Nine men emerged from the gloom to join YHC at the stage on a wet Tuesday Tuff morning.
They had been promised trivia and records, but first a few things had to be taken care of.
Warmarama: SSH, Imperial Walkers, Willie Mays Hayes,Windmills, Arm Circles (F/R), Cherry Pickers, Carolina High Knees, Carolina Butt Kicks, Mountain Climbers
Thang 1
Mosey toward Rich Man’s Loop and stop at The Point. PAX were divided into two teams. These teams would be together for the duration of the beatdown. Team 1 would nur to the next light pole, then run to the following light pole, and then do 5 burpees. The team could not proceed until all members did their 5 burpees. Then they would begin again with a nur. Team 2 would do the same thing, but start with a run and do a nur second.
YHC was asked, “Is this a race?” It was not a race in the sense that who the “winner” was didn’t affect anything in the rest of the beatdown. The de facto result of being the winner was that you got to the coupons first. Which was something that would matter (a little) today.
After some initial jockeying for the lead of the non-race, the two teams became staggered so that Team 1 was finishing burpees as Team 2 arrived to begin theirs. From a congestion management perspective, this was a nice result.
The teams were to not visit Financially Stable Man’s Alley today but instead head straight for the coupons. Around the same time that Team 1 was arriving to the coupons, which would have also been a convenient time to use the bathroom due to the Port-o-Let there, a mysterious white truck also arrived to the area. As YHC was with Team 2, it is only hearsay that the Team 1 PAX attempted an EH at which point only the sound of electronic door locks being engaged could be heard. In reality, the truck was from Lowe’s, trying to track down a pallet load of cinder blocks that a man in alpaca fur stole from them Ocean’s Eleven style.
Team 1 graciously grabbed extra coupons for Team 2 so that a full Port-o-Let visit wasn’t required.
Thang 2
After returning to the stage area, the second thang was revealed. YHC would announce an exercise for the PAX to begin, and play a song from the classic rock era (all well etched in YHC’s memory due to decades of listening to Eagle 98.1), and the team in control (control would alternate between teams 1 and 2) had roughly 30 seconds to name the artist and song title. If both weren’t named, then the other team would be allowed to guess for 30 seconds. At the end of this time, a team would have either 0, 1, or 2 correct guesses, corresponding to some exercises.
0=10 thrusters
1 = 5 thrusters
2 = 2 thrusters
But that’s not all! The song would continue, and the exercise would continue, long enough for YHC to ask some additional trivia questions tangentially related to the song. Each correct answer here would subtract one thruster. YHC forgot the list of exercises at home so we did the best we could. As you will see, YHC forgot a lot of the results of the day but you will get the gist of it.
Song 1 exercise: Crab dip
YHC continues to try to champion this move but there is little traction so far. The song wasPurple Haze by Jimi Hendrix. Team 1 got both these. YHC asked what brewery makes Purple Haze (Abita), what style beer is it (Lager). What two types of particles can cause a haze (smoke, dust), and dust from what area sometimes causes a haze in the southeast US during the summer (Sahara desert)
Song 2 exercise: Tempo squats
The song was Slow Ride by Foghat. I believe this one was split? Other trivia questions: Slowest mammal (sloth), slowest sea creature (seahorse), name of an air mass over a body of water that can produce fog/clouds (marine layer). Marine layer was one of the few times the PAX was stumped.
Song 3 exercise: Hold Al Gore?
The song was Won’t Get Fooled Again by the Who. By this point, it was starting to become clear that America’s Best knew all the answers and was just waiting until time was almost up to sneak in his guesses. Trivia dealt with famous April Fools jokes according to Google, such as what number with non-repeating digits did the Alabama legislature try to change (pi), what did they want to change the value to (3)? Taco Bell announced it purchased this US Landmark to help pay down the national debt (Liberty Bell). The last line of the song may be its most famous; what is it? (Meet the new boss, the same as the old boss.)
Song 4 exercise: Merkins?
Radar Love by Golden Earring. This was split, with AB coming up with the band name in the follow up round. The trivia dealt with the words making up the acronym radar (Radio detection and ranging). This took a while, and the PAX didn’t get “ranging”. But then after we stopped YHC remembered the other questions. RADAR is spelled the same forward and backward, what is the name for that (Palindrome). Fill in the blank of this palindrome: A man. A plan. A canal. _____ (Panama). PAX were on top of all this.
Song 5 exercise: Apollo ohnos ?
FM by Steely Dan. Did I mention Team 1 wasn’t doing many thrusters today? Trivia: What does FM mean (Frequency modulation). The line from the song “no static at all” is a comparative reference to what (AM radio). What does AM mean (amplitude modulation). Several PAX knew all these but Goose notably ate these questions up. YHC avoided asking any questions related to the origin of Steely Dan’s name.
Song 6 exercise: LBCs?
LA woman by the Doors. YHC shouldn’t have even asked Team 1 to get coupons today. Trivia: YHC is thinking of 10 men’s professional sports teams in the LA area. Name them. Credit only starts after 6 are named. (Rams, Chargers, Angels, Dodgers, Lakers, Clippers, LA Galaxy were all guessed. Others are Ducks, Kings, LA Football Club). Then, name two women’s professional teams (Sparks (guessed), Angel City Football Club not guessed).
Song 7: WWI sit ups?
Surrender by Cheap Trick. Name the place where Lee surrendered to Grant (Appomattox Courthouse). Name the country that surrendered to end WWII (Japan).
Song 8 (bonus, 1 minute left)
Kashmir by Led Zeppelin. This song was sampled by what hip hop artist (Puff Daddy). What was the name of that song? At this point, Enron swooped in and answered the as-of-yet unasked question, what movie was the song in? (Godzilla). This is the question that YHC didn’t think anyone would get the answer to, yet alone offer as a fact unsolicited.
By the way, the name of the song is “Come with me”. Time ran out before YHC got to ask a few sweater-related questions (“No, it’s a cardigan, but thanks for asking”). And several songs remained unplayed, including one by Cream which would have made Popeye happy, along with some cooking related questions. Maybe next time.
Announcements; Wet Tap prayed us out.
YHC is impressed once again by the dedication and effort of the PAX, and today their mental muscles were on display as well. It was a privilege to Q this morning.
SYITG,
Honeysuckle
