NTN Encore Question of April 9th, 2011.
Played at The Unicorn in Toronto, Ontario.

Headliner:...1998 over 1978 and 2008

Encore Question:...Who was named as Billboard's 'Artist of the Year' for 1998?

Tonight I'm playing as ROCKET and LITBOX with Rob COSMO/ONJ, and Phil PLBAAB.

Here's how my game went and my comments:
Tune Up...ROCKET...5000/5000...1st/5...our five sweep this round.     
.............LITBOX...5000/5000...1st/5...we didn't have to guess anything this week. 
The LineUp...ROCKET...11000/15000...3rd/5. 
...........LITBOX...11000/15000...3rd/5. 
I go 6 for 10 for a poor score...COSMO and PLBAAB get one more right.       
Triviaoke...ROCKET...18000/25000...4th/5...ONJ wins round...COSMO in lead with 19030.   
..........LITBOX...17950/25000...5th/5...I take two -250 this week and don't answer one.
I get help from Rob on a few answers.
Opening Act...ROCKET...22750/35000...4th/5. 
................LITBOX...22700/35000...5th/5.
The Pound key round.  I must have got 5 right for 1000, 1 for +250, 2 for -250, and 2 I didn't answer.
PLBAAB wins round.
Headliner...ROCKET...28000/56250...3rd/5.   
............LITBOX...27950/56250...4th/5.
1998:...1. It's the title of the tender 1998 ballad by Sarah McLachlin:--Angel (other choices were one word songs not by her)...2.  On their
1998 hit 'The Way' Fastball refers to a road paved in:--Gold...3. 'Gone til November' was a hit in 1998 for this hip hop superstar:--Wyclef
Jean...4. 'Little Plastic ________' was the 1998 album released by Ani DiFranco:--Castle...5. The boy of the cover of Offspring's 1998
album 'Americana' was:--riding a swing...6.  What group broke up in early 1998?--Faith No More...7. 'I Don't Like The Drugs (But The Drugs
Like Me)' is a track from a 1998 album by:--Marilyn Manson...8. 'Hands' was the first cut off her 1998 album 'Spirit':--Jewel...9. Which band
released 'Feeling Strangely Fine' in 1998?--Semisonic...10. What group topped the charts in 1998 with their debut single 'Lately'--Divine

We couldn't get anything going building bonus points with the way we played. We missed '2', '4', '6', and '9'. Phil thought the answer to '2' was Tears as he said it was a song about suicide. He pulled us off the right answer but he immediately made up for it by getting us '3' for which I had no idea. I can't remember what I chose for '4'. For '6' I chose Smashing Pumpkins for breakup (too soon). Phil thought '9' was Counting Crows. I knew '1', 5', '7' '8' and '10' and called them out as soon as the questions came up.

Now the Encore betting comes up. Well 50% as usual.

Answers:

  1. Tori Amos
  2. Usher
  3. R Kelly
  4. Mariah Carey
  5. Seal

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I don't know this. I spent a few minutes flipping through my Billboard Year end 2008 magazine because it was handy. The 1998 edition was just a few magazines under that but I didn't bother. Five minutes if I'd have looked I would have known the answer before I got here. Mariah Carey was our default answer as she had so many good years. I even said "Watch it be Usher" but I didn't change my answer. I knew he had one really good year before his 'Confessions' year of 2004.

Correct Answer:....2. Usher

[NTN Extra Fact:...The teen superstar was also named Best RnB Artist.]

In the men's room ten minutes later I think of the 'numbers' headliner we had a few weeks ago. There was a 'Yes' answer for the album 90125 in the Opening Act round. I think that Usher's great year was his '8701' album but it was actually 'My Way' that was issued for 1998.

I'm wrong and stay in fourth with ROCKET at 14000 points. I earn only 1500+ points for not meeting the standard of 18000. I finish 540th overall in North America. Rob wins as COSMO with 15890.
(NTN lists our bar as 89th out of 1871 bars).

Here's how the rest of the bar did:   
Player	preEncore	Final	Rank	ntn.com rank
COSMO	31780  4	15890	 417	 712
ONJ     31040  4	15520	 435	 754
PLBAAB  30270  4	15135	 454	 795
ROCKET	28000  4	14000	 540	 976
LITBOX	27950  4	13975	 542	 985
(ntn.com listed 7808 players with 6901 having a positive score)

Other games:
7:00pm...Countdown...ROCKET...8800/15000...3rd/4...1000+ points...I'm 634th in NA...YYYMMM wins.
.................LITBOX...8770/15000...4th/4...1000+ points...I'm 640th in NA...I'm here in time for the last ten questions.
7:30pm...Buzztime...ROCKET...7863/10000...1st/3...900+ points...I'm 73rd in NA.
.................LITBOX...7831/10000...2nd/3...900+ points...I'm 76th in NA.
7:45pm...Buzztime...ROCKET...4237/10000...1st/3...300+ points...I'm 721st in NA.
.................LITBOX...4219/10000...2nd/3...300+ points...I'm 743rd in NA.
8:00pm...Buzztime...ROCKET...6322/10000...1st/2...900+ points...I'm 377th in NA.
...............LITBOX...6322/10000...1st/2...900+ points...I'm 377th in NA.
8:15pm...Buzztime...ROCKET...8028/10000...3rd/4...900+ points...I'm 64th in NA...PLBAAB wins.
...............LITBOX...8055/10000...2nd/4...900+ points...I'm 62nd in NA...my friends have arrived and can help me the rest of the games.
8:30pm...Buzztime...ROCKET...8305/10000...2nd/5...900+ points...I'm 99th in NA.
..............LITBOX...8316/10000...1st/5...900+ points...I'm 97th in NA.
8:45pm...Tuned-In TV...ROCKET...9714/10000...2nd/5...1000+ points...I'm 41st in NA...I'm 6th on the bar's Hall of Fame.
..............LITBOX...9738/10000...1st/5...1000+ points...I'm 39th in NA...the bar is 5th in NA with a 9431 average.
9:00pm...Playback (see above).

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