Early in the contest's history, winners were identified simply by the locations from which they played. Thus, Garfield, Carter, Morgan, Williams B and Gladden divided up the spoils in the 1960's.
By 1970, teams had started choosing names not based on geography. In the 70's, trivia teams generally chose one name that would continue on and on for the life of the team. The idea was to select one reference that would provide a group identity. By the 1980's, cohesive, ongoing groups of players (except Phasers and Skyliners) would re-select the names of their team with each contest. A premium was placed on the amusing/entertaining nature of the name, and the source from which it was plucked.
#9 Winter 70
Winner - Grand Duchy of Fenwick
Source - The name of the tiny nation that accidentally conquers the United State in Leonard Wibberley's novel, "The Mouse that Roared". It is better known by the film version, starring Peter Sellers. Humorously, the correct name of the nation in both film and novel is "Duchy of Grand Fenwick," not "Grand Duchy."
#10 Spring 71
Winner - Xanadu
Source - In poetry, the "pleasure dome" decreed by the fabulous Kubla Khan; in film, the vast, gloomy estate owned by Charles Foster Kane in "Citizen Kane."
#11 Winter 71
Winner - Free Tumblers
Source - Joe Budge '74 of the Tumblers reveals all:
"Wow, this is a subject I NEVER expected to be quizzed on! I think it's great that you're collecting it. Had to dig around in the memory a bit...
First, a shaggy dog story: When I was at Williams in the early '70s, there were relatively few women on campus. If you weren't lucky enough to date one, you had to seek elsewhere. The answer to this problem was the Roadtrip. Don't know if it's a big deal now, but it was an institution then. Beg, borrow, or con someone's car, load it with friends, and head for Smith, Holyoke, Saratoga Springs, etc. on a weekend evening. Speed limits were optional. In addition to his trivia talents, Frank Ferry was legendary at Roadtripping - famous for his shortcut ACROSS Tomhannock Reservoir in the dead of winter to save the time involved in driving around.
Free Tumblers was named on one such Roadtrip. On the way back there was a sign at a gas station offering a premium with a fill-up: "Free Tumblers" was the huge banner on the ad. Struck everyone's funny bone at the time, they started looking for a loose circus act crossing the road (see: "Designated Driver" in your description of 'House of Gee')."
#12 Spring 72
Winner - Bayonnettes
Source - An obscure reference to an obscure song about Bayonne, New Jersey. At the end of each contest, the tradition of the time was for all teams to have breakfast in the Greylock Dining Hall. The Bayonettes' trademark, when they arrived at the dining line, was to sing the Bayonne Song -- "Down in Bayonne, dey got dem bars. Da bums dey come, from near and from far. Dey come by truck, dey come by car. Da rolling bums of New Joisey!"
#13 Winter 72
Winner - Wham-o
Source - The name of the toy company perhaps best known for merchandising the Frisbee. See Spring 1975.
#14 Spring 73
Winner - The Great Impostor
Source: The title of a 1960 Tony Curtis film. Based on a true story, Curtis plays a master con man who adopts multiple personas and occupations. NOTE: The Agard Memorial Tube Team (Winter 1970), the Bayonettes (Spring 1972) and The Great Impostor were largely the same team. Changing the team name was less usual during this period than it would later become.
#15 Winter 1973
Winner - Bomo
Source - A narcotically-impaired take on Bonomo Turkish Taffy, recalled in sobriety by one or more of the team's members. See Springs 1976 and 1978.
#16 Spring 74
Winner - General Bumble
Source - A combination of two teams, "The General" and "B. Bumble and the Stingers." The General was a team based in Mills House, which had just opened in the years preceding the contest. The House did a lot of stuff, including house T-Shirts, along the theme of "General Mills." So "The General" took in all that, plus a reference to the classic 1927 Buster Keaton film. B. Bumble and the Stingers were a session band of the early 1960's that had two Top 40 instrumental hits, "Bumble Boogie" and "Nut Rocker." The songs were based (respectively) on "Flight of the Bumble Bee" and "The Nutcracker Suite." See Winter 1975 and Spring 1977.
#17 Winter 74
Winner - House of Gee
Source - Winning team Carter House had once boasted member Greg Williams '73, who was, in the words of one Gee'ster, "a true Hearty Party guy from the word 'chug'." Williams' nickname was "Gee," which eventually applied not just to him, but to Carter recreation in general. (One of the larger living rooms featured a 24-hour refrigerated tap). As a result, Carterfolk came to refer to someone as "really Gee'd," or would suggest "Let's go get Gee'd." This transcended to a higher level as the House of Gee, where one could get Gee'd relatively easily, the rule being that the last one standing was the designated driver. So, in honor of "Gee" Williams, Carter officially changed its name to "House of Gee" some time between winning the contest in Winter 1974, and running the Spring 1975 edition.
#18 Spring 75
Winner - Son of Wham-o
Source - A latter-day derivative of the Wham-o team (who won in Winter 1972).
#19 Winter 75
Winner - General Bumble
Source - See Springs 1974 and1977.
#20 Spring 76
Winner - Bomo
Source - See Winter 1973.
#21 Winter 76
Winner - Buda Bear
Source - A dog owned by Ed Spencer, and the Morgan Hall mascot from 1974-75.
#22 Spring 77
Winner - General Morgasm
Source - A combination of the "General Bumble" team (see Spring 1974 and Winter 1975) and the "Morgasm" team. Morgasm originated as a freshman team in Morgan Hall, hence the name.
#23 Winter 77
Winner - Alphabet Soup
Source - Alphabet Soup took its name from its original freshman team playing location: the lettered dorms A, B, C, D, etc.
#24 Spring 78
Winner - Bomo
Source - See Winter 1973.
#25 Winter 78
Winner - Maximus Drott
Source - A combination of "Drott," the name seen on the sides of heavy construction equipment that was tearing up the Williams campus at the time-- and "Circus Maximus," an arty rock band beloved by some members of the team.
#26
Spring 79
Winner - Alphabet Soup
Source - See Winter 1977.
#27 Winter 79
Winner - Pros from Dover
Source - The film "M*A*S*H." The doctors Hawkeye and Trapper John are flown into Tokyo to operate on a general's son, and proceed to behave in a highly unmilitary manner during their stay. They describe themselves as "the Pros from Dover."
#28 Spring 80
Winner - Cunning Linguists
Source - Obviously an incredibly witty play on the word "cunnilingus." (The winning edition of the team had merged with another longtime team, The Knights of Ni, who took THEIR name from a strange group of medieval beings from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail.")
#29 Winter 80
Winner - Grape Nehi
Source - The TV series "M*A*S*H." Walter "Radar" O'Reilly would order this, his favorite drink, while the rest of the 4077th partook of stronger stuff at Rosie's Bar.
#30 Spring 81
Winner - Phasers On Stun
Source - The TV series "Star Trek." "Phasers on Stun" is one setting on the crew's raygun-like weapons, although the three-word phrase was never actually spoken on the series. (Near the end of a contest, Phasers on Stun would often change their name to "Phasers on Kill" or "Phasers on Chamber Overload.") See Springs of 1983, 1991, and 1992.
#31 Winter 81
Winner - The Singleman Party
Source - The film "The Graduate." Benjamin Braddock has his trysts with Mrs.
Robinson in a local hotel. During one such rendezvous, a different type of affair being held at the same hotel is "The Singleman Party." While waiting for Mrs. Robinson, Benjamin is mistaken for a guest of the Singlemans.
#32 Spring 82
Winner - Local 12
Source - The spy and assassin union that "Rocky & Bullwinkle" villains Boris Badenov and Natasha were dues-paying members of.
#33 Winter 82
Winner - Smedley Terrace
Source - Smedley Terrace is a small terrace in the Berkshire Quad between Fitch and Prospect dorms, overlooking Driscoll Dining Hall.
#34 Spring 83
Winner - Phasers On Stun
Source - See Springs of 1981, 1991, and 1992.
#35 Winter 83
Winner - Rule Six
Source - "Monty Python's Flying Circus." A sketch in which the rules of an organization are being read aloud at a meeting (every other rule is "no poofters!"). When they get to Rule Six, it is discovered that there is NO Rule Six. (The name was a happy coincidence in that the team was one of the all-time trivia juggernauts, missing about 3 points total in eight hours of on-air trivia. Many other, smaller teams assumed that the steady flow of top scores and performances being announced over WCFM was the running team's idea of a joke -- after all, "there is no Rule Six".
#36 Spring 84
Winner - Chicago 60609
Source - The address and zip code for the beloved Spiegel catalog, touted on many 1970s game shows such as "Let's Make a Deal". After extolling the virtues of Rice-a-Roni, Turtle Wax, Lee Press-on Nails, and other (better) prizes, the announcer would intone that they were all available through "the Spiegel Catalog, Chicago 60609." (Chicago 60609 is the first team to be given the official Trivia Trophy which is still handed to the winners, and which still bears the Chicago 60609 name.)
#37 Winter 84
Winner - Nasty Big Pointed Teeth
Source - The film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." Tim the Enchanter warns Arthur and his knights of the dangers presented by their next foe -- the Killer Bunny Rabbit. "Death awaits ye," asserts all-knowing Tim, "with nasty, big pointed teeth." The scoffing knights learn only after multiple casualties just how accurate Tim's information is.
#38 Spring 85
Winner - Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius
Source - Although the Road Runner's dialogue was forever limited to two words ("beep" and "beep"), Wile E. Coyote had a small amount of full speaking roles. In a few cartoons, starting with 1952's "Operation: Rabbit," a talking Wile E. tries to switch his diet from bird to hare-- specifically, Bugs Bunny. Wile E. used his cave/laboratory to construct devices to annihilate Bugs, including a pressure cooker, cannon, and flying saucer. All fail spectacularly, thanks to Bugs' counter-assaults. Wile E. lastly tries filling carrots with nitroglycerine, while inside a small shed. As he does so, the sheer brilliance of his plan pleases the carnivore so much that he muses whether he should change his business card from "Wile E. Coyote, Genius" (as it is at the start of the cartoon) to "Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius." But even as Wile E. chuckles, "I like the sound of that," Bugs has used a tractor to drag the coyote's explosives shack onto a train track.
#39 Winter 85
Winner - My Second Favorite Organ
Source - Woody Allen's film "Sleeper." As Miles Monroe, Allen is thawed out by the underground movement that hopes to overthrow the Leader. When Miles/Woody asks what will happen if he is caught, they explain that the authorities will deprogram his brain. "My brain," gasps Woody, "that's my second favorite organ!"
#40 Spring 86
Winner - The Giant Pygmies of Beckles
Source - A Monty Python skit. A prospective customer in a bookstore asks for a number of odd titles ranging from "David Coperfield" (with one "p"), to "A Sale of Two Titties," to works by Charles Dikkens, the well-known Dutch author. Finally, the request is made for a particular installment of an adventure series featuring Captain Gladys Stoat-Pamphlet (and her intrepid spaniel Stig)..... the one chronicling their exploits among, yes, The Giant Pygmies of Beckles.
#41 Winter 86
Winner - We Begin Bombing in Five Minutes
Source - From an August 1984 sound check. President Ronald Reagan warmed up for a radio broadcast with a boffo joke: "My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes." The remark is later reported by the press and doesn't get such big laughs. (Fortunately, the Soviet Union wasn't listening that day, but the Currier Ballroom team was.)
#42 Spring 87
Winner - I Don't Have To Answer That Question
Source - In a 5/3/87 "New York Times Magazine" profile, Democratic Presidential candidate Gary Hart dismissed womanizing rumors by challenging reporters to follow him, and see what a boring, squeaky-clean life he led. Simultaneously, two "Miami Herald" reporters had taken Hart up on his ill-considered dare. Within 48 hours, they had uncovered his affair with Donna Rice. The ensuing scandal drive Hart from the race. On May 6, Hart was asked point-blank if he had "ever committed adultery." The above was his response. Two days later, it was used by the "Evil Empire" squad, the freshest-on-the-vine team name ever. The first contest-confrontational team name to win ("How Dare They Challenge Us . . ." being the second).
#43 Winter 87
Winner - A Judo, A Chop-Chop-Chop
Source - "The Flintstones." While out shopping for brontosaurus burgers and buns, Fred is mistaken for an international spy by agents of Dr. Yes. He and Barney are kidnaped and brought to an island hideaway. Eventually, the Bedrock buddies make their big escape. They race down hallway after hallway, subduing a succession of Dr. Yes' huge henchmen with a martial art maneuver learned from watching James Bondrock flicks. Each karate maneuver is accompanied by the triumphant cry, "A Judo, A Chop Chop Chop!"
#44 Spring 88
Winner - Silly Me, That's Not The Talking End
Source - A Warner Brothers cartoon featuring Sylvester P. Cat and his son, Junior. Sylvester's son was genteel, and usually ended up humiliated by his father's antics. In this cartoon, Sylvester mistakes an escaped kangaroo for a humongous mouse. Sylvester ends up wedged through a fence, immobilized at the waist. Junior begins expressing chagrin to his dad's legs, feet, and hairy buttocks, before realizing, "Silly me -- that's not the talking end." (In defense of the sputtering papa pussycat, you'd think Junior could cut the poor guy a break-- it's not as if the two of them didn't do the exact same "giant mouse" storyline in FIVE separate cartoons.)
#45 Winter 88
Winner - Leave The Gun, Take The Cannolis
Source - "The Godfather." Following one murder, the two hit men for the Corleones leave their victim behind on a deserted stretch of road. One of them asks which evidence to dispose of, and which to leave behind in the car with the corpse. The next line of dialogue provides instructions and the team name.
#46 Spring 89
Winner - Harry "Snapper" Organs
Source - Another Python sketch. This one involved the diabolical Pirahna brothers, Doug and Dimsdale. It was based on the real-life Kray brothers who ran organized crime in England during the 50s and 60s. In Pythonland, Scotland Yard eventually assigned their top man to the Pirahna case -- one Harry "Snapper" Organs.
#47 Winter 89
Winner - Son, You've Got a Panty On Your Head
Source - "Raising Arizona". The perennially incompetent criminal played by Nicholas Cage is being chased by the police after a bungled 7-11 robbery. He runs into the path of an oncoming truck, which brakes just in time not to kill him. Cage jumps up and, wielding a pistol, commandeers the truck. Seeing Cage with a L'Eggs stocking covering his face, the driver's first remark is . . . you guessed it.
#48 Spring 90
Winner - Oxygen Is For Losers!
Source - The British SF comedy "Red Dwarf." Slobby series lead Dave Lister finds his Confidence and Paranoia have been embodied in physical form. Lister's Confidence accompanies him outside the Red Dwarf starship to accomplish a mission, then urges Lister to try opening his helmet up and really experiencing deep space. Lister is of the firm opinion he'd rather keep breathing. Confidence isn't afraid to open up his own helmet, though -- after all, as he says in his soon-to-be-last words, "Oxygen is for losers!"
#49 Winter 90
Winner - Five Is Right Out
Source - "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" again. To combat the Killer Bunny Rabbit (a sequence which also inspired the Winter 1984 winners' name, "Nasty Big Pointed Teeth"), King Arthur and company retaliate with the Holy Hand Grenade. This super-destructive relic comes complete with monkish ceremony, and lengthy religious operating instructions which can be boiled down to: "Count to three and throw. Do not count to four. Also do not count to two, except en route to three. Three is the number. Five is right out."
#50 Spring 91
Winner - Phasers On Stun: The Next Generation
Source - Approaching its second decade as a competitive team, Phasers on Stun experienced understandable attrition. By 1991, there was a sense that although the bloodline of the team ran continuously backwards to Phasers' origin, it was no longer accurate to claim the franchise name for that particular conglomeration of players. Hence the updated name. See Spring 1992.
#51 Winter 91
Winner - Not Everyone Keeps Their Genitals In The Same Place
Source - A line from "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country", which had opened the day of the contest. Imprisoned on the Klingon prison planet Rura Penthe, Kirk finds himself in a fight and hopelessly outmatched by a large, ill-tempered, young alien. Desperate, he kicks out where a human has knees, and the alien changes colors and collapses. While Kirk is patting himself on the back for figuring out that knees are the same everywhere, another inmate informs him of his anatomical error. Those weren't knees. "Not Everyone Keeps Their Genitals in the Same Place," Captain.
#52 Spring 92
Winner - Phasers On Stun: The Next Generation
Source - This assortment of players bore even less resemblance to any classic Phasers on Stun team than the one just a year previous, with but one original Phaser remaining. (However, this win gave POS:TNG the highest success ratio of any team name ever-- two attempts, two wins.)
#53 Winter 92/93
Winner - Your Plastic Pal Who's Fun To Be With
Source - "The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy" books. This is the official slogan of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation, describing their particularly annoying bunch of friendly, helpful robotic aides. (See "Mindless Jerks" in Winter 1995.)
#54 Spring 93
Winner - The Purpose of the Military is to Kill People and to Break Things
Source - The Rush Limbaugh radio show, though also cited elsewhere. When a caller asked Rush what his opinion of gays in the military was, the XXL DJ replied that the army was NOT designed as a social experiment. Rather.....
#55 Winter 93
Winner - Oh No, Bette Midler!
Source - The Krusty the Klown komeback special episode of "The Simpsons." Bart and Lisa recruit Bette Midler (who has adopted a highway and is picking up rubbish on it) to help Krusty in his comeback. A thug commonly seen on the show drives by, tossing a beer can out the window. Bette takes off running after him, easily catching up to his speeding car. As she approaches, he spots her in his rear view mirror and exclaims: "Oh No! Bette Midler!" She then whomps him but good.
#56 Spring 94
Winner - How DARE They Challenge Us With Their Primitive Skills?
Source - A Mike Tyson press conference. Following Mike Tyson's laughably easy 91-second championship win over Michael Spinks (in which Tyson took a total of two punches), this was his statement at the post-fight Q&A session. Kind of undiplomatic, until you consider that BEFORE the fight, he'd said that he wanted to hit his opponent "so hard that I make the nose bone go into his brain and kill him."
#57 Winter 94
Winner - Can't.....Do......Plaid..... (thud)
Source - "The Tick" cartoon. The Caped Chameleon, a reptilian hero who turns whatever color he's next to, runs into a problem while fighting the Idea Men. He's clinging to a wall covered with plaid wallpaper, and he "Can't -- do -- Plaid!" (The thud comes as he falls off the wall.)
#58 Spring 95
Winner - Elvis Needs Boats!
Source - The Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper song, "Elvis is Everywhere," a raucous celebration of all things Elvis. At one point, Mojo extols Elvis' primacy over the sea, with the jubilant demand, "Elvis needs boats!"
#59 Winter 95
Winner - A Bunch of Mindless Jerks Who'll Be First Up Against the Wall When the Revolution Comes
Source - "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," page 92 in the current edition. It runs as follows: "The Encyclopedia Galactica defines a robot as a mechanical apparatus designed to do the work of a man. The marketing division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation defines a robot as 'Your Plastic Pal Who's Fun to Be With'. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy defines the marketing division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation as 'a bunch of mindless jerks who'll be first against the wall when the revolution comes.'" Amusingly, that makes two winning team names in as many paragraphs of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. (The previous winner being Your Plastic Pal, in Winter 1992.)
#60 Spring 96
Winner - We Make Holes In Teeth!
Source - Old commercials for Crest toothpaste. Toothopolis was an enameled utopia, but only because of the constant vigilance of the Crest Patrol. The Patrol raced to the scene of any attack by the evil Cavity Creeps, in gleaming white trucks that sprayed Crest through power hoses. But the defeated Creeps always seemed to return. Whenever the Creeps pickaxed their way through Toothopolis' pristine barriers, their terrifying war cry was "We Make Holes in Teeth!"
#61 Winter 96
Winner - Gentle Tongue-Tongue, He Weeps, For He Has But One Tongue With Which to Taste an Entire World
Source - "The Tick" cartoon. Villain Dr. Mung-Mung creates a hideous beast made entirely of tongue muscle named Tongue-Tongue, then inserts his assistant's brains into the drooly behemoth. However, by Evil Scientific Law, the brain of Tongue-Tongue must then be switched into the alternate, vacated body. The above quote occurs when the Doctor feels empathy for the plight of the Tongue-Tongue brain, now trapped inside his pudgy assistant.
#62 Spring 97
Winner - Chthulu Matata
Source - The Old One offspring of a song from the Disney Movie 'The Lion King'. The first team-concocted name not to refer to something specific since "Phasers on Stun: The Next Generation," or really, "The Cunning Linguists."
#63 Winter 97
Winner - A Dead Postman Doesn't Deliver Much Mail
Source - The name has its genesis in the movie trailer for "The Postman." Kevin Costner, world's greatest actor, in a scene of obvious gravity and emotional intensity, stares probingly into a young man's eyes, and asks (no, *implores*) "How much mail can a dead postman deliver?" The "Bob Ross" team pondered Costner's existential query, weighed the rigors of mail delivery in a post- apocalyptic wasteland, and came up with their answer. There has been some question of trailer misquotation (see "The Grand Duchy of Fenwick" in 1971), but screw it.... winners make the rules.
#64 Spring 98
Winner - At 200 MPH, There Is No Diplomatic Immunity
Source - From the satirical Wisconsin newpaper The Onion (www.theonion.com). In a story titled "CLINTON ADOPTS NEW 'NO FEAR' FOREIGN POLICY," a pumped-up, fuel-injected, poppin'-wheelies Prez was depicted as a gung-ho drag racing maniac. While challenging Boris Yeltsin to a motocross duel, a cliche-spewing Clinton also taunted other international dignitaries to "eat my dust." But Clinton's belligerent "Don't Mess with the U.S." attitude toward foreign policy could perhaps be best summed up with the above team name. Radical!
#65 Fall 98
Winner - I've Got Ives in My Pants, etc.
Source - Two years earlier, WCFM began running a classical music program by this name. By the wildest coincidence imaginable, the two co-hosts of that program also happened to be members of this Trivia team. The team changed its name every hour to other classically-tinged peculiarities, including "'Tie Shostakovich 'Round the Old Oak Tree"; "Pull My Schoenberg"; "My Moussorgsky is 12 Inches Long"; "Debussy (For Her Pleasure)"; "Faster Beethoven, Kill Kill"; and "Baby Got Bach."
#66 Spring 99
Winner - Pokemon Labolatory
Source - From the packaging to "Pokemon Snap," a gentle videogame in which you must try to photograph the Japanese supercritters (as opposed to blasting them to smithereens). The only two identifiable English words in the entire instruction handbook are "Pokemon Labolatory"..... neither of which QUITE manage to qualify as an authentic English word, at that.
#67 Winter 99
Winner - Make Way for Ducklings, Motherfucker
Source - Alas, the only "source" for this team name is the fevered brain of teammate Des Devlin. He made it up, wrote it on the board, and most of the other players thought it was funny. At least they DID, before realizing that they would become the only championship team in Trivia history to run an entire contest without being allowed to speak its own name over the air. In the larger sense, the name's based on the enduring Caldecott Medal-winning children's book by Robert McCloskey. It's a fucking classic.
#68 Spring 00
Winner - The Funk of 40,000 Years
Source - One of the most memorable aspects of Michael Jackson's 1983 hit song and 1984 video "Thriller" was its concluding "rap" by the master of horror, Vincent Price. It went as follows:
"Darkness falls across the land; The midnight hour is close at hand.
Creatures crawl in search of blood to terrorize your neighborhood.
And whosoever shall be found without the soul for getting down
Must stand and face the hounds of hell, and rot inside a corpse's shell.
The foulest stench is in the air: the funk of 40,000 years.
And grisly ghouls from every tomb are closing in to seal your doom.
And though you fight to stay alive, your body starts to shiver,
For no mere mortal can resist the evil of the thriller.
AHH HA HA, HA HA HA!"
(Not a bad description for Williams Trivia in general....)
#69 Winter 00
Winner - Holy Sack and the Resident Vomit Specialists
Source - A reference to three members of the team itself. "Holy Sack" derives from a random outburst by Ned Wydysh, while watching Craig Iturbe play the classic 8-bit Nintendo game Duck Hunt. The team's resident vomit specialist was Peter Deutsch. Although the name is plural, the team in fact had only one resident vomit specialist, unless you count Preston Hillman who was not actually on the team but lived next door in Sage.
#70 Spring 01
Winner - I Say It's Duck Season and I Say "Fire!"
Source - 1951's "Rabbit Fire" cartoon. This Looney Tunes installment began the classic "wabbit season/duck season" trilogy. Amoral Daffy Duck is only too happy to lead intrepid hunter Elmer Fudd straight to Bugs Bunny's hole. Facing death by shotgun, Bugs diverts Fudd's murderous intentions by informing him that rabbits are out of season. An outraged Daffy sputters, "That, sir, is an inmitigated frabication!!" Alternating claims of "Wabbit season!" (by Daffy) and "Duck season!" (by Bugs) ensue.... until that Oscar-winning rabbit switches gears by claiming that it's WABBIT season. Bugs' seemingly suicidal strategy pays off. The ever-contradictory Daffy automatically switches sides, shouting, "I say it's duck season, and I say "Fire!" The luckless water fowl immediately suffers the first of seven direct gunblasts to the head that he will absorb in this one cartoon.
#71 Fall 01
Winner - Neutered Vampires Who Cheat at Kitten Poker
Source - "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Spike, a former Big Bad, has a computer chip implanted into his brain that prevents him from attacking humans; thus, he is a "neutered vampire." Kitten poker is just what it sounds like: poker played with kittens as the stakes. The line is one of Buffy's typically pointed putdowns.
#72 Spring 02
Winner - Joanie Loves Trotsky
Source - The name is based on the "Happy Days" spin-off series "Joanie Loves Chachi," with a revolutionary Soviet twist. The sitcom lasted 8 months on the air during three separate runs in 1982 and 1983, before the principals slunk back to "Happy Days" in failure and shame. There is also a rock band by this name. The band's website brags of their "deft hard-pop-rock songwriting" and "high energy live shows." Our Joanie Loves Trotsky only performed one high energy live show, which lasted 8 hours. It was deft, hard, and best enjoyed while eating Pop Rocks.
#73 Winter 02
Winner - Night of the Day of the Dawn of the Son of the Bride of the Return of the Revenge of the Terror of the Attack of the Evil Mutant Hellbound Zombified Flesh-Eating Subhumanoid Living Dead Part IV
Source - Reportedly, the longest film title ever. Definitely the longest team name ever to win Williams Trivia. The movie apparently consists of a reedited version of 1968's "Night of the Living Dead," made humorous with new dialogue and music.
#74 Spring 03
Winner - Click Here to Get Huge
Source - Anyone with the endurance to sift through unwanted and unsolicited email spam will eventually receive the top secret computer link that enables them to increase his or her penis size "up to" 8 inches. Would this MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THEIR LOVE LIFE? Would they ENJOY SEEING THE THRILLED LOOK ONHER FACE? Would they be kind enough to provide a VALID CREDIT CARD NUMBER (for confirmation purposes only)?
#75 Winter 03
Winner - Mortal Wombat
Source - Chosen by former members of Mortal Kombat Intelligence Squad (5th place, Winter 2002/03); and Mortal Kumquat (3rd place, Spring 2003), to continue the theme. It reportedly also had some relation to an in-joke involving lesbians.
#76 Spring 04
Winner - Worker and Parasite
Source - Eastern Europe's favorite cat and mouse team, from "The Simpsons."Ê A new kid's show, hosted by Gabbo the ventriloquist dummy, trounces Krusty the Klown in the ratings.Ê Krusty's troubles deepen as Gabbo buys the rights to the "Itchy & Scratchy" cartoons.Ê Krusty can only compete with this low-budget, high-propaganda substitute.
#76 Winter 04/05
Winner - Deine Mutter ist Geekenvermachtstaffle
Source - Roughly translated from the German as "Your Mother is a Geek Army (Staff)." Selecting the name was an organic process, as reported by team members Sandy Ryan and Lynette Yorgey. Ryan: "Lynette and co. showed up at my apartment en masse, and were waiting outside for me to let them in, and a couple of my neighbors were looking askance at these suspicious characters -- not certain they should let them in -- so I threw open the door and cried, "Enter, geek army!" to freak the mundanes. And it sort of stuck, and people had fun with it -- saluting and whatnot -- and there you go." Yorgey: "...yeah, pretty much we were like "Oh, we should be Geek Army!" Then "In another language!" Then somebody said it in German and we all rolled around on the floor laughing. Then we added staffle, because it made us laugh *even harder*." Malcolm Gin reports that it was further felt that "staffle" would more properly convey the subtleties of a team working together. The brief semantical battle between "vermacht" and "staffle" was ended with the decision that since it was German, the team could just make up a compound word. (Muddying the linguistic swamp, BabelFish claims "vermachtstaffle" translates to "bequeathed-graduate.") Meanwhile, the IRC portion of the team were tireless advocates for including the phrase "Your Mom" somewhere. Everyone ended up being satisfied.
#76 Spring 05
Winner - Gratuitous Use of the Word "Belgium"
Source - The Rory, an award handed out "For the Most Gratuitous Use of the Word 'Belgium' in a Serious Screenplay", according to Doulas Adams, in 'Life, the Universe and Everything'.
#77 Winter 05/06
Winner - Awesome Sauce: Grammar For Pussies Like You
#78 Spring 06
Winner - Suite, Suite Lovin’
#79 Winter 06/07
Winner - Laymen JC Superstars: Take Me Caiaphas!
Source -
How did we get such an interesting albeit at times mispelled name? Well our
team consisted of a mix of Jesus Christ Superstar fans (a JC Superstars
Sing-along Drinkathon having ensued the weekend prior to Trivia), Lehman
residents, and one special individual who wants to do very indecent things
to Caiaphas... At first we were simply going to be the JC Superstars! But
then someone pointed out our location and suggested The Lehman JC
Superstars, which seemed kind of lame, until somone got the brilliant idea
of using a pun somewhat related to our previous name. Finally, certain
sentiments towards Caiaphas (the high priest in JCS), Hence Laymen JC
Superstars: Take Me Caiaphas! was born... -Ana Correa