06/10/2026
LOOPERS, WINNIES TIE, BONNIE RAITT DOMINATES
The trivia master wasn’t expecting a huge turnout on June 3, seeing as he was competing with rock and roll semi-legend Bonnie Raitt, so he was pleasantly surprised to find seven teams in-house, eager to compete. Having decided an entire evening devoted to “things that are better than Bonnie Raitt” might seem petty, the Trivia Master opted instead for a Smiths-themed evening, in which all categories were the names of Smiths songs, thus sending a clear Generation X message whose intent was every bit as clear as if he had conjured up four categories of things that are better than Bonnie Raitt. Like trivia. And The Smiths.
Two things that were better than Bonnie Raitt on Wednesday were the Loopers (Reimagined) and Winnie’s Winners, two teams that both navigated their way through the Smiths-themed categories to each earn a share of the winners’ purse. Each team played consistently and was not flashy, though the Loopers, comprised of many new faces and missing the calming influences of Steve, Roe and Rebecca, had to be warned on many occasions that if they continued to harass the Interim Sergeant-at-Arms they would be docked a point.
Fortunately, they pulled back when it was necessary and preserved their tie with the Winnies, who prevailed despite playing without Typewriter Bob, which made reading their answers something less than the celebration of neat handwriting it usually is.
Trailing the leaders by a single point were the Merry Posas, who started strong but stumbled in category three (William, it was Really Nothing). Behind them were a depleted We Drink and We Know Things, followed by the Average Jills, The Caregivers, who attempted to compete minus the trademark “Norm” in their name and Menage a (Deux). Whittled down from six to only a date night duo, Menage may have finished in the cellar but they earned the everlasting respect of the Trivia Master for their unbowed enthusiasm. The Average Jills may be the gold standard for enthusiasm at Trivia at Dos Mariposas, but Menage a (Here’s what’s left over when everyone else is busy) sent a message: we are gunning for you.
Here are your awards for June 3.
OFFICIAL TODDLER OF TRIVIA AT DOS MARIPOSAS STATUS: Were those the beginnings of words I was hearing from Hadley last week? Big, if true.
OFFICIAL BABY OF TRIVIA AT DOS MARIPOSAS: Yeager. He’s the only one.
WENDY BLING UPDATE: Wendy came to trivia directly from golf on Wednesday, but was careful to point out that she’d changed into her rhinestone-encrusted flip-flops for trivia.
BONNIE RAITT EFFECT: It took the Trivia Master 15 minutes to get from his house to Dos Mariposas. The entire time he was stuck behind a line of cars containing 70-year-old guys wearing straw fedoras.
WHICH MIGHT EXPLAIN: Why I forgot to post a clue on Facebook. Blame the fedora guys. Or maybe it's that I can't get organized when the Sergeant-at-Arms is out of town. That seems more likely.
BEST WRONG ANSWER OF THE EVENING: The Average Jills think the Cleveland Browns traded Myles Garrett not to another football team but to a deceased fitness expert who didn’t appear in public during for the last five years of his life. Miles Garrett, you now play football for Richard Simmons.
SECOND-BEST WRONG ANSWER OF THE NIGHT: Menage a (Deux) — Rex Reed was a movie critic but who knows; maybe he did secretly wish he was a p**n star.
BEST LAST-MINUTE TEAM ASSEMBLY: Only two members of the Loopers came to play Wednesday. The other four team members were day-of adds who apparently know a lot of trivial matters (and how to harass an interim Sergeant-at-Arms).
BEST ASIDE: “I thought about naming the team the Mary Posas, but that seemed, well, kind of egotistical. So we’re the Merry Posas.” — Mary of the Merry Posas.
BEST ENTHUSIASM: It’s getting close, Average Jills. Take away 67% of their team and Menage is suddenly an enthusiasm factory.
ILLEGAL USE OF GOLF SHOES: You know you’re going to grind those Footjoys down to nubs wearing them as casual shoes, right, Michael of We Drink and We Know Things?
WORST QUESTION OF THE NIGHT: Shoplifters of the World was harder than I thought, so I tried to rephrase the questions to make them easier, leading to the unfortunate Britney Spears question. The third time is the charm. She stole a cigarette lighter. It was worth $1.49.
BEST BRIBE: Thank you, Kylie, for bribing your teenage daughter so she’d fill in as Sergeant-at-Arms. Maybe she needed that new dress but she’s lying if she says she didn’t take great pleasure at yelling “50!” When it was time to move onto the next question.
LONGEST BABY HOLD: Jeri, of Winnie’s Winners. I swear she had Yeager in her arms for 75% of the evening, leaving parents Erick and Ellery free to chase Seager around.
ODDEST CLARIFICATION: Stand-in Katie of the Loopers asking, of Britney’s arrest for cigarette lighter shoplifting, “Was it 2007 or 2005?”
HATS OFF TO: The two teams that knew the song titles were from The Smiths. Here’s to you, Loopers and We Drink.
That's all for this week. Hope to see you all on June 17 and apologies for no photos. Things kind of fall apart when Jody's gone.
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