Winning By Losing Trivia Quiz

Answer: Patrick Ewing

Patrick Ewing was regarded as the top player coming out of high school and college. Tall, powerful, and intimidating, he was regarded as the cornerstone for the lucky NBA team. Conspiracy theorist have long questioned the fortuitous draw that enabled the NY Knicks franchise to end up with Ewing in the 1985 NBA Draft. Ewing had a long and successful career in the NBA, but many think that he fell short of expectations.

Surprisingly none of the other three all-time great players were the first selection in the draft - Jordan #3 (1984 draft), Durant #2 (1987), and Bryant #13 (1986).

Answer: I deduct one stroke from each of 2 hardest holes

The course playing card indicates the order of applying the handicap. In some instances (I win the hole outright or I lose by more than one stroke) the handicap will not affect the result of an individual hole. So basically I deduct a stroke at the predetermined holes, and the hole is awarded based on those results.

The golf handicap system looks at the difficulty of courses and makes adjustments to limit the manipulation of handicaps. Oftentimes golf handicaps test friendships.

Answer: Indianapolis finished last after Manning was injured

The success of the Indianapolis offense was due to Manning's precision passing and his reading of defenses. He had suffered a neck injury , underwent surgery, and missed the entire year in 2011. The team floundered very badly without him and ended up with the worst record in the league.

Through this unintended, but fortuitous, set of circumstances Indianapolis had the first pick in the NFL draft and selected Luck. The following year Manning was traded to Denver, and Luck took over as the starting QB. Although Luck has performed well, the Indianapolis team (to this point) has not reached the same heights they had with Manning.

Answer: San Diego

Sometimes the best laid plans of a franchise are thwarted. Even though San Diego didn't get Manning with the top pick, they received a decent return in their trade (all-star players Philip Rivers and Shawn Merriman).

Eli Manning was following in the footsteps of John Elway, who had been drafted by Baltimore but manipulated a trade to Denver. Elway had additional leverage because he was an outstanding baseball player, who had already played for the New York Yankees minor league teams.

Answer: Eliminated a stronger New York team

This was a case of eliminating a serious contender by losing. The New York team had beaten San Francisco in the playoffs the previous two years and were a serious threat to the San Francisco title aspirations. By losing San Francisco eliminated a strong competitor and made its championship quest much easier by losing that last game.

Answer: Result stood

Chile, Algeria, Austria, and Germany were in the same bracket. At the time of the final game, Chile had lost all three of its matches; Algeria (which had beaten Germany) had two wins and a loss; Austria had two wins; and Germany had one win and one loss. If Germany beat Austria, they and Algeria would have the same record (2 wins and 1 loss). A German victory by 1 or 2 goals would cause the tie-breaker (goal difference) to allow both Austria and Germany to advance. A German victory by 3 goals would have allowed Germany and Algeria to advance.

As a consequence of this, all of the final group games start at the same time to minimize any possible "manipulation" of the results.

Answer: hammer

The set of 8 or 10 throws is called the "end". The "house" is the scoring area, and the "rock" is the name for the stones.

Teams with the last throw of the stone seek to win the end by at least two points. So it's much more advantageous to have a 0-0 score than a 1-0 score on the end and lost the "hammer". This is especially true on the penultimate end when it may be advantageous to stay in a losing score to control the final end of the match.

Answer: Ensured a weaker opponent for the first medal round game

Losing in tournament play may allow the loser to play a weaker opponent in the next round.

The Swedish coached realized that they would play either Canada or the Czech Republic if they won; but they would have to face a much weaker team from Switzerland if they lost. By losing they assured themselves of an easier schedule in the medal round ( and eventually won the gold medal).

Answer: Stoke City

Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City were the bottom finishers in Division 1; and Burnley and Newcastle United were the two leaders in Division 2. The teams played a four-match series with 2 points for a win and 1 point for a draw. After three matches, Burnley and Stoke each had 4 points and the other teams had 2. With a draw the leaders were assured a spot in the top division. A loser would risk losing their spot to the winner of the Newcastle vs Blackburn match.

As Robbie Burns said of best-laid plans, things then took a turn. Division 1 was expanded to 18 teams to hold all four teams; and the relegation/promotion scheme was enforced the following year (without four=way play-offs) i.e. bottom two relegated, top two promoted. Many other examples of strategic draws that benefit both teams have occurred throughout football history.

Answer: Singapore

Both were members of the Renault team. Alonso started with a light fuel load and made an early pit stop to refuel. Piquet Jr.crashed his car about the time the other drivers needed to refuel. Alonso was back on the track and assumed leadership of the race. Between his lead at the time, the narrow track, and a blocking pack of slower cars, he was able to keep his lead. Hopefully "Raffles" helped you.

A similar situation occurred in the final race of the NASCAR ("if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying") qualificaction for its prestigious Chase Cup series. Three separate teams were accused of trying to manipulate the reults to gain the last two qualifying spots via crashes or dropping out.