me, along with 83% of Learned Leaguers (called LLamas). Four right is pretty good for me, since I only get 46.1% of the questions right on average.
I beat my opponent, a female Yale University alumna, 6(4)-0(1) — which means I earned 6 points for my 4 right answers (she thought I would get #6 right, silly woman, so valued it at 0 for me) (she knew I was from Oregon, so in her cute Yale-educated way, probably assumed I swam in a country-music-infused milieu) (and yes, I see the stereotype-infused irony in my making that comment), and I pitched a 1-hit shutout against her (I valued #3 at 0 for her, the only one she got right) (I assumed, in my cute male way, that she would recognize the item pictured in #3). I finished 15th out of 28 in the rundle both Ryan and I were in (there are hundreds of rundles, I think). She finished 14th, so this was a big win for me against a well-matched opponent.
If you’d like to try the Learned League once for free, I (or Ryan) can nominate you for membership. The next season begins in November. It could be a fun offseason consolation.
Ok, on to the standings after Thursday’s games and…
EFL | ||||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB | RS | RA |
Haviland Dragons | 99 | 60 | .623 | — | 817.8 | 633.0 |
Old Detroit Wolverines | 99 | 60 | .621 | 0.4 | 808.8 | 629.9 |
Portland Rosebuds | 96 | 63 | .602 | 3.3 | 789.9 | 635.0 |
Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 94 | 64 | .594 | 4.8 | 850.8 | 703.6 |
Canberra Kangaroos | 88 | 71 | .554 | 11.1 | 765.8 | 678.1 |
Peshastin Pears | 87 | 72 | .548 | 11.9 | 777.9 | 697.7 |
Flint Hill Tornadoes | 79 | 80 | .498 | 19.9 | 712.5 | 710.0 |
Kaline Drive | 74 | 85 | .465 | 25.1 | 771.6 | 836.3 |
Cottage Cheese | 66 | 92 | .420 | 32.3 | 707.2 | 830.6 |
D.C. Balk | 58 | 101 | .365 | 41.1 | 664.0 | 889.1 |
AL East | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Old Detroit Wolverines | 99 | 60 | .621 | — |
Boston Red Sox | 92 | 67 | .579 | 6.7 |
Baltimore Orioles | 87 | 72 | .547 | 11.7 |
Toronto Blue Jays | 87 | 72 | .547 | 11.7 |
New York Yankees | 83 | 76 | .522 | 15.7 |
Flint Hill Tornadoes | 79 | 80 | .498 | 19.5 |
Tampa Bay Rays | 66 | 93 | .415 | 32.7 |
NL East | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Washington Nationals | 93 | 66 | .585 | — |
Canberra Kangaroos | 88 | 71 | .554 | 5 |
New York Mets | 85 | 74 | .535 | 8 |
Miami Marlins | 78 | 80 | .494 | 14.5 |
Philadelphia Phillies | 70 | 89 | .440 | 23 |
Atlanta Braves | 66 | 92 | .418 | 26.5 |
D.C. Balk | 58 | 101 | .365 | 35 |
AL Central | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Pittsburgh Alleghenys | 94 | 64 | .594 | — |
Cleveland Indians | 91 | 67 | .576 | 2.8 |
Detroit Tigers | 85 | 73 | .538 | 8.8 |
Kansas City Royals | 81 | 78 | .509 | 13.3 |
Chicago White Sox | 77 | 82 | .484 | 17.3 |
Minnesota Twins | 57 | 102 | .358 | 37.3 |
NL Central | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Chicago Cubs | 101 | 57 | .639 | — |
St. Louis Cardinals | 83 | 76 | .522 | 18.5 |
Pittsburgh Pirates | 78 | 80 | .494 | 23 |
Milwaukee Brewers | 71 | 88 | .447 | 30.5 |
Cincinnati Reds | 67 | 92 | .421 | 34.5 |
Cottage Cheese | 66 | 92 | .420 | 34.7 |
AL West | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Haviland Dragons | 99 | 60 | .623 | — |
Texas Rangers | 94 | 65 | .591 | 5.1 |
Seattle Mariners | 85 | 74 | .535 | 14.1 |
Houston Astros | 83 | 76 | .522 | 16.1 |
Kaline Drive | 74 | 85 | .465 | 25.1 |
Los Angeles Angels | 72 | 87 | .453 | 27.1 |
Oakland A’s | 67 | 92 | .421 | 32.1 |
NL West | ||||
TEAM | WINS | LOSSES | PCT. | GB |
Portland Rosebuds | 96 | 63 | .602 | — |
Los Angeles Dodgers | 91 | 68 | .572 | 4.8 |
Peshastin Pears | 87 | 72 | .548 | 8.6 |
San Francisco Giants | 84 | 75 | .528 | 11.8 |
Colorado Rockies | 74 | 85 | .465 | 21.8 |
San Diego Padres | 68 | 91 | .428 | 27.8 |
Arizona Diamondbacks | 66 | 93 | .415 | 29.8 |