The ASU quiz bowl team doesn't concern itself with traditional trivia fare like the atomic weight of Neptunium and the years during which the Han dyansty ruled China.
Let the boys from California or Harvard tackle those topics. The Sun Devils would rather take on the trash, obscure pop culture questions pertaining to everything from the television show "Night Court" to 1960s B-movies to villains from girly Saturday morning cartoons like "Rainbow Brite" and "Strawberry Shortcake."
The ASU quiz bowl players will utilize their trivial knowledge this weekend in pursuit of a national title in the TRASHionals at the University of Michigan. The trip marks the closest the Sun Devils have ever come to a championship.
Think you know enough useless information to compete? Here are some typical questions ASU and 35 other teams at TRASHionals have to answer: What was the name of the resort Jesse's dad owned in "Saved by the Bell"? Who performed the Cartwheel Uppercut fatality in "Mortal Kombat 2"?
How many buttons are found on a standard Sega Dreamcast controller, not including the directional pad? If you answered Palm Desert, Lui Kang and seven, there might be room for you on the junior varsity team.
The four-man varsity squad is filled with seniors and graduate students spending what is likely their last year together as a team. ASU quiz bowl president Nathan Crane, a senior, can reference pop culture more easily than any of Quentin Tarantino's best characters, but his specialty is science fiction. Trevor Schultz brings a wealth of experience to the table as a veteran of several national competitions while completing his undergraduate studies at Iowa.
Senior Miguel Ruiz knows movies and claims to be "good with knives," while graduate student Jason Zuffranieri claims "my specialty is sex," like a special agent from Fox Force Five.
Because of his age and love of old television shows, Schultz is the wild card, except he's not enrolled in ASU. That wouldn't fly in the real quiz bowl competition, where players have to provide documentation to prove they are actually students. But at TRASHionals, things are a bit more loose, so Schultz could be ASU's difference-maker.
"I think we have a legitimate chance of winning this," Zuffranieri boasted confidently. "Don't you Miguel?"
"Sure," Ruiz replied. "Is Trevor going?"
Matt Kee wants to hear your take on ASU athletics. Reach him at matthew.simpson@asu.edu.
