Sports | Sporcle Blog

BCS Championship and Sporcle

December 5, 2012 • Posted by mariek • Comments Off

The holiday season is upon us, and for sports fans, that means college football and the BCS Championship series.

It’s that time of year when college football comes to an end and college basketball is just beginning, when team rivalries mix with family get-togethers, and when shouts at the TV are powered by Christmas cookies and eggnog.

Historically, there has been general frustration about the logic and fairness of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) picks. Regardless, the final BCS standings are out and picks have been made. Speculations and predictions have begun, fans are buying tickets, and here at Sporcle HQ we’re on the lookout for quality 2012 college bowl quizzes.

No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 2 Alabama take each other on in the BCS championship game, which will be played on January 7 in Miami. Both teams are major powerhouses, though when it comes to Sporcle quizzes, Notre Dame football quizzes have more plays than Alabama. Not that popularity or trivia-worthiness has anything to do with performance.

Notre Dame has always chosen to set themselves apart, simply by refusing to join a conference for football and remaining independent all these years. That alone is a piece of trivia that Alabama just lacks. But Alabama does have historically high rankings, along with two BCS Championship wins in the last three years, to give them some extra confidence.

Rounding out the BCS Bowl Games:
Rose Bowl: No. 6 Stanford vs. Wisconsin
Fiesta Bowl: No. 4 Oregon vs. No. 5 Kansas State
Orange Bowl: No. 12 Florida State vs. No. 15 Northern Illinois
Sugar Bowl: No. 3 Florida vs. No. 21 Louisville

Want to take a walk down memory lane? Consider playing the BCS Championship Game quizzes from the last few years:

2011/12: LSU vs. Alabama
2010/11: Auburn vs. Oregon
2009/10: Texas vs. Alabama

In the weeks ahead, as you sit on the couch watching hours of football, remember Sporcle. We’re here to break the monotony of stale holiday commercials, drawn-out delays for challenged plays, and defensive battles which leave you wanting some added excitement.

‘Suck for Luck’ on Sporcle

November 2, 2011 • Posted by guide • Comments Off

Andrew Luck will obviously play for Sporcle in 2012.

One of the most important stories in the NFL this year has nothing to do with which teams will win enough games to make the playoffs or have best chance of winning the Super Bowl. In fact, this post doesn’t have anything to do with winning at all. It has to do with which team will lose enough games to be given the first overall pick in the 2012 draft.

Though it seems unlikely that a whole team of players would conspire to purposely lose games, fans of the league’s current basement dwellers across the country have been pushing their teams to “Suck for Luck”–Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck. Luck is considered by many draft watchers to be the most promising pro quarterback prospect since Peyton Manning or even John Elway, and will certainly be the first quarterback taken in the draft unless injury strikes. Coincidentally since most of the teams with poor records can blame their situation on the lack of an elite quarterback, the incentive to receive the NFL #1 draft pick is sky high.

Even the Indianapolis Colts, who are 0-8 this year while Manning sits on the sidelines due to injury, are said to be considering trading the one of the greatest quarterbacks in league history to make room for Luck should they “win” the first pick.
All of this illustrates the importance of having a premier quarterback to having success in the NFL. While college teams have been able to achieve success without a star signal-caller in many cases, it’s proven too difficult for most teams who lack at the position to achieve postseason glory. One only needs to compare the list of Super Bowl winning QB’s and their losing counterparts. Or you can take a look at how many quarterbacks have tried to lead the Chicago Bears or New York Jets to glory and failed. The list of Super Bowl MVPs is also dominated by quarterbacks.

‘Luck’-ily, we have plenty of quizzes to help you brush up on your knowledge of the all-time great NFL quarterbacks. One of our favorites is this quiz about the best individual QB seasons logged for each franchise. You can also see if you can master the QBs with the most passing yards in a season quiz or the QB with the most touchdown passes.

NHL Playoffs 2011

May 18, 2011 • Posted by guide • Comments Off

We here at Sporcle love the NHL. Though there isn’t a franchise based in our home of Seattle–yet–we’re all following the Stanley Cup Playoffs closely. Some of us may have even been leaving work early to watch games now and then!

It’s been an exciting playoff season so far. Several of the favorites, such as Washington, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference and Detroit and the defending champions Chicago in the West, have been eliminated already, proving that anything can happen in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

With the teams remaining down to a mere four, it’s hard not to start thinking about potential Stanley Cup Finals matchups. Will Joe Thornton return to Boston to play his old team? Will Tampa Bay and Vancouver match up in what will make the furthest distance between competing Stanley Cup Finalists ever?

It’s also easy to find a way to root for each team to hoist the Stanley Cup Trophy. A win for the Canucks would mark the first time since 1993 that the Cup would belong to a Canadian team. A win for the Sharks would help their fans forget all the playoff disappointments of recent years. A Bruins’ win would mean that lovable goaltender Tim Thomas would win his first Cup at age 37 only a few years after bouncing around the AHL and Finland. Finally, a Cup for the Lightning would be their second in the 2000s, putting to rest the notion that teams in the Southern United States can’t have success.

To gear up for the home stretch of the playoffs, try taking our quizzes on the Stanley Cup winners, Longest Cup Droughts, and Conn Smythe winners.

Let’s hope for some more exciting hockey!

Baseball Opening Lineups

March 3, 2011 • Posted by Derek • 3 Comments

For the past few weeks you may have noticed a change in the air. The Northern Hemisphere is once more beginning its lean towards the sun, the birds are singing, and deer are shedding their antlers. This can only mean one thing…baseball season!

Last year the Sports department at Sporcle occasionally hijacked the home page and managed to publish the opening day lines ups from the past 20 years for every team in Major League Baseball. In case you missed it, we have assembled these quizzes for your playing pleasure below.