|
|
|
| CNOF Home
| History Home
| The 70s
| The 80s
| The 90s
| The 00s
| The 10s | |
| The 2000s... This is the page where you can read about CNOF’s history and team member recollections ordered by contest year. As we move into the next decade, we play CNOF-less for the first time since the mid-80s. Wondering who Bud Somerville is? Search the Internet for the sport of curling, or you can view our explanation. If you would like to contribute some history to this archive, please drop me a note with the details. |
Select a year to view highlights and lowlights of the contest
|
2000 Being Bud Somerville 2001 CNOF 54: Old and Dazed 2002 CNOF 54: Bud Strikes Back! 2003 Weapons-Grade CNOF 54 2004 Norm's Stool: Feel it Ooze or is it Oz 2005 Norm's Stool: The Return of Tecumseh 2006 Norm's Stool: Bubbles in My Heine 2007 Norm's Stool: Moonglow off the Pool 2008 Norm's Foole: One Silent Monkey 2009 Norm's Foole: Home of Uromicitisis |
CNOF begins it’s fourth decade by squashing the Oz’s year
2000 bug. The contest, with the theme “Trivia Y2K: The Bug
Strikes,” featured a retro-hour
where rules from 1981 and prior were used.For the first time since the mid-80s, we have a team name that does not contain the abbreviation CNOF. Is this a trend? Who knows? We didn’t know either until the day of the contest. We led the entire contest as our 11,060 points defeated runner-up Network (playing as Ne2rk) and their 9305
Our movie notes were somewhat buggy as demonstrated by questions from The Waterboy: Was it Alice (Terry’s notes) or Phyllis (Dave’s notes)? We did pretty well with the retro-hour as we were able to implement our patented “mumble and guess technique” made famous in the ’70s. Oz’s questions were pre-assigned a point value like the old days and we could call as many times as we wanted to get the question answered. The retro-hour was at 5:00 a.m. Sunday to minimize disruption to the phone service for the fair city of Stevens Point (which is why guessing went the way of the dinosaurs). In a contest where Elvis was frequently in the building, Yaz made a return as Oz’s favorite question (see 1983). This was the first year the Point Cup was given out to the winning team. Our team name will be engraved on the traveling trophy and like the possessors of the Stanley Cup, we will have the next year to show off, eat from, and swim with the trophy. If things go as we plan, we will have the cup for at least the next two years. |
A return to the “Old Days” is a theme this year as the contest
steps back in time with several hours of questions where we could
repeatedly guess at questions. Other questions had pre-assigned point
values. The team also returned to the
CNOF name this year and finished in
second place trailing Network by 100 points. Network finished with 8605
points to our 8505. Tin Man finished third with 7625 points.The contest again featured retro-hours where rules from 1981 and prior were used. Some hours had ten questions instead of the usual eight. For several hours the questions were assigned point values and frequently we could guess at question answers until we nailed it or ran out of time. The guessing questions lowered team point totals by creating numerous 10-point or even 5-point answers resulting in team scores 25% lower than previous years. An unfortunate side effect of 10-point questions was boredom. All those easy (or guessable) questions made for some real yawner hours. Let’s hope that in the future, guessing questions are much more difficult.
A 32nd place trophy was awarded this year to the team finishing in 32nd place. This begins a tradition of the place-of-the-year trophy (next year a 33rd place trophy will be awarded). Too bad most of us won't be around to see the last place team get a trophy in 400 years. We’ve got the music medley questions down to a science using technology and skilled people, but we still managed to not get credit for “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill” (track 6, Beatle’s “White Album”). The usual contest question patterns reached a zenith (or nadir) this year when we frequently found ourselves looking for answers based on an alphabetic hint: all answers seemed to start with the same letter. Some hours we were chasing down ‘S’ answers. Other hours it was ‘L’, ‘M’, or ‘K’. And for many hours the answer to the eighth question began with a ‘W’. Thanks to the miracle of DVDs, we know that Ben Stiller did not throw Viceroys on the roof in “Meet the Parents.” We found out after the contest that Children of a Lesser God also fought this one with scenes from their DVD copy of the movie. |
2002 CNOF 54: Bud Strikes Back!
Oh, the Places You'll Go
playing Trivia 33; however, you would be traveling at the rate of 10
points per question this year. For the second contest in a row, trivia
scoring deflation was in place caused by numerous easy questions.
CNOF and Bud returned this year and finished in
second place with 7470 points. Network totaled 8265
points to win the contest for the second year running. Graduates of a Lesser God
solidified their reputation as an elite team by finishing in third with
7260 points.
The 33rd place trophy was awarded this year to the Dad’s Computer team continuing the tradition of the place-of-the-year trophy (next year a 34th place trophy will be awarded). The top ten finishing teams received some extra prizes this year in addition to a trophy. The teams received a Studebaker John and the Hawks music CD and a Family Pass to the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana. Dad’s Computers also received the pile o’ Studebaker stuff. You might have thought from the contest publicity poster that a couple of All In the Family questions might be in order, but not this year. Trivia 33 was about Studebakers on every street corner, Callahans, Clancys, Yancys, Harrys, Rams, Lambs, and ding dongs (almost all worth about 10 points each). It wouldn’t be Trivia without Horowitz questions and all the traditional questions that are asked year after year. And let’s try that Trivia Stone question again next year. I can’t recall missing a Stone question ever, but maybe Pointers are not used to seeing pawn shop symbols. Next year we will be ready. The Internet continues its value both in answering questions and writing the questions. Many questions this year were reverse engineered to make sure the answer fits the pattern of the questions (the aforementioned Callahans, Studebakers, etc.). I guess that major medium called the Internet or the Web or the Net is here to stay and it’s not a fad after all. |
Trivia 34 was a setback year
for CNOF 54. Fourth place is the lowest finish for this team since our
similar finish in the other Bush-Iraqi war year of 1991. CNOF's
score
of 8075 left us 710 points out of first place. We also finished a
distant 430 points behind the 3rd place team, Graduates of a Lesser God.
Network wins for the third year in a row. A lack of players this year
seemed to be a factor in our relatively poor finish. That and some kids
not studying hard enough in school and being punished by parents by not
letting them come along to the contest. We did notice that the easy
questions being asked in the overnight hours led to our team members
getting more sleep as we only needed a skeleton crew to run the
contest.
The 34th place trophy was awarded this year to the "Phones Down, Phones Down In the Back" team continuing the tradition of the place-of-the-year
This contest marked the 25th anniversary of Jim Oliva's involvement in the contest. He started writing questions as The Oz in 1979. For most teams, too young to remember the first ten years of the contest, Jim is the one and only face of Trivia. Congratulations to Jim and his 15-year veteran partner John Eckendorf. A major thank you goes out to Tim Somers of the Beer Pigs who put together the Shoutcast web stream of the contest. WWSP did not broadcast the contest over the web this year, but Tim got something up and running allowing our out-of-state team members and others to listen in and play. Tim might need donations next year to defray his expenses, so please contribute if you plan to use the web stream. If you have questions about the technology or want to contribute to fund the next contest please visit the Trivia Forum. |
CNOF teamed up with Norm's Stool for
one of the most fun contests that we've experienced in years. We
played well, we ate well (more on that later) and we had many laughs
doing it. Plus, we had a toilet sitting in the front yard as our team HQ
sign. Our score
 of 6925 points put us in 7th place. We actually finished in 6th place, but
due to a problem with the scorekeepers, we were assigned 7th. The Knights
of Neek finished 2810 points ahead of us and won the contest easily over
second place Network and third place Graduates of a Lesser God. The Norm's
Stool team of Jodi and Bonnie Baganz, Troy Engstrom and Andy and John
Rehman were a fantastic crew to team up with and "Thanks for the
Contest" became a very meaningful phrase to the CNOF members. The
Hour 54 crew, who had played with CNOF since 1998, left CNOF and reformed
as Hour 54 and finished the contest in 20th place.
The 35th place trophy was awarded this year to the "Midnight Madness -- Gidder Dun" team continuing the tradition of the place-of-the-year
This contest was characterized by the presence of a documentary film crew around us for most of the contest. As part of the Trivia USA, now called Triviatown, documentary project, the producers and camera teams visited several of the trivia teams including the Norm's Stool team. The team has a better feeling of what reality TV is all about by experiencing camera lens that are frequently eight inches from your face. We missed a lot of big point questions this year, but we did have one or two notable hours including the four-question hour 49 when we scored 450 points of a possible 450. Getting the New Trivia Times picture of Dick Williams correct was important to that hour. At the other end of the spectrum was hour 8 where we managed a paltry 50 points out of a possible 1125. We bounced back the very next hour when we accumulated 575 points by knowing "Torquay" by the Fireballs (thanks Ox!) and the fictional band The Blue Jeans. We had some unplanned excitement when our copy of The New Trivia Times went missing--the copy with all our Trivia Stone stamps in it. As we neared the last hour where we would need to turn in the booklet, we found the book in the possession of one of our team members who had gone home to Mosinee for a break. We got it back just in time to go collect our points. |
2005 Norm's Stool: The Return of Tecumseh
The Norm's Stool - CNOF combination
continued this year as we welcomed Doug Regan back to the team
after taking off the previous year with the lamest excuse in the business:
he had to work. Our score
 of 7380 points landed us in 10th place. Network easily won the contest with
10,630 points ahead of second-place Tin Man and third-place Graduates of a Lesser God. The
contest theme of "Keep on Trivia" ushered in a new type of
question this year: the mysterious and challenging Truckin' Question. More
on the Truckin' Questions later.
The 36th place trophy was awarded this year to the "Nightmare Squad" team continuing the tradition of the place-of-the-year
The documentary film crew was back getting more pictures and video. As part of the Triviatown documentary project, the producers and camera teams visited several of the trivia teams including the Norm's Stool team. The finished product might be ready in 2006. We missed some big pointers again this year. We had New Trivia Times picture #10 (Paula Raymond) but we didn't call it in costing us 290 points. We knew the 335-point Spirit and Doors album covers question (hour 33, question 7), but due to confusion, did not call the answer in. The question was "According to the back of the album Family That Plays Together, take the minimum amount of money painted on the window and add it to the minimum amount to stay at the Morrison Hotel. What is the total amount if you add the numbers together?" The total was derived by adding the $6 shown on the Spirit album Family That Plays Together and $2.50 shown on The Doors Morrison Hotel album for a total of $8.50 which was the answer to the question. Speaking of The New Trivia Times, the pictures were published in an 8½" x 11" format for the first time. Picture #21, the one that showed Irv's Burgers, was the basis for a coincidence. Jon Miskowski sent an email to team member Dan Olson who was in Los Angeles on a business trip saying that Irv's was located in West Hollywood. Dan just happened to be staying down the street from Irv's (on Santa Monica Boulevard), so he went over there and talked with Sonia who runs the place. While Dan ate a wonderful burger in the outdoor restaurant, Sonia showed him the Linda Ronstadt album cover which was framed behind glass at the restaurant. She said she had received several calls and emails about the New Trivia Times picture. Dan explained the contest to her and why strange people are calling her. Sonia rewarded Dan with free French fries, an autographed "good luck" paper plate and a t-shirt. The Truckin' Questions were basically questions that were read as any other question, but you had several hours to research and phone in your answer. Eight questions were distributed throughout the contest and most were relatively difficult even with the extra time to find the answers. According to Oz, the Truckin' Questions may or may not be back in 2006. We'll have to wait and see. |
2006 Norm's Stool: Bubbles in My Heine
|
Norm's Stool finished
in 15th place this year as a slow start kept us mired in the
20s for most of the contest. Our score of 6175 points included a
400-pointer that Doug Regan, our team Preakness expert, nailed in hour 52.
The 37th place trophy was awarded this year to the Four Books and the Odd Finger team continuing the tradition of the place-of-the-year trophy.
Many trivia players had a chance to view the award-winning documentary Triviatown which sold out at the Wisconsin Film Festival the previous weekend. Nobody on our team has seen the finished product yet, but we will when we can. We were well-fed again this year by Bonnie; we all ate like kings. We also welcomed some new members to the team: John, Jim, Justin, Jan and Ron—all are great additions to the team. Whoa there were a lot of big point questions this year and we thought there were a lot last year. Hour 19 had two 500-point answers and a total of 1750 in available points. However one of the 500-pointers should have been tossed. Here's how the question read: "This brand of bread claims in a registered slogan that it 'makes sandwiches sing.' What is the name of this bread?" Well Sugardale was the answer, but Sugardale makes lunchmeat not bread. This question came from a commercial that aired on Nick at Night during period-appropriate programming. Overall there were eleven 500-point questions in the contest. The New Trivia Times, in a Trivia first, included a small sandwich bag containing breakfast cereal. This clue was the basis for two of the questions in this contest. An obvious question, what kind of cereal is it (Green Slime) and a less obvious one which required the cereal box to answer the final question of the contest: “On a box of Green Slime, there is a crossword puzzle on the back of the box. What is the answer to question number 8 on this crossword puzzle?” The question ended up being worth 70 points for the correct answer: Trivia. The Truckin' Questions introduced in the 2005 contest were apparently retired as we did not have any this year. Adios to what might have become a nice tradition. The music medley questions continued and seemed to be much more difficult as point values for individual snippets were higher. Just getting the medleys broken out into the eight different slots was difficult. Hour 7 included ten questions all about the year 1946—a tip of the cap to Jim Oliva’s birth year and his 60th birthday milestone in 2006. At the end of hour 31, the Oz announced that “when he got back, a team would be disqualified.” We waited hours to find out that a team was DQ’d for calling in on multiple phone numbers which is against the rules. Calling in on multiple phone numbers would theoretically give you a second guess at an answer. A new computer scoring system for the contest, announced by the Oz in the week prior to the contest, had its ups and downs. The new system replaced a DOS-based system that had been in use for the last 26 years. By the end of the contest many teams were dismayed to find out that they had been shorted 600 points or so with the new system the likely cause. It appears that all top teams lost similar points, so the scoring errors did not change the finish order. |
2007 Norm's Stool: Moonglow off the Pool!
|
Norm's Stool
finished in 17th place this year as, yet again, a slow start kept us
out of the top ten the entire contest. After hour 9, we were in 37th
place. Following
The 38th place trophy was awarded this year to Particle Truckers in 10th Gear continuing the tradition of giving a trophy to the team that lands in the spot that matches the contest number.
The Trivia Kickoff movie was Live Free or Die (2006) and this was the year that a couple of Team Thicko-ites got married atop their parade float prior to the contest. This was the first year you could register to play the contest from anywhere in the country over the Internet. The running questions are out the window, but most other questions can be played just as if the team was local. Registration was $75 to play, but you get the New Trivia Times overnighted to you. Why not just email the NTT? 2007 was Melissa's first contest and Doug had a season-appropriate Mardi Gras King Cake flown in to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Austin found the baby in it after eating most of the cake. So I guess Austin will be getting the cake next year... The much-maligned Wikipedia became a topic of discussion this year. Some teams would quickly edit a Wikipedia entry knowing full well that other teams would be looking there for answers. We got caught once on the Billy and Mandy question when the correct answer was modified in Wikipedia. You would think sabotaging other teams would be against the rules, but I guess not. And finally, let's conclude with one more Crazy Becky moment. This was a real nail-biter as all teams knew that hour 54 would bring the Carl Yastrzemski question. And many people were thinking "that's a tough name to pronounce if you haven't heard of the guy." What would happen when Becky would read the answer to question five? Here is what happened (and here too). |
2008 Norm's Foole: One Silent Monkey
|
Norm's Foole
finished in 14th place this year with 6380 points which was
550 out of the top 10. The loss of one of the most recognizable voices
in Trivia will make
Heavy snow the first night of the contest messed us up on the Stone clues, but it didn't matter as, for safety reasons, the Stone Clue exercise was cancelled by the Oz. But, the Stone clues were still read over the air even though the whole Stone Clue thing was gone for the year. The contest community was shocked by loss of one of the most recognizable voices in Trivia: Tom Daniels. Tom had been involved in the contest since 1974 which is an amazing 35 years. The announcement was made after Hour 39 and included a dedication consisting of a reading from the movie The Crow and a replay of the traditional contest beginning (see box) and of course, Steppenwolf. The 39th place trophy was awarded this year to Opey's Tarboosh continuing the tradition of giving a trophy to the team that lands in the spot that matches the contest number.
The Trivia Kickoff movie was Special (2006). The movie was shown April 4 and 5. This was a year where an Internet search website was recommended by the contest organizers. GoodSearch.com gives money to a favorite charity every time you do a search. In this case the favorite charity was the radio station. And this year we heard "This question is brought to you by TriviaMania.com," the first time we have had sponsored questions in the history of the contest. We had another Mardi Gras King Cake flown in on Saturday from Haydel's Bakery in New Orleans. Austin found the little plastic baby that was embedded in the cake again. The last question of the contest had to do with dialogue from the movie Libeled Lady (1936). The question was "Please call in and give us the reply to this big screen movie question: 'Well, in case you didn't know it, it's two o'clock in the morning, and I've been asleep. Well, what do I do? Put the dress in mothballs for another trip?' Please be exact." The answer given was "Change it for a straitjacket and order me one" even though the exact dialogue in the movie ended with "...order one for me" not "...order me one." Many teams got it right as it had a value of 35 points. |
2009 Norm's Foole: Home of Uromicitisis
|
Norm's Foole
finished in 34th place this year with 5,355 points, our worst
showing since the Nixon administration. Network won the contest with
9,890 points ahead of second-place
Dad's Computers and third-place
This contest started out well for most teams as the weather was beautiful and warm on Friday and Saturday, a big difference from the heavy snows of Trivia 2008. Tragically, that meant we had to do the Trivia Stone again. Maybe it's because this contest has been going on for 40 years, but it seems like the memorials read at the beginning of the contest was a
We had a new Trivia announcer this year. We're not sure who he is as his name was purposely not announced, but he did a great job with the tough assignment of following a Trivia legend. The 40th place trophy was awarded this year to Village Idiots and Nude Clown Dancers continuing the tradition of giving a trophy to the team that lands in the spot that matches the contest number. The Trivia Kickoff movie was the classic Casablanca (1942). The movie was shown April 3 and 4 at Roger's Cinema. Along with the movie feature a trio of cartoons were shown: Rabbit Fire (1951), Duck Amuck (1953) and Ali Baba Bunny (1957). The last question of the contest was 15-pointer about a Donald Duck comic: "Fictional character Major Pablo Manana was a most-honored son of what fictional country?" Outside of the zero-point (no teams answered) questions, this was the lowest point value final question ever. Volcanovia! |
|
CNOF: The 70s CNOF: The 80s CNOF: The 90s CNOF: The 10s |
|
| CNOF Home | History Home | The 70s | The 80s | The 90s | The 00s | The 10s | Last updated
February 20, 2010
|
