What League Is That? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Missouri Valley

In 2015 and 2016, the Valley was represented by two teams (Northern Iowa and Wichita State) to get to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. In 2015 UNI was 1-1 and Wichita State was 2-1, including a win over 2 seed Kansas. In 2016 UNI was again 1-1, while Wichita State went 2-1 again, including a play-in game. Both years the Panthers won the MVC Tournament in St. Louis, despite the fact that the Wheatshockers were higher rated in both instances. Other noted achievements of the Panthers from Northern Iowa include beating overall number-one seeded Kansas, 69-67, in the second round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament, and a 71-67 win over number-one ranked North Carolina on 21 November, 2015.

Many observers object to the term "mid-major" for NCAA basketball teams, feeling it is condescending or insulting.

Answer: Big 10

The Big Ten was founded in 1896 and called the Western Conference. Its members were Unversity of Chicago, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Purdue, and Michigan. The conference was known as the Big Nine after Iowa and Indiana joined in 1899.

By 1950, Chicago had dropped out, to be replaced by Michigan State and Ohio State and remained as the Big Ten until Penn State joined in 1990 and Nebraska in 2011. Finally, Maryland and Rutgers joined in 2014. But the conference continued to keep the "Big Ten" name.

Answer: National Football League (NFL)

Officially known as the "Bert Bell Bowl", the Playoff Bowl was played each year in Miami's Orange Bowl a week after the NFL's Championship Game.

Vince Lombardi, the author of our quote, was pretty disgusted with the whole concept, especially when the Packers had to play in the "Playoff Bowl" following the 1963 and 1964 seasons (losing the 1965 game after the '64 season) after winning the NFL title games in 1961 and 1962. But he used the loss brilliantly to motivate the Packers to win the next three NFL titles, PLUS the first two NFL-AFL World Championship Games, which became known as the Super Bowl in its third year.

Answer: Texas League

The type of hit described is called a "Texas leaguer", even though there is no evidence it first occurred in Texas League play, nor that it is more prevalent there than in any other league or level of play. Other terms for it include "blooper", "bleeder", "humpback liner", and "banjo hit."

"The Dickson Baseball Dictionary" cites examples of the use of the term "Texas Leaguer" or "Texas League hit" back to 1892 and 1895.

Answer: Arena Football League

Arena football is gridiron football played indoors on ice hockey-sized arenas, thus making the field 50 yards long. Each team is composed of 8 players, as compared to 11 in the regular outdoor style. James Foster invented arena football in 1981 and patented it in 1987.

The first incarnation of the AFL lasted from 1987 to 2008. The league was reincarnated in 2010.

Answer: the United States Hockey League (USHL)

The USHL is strictly amateur. Its players are all juniors, 20 years of age and under. From the USHL, players usually go on to play at the college level, as about 95% of its players have in the past. However, in 2006, Trevor Lewis of the Des Moines Buccaneers became the first USHL player to sign a National Hockey League contract without first playing in college. Following the 2014-15 season, 251 former USHL players have played in the NHL.

Answer: ultimate frisbee

More properly known as "ultimate", the team frisbee game most popular today was formalized in 1965 by students at Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts. A similar two-hand touch football-type game goes back to 1942 at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. The first intercollegiate game was played between Princeton and Rutgers in 1972.

AUDL stands for American Ultimate Disc League.

Answer: National Basketball Association (NBA)

In 1957 the Fort Wayne Pistons became the Detroit Pistons. In that same year the Rochester Royals moved to Cincinnati as the Royals before transforming into the Kansas City-Omaha Kings in 1972 and the Kansas City Kings in 1975 on their way to becoming the Sacramento Kings in 1985.

In 1963 the Syracuse Nationals became the Philadelphia 76ers. The Milwaukee Hawks began in 1946 as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks (based in the Quad Cities, i.e. Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois) and, after five years in Milwaukee, became the St. Louis Hawks, and then the Atlanta Hawks, beginning in 1968.

Other NBA teams in 1963 included the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, Minneapolis Lakers, and Philadelphia Warriors (who moved to California in 1962).

Answer: The Big Eight

Back in 1984, Iowa State was part of the Big Eight. The other seven member schools were Colorado, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State. More than 30 years later, that same conference is called the Big 12. Gone are Colorado, Missouri, and Nebraska.

Besides ISU, KU, KSU, OU, and OSU, members include West Virginia, Baylor, Texas, Texas Christian, and Texas Tech. Yes, the Big 12 Conference has only 10 schools.

Answer: Major League Soccer

MLS is the top level of men's soccer played in the United States. It consists of 20 teams, three of which are Canadian. LA Galaxy is the first team to win five MLS Cups, including the 2014 title. They are one of six teams to have been in the league for 20 years. In 2015 the Portland Timbers won their first cup in only their fifth year in the league.