Midwest ML Match Day 1 Recap, by SanfordPR
Toledo native Philip breaks down the first day of questions about America's heartland.
This is a MiniLeague that I have been looking forward to since the schedule was released months ago. My name is Philip (SanfordPR) and I grew up in Toledo, Ohio, where Ohio, Michigan, and Lake Erie come together. I won't say anything more in case that is part of a future question in this MiniLeague.
I was born and raised in Toledo, as was my dad. My mom was born in Illinois and raised in a small town in Northwest Ohio. My ancestors on both my mother and father's sides of the family settled in Illinois in rural areas outside of Chicago. One of my mother's biggest clients when I was growing up covered most of Northern Indiana. Day trips to Michigan, Indiana, and other parts of Ohio were a big part of our lives growing up.
All that said, here we go with Match Day 1!
Match Day 1
1. Maid-Rite, a chain restaurant based in Des Moines, is famous not for hamburgers but for what kind of sandwich similar to a sloppy Joe without sauce? Also called a "tavern sandwich," the style was featured on the sitcom Roseanne as the specialty of the Lanford Lunch Box.
Pre-answer thoughts: Sloppy Joe was a big part of my childhood, even to the extent that on Christmas Eve at my grandmother's house it was the main dish at dinner. We were not allowed to watch "Roseanne" when I was a kid, but I acquired this knowledge at some point in adulthood, probably through an article or online quiz about weirdly named regional foods. This stuck with me because of how much I loved Sloppy Joe growing up. This is a loose meat sandwich.
Correct answer: LOOSE MEAT
Was I correct? Y
How much of LL got it right? 36
Points assigned to opponent: 3
Was opponent correct? N
Points assigned to me: 1
Current score: 1(1) - 0(0)
Post-answer thoughts: This is a tough question, for sure. I assigned 3 to my opponent because their location on LearnedLeague is not in the Midwest and they have a low percentage for Television.
2. What scenic sandstone gorge formed by Cambrian-era glacial activity shares its name with a city and tourist destination that touches Adams, Columbia, Juneau and Sauk Counties?
Pre-answer thoughts: This is as Midwest of a question as you can get. Most of the Midwest is flat as a pancake due to glaciers rolling through and unique geologic features are not as abundant as in more mountainous regions of the country. These are called Dells.
Correct answer: WISCONSIN DELLS
Was I correct? Y
How much of LL got it right? 27
Points assigned to opponent: 2
Was opponent correct? N
Points assigned to me: 2
Current score: 3(2) - 0(0)
Post-answer thoughts: When the answer was revealed when I submitted, I was not sure if my answer of Dells would be accepted for Wisconsin Dells. We vacationed in Wisconsin a few times growing up and one of our trips included a visit to the Dells. I had no idea there was an actual city called Wisconsin Dells since we (and everybody I know who has been there) simply calls it the Dells.
3. Visit a historic site in Illinois to see human-constructed remnants of an Indigenous city that flourished from about 1000-1300 CE. What word describes those remnants and completes the name "Cahokia ______ State Historic Site"—one of 24 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the United States?
Pre-answer thoughts: This is something that I never would have known if I had not learned about it in a podcast from two years ago. In that episode of Factually, Adam Conover interviewed the author of a book about lost cities and she talked about Cahokia extensively and what exists of it now, the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site.
Correct answer: Mounds
Was I correct? Y
How much of LL got it right? 64
Points assigned to opponent: 1
Was opponent correct? N
Points assigned to me: 3
Current score: 6(3) - 0(0)
Post-answer thoughts: I've surprisingly never been to Cahokia, but it's now on my list for the next time I'm in Springfield, Ill. or St. Louis.
4. What three-letter multipurpose word—or more accurately, "onomatopoeic non-word"—has gained recent notoriety as a source of memes and viral social content? The word is used as an exclamation and to augment an apology in these two examples, redacted in red.
Pre-answer thoughts: This is simply a situation of being online way too much, especially Twitter during the enjoyable pre-Elon days. This is Ope.
Correct answer: OPE
Was I correct? Y
How much of LL got it right? 54
Points assigned to opponent: 2
Was opponent correct? Y
Points assigned to me: 0
Current score: 6(4) - 2(1)
Post-answer thoughts: People making fun of Midwestern dialect and word usage is always a good way to suck me into a Twitter joke and the ensuing responses.
5. Alison Bechdel, Marc Cohn and Lena Dunham are among the notable alumni of what northern Ohio liberal arts college, which made history in 1862 by awarding a baccalaureate degree to Mary Jane Patterson, an African American woman?
Pre-answer thoughts: The Smith could have stylized liberal as LIBERAL in this question. Oberlin is the famous university to first award a degree to an African American woman.
Correct answer: OBERLIN COLLEGE
Was I correct? Y
How much of LL got it right? 72
Points assigned to opponent: 0
Was opponent correct? N
Points assigned to me: 1
Current score: 7(5) - 2(1)
Post-answer thoughts: Fun fact, basketball training group in Ohio used to host the sleepaway basketball camp I attended at Oberlin. It was a cool little campus and town for a middle school kid.
6. The 1979 film Breaking Away centers on what diminutively named event held at Indiana University every April?
Pre-answer thoughts: One of my favorite movies! "Breaking Away" features the Cutters going up against college students in the Little 500.
Correct answer: LITTLE 500 (LITTLE 5)
Was I correct? Y
How much of LL got it right? 29
Points assigned to opponent: 1
Was opponent correct? N
Points assigned to me: 2
Post-answer thoughts: The Little 500 is held about a month before the Indianapolis 500, which provides the naming convention. If you have not done so, go watch "Breaking Away" right now.
Result: 9(6) - 2(1)
Current Standings in Group: 1st
Overall thoughts: I figured this would be along my weird knowledge of the Midwest, but I was not expecting to grab a Beer because of knowledge gained on Twitter and on a relatively recent podcast episode. Good start to the MiniLeague and hoping to maintain this position for the next 10 Match Days.
Nice job!
As a fellow Toledoan, I enjoyed your recap! I believe there are some native American mounds in the Toledo area, as well.