THE USM SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
70 Falmouth Street Portland, Maine 04103
43.6667° N 70.2667° W
Altitude: 10 feet below sea level
Founded January 1970
Julian date: 2458515.35
2018-19: XCIII
"Sn, Hut!!"
THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Friday, February 1, 2019
Quiz XX: The Annual Super Bowl Quiz
DEDICATED TO THE REFEREES!
Yes, of course, we all boo and hiss them and don't wish to see them, unless they go on strike and we watch their replacements. (If you want to avoid seeing any referee, take a vacation to New Orleans.) That having been said, referees are among the bravest citizens on our planet. Many years ago I remember watching a rather displeased football player "disputing" a call made by a referee who, in size comparison, was like a zebra fish bobbing just outside the gaping maw of Moby Dick. I can still clearly see this snorting, cussing, fuming, and screaming 1000 pound amalgam of muscle,steel and fury waving his arms up and down and jumping in a steroid-fueled, seismologist-traumatizing frenzy. (Imagine what a buffalo would look like if a hypnotist had just convinced it that it could fly.) The referee, in contrast, was the picture of serenity, like a museum patron feigning interest in a toilet seat exhibit. Hands folded, eyes focused calmly on his frothing nemesis, he remained admirably still, apart from the involuntary bouncing in response to the rapid ground undulations radiating away from the slightly perturbed linebacker. I marveled at the official's courage and made the remark, "He's the bravest guy in the world for standing there like that," to my brother and father. They, being older, wiser and more accustomed to the nuances of the game, beheld the spectacle tiredly. They both assured me that if the player had laid so much as a single finger -which would have been all he would have required for strangulation- on the referee, his career would have been destroyed. Perhaps. Yet, that seemed a wafer thin protective barrier behind which the referee was stationed. Madmen in the throes of intense emotion are not well known for considering legal minutiae. Fortunately, the player was eventually subdued -three cheers National Guard!- the disputed call was sustained, and the referee remained valiantly on the field, no doubt keenly aware that he was always within stampeding distance of ten metric tons of unbridled rage should he fall out of favor with the mountain giants over whom he yielded what most fans consider despotic control.
Shish boom bah!
It is time yet again for the Super Bowl: an annual, over hyped event in which the locally revered, but globally reviled, Patriots confront yet another foe that is doomed to an ignominious defeat. (Well, except, of course, for the Eagles last year and the Giants a couple other times). As everyone in New England -even those embroiled in the witch trials- knows, the Patriots are ably lead by the seemingly immortal Tom Brady, who's has been elevated in the social consciousness from the status of dynamic heartthrob to a triumph of Japanese robotics. We celebrate the Super Bowl with our annual Super Bowl Quiz. We don't offer many choices, but we do offer a different question format: Each question consists of three parts: (a) The touch down question, worth six points
(b) the extra point question, worth one point
(c) the two point conversion question worth, well, um, two points
How many points can you score?
(1) Touch down question: Which two teams are competing in this Sunday's Super bowl. (NO, you won't get half credit because I gave away half of the answer in the previous paragraph.)
(a) Extra point: In which city are they playing the Super Bowl this Sunday?
(b) Two point conversion: Have the two teams played each other in the Super Bowl before?
(2) Touch down question: Which Super Bowl is Sunday? (Roman Numerals or Arabic numerals accepted)
(a) Extra point: Which Super Bowl between 1 - 100 will consist of the greatest amount of Roman numerals?
(b) Has the NFL always used Roman Numerals to enumerate the Super Bowls?
(3) Touch down question: Which famous former quarterback is going to be offering color commentary during the Super Bowl? (Hint: he retired from the NFL about two years ago)
(a) This quarterback has become quite well known as a commentator because.....
(b) For which NFL team did this quarterback play?
(4) Touch Down Question: How many Super Bowls have gone into over time?
(a) Which was the latest Super Bowl in which this happened?
(b) Which team won that game?
(5) How much will a Super Bowl Advertisement cost this Sunday per half minute?
(a) Ten years ago, the advertisement cost was about how much less:
-20%
-35%
-50%
-65%
(b)How much for a 1 second ad on Sunday? (Probably won't be any)
(6) Which NFL team has won the most Super Bowls?
(a) How many have they won?
(b) Which team has won the second highest number of Super Bowls?
(7) Tom Brady has more Super Bowl rings than any other quarterback. How many does he have?
(a) Name one of the two quarterbacks who has one fewer ring than Tom Brady?
(b) Who is the other only NFL player to have the same number of rings as Tom Brady? (Honestly, this question should be worth 21 points.)
(8) Name two of the four NFL teams that haven't yet appeared in the Super Bowl
(a) Which team went to four consecutive Super Bowls, only to lose them all?
(b) Which is the other team to go to four Super Bowls, although not consecutively, only to lose them all?
Three point field goal question # 1 : About how much does the Lombardi Trophy weigh?
Three point field goal question # 2: About how much would the Lombardi Trophy weigh on the moon?
ANSWERS
(1) New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams
(a) Atlanta
(b) Yes. That was Tom Brady's first Super Bowl (around 1910). The Patriots vs. the St. Louis Rams, same team, different city
(2) Super Bowl LIII (53)
(a) LXXXVIII (88)
(b) No. They used the Arabic numerals 50, instead of L. (How much do you want to bet that they'll use 100 instead of C and 500 instead of D?)
(3) Tony Romo
(a) He has an uncanny ability to predict the play before it happens. The Wall Street Journal studied his predictions over the last season and gave him a 61% accuracy rate
(b) Dallas Cowboys
(4) 1
(a) Superbowl LI
(b) New England Patriots!
(5) $5.25 million
(a) 50% less
(b) $175,000
(6) Pittsburgh Steelers
(a) 6
(b) New England Patriots have won 5. If they win on Sunday, they'll be tied with the Steelers
(7) 5
(a) Terry Bradshaw (4) and Joe Montana (4)
(b) Charles Haley (pass rusher who won Super Bowl rings playing for the 49ers and Cowboys)
(8)Houston Texans, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars and Cleveland Browns
(a) Buffalo Bills
(b) Minnesota Vikings
Three point field goal question # 1: 7 pounds
Three point field goal question # 2: 1.16 pounds