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Any Questions #459: "Things Containing MLB Team Names"

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WAMC's Ian Pickus and resident quizzer Mike Nothnagel return for another baseball show.

Last week's challenge
Start with the phrase EMPTY BLEACHERS. Rearrange the letters and you can spell a famous play from the 1600s and a famous last name from the world of entertainment in the 1900s. What are the words?
Answer: MACBETH and PRESLEY.
 
THIS WEEK'S CATEGORY: THINGS CONTANING MLB TEAM NAMES
On-air questions: Major League Baseball is back! Yesterday and today is Opening Day of the 2020 MLB season, which is a sentence that is weird for many reasons. Teams will play 60 games this season, with the World Series taking place in November. In addition to permanent rule changes announced in February, temporary adjustments for the shortened season include using the designated hitter in both leagues and starting a runner on second base in extra innings. To celebrate the return, such as it is, of Major League Baseball, each correct answer this week will contain the nickname of an MLB team in the singular (like “Marlin” or “Athletic”).
 
1. A March 1872 Act of Dedication declared, in part, “the tract of land in the Territories of Montana and Wyoming ... is hereby reserved and withdrawn from settlement, occupancy, or sale under the laws of the United States, and dedicated and set apart as a public park” and established the first of 62 such areas in the U.S. By what three-word name do we know this land?
2. When the series originally aired on ABC in 1990 and 1991, the episodes had no titles. After airing in Germany, the titles given to the episodes were translated into English, among them “Northwest Passage”, “Cooper’s Dreams”, and “The Path to the Black Lodge”. What series is it?
3. A 1798 poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge largely consists of a sailor recounting a long sea voyage, and is the source of the metaphor of having an albatross hung around one’s neck and of the phrase “Water, water, every where / Nor any drop to drink”. What is the title of this poem?
4. While several versions of the song have appeared on Billboard’s country charts, the only rendition of “America the Beautiful” to appear on the R&B charts was a 1976 version, one of 86 hits to appear there, by what singer?
5. Celebrated on September 19th, what tongue-in-cheek observance gained international exposure after humorist Dave Barry wrote a 2002 column about it, ensuring that every year, people will greet their friends with “Ahoy, maties!” and add “Arrrr!” to their vocabulary for the day?
 
Extra credit
1. In 1967, the NBA named its annual Coach of the Year Award after whom, two years after he won the award?
2. In 2001, what film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture, setting a record for the most nominations for a non-English-language film, a feat that was equaled in 2008 by Roma?
 
This week's challenge
Start with the phrase OPENING DAYS. Change one letter to an R and you can rearrange the result to spell a five-letter word for part of a sink and a six-letter word for something you often find in a sink. What are the words?
 
 
 
ANSWERS
On-air questions
1. Yellowstone National Park
2. Twin Peaks
3. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
4. Ray Charles
5. Talk Like a Pirate Day
 
Extra credit
1. Red Auerbach
2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
 

A lifelong resident of the Capital Region, Ian joined WAMC in late 2008 and became news director in 2013. He began working on Morning Edition and has produced The Capitol Connection, Congressional Corner, and several other WAMC programs. Ian can also be heard as the host of the WAMC News Podcast and on The Roundtable and various newscasts. Ian holds a BA in English and journalism and an MA in English, both from the University at Albany, where he has taught journalism since 2013.
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