The Brackets!

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Decathlon Event #3



Event #3: Historical Knowledge, Totally Old School

From memory, list the American Presidents of the 20th Century, in order. You may use scratch paper.

International Rules: Contestants who are citizens or residents of a country other than the United States of America may list the heads of state of their country (and its prececessor political entities where appropriate) throughout the 20th Century, in order.

You may submit your list either in the comments, or by email to M5Kdecathlon@gmail.com.

Judging: You'll get a point for every President correctly listed and another point for every correct sequence of three in a row. You'll lose a point for every extraneous point on the list. Example: For the 19 American Presidents who served in the 20th Century, a perfect list would score 19 points for the names, plus 17 points for all the correct series of three in a row, for a total of 36 points. International entries will be prorated as necessary.

Deadline: Lists must be submitted no later than 10 p.m. Thursday, May 8th (Pacific Daylight Time)

Remember, the deadline for Event #2 is 10 p.m. Friday.

25 comments:

  1. 1. Theodore Roosevelt
    2. Theodore Roosevelt
    3. Taft
    4. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
    5. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
    6. Eisenhower
    7. Truman
    8. Kennedy
    9. Johnson
    10. Nixon
    11. Ford
    12. Carter
    13. Reagan (ack, phipht)
    14. Reagan (again, ack)
    15. George H.W. Bush (the father)
    16. Bill Clinton
    17. Bill Clinton (again, ack)
    18. George W. Bush (ack)
    19. George W. Bush (again, ack ack)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I started out a citizen of another country and ended up in the US, so I'm splitting the 'presidents' too. You decide how to score it.

    (Spellings might vary)

    Emperor Guang Hsu
    Emperor Yong Tzeng (oops, I just looked this up and I got this wrong)
    Sun Yet-Sen
    Yuen Hsi-Kai

    Then split into 2 branches

    ROC - Chang Kai-Shek
    PRC - Mao Tze Tong

    Then I'm in the US (well, ok, I didn't arrive until Ford):

    Kennedy
    Johnson
    Nixon
    Ford
    Carter
    Reagan
    George (Herbert) Bush
    Bill Clinton
    George (Walker) Bush

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oops, I just looked at Karin's answers and see that, yes, you wanted the 2 term presidents listed twice. Well, you'll just have to take my word that I know who the 2 timers are. Listing them after having seen Karin's answers hardly seem quiz worthy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Teddy Roosevelt
    Taft
    Wilson
    Harding
    Coolidge
    Hoover
    FDR (4x)
    Truman
    Eisenhower (2x)
    Kennedy
    LBJ
    Nixon (2x)
    Ford
    Carter
    Reagan (2x)
    Bush I
    Clinton (2x)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mckinley
    Roosevelt, T
    Taft
    Wilson
    Harding
    Coolidge
    Hoover
    Roosevelt, FD
    Truman
    Eisenhower
    Kennedy
    Johnson, LB
    Nixon
    Ford
    Carter
    Reagan
    Bush, HW
    Clinton

    Your quiz is messed up, sorry.

    There were only 18 presidents who served in the 20th century... GW Bush, our current doofus in chief, may have been appointed to the presidency in the 20th century (by the SCOTUS) but he did not begin serving as POTUS until the 21st century...

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. this. is. gonna be HILARIOUS. hilarious i tell you. i'm going backwards.

    bush the younger and far more idiotic (does his election in 1999 count? i don't know so i'll leave him in.)
    clinton (2)
    bush the elder
    reagan (2)
    carter
    ford
    nixon
    lbj (poor lbj)
    kennedy
    eisenhower (2)
    truman
    roosevelt (3 or 4)
    wilson
    harding
    hoover
    coolidge
    taft (right? taft? eek)
    teddy r (2, my gma is named after him)
    mckinley

    so, i did a 'year' count and multiple terms don't count as multiple entries, right?

    probably bush the younger doesn't count either. or i can't remember multiple terms very well.

    oh, hell, who am i kidding? i don't remember anyone before kennedy really.

    ReplyDelete
  8. In reverse order:

    1.Clinton
    2.GHW Bush
    3.Reagan
    4.Carter
    5.Ford
    6.Nixon
    7.LBJ
    8.JFK
    9.Ike
    10.Truman
    11.FDR

    Now it gets hairy-

    12.Hoover
    13.Wilson
    14.Taft
    15.Ted Rooseveldt
    16.Mckinley

    ReplyDelete
  9. Actually, I never told you, but I'm from Zimbabwe. Our list: Robert Mugabe!

    Well, OK....
    1 William McKinley
    2 Grover Cleveland?
    3 That guy in between Cleveland's terms....Damn!!Warren Harding?
    4 Grover Cleveland?
    5 Woodrow Wilson
    6 Calvin Coolidge
    7 Herbert Hoover
    8 Franklin D. Roosevelt
    9 Harry Truman
    10 Dwight Eisenhower
    11 John F. Kennedy
    12 Lyndon Johnson
    13 Richard Nixon
    14 Gerald Ford
    15 Jimmy Carter
    16 Ronald Reagan
    17 George H.W. Bush
    18 Bill Clinton
    19 George W. Bush

    ReplyDelete
  10. Well, I'm very fuzzy about the beginning of the century, but have no reason to expect enlightenment between now and tomorrow evening. So here goes:

    Theodore Roosevelt
    Whatshisname Taft
    Theodore Roosevelt again
    Warren G. Harding
    Woodrow Wilson
    Calvin Coolidge
    Herbert Hoover
    Franklin D. Roosevelt
    Harry Truman
    Dwight D. Eisenhower
    John F. Kennedy
    Lyndon Johnson
    Richard Nixon
    Gerald Ford
    Jimmy Carter
    Ronald Reagan
    George Bush
    Bill Clinton
    I won't put George W. Bush on the list, since he didn't take office until Jan. 2001, and that makes him a 21st-century president no matter how you slice your centuries. So I've only got 18. Well, no need to panic. I won't dig myself any deeper by grasping at Millard Fillmores to round out the list.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wait... did you want it by terms?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

    No, they aren't part of the answer.

    I have to go backwards because this is hard work, namin' the preznits of Uhmerca, hard work. Heh heh heh.

    William Jefferson Clinton
    George HW Bush
    Ronald Reagan
    Jimmy Carter
    Gerald Ford
    Richard Nixon
    Lyndon B. Johnson
    John F. Kennedy
    What's-his-first-name Eisenhower

    And now that we have gotten back to before I was even an undifferentiated mass of cells, the complete and total guess-a-thon - and just to confuse you, I'm now starting at the beginning of the twentieth century:

    Theodore Roosevelt
    Woodrow Wilson
    Calvin Coolidge
    Herbert Hoover

    Oh, okay, that was just a list of four more presidents I think were in the 20th century. I'm pretty clueless about the rest of them.

    ReplyDelete
  13. No need to specify the number of terms.

    ReplyDelete
  14. *yawn*
    mckinley 25
    tr 26, big sticks
    taft 27
    wilson 28
    harding 29
    not-very-coolidge (don't trust anyone over) 30
    hoover (up) 31 flavors of ice cream
    fdr 32
    truman 33
    eisenhower 34
    jfk 35 minimum age for president, young man
    36 lbj
    nixon 37, not going to heaven
    ford 38
    carter 39, a friend of mine
    reagan 40
    bush 41
    clinton 42, the answer to life, the universe, and republicans
    w bush 43

    ReplyDelete
  15. T Roosevelt
    Taft
    Wilson
    Coolidge
    Harding
    Hoover
    FD Roosevelt
    Truman
    Eisenhower
    Kennedy
    Johnson
    Nixon
    Ford
    Carter
    Reagan
    GHW BUsh
    Clinton


    Must be missing a couple...

    ReplyDelete
  16. It might work best for me to go in reverse order. Okay, 1900s.

    G. Bush the younger
    Clinton
    G. Bush the elder
    Reagan
    Carter
    Ford
    Nixon
    Johnson
    Kennedy
    Eisenhower
    Truman
    FDR

    Now I get lost a bit.
    Hoover
    Coolidge
    Cleveland
    Another Roosevelt
    Taft
    Hmmm

    I do not think I did well here.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I like it!

    1. William McKinley
    2. Theodore Roosevelt
    3. Robert Taft
    4. Woodrow Wilson
    5. Calvin Coolidge
    6. Warren G. Harding
    7. Herbert Hoover
    8. Franklin Roosevelt
    9. Harry Truman
    10. Dwight Eisenhower
    11. John F. Kennedy
    12. Lyndon Johnson
    13. Richard Nixon
    14. Gerald Ford
    15. Jimmy Carter
    16. Ronald Reagan
    17. George H. W. Bush
    18. William Jefferson Clinton
    19. George W. Bush

    ReplyDelete
  18. 1. Teddy
    2. Taft
    3. Wilson
    4. Can't remember... I'll just say Hayes
    5. Harding
    6. Humphrey
    7. Coolidge
    8. FDR
    9. Truman
    10. Eisenhower
    11. Kennedy
    12. Lyndon B Johnson
    13. Nixon
    14. Ford
    15. Carter
    16. Reagan
    17. H Dubya
    18. Clinton
    19. Dubya

    ReplyDelete
  19. 19? Really? Ah, that's killing me. All I could come up with is 17 and that's with one that is almost certainly wrong. I hope you're not counting W, as he wasn't 20th Century. I was tempted to cheat and look at my secondary blog:
    http://doublezeroopresidents.blogspot.com/
    but I didn't. And I can't remember any more today than yesterday, so here goes:

    Roosevelt (T)
    Harrison (almost certainly wrong)
    Taft
    Wilson
    Harding
    Coolidge
    Roosevelt (FD)
    Truman
    Eisenhower
    Kennedy
    Johnson
    Nixon
    Ford
    Carter
    Reagan
    Bush
    Clinton

    ReplyDelete
  20. Goddamn you to hell, Herbert Hoover. Goddamn you straight to hell.

    ReplyDelete
  21. My father could, and probably does, do this in his sleep, complete with vice-presidents, dates and important legislation. If he has his way, so can his students. On the other hand, I went to Quaker school and we learned about important labor and civil rights leaders, not that I could list them in order either. So here's a random list of 20th century presidents, or people I think were presidents:

    Teddy Roosevelt
    Taft
    Warren G. Harding
    Franklin Delano Roosevelt
    Calvin Coolidge (I don't know where he goes, really)
    Dwight D. Eisenhower
    Kennedy
    Lyndon Johnson
    Gerald Ford
    Richard Nixon
    Jimmy Carter
    Ronald Reagan
    George Bush Sr.
    Bill Clinton

    ReplyDelete
  22. As a fan of awesome names (thank you, Calvin Coolidge!), I'm sad to say that it seems I forgot Herbert Hoover, and if Rutherford B. Hayes is in there somewhere, I'm dreadfully sorry to have forgotten him as well.

    ReplyDelete
  23. OK, let's begin with the answers.

    Actually, before we get to the answers, let's do the apology and confession. In my scoring example, I said that there were 19 U.S. Presidents during the 20th Century. There weren't. There were only 18. I realize that that led some of you astray, and I apologize for that.

    Here are the 18, in proper order:

    McKinley
    Roosevelt, Theodore
    Taft
    Wilson
    Harding
    Coolidge
    Hoover
    Roosevelt, Franklin
    Truman
    Eisenhower
    Kennedy
    Johnson
    Nixon
    Ford
    Carter
    Reagan
    Bush
    Clinton

    ReplyDelete
  24. I can't believe I forgot Wilson, a war time president, even! Sheesh! Nevermind all my other mistakes and ommissions. Feh.

    ReplyDelete
  25. And the First Place Winner of Event #3, with a perfect list, is Cartophiliac. 1200 points.

    In Second Place, a perfect list with the 21st Century President tacked on, is Chance, for 1000 points.

    In Third Place, La Gringissima is in the winners' circle again for 800 points.

    Fourth Place and 600 points goes to Phineas.

    A tie for Fifth between mhwitt and Jovaliquilts nets them 400 points apiece.

    This is the first L&TM5K Quiz I have ever been able to take myself, since I didn't have to research the answers in advance. FYI, I came in Twelfth.

    With two events complete, this puts Cartophiliac in the lead, but since I'm going to go tabulate up Event #4 now I won't belabor the current standings.

    ReplyDelete

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