Commonality Quiz Time!

Answer: Colgate

Starting in 1932, Colgate athletics teams were called the "Red Raiders" (coined by Dexter Teed) in reference to the new maroon uniforms that they adopted after being snubbed for a Bowl bid. The school used Native American imagery for their mascot over the next few decades.

The Colgate University Board of Trustees, upon the recommendation of the President, Director of Athletics and the members of the Campus Committee on Athletics, retired the "Red" from the name in 2001.

Answer: AIM

Brando had worked as an activist with the American Indian Movement (AIM). Knowing that he was a favorite to win the Oscar he used it as a chance to protest the government's siege at Wounded Knee. He asked actress/activist Marie Louise Cruz (Sacheen Littlefeather) and asked her to appear on the stage in his place. She did and voiced her disapproval on Native American treatment. At a press conference afterward, she read to the press the full four-page speech that Brando had written.

Answer: Arm & Hammer

A muscly arm holding a hammer has long been the symbol of the Roman god of fire, Vulcan. It also came to represent the craft of blacksmithing and metal work. Commercially and socially it became the logo of many organizations including the Socialist Labor Party of America, and of course the Arm & Hammer company that makes household products.

Answer: Crest

Born July 13, 1954, David Thompson played on the Crest Senior High School varsity team for all four years. The school is located in Shelby, North Carolina, in the Cleveland district. The school's name derives from the acronym "Cleveland Rural Education Stands Together." Thompson was a star even back then, playing in the North Carolina Coaches Association's East-West All-Star game in 1971.

Answer: Close-Up

Gloria Swanson famously played the character Norma Desmond in the iconic Hollywood classic film about Hollywood, called "Sunset Boulevard." It's an incredible shot and an incredible performance from Ms. Swanson. Just imagine the temerity, the absolute courage it took to perform that shot risking looking like an incredible fool.

But she committed so totally to the lunacy of it that we remain transfixed as she snakes her arms thru the air with each creeping step. At the end of this film by Billy Wilder, the aging star of the silver screen struts ever so slowly, creeping toward a camera that she thinks is a movie camera shooting her for a film.

The deluded Norma utters the now classic movie quotation "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."

Answer: Signal

"Rough Riders" (1997), a four-hour miniseries, depicted Teddy Roosevelt's charge up San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War. Berenger played Roosevelt and was executive producer of the project. He had pitched the idea to director John Milius two years beforehand--Milius was a huge admirer of Roosevelt. Berenger's other castmates that went through that same training included Gary Busey, Sam Elliott and Chris Noth.

Answer: Rembrandt

In "The Raising of the Cross" Rembrandt depicted himself as the artist painting the figure in a studio as his assistants surround him. You can see him roughly in the middle of the painting, in the background, wearing a beret, seemingly lit by a ray of sunshine.

In "The Prodigal Son in the Brothel" he has painted himself as the male character in the foreground looking back toward us, smiling. The other character, a woman, was Rembrandt's wife Saskia. In "The Stoning of Saint Stephen" Rembrandt has painted himself as a character in the middle of the group of men holding stones above their heads ready to stone Saint Stephen. Rembrandt is the man positioned in between St. Stephen and a tormentor--you can see Rembrandt's head as the one directly behind and above St. Stephen's head.

Answer: Glister

Glister is the one that means to glitter or scintillate, deriving from the Low German "glisteren." The other words listed are antonyms of glister. Vapidity is a state of dullness, as is inspidness. Vapid comes from the Latin "vapidus" meaning flat, and insipid comes from the French "insipidie" meaning lacking in flavor or taste. Calignosity refers to darkness, mistiness. Caliginous is derived from the Latin "caliginosus" meaning mist.

Answer: Jason

Jason Voorhees debuted in 1980 in the slasher genre horror film "Friday the 13th." The story went that back in 1957 at Camp Crystal Lake he was a young boy that drowned while camp counselors weren't paying close enough attention. Various mishaps prevented the camp from reopening over the years until in 1980 a few counselors were able to get together and reopen it. But then in an updated version of "Ten Little Indians", counselors start getting murdered one by one (including Kevin Bacon). So spoiler alert... it's Jason. Or...is it?

Answer: Toothpastes

Yes, all the answers are brands of toothpaste. COLGATE debuted in 1873, from the Colgate-Palmolive company, while AIM debuted exactly one century later, in 1973 via the Unilever company. Unilever also gave us our red gel CLOSE-UP toothpaste in 1967. SIGNAL toothpaste is another brand from Unilever and sponsors oral health programs in schools to foster dental care amongst kids.

The symbol for the god of fire, Vulcan's arm wielded a hammer which also became the symbol for the ARM & HAMMER company and the toothpaste they make. Procter & Gamble makes CREST toothpaste, introduced in 1954 as Fluoristan, and a year later became Crest. REMBRANDT toothpaste came to us from the Den-Mat corp in 1990 but changed ownership over the years and ended up at Johnson & Johnson's. GLISTER toothpaste comes to us by the Amway company, and JASON toothpaste has been around since 1959.