IT was late in the championship game and the Fixx was in. Sports is the question
in this trivial pursuit"I'd coached track during the running boom, so I knew about Jim Fixx," said "Philly" John Chanin, recounting the answer that won him the championship of the first Ultimate Sports Trivia Contest, which held its final four Monday at the Trellises Restaurant.
He edged "Jersey" Jack Rosenzweig, 5-4, by knowing that Fixx, who died of a heart attack, was a distance runner who espoused the health virtues of the sport in his best-selling book.
Chanin was the last contestant of 64 left standing in the contest put on by Rainbow Sports Radio and broadcast by KCCN, making him the unofficial state sports trivia champion. Unofficial because for the past few weeks, dozens of sports fans tuning in during afternoon drive time were saying to themselves, "I would have won that match!" Also unofficial because there were no neighbor island entries. It's sort of like winning the Oahu Prep Bowl.
Maybe Chanin will get a challenge on Kauai in November. His first place prize is a trip to the Grand Slam of Golf.
"I would love to have 'away games' on every island," he said with a chuckle.
ROSENZWEIG won a trip to Maui for second place, while Pat Silva gets to visit Kona for winning third place over Dave Dias.
Chanin, 62, and Rosenzweig, 52, are both attorneys. Is it the attention to detail those in their profession are known for that got them to the final?
As big a factor may have been -- no offense, fellas -- their ages. As the contest went on, it became apparent that the older you were, the better chance you had with the questions supplied by "Mililani" Karl Kawachi -- questions that host Bobby Curran compared to the Spanish Inquisition.
Another reason Chanin and Rosenzweig made it to the final is that they don't take themselves too seriously.
"My head is full of totally useless information," says Rosenzweig. "The only problem is that it interferes with other stuff that's important for my everyday life. I can remember rock-and-roll lyrics and starting lineups from 30 years ago, but ask me the name of the guy I met 20 minutes ago."
SO what exactly is sports trivia?
These days, it seems any arcane fact related to sports falls under the umbrella of trivia. Now, really, who cares that Quilvio Veras is the only major league second baseman whose name starts with Q? OK, it's scary, but there are people who care . . . still, that doesn't make it good trivia.
It's more interesting that although Quilvio comes from the same small town as his teammate Dario Veras, they are not related.
Good sports trivia is somewhere between general information (Jerry Rice holds the NFL record for touchdown receptions) and minutiae (his barber's name is Elmo). Here's another important distinction: Good sports trivia will win you a beer in a bar bet, but not get you into a bar fight.
Irony makes for great trivia, which leads us to my favorite question: Which Hawaii high school is the only one that can claim one graduate who has won a Super Bowl, and another a World Series?
You can give most guys -- even local guys -- four or five guesses and they won't get it. (The answer is Kalani.)
Follow-up is also a mark of good trivia: Who are the two players? (Most will get Lenn Sakata. If they're under 30 and not a Steelers fan, it's doubtful they'll even know who Roy Gerela is.)
Speaking of trivia, Leilehua athletic director Richard Townsend points out that there are now two former Mules playing for the New York Jets. Rookie defensive back Brian Austin was more known for his track exploits when he was here. He moved to the mainland after his freshman year.
The other Jet by way of Wahiawa is of course running back Adrian Murrell, who was featured in a lengthy article in this week's Sporting News.
Dave Reardon is a magazine editor and freelance
writer who has covered Hawaii sports since 1977.
He can be reached via the Star-Bulletin or
by email at dreardon@hmsa.com.
