2011 Champions: Year in Review Quiz

Answer: Pittsburgh Steelers

Based out of Green Bay, Wisconsin, the Packers won the Superbowl for the "second time", the first being in 1996 (Superbowl XXXI) against the New England Patriots (the Packers won Super Bowls I and II in January 1967 and January 1968 although, at that time, it was called the NFL-AFL Championship Game).. The game against the Steelers looked like it was going to be a blowout when Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw a touchdown pass to Jordy Nelson that was quickly followed up with an interception by Nick Collins that was also run in for a touchdown. After the first quarter, Green Bay was up 14-0.

Pittsburgh didn't just lay down and die, though, picking up 10 points of their own in the second quarter. Green Bay's 7 points in that quarter put the show at 21-10 at the half in favor of the Packers. The Steelers fought back in the third quarter with a touchdown, while blanking the Packers for 15 minutes and pulling to within four points. A touchdown by the Packers early in the fourth, though, was all that was needed to secure the victory, although a few more points were recorded by both teams to put the final tally at 31-25.

Answer: India

Originally, the 2011 Cricket World Cup was also going to include Pakistan as a co-host nation, but after the 2009 attack in Pakistan against the Sri Lankan team, the ICC (International Cricket Council) denied Pakistan host status. The 14 participating teams were placed into two groups, which then proceeded to play a round-robin tournament, eliminating the bottom three finishers in each group.

The knockout stage followed, with India and Sri Lanka holding out to face each other in the final. In the end, India prevailed by six wickets over their Sri Lankan co-hosts. The 2001 World CUp was the tenth held.

The hosts of the previous nine had all failed to win on their home turf.

Answer: Canada

The World Curling Championship began in 1959 as the Scotch Cup, and the first three years that the tournament was held, Canada and Scotland were the countries vying for the title. Since 1959, up to this 2011 tournament, Canada has dominated the World's, winning 33 titles. The 2011 rink was skipped by Jeff Stoughton of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Answer: B

The 2009 final was hosted in Rome, Italy, with the final score being Barcelona 2, Manchester United 0. Unfortunately for the host country, Barcelona's dominance of Manchester United continued with a 3-1 victory. Both teams had won the title three times previously.

The two sides made it to half time tied 1-1, with Pedro striking first, and Rooney equalizing for Man U. Despite the even tally at half time, Barcelona dominated with 68% possession. Messi and Villa rounded out the scoring for a comfortable 3-1 victory.

Answer: 7

The hard-fought best-of-seven series went the full seven games, with each team winning their games on home ice for the first six games of the series. While home ice advantage was key, things were more lopsided in Boston. Vancouver won their home games 1-0, 3-2, and 1-0, while Boston's home wins were 8-1, 4-0, and 5-2. Finally, Boston clinched the win with the game seven victory in Vancouver, a 4-0 shutout. Bruins goalie Tim Thomas earned the Most Valuable Player honour for the series.

Answer: Dallas Mavericks

The Mavericks and Heat had met previously in the 2006 NBA Finals, with Miami winning in six (after Dallas had taken a 2-0 series lead). Their 2011 matchup began with a back-and-forth battle with Miami taking the early game advantage 1-0 and again 2-1 after three games. From there it was all Dallas as they took the last three games to win the title.

The series MVP was power forward Dirk Nowitzki, who has played with the Mavericks since 1998.

Answer: USA

Japan made it through the group stage behind England in Group B, then proceeded to make it past host Germany in a 1-0 nailbiter that went to extra time in the first knockout stage game. The semifinal match was a 3-1 victory over Sweden, but the final against the USA was even closer than the Germany match as they needed to go to penalty kicks to determine the victor.

After playing to a 2-2 draw, Japan defeated the US side 3-1 in penalties.

Answer: New Zealand

This was the 7th Rugby World Cup, and New Zealand had played co-host with Australia for the inagural tournament in 1987. The tournament was comprised of 20 teams, divided into four pools of five teams each. New Zealand and France were both in Pool A, with New Zealand coming out on top with a perfect 4-0 record.

The knockout stage saw New Zealand finish off Argentina 33-10 and Australia 20-7, while France defeated England 19-12 and Wales 9-8 before they once again faced each other. The 8-7 final marked the lowest-scoring Final since the inception of the World Cup in 1987.

Answer: first

The Rangers started the game at bat, scoring on two RBI doubles by Josh Hamilton and Michael Young. That was the last of the scoring for Texas, however, as the Cardinals followed with a two-run double in the bottom of the first. St. Louis continued with a single homer by Allen Craig in the third, two runs in the fifth (one walk with bases loaded, and another when Rafael Furcal was hit by a pitch), and lastly a single RBI by Molina in the seventh to make it a 6-2 final.

Answer: False

The FIVB World Cup tournaments do not come down to a final match between two teams, but rather the victors are those that finished with the best round-robin standing. For the women in November, it was Italy, finishing with a 10-1 record and repeating as champions.

The USA finished second at 9-2, with China finishing 3rd at 8-3. December's men's tournament saw Russia win with a 10-1 record, while Poland and Brazil finished second and third with 8-3 records.