From: stephen.w.perry@gmail.com   
      
   On Thursday, October 5, 2023 at 1:54:30 AM UTC-4, Mark Brader wrote:   
   > These questions were written to be asked in Toronto on 2023-09-18,    
   > and should be interpreted accordingly.    
   >    
   > On each question you may give up to two answers, but if you give    
   > both a right answer and a wrong answer, there is a small penalty.    
   > Please post all your answers in a single followup to the newsgroup,    
   > based only on your own knowledge. (In your answer posting, quote    
   > the questions and place your answer below each one.) I will reveal    
   > the correct answers in about 3 days.    
   >    
   > All questions were written by members of the Usual Suspects and    
   > are used here by permission, but have been reformatted and may have    
   > been retyped and/or edited by me. The posting and tabulation of    
   > current-events questions is independent of the concurrent posting    
   > of other rounds. For further information please see my 2023-05-24    
   > companion posting on "Questions from the Canadian Inquisition    
   > (QFTCI*)".    
   >    
   >    
   > I wrote both of these rounds.    
   >    
   >    
   > * Game 1, Round 4 - Sports - And in Last Place    
   >    
   > In each case name the team. Either the place name or team name    
   > will be sufficient, like "Saskatchewan" or "Roughriders", unless    
   > we say otherwise.    
   >    
   > 1. While exact information is not available, in its first 63 years    
   > of operation this professional team won maybe 3 games, and lost    
   > about 16,000 games.    
      
   washington generals   
      
   > 2. Please decode the rot13 for this question only after you have    
   > finished with the previous one. The rest of this round concerns    
   > teams playing in ordinary professional leagues. All the teams    
   > are still playing today, and if they have changed names, we will    
   > accept their current name. In the NBA, due to a labor dispute,    
   > the 2011-12 season was only 66 games long. This Southeast    
   > Division team finished the season with 7 wins and 59 losses.    
   > Their leading scorer was Gerald Henderson Jr.    
      
   charlotte hornets   
      
   > 3. The worst record in major-league baseball since World War II    
   > belongs to this National League team in 1962, when they won    
   > 40 games and lost 120. Jimmy Breslin's book about that season    
   > was titled "Can't Anybody Here Play This Game?"    
      
   new york mets   
      
   > 4. The worst baseball record in recent years was this American    
   > League Central Division team with 47 wins and 114 losses in 2019.    
      
   detroit tigers   
      
   > 5. Considering only home games for each team, the all-time record    
   > home losing streak for *all* professional sports in North    
   > America was the 20 consecutive home losses suffered by the    
   > St. Louis Browns in June and July 1953 -- until *this* team    
   > exceeded it by losing 22 consecutive home games from October    
   > 2019 to August 2023. Obviously this isn't a baseball team --    
   > what team is it?    
      
   ... my only guess is that it must be a cfl football team to ensure   
   the round has the minimum required  amount of canadian content.   
   but I can barely remember who wins the gray cup so ... edmonton?   
      
   > 6. In the 1976 NFL season, this team lost all 14 games. Despite    
   > their location, they were then playing in the AFC West Division.    
   > Their head coach was John McKay and their primary quarterback    
   > was Steve Spurrier.    
      
   tampa bay buccaneers   
      
   > 7. In 1974-75 this NHL team in the Norris Division won 8 games,    
   > lost 67, and tied 5. Four of their losses were by 10 goals    
   > or more. Their primary goalie, Ron Low, had a goals-against    
   > average of 5.45.    
      
   washington capitals   
      
   > 8. In 1992-93 this team in the NHL's Smythe Division won 11 games    
   > and tied 2, but their 71 losses are a record that still stands    
   > today. At one point they lost 17 games in a row; in one game    
   > they scored first and lost 13-1. Their leading scorer was    
   > Kelly Kisio with 26 goals on the whole season.    
      
   ottawa senators?   
      
   > 9. This English soccer team was promoted into the Premier League    
   > in 2007, but had clinched relegation back to their previous    
   > league 6 weeks before the 2007-08 season was over! That season    
   > they won 1 game, drew 8, and lost 29. They scored 20 goals in    
   > the whole season to 89 for their opponents. Billy Davies was    
   > replaced as manager by Paul Jewell, who lasted only a little    
   > over a year.    
      
   derby rams   
      
   > 10. On this continent, the record for losses in Major League Soccer    
   > was set in 1999. Including games decided by shootout,    
   > this Eastern Conference team won just 7 games and lost 25.    
   > They scored 35 goals in the season, 7 of them by Eduardo Hurtado;    
   > Bora Milutinovic was the coach.    
      
   new york red bulls   
      
   > After completing the round, please decode the rot13: On questions    
   > 1 and 9, the full name is required -- place name and team name.    
   > The same applies on question 10 if you give the present-day name.    
   > On question 3, the team name is required.    
   >    
   >    
   > * Game 1, Round 6 - Literature - The Title Character    
   >    
   > In each case we will name a book whose title refers to a specific    
   > character, and you must name *that character*. For example, we say    
   > "The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien, and you say Sauron.    
   > In some cases the character's first name will do, but we won't    
   > tell you which questions. Note that the title character is not    
   > necessarily the lead character of the book.    
   >    
   > 1. "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien.    
      
   bilbo baggins   
      
   > 2. "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway.    
      
   santiago   
      
   > 3. "Rabbit, Run" by John Updike.    
      
   harry angstrom   
      
   > 4. "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov.    
      
   dolores haze   
      
   > 5. "The Idiot" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.    
      
   fyodor dostoyevsky   
      
   > 6. "The Merchant of Venice" by William Shakespeare.    
      
   antonio   
      
   > 7. "Lady Chatterley's Lover" by D.H. Lawrence. We want the second    
   > title character, of course.    
      
   oliver mellors   
      
   > 8. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling    
   > ["Rolling"]. We want the second title character, of course.    
      
   nicolas flammel   
      
   > 9. "The Stranger", also known in English as "The Outsider", by    
   > Albert Camus.    
      
   meursalt?   
      
   > 10. "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert A. Heinlein.    
      
   valentine michael smith   
      
   > After completing the round, please decode the rot13: If you just    
   > quoted the title as your answer for one question, go back and tell    
   > the title character's *real* name.    
   > --    
   > Mark Brader, Toronto "Logic is logic. That's all I say."    
   > m...@vex.net -- Oliver Wendell Holmes    
   >    
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)