A Flurry of Christmas Sports Trivia Quiz

Answer: Los Angeles

The oldest of the bowl games is the Rose Bowl, played in the stadium of that name in Pasadena, California. It originated in 1902 and has been played continuously since 1915, usually on New Year's Day. The Los Angeles Christmas Bowl of 1924 was played in that city's Memorial Coliseum and was not repeated during the twentieth century. Attempts at a revival in 2010 came to nothing.

Answer: Karts

Paris-Bercy, or the Bercy Arena opened in 1984 and has been the venue for many sports from tennis to show jumping to boxing and more, as well as concerts by a variety of entertainers. The karting competition in December 1994 featured Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher and Alessandro Zanardi amongst others. I remember watching these races and though they were "just" kart races the drivers didn't hold anything back.

Answer: London

The London Olympia International Horse Show has become a must-watch event for fans of international show jumping with several days of competition including the Christmas Puissance (with very large jumps) and the Olympia Grand Prix. First held at Olympia in 1907, the show has skipped a few years (notably during war time), but has become a traditional part of Christmas amongst the equestrian community.

Answer: Dave Casper

Dave Casper was nicknamed after the comic book character Casper the Friendly Ghost. His catch and the subsequent field goal sent the game into double overtime. His Oakland Raiders eventually won 37-31 over the Baltimore Colts.

Red Grange was "The Galloping Ghost", whose pro career spanned the 1920s and '30s. Kevin Kasper was born the day before the game in question and grew up to play wide receiver for several NFL teams. Casper Wells made his major league baseball debut for the Detroit Tigers in 2010.

Answer: Baseball

The score of the Hilton Head Baseball Championship held that day has remained unknown, but the war records of the 165th New York Volunteer Infantry stated that 10,000 spectators watched the game between soldiers of that unit and a team with players drawn from the 47th and 48th New York Infantry regiments.

Answer: Christmas truce match of 1914

The spontaneous Christmas truce observed by British and German soldiers on the Western Front in 1914 included an impromptu football (soccer) match between the two armies. Commemorations in December 2014 included a penalty shoot out between United Nations delegates from the United Kingdom and Germany, refereed by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

(The Toronto Blizzard was that city's entry in the defunct North American Soccer League.)

Answer: First names on back of jersey

Unveiled in November 2014 the Christmas jerseys sported each player's first name just beneath their number, instead of the more usual surname above it. Earlier innovations had involved single colour jerseys and short-sleeved versions that looked more like baseball uniform shirts. Personally, I'd vote for bells on their shoes!

Answer: Australia

Boxing Day, which is observed in Canada, the UK, Australia and other Commonwealth countries, is the day after Christmas. The Boxing Day test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground normally starts on that day. Between 2000 and 2009, Australia's party was spoiled only once, by South Africa in 2008. England started the next decade with a victory in 2010.

Answer: Sven Hannawald

The Four Hills are located in Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany and Innsbruck and Bischofshofen, Austria. Hannawald was enjoying the best season of his career when he astounded fans by winning all four competitions, the first person to ever do so. Each of the other choices has won individual events in the tournament in other years. Thoma and Weissflog have been overall winner, the latter four times.

Answer: False

First played on 1 January 2008, the NHL Winter Classic is a regular-season game played outdoors in either a football or baseball stadium. The 2014 game was played in Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor and broke attendance records for an NHL game, with over 100,000 noisy fans in the stands to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs defeat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2.