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The only way I can avoid the relegation zone of these quizzes is to run one. So, here’s a set of questions loosely related to Canadian content:

1. Wayne Gretzky is a Canadian GOAT. He held 61 scoring/assist records from his 20 year career as a professional hockey player when he retired in April 1999. He’s therefore worthy of two questions. The first is hopefully like the first question that you get on all the TV game shows: What was his shirt number?

2. One of many records that Gretzky still holds - by quite some distance - is the number of regular season (excluding playoffs) career assists. How many?

3. Sticking with the NHL, what year was it officially formed?

4. Canada’s border with the USA is the longest land border in the world. How many miles long is it?

5. Yes, it’s a big country, the second biggest in the world, but 90% of its population reputedly lives within 50 miles of the US border. What’s the population (in 000s) as at the 2016 census?

6. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is renowned to “Always get their man”, even though they only ride horses for ceremonial purposes these days. How many Sworn In (those involved in active police duties) members do the Mounties have?

7. Bryan Adams holds the record for the longest number of weeks at Number 1 with his 1991 hit (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, the theme tune to the movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. In seconds, how long was the track on his album Waking Up The Neighbours?

8. Denis Shapovalov is one of two young Canadian talents to have entered the ATP top 20 ranks in the last year. He’s now the top ranked Canadian. How many ranking points does he have?

9. Dan Aykroyd co-wrote and co-starred in The Blues Brothers (a classic comedy of its era), following his success in Saturday Night Live and his friendship with John Belushi. Okay, so US$30m went a long way in 1980, but the film was a huge box office hit, and grossed how much ($m)?

10. Mike Weir is the only Canadian winner of a Major (2003 Masters). He’s a lefty, which is why he’ll always hold a special place. Even more of a surprise, perhaps, he’s still playing. What are his career winnings (US$000’s) to date?

Ideally, there needs to be a dozen entries to make it interesting, so I’m proposing a reveal on Monday 27 April in order to give you plenty of time to get some entries in, eh?

I'm in.

One relegation spot gone.

What.

Am I right in reading that for Q5 you want the answer in thousands? e.g. for 1,000,000 you'd want 1,000?

I've used the PASS you've just generously bestowed on us if so :)

QUESTION/ANSWER UPDATE

Yes, you’re correct Cf, but I’m happy to make an adjustment to make the answer in Millions. I can see that it makes sense to do that - a little bit too swingy at the 000 level.

I confess that I put more effort into the research than in the measurement of the answers. Sorry.

Ralph, let me know if you wish to adjust your answer to Q5

Assuming my answer had the multiplication correct(it is dangerous to make such assumptions) - feel free to remove three zeros.

in

WTF is this?

Can someone ban this idiot please?

(ps IN)

 :kiss:

i'll be in at some point but i might not be any use

Bottom spot is locked up folks come in the water is warm!

There’s 6 entries so far, and as arb says, there’s no worries about being bottom of the pile with Celtic in the mix - so get cracking guys (& gals)

Come on Chompy, get your finger out!

very tough but in

are you Canadian sir?

Been watching Simon reeve's america series and think my answers might be even more terrible than normal.

I have locked in bottom spot I could be out by million on all 10 answers including the shirt number

Hi Tighty - yes, well, 50% of my blood but 100% of my birthplace. But England’s been my home for a long long time now.

Don’t worry, Iron. Celtic’s made a strong play for bottom spot 🙂

Okay folks, I have 8 entries so far:

Scotty2hatty
celtic
arb
Cf
Karabiner
nirvana
Ironside
Tighty

Thank you for your entries.

Maybe I misjudged the interest in a quiz of this nature. It's a little more specialist than the others, but there's nothing at stake, so no harm done to enter for the fun of it.

Anyway, I propose to close entries at 4pm tomorrow (no point flogging a dead moose) and do a reveal from 6pm

So with Doobs sending his entry earlier in the day we now have a field of 9. I just want to say at this stage that I failed to judge the difficulty of several of the questions, and as previously mentioned, I didn't think through the impact of the ranges of answers. Having said that, I don't think the overall table would have changed that much.

But in any event, thank you to those that entered for having a swing at this!

Karabiner
Cf
arbboy
celtic
scotty
nirvana
Ironside
Tighty
Doobs

Stay tuned....

My daughter's just reminded me that it's Fish & Chips & pool night tonight, so I'm going to put out the answer to Q1 in order to get ahead of the reveal - and also to iron out any problems formatting.

He wanted his hero's (Gordie Howe, a legendary player with the Detroit Redwings) shirt no 9, but it wasn't available at Edmonton, so he doubled up to a 99. Here was me thinking that everyone would know this.

Player - Guess - (score)
Karabiner 77  (22)
Cf              11 (88)
arbboy       81 (18)
celtic          50 (49)
scotty         25 (74)
nirvana       37 (62)
Ironside      50 (49)
Tighty         99 (0)
Doobs        50 (49)

Of course it would be Tighty that knew

Q2. Gretzky's Regular Season Career Assists: definitely a very tricky question if you didn't realise that there are 82 games per season before the playoffs. Amazingly, for a slim, 13 stone silky player, Gretzky was hardly injured for the main part of his earlier career. So, 20 seasons of 82 games per season, allowing for 10% injury rate, that's 1500 games...

Just for a little more context for the sheer magnitude of his achievement, he's the ONLY player to score more than 200 points (scoring and assists) in a regular season - and he's done it 4 times in his career. Once you know all this, you won't be surprised to learn that he scored 1,963 career assists

Karabiner  660  (1303)
Cf            200  (1763)
arbboy      415  (1518)
celtic         354  (1609)
scotty        600  (1363)
nirvana      900  (1063)
Ironside      2000 (37)
Tighty         2500 (537)
Doobs        75  (1888)

I think that one or two of you didn't realise that it was Gretky's Total Career (regular season only - he had all sorts more in the playoffs) assists I was asking for?

Table after 2 Questions:
Ironside   86
Tighty      537
nirvana    1125
Karabiner  1325
scotty        1437
arbboy      1536
celtic         1658
Cf             1851
Doobs       1937

get in there

Q3. The brief predecessor to the NHL was the National Hockey Association, which was founded in 1909. That didn't work out and so the National Hockey League was formed in 1917 - there were only 4 teams, all Canadian and hence the adjective National. The first US team was Boston, joining in 1924.

Karabiner  1920 (3)
Cf              1900 (17)
arbboy       1965 (48)
celtic          1906 (11)
scotty         1960 (43)
nirvana       1971 (54)
Ironside      1920 (3)
Tighty         1910 (7)
Doobs        1980 (63)

Table after 3 Questions: Ironside knows his NHL

Ironside     89
Tighty        544
nirvana      1179
Karabiner  1328
scotty        1480
arbboy      1584
celtic         1669
Cf             1868
Doobs       2000

Vague Knowledge thanks to my old man who played for the pirates and still wore his boots when he was teaching my nephews to stake

Q4. Another very swingy question. Bit of a trick question, as it's easy to forget the Yukon/Alaska border, which adds another 2300 miles to the main border. So, in total, the Canada-USA border measures 5525 miles (next longest is China-Mongolia at 4677)

Karabiner  2400 (3125)
Cf              5000 (525)
arbboy       3650 (1875)
celtic          873 (4652)
scotty         5000 (525)
nirvana       2200 (3325)
Ironside      3000 (2525)
Tighty         5000 (525)
Doobs        3555 (1970)

celtic makes his bid for bottom spot...

Table after 4 Questions: 
Tighty        1069
scotty        2005
Cf              2392
Ironside     2614
arbboy      3459
Doobs       3970
Karabiner  4453
nirvana      4504
celtic         6321

...and Tighty finds his way to top spot, as Ironside has a wobble

ffs

Celtic amazingly consistent whatever the subject.  Very impressive

I seem to be reverting to my mean

i think i might end up close to bottom now

Q5. Unsurprisingly, Canada's population is growing relatively quickly. It was c25m when I lived there, but it's up to 35,151,728 as at the 2016 census. The answers have all been adjusted to Millions on advice:

Karabiner  50 (15)
Cf              10 (25)
arbboy       30 (0)
celtic          18 (17)
scotty         50 (15)
nirvana       40 (5)
Ironside      40 (5)
Tighty         35 (0)
Doobs        7 (28)

Cf didn't submit an answer, so rather than max points I put a 10m

Table after 4 Questions: 
Tighty        1069
scotty        2020
Cf              2417
Ironside     2619
arbboy      3459
Doobs       3998
Karabiner  4468
nirvana      4509
celtic         6338

With the adjustment, this question was never going to change much. Bullseyes for arb and Tighty 

I trust the fish&chip supper was to your daughter's satisfaction.

photos or it didnt happen

Oioi 🖐

Deliveroo from a chippy about 4 miles away. Typically over-ordered to get the 10% discount, and then we couldn't eat half of it. Had a medium chips between us and there was enough for another family! She's built like a rake, so she didn't manage much.

In better news, I'm thrashing her on the pool table. What kind of a student is she ffs?

Q6 coming up

Q6. Far more difficult than I had intended, this question. The RCMP is a Federal Police Force, but does police in communities where the service is paid for - otherwise the provinces/cities pay for their own forces out of their own budgets. The Mounties DO have jurisdiction everywhere though, so that's a problem avoided. The 'Sworn In' members are only those that have full police authority, so it doesn't include the back office staff or the special constables. The number of Sworn In Mounties is 18,986.

Karabiner   5000 (13986)
Cf              100  (18886)
arbboy       15000 (3986)
celtic          86   (18900)
scotty         10000 (8986)
nirvana       40000 (21014)
Ironside      20000 (1014)
Tighty         15000 (3986)
Doobs        14000  (4986)

Seems harsh that celtic's guess of 86 is better than nirvana's 40000. But them's the rules.Another good effort from Ironside puts him back on top. Meanwhile, arb is sneaking up on the rails...

Table after 6 Questions: 

Ironside     3633
Tighty        5055
arbboy       7445
Doobs        8984
scotty        11006
Karabiner   18364
Cf              21303
celtic         25238
nirvana      25523

With the adjustment, this question was never going to change much. Bullseyes for arb and Tighty 

GTF in there i would like to say i knew that but total guesstimate 

the tension in here

i think someone got beat at pool and through his pc out of the window

Ha! Pool went to a decider. I promised not to brag.

Q7. Typically, album versions are a fair bit longer than the single - and for dirges like this the increase is always going to be more. The single was a UK number 1 for 16 consecutive weeks - only 7 in the US Billboard chart - in 1991, but the album track was an interminable 394 seconds

Karabiner  300 (94)
Cf              180 (214)
arbboy       295 (99)
celtic          TOO FUCKING MANY - PS 352 (42)
scotty         420 (26)
nirvana       255 (139)
Ironside      500 (116)
Tighty         330 (64)
Doobs        330 (64)

Pretty sure celtic has both the single and the album ;0)

Table after 4 Questions: 
Ironside     3739
Tighty        5119
arbboy       7544
Doobs       9048 
scotty        11032
Karabiner  18458
Cf              21517
celtic         25280
nirvana      25662

No change in positions... Can Ironside press his lead?

i doubt it i just reread the questions and cant remember what i sent

Q8. Denis announced his arrival with a win at Junior Wimbledon in 2016, although he's probably remembered more for smashing a ball into the umpire's face at the end of a game in the Davis Cup match between Canada and GB in 2017. He was DSQ'd and GB won the match 3-2. Breaking into the ATP Top 20 in May 2019, he's now ranked 16 with 2075 ranking points.

Look away now Ironside!

Karabiner  2000 (75)
Cf              100   (1975)
arbboy       2250 (175)
celtic          1211  (864)
scotty         2500 (425)
nirvana       300 (1775)
Ironside      5000 (2925)
Tighty         2500 (425)
Doobs        2200 (125)


Table after 8 Questions:

Tighty        5544
Ironside     6664
arbboy       7719
Doobs       9173
scotty        11457
Karabiner  18533
Cf              23492
celtic         26144
nirvana      27437

A fumble inside the 10 yard line means Ironside concedes the lead to Tighty. Arb's closing in, whilst Doobs has recovered from a poor start. Meanwhile nirvana's having a mare.

Arb gets zero points for being 5 off?

Sorry, my fault. His answer was 35M but I typed 30M by mistake.

Q9. The Blues Brothers is still seen as a cult classic, although imo it doesn't stand the test of time. Belushi was famously consuming so much coke he hadn't really been acting in Animal House - or this film, which started with a budget of US$20M but they ended up going considerably over. No doubt a lot of the extra money went on the 103 car-wreck chase scene (the record number at the time & probably a better question to have asked, doh!). Thankfully for the studio, the film eventually grossed US$115M


Karabiner  400  (285)
Cf              100   (15)
arbboy       125 (10)
celtic          84   (31)
scotty         100 (15)
nirvana       250 (135)
Ironside      300 (185)
Tighty         105 (10)
Doobs        200 (85)


Table after 9 Questions: 
Tighty        5554
Ironside     6849
arbboy       7729
Doobs       9258 
scotty        11472
Karabiner  18818
Cf              23507
celtic         26175
nirvana      27572

Inside the last furlong and Tighty is finding more

Q10. I scored this last question with answers in US$M as well as per the original question, which asked for it in US$000's. It actually makes no difference, so for the sake of getting this completed quickly...
Mike's still playing (but not making the cut much), and has amassed a few bucks shy of US$28M to date.

There are a few puzzling answers in view of the fact that he's been playing for quite a few years, and actually won a Masters as mentioned in the question. In fact both Tighty and Ironside gave the closest answers, so you can already work it out...

Karabiner  12   (16)
Cf              1     (27)
arbboy       9    (19)
celtic          1    (27)
scotty         12  (16)
nirvana       2   (26)
Ironside      25 (3)
Tighty         25 (3)
Doobs        20 (08)

Final Table:
Tighty        5557
Ironside     6852
arbboy       7748
Doobs       9266
scotty        11488
Karabiner  18834
Cf              23534
celtic         26202
nirvana      27598

A good effort from Ironside kept us guessing, but Tighty's all-round knowledge makes him nearly unbeatable. WP (again!) sir. I hope I haven't kept you up too late with the reveal.... I can tell you one thing for sure, it's enough work to keep you busy for a whole day (or two)!

Fml, who would of thunked nearly 7000 points and in top 3, anyway off to bed got hospital trip tomorrow

Oops that post was before final question,  great quiz well done very happy with 2nd behind tighty

Er.  Can I claim 3rd even if it makes no difference? 

Cheers Phil, thanks for running.

Congrats Rich.

Thanks for all the work 4K.

Congrats to Tighty as per usual.

Pretty sure I'd have been way out if asked to guess the total length of Phil's reveal in minutes (around 325).

Good job - I was in great suspense for a lot of it :-)

Haha that question where loads of people scored 5 figures was absolute comedy.

Did enjoy being given a low scoring answer where I hadn't submitted one and no-one complaining :)