NFL Football Head Coaches & Trivia - Trivia Contest #3 Answer

Welcome to The Blot Says... holiday edition. This will most likely be my only post of the day as I continue to unpack, but I wanted to post the answer to this week's The Blot Says... Trivia Contest. I figured it was time to end 7 days worth of speculation. Unfortunately no one got the right answer this time around, so no one can be awarded a No Prize. Better luck next time!

I heard this question mentioned during last weeks Broncos/Texans game. It was in reference to Mike Shanahan and the fact that he was one of three coaches who had coached a team 10 years and had more championships than losing seasons. (link) Too bad for Shanahan that his time in that illustrious group is about to come to an end. You see the Broncos are 6-9 and with only one game left in the season and no hope of making the playoffs, Denver is already a lock to have a losing record this year. Good thing I asked this question now and not in two weeks!

The second head coach that has coached a team 10 years and had more championships than losing seasons is the immortal John Madden. Madden won one Super Bowl as the coach of the Oakland Raiders and never had a losing season while their coach. It’s a wonder he didn't coach them for longer. Did you know this Hall of Fame coach's .759 winning percentage during the regular season ranks as highest ever among coaches with 100 career victories? (link) The guy was a coaching legend. It's a shame people my age only know him for his video games and his time in the broadcast booth, even though he very well could have gotten into the Hall of Fame for either of those contributions if he had never coached a game.

The third coach that no one was able to come up with was Hall of Fame member and coaching legend Paul Brown. While the Cincinnati Bengals’ stadium bares his name, Brown was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame before he ever coached for Cinci. Brown forged his coaching legacy while leading the Cleveland Browns to a 167-53-8 record, four AAFC titles and three NFL crowns in 17 years with only one losing season. (link)

The bonus question's answer is another Hall of Famer, Joe Gibbs. There was some confusion here, but the question said the head coach had to have coached a team 10 years, it did not say later non-consecutive seasons were not counted. The first time Gibbs coached the Washington Redskins he had 10 winning seasons, 1 losing season, one 8-8 season and 3 Super Bowl victories. But, Gibbs couldn’t stay away from the game he loved and came back to coach the Redskins in 2004. Since that time he's had one winning season and two losing seasons bringing his overall time with the Redskins to three championships and three losing seasons. Gibbs shouldn't fret too much because with one more victory this weekend he will be leading his 'skins back to the playoffs.

One coach that spent over 10 seasons with one team and definitely had more championships than losing seasons with that team is Curly Lambeau, founder of the Packers and its first head coach and playing captain. He won 6 championships while coaching the Packers and had only 1 losing season. I know Mark mentioned him in his answer, but everywhere I've looked they only list Brown, Shanahan and Madden in the answer. The only reason I can think of for his exclusion is that while he coached over 10 seasons with the packers and won 6 championships, he also had 6 losing seasons throughout his time as a head coach in the NFL. The question doesn’t say the losing seasons all have to be with the same team. I know this is a technicality and I can't find it explained anywhere, but this is the only rationale I can come up with for his exclusion from the answer.

Thanks to everyone who submitted an answer, and I'll try to come up with a non-sports related question for next time so others can participate!

The Blot Says... Trivia Contest #3

The Blot Says... Trivia Contest is back! Last time The Blot asked a college football trivia question, so I thought it only right to give the NFL fans out there a question of their own.


I heard this fact mentioned during a football game this past week and thought it made for a pretty good trivia question. As of the beginning of this season, there are three head coaches in the history of the NFL who have spent at least 10 seasons with one team and during that period have more world championships than losing seasons...who are those three coaches?


Bonus Question: This one's a little easier. Up until the 2006 season there was a fourth coach who had also spent 10 seasons with one team and during that period had more world championships than losing seasons...who was that fourth coach?

I unfortunately forgot to add this little bit when I originally posted the question. You have one week from the start of this contest to post your answer in the comments section of this post. Due to some poor timing on my part, the contest will be officially ending on Christmas (Tuesday, December 25th)! If by some chance you find yourself with too much down time Tuesday while home from work, come check out The Blot Says… for the answer.

Footballs & Trivia - Trivia Contest #2 Answer

A very big The Blot Says... congratulations to MARK for his correct answer of The Blot Says... Trivia Contest #2. MARK, your No Prize is in the mail.

Now here's a recap of the correct answers. The BCS conference team with the longest bowl drought is none other than the Vanderbilt Commodores who at 5-6 and with one game left in the season could very well become bowl eligible if they can beat Wake Forest at home this Saturday at 1 PM Central. That being said, even if they happen to win their record will only be 6-6 and there is still no guarantee that would be good enough for a bowl to extended an invitation to them.

The team that was already bowl eligible at the time the question was asked was in fact the Indiana University Hoosers. And after their win last Saturday against Purdue in the season finale are now a whopping 7-5 for the season, leading many to speculate their bowl draught may finally come to an end. For the record Indiana has been bowl eligible during this draught once before (with the minimum 6 wins) and were passed over for a bowl invitation...so anythings possible. But with 7 wins and the truly sad loss of IU's football coach Terry Hoeppner before the start of this season, The Blot believes they're a shoo-in for a bowl this year.

Thanks everyone for participating and be on the look out sometime next week for the next installment of The Blot Says... Trivia Contest!

The Blot Says... Trivia Contest #2

Back by popular demand, it's The Blot Says... Trivia Contest! This time around The Blot's going to change up the topic from Television to give the contest a little variety. This round's topic is sports and more specifically college football. So all you football nuts start googling now to see if you can come up with the correct answer and win an official The Blot Says... No Prize.

Here we go...of the 6 BCS Conferences (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Big East, Pac 10, SEC) what two schools in those conferences have the longest current streak of not making a bowl game to end the college football season. One's pretty obvious and one's a little harder to figure out, so I'll give you faithful readers a hint. One of them is already bowl eligible for this year.

As always please post all answers in the comment section for this post (even though The Blot Says... did just recently add an email option to the blog in the left hand column). You have one week from the posting of this contest to answer, so the contest will be officially ending Monday, November 19th. And if you want to be eligible to win the No Prize you need to set up a Google account so you aren't answering the question anonymously. Good luck to all!

TV Spin-Off Trivia Contest Answer and The Office News

It seemed apropos that only a week after The Blot Says... Trivia Contest #1 asked “Which Television Show had the most spin-offs,” a huge spin-off story would break on the internet. TVGuide.com Senior Writer and world renowned TV show spoiler extraordinaire Michael Ausiello reported earlier today that NBC is developing a spin-off of fan favorite The Office. You can read Ausiello’s entire article Here. According to Ausiello’s sources, The Office would introduce an all new crop of characters in an upcoming episode and then spin those new characters off into their own show. Have no fear Office fans, Ausiello states that none of the show’s main characters would be leaving to headline the new show.

I know it’s only Tuesday afternoon but this seemed like a great time to announce the winner of The Blot Says... Trivia Contest #1. The official answer is All In The Family with 5 spin-offs: Maude, The Jeffersons, Archie Bunker’s Place, Gloria and 704 Hauser and had 2 spin-offs of spin-offs: Good Times and Checking In.

In case anyone was interested Happy Days was a close second with 4 spin-offs: Laverne & Shirley, Blansky’s Beauties, Mork and Mindy, and Joanie Loves Chachi. There’s some grey area there because Happy Days is actually a spin-off of Love, American Style so maybe Love, American Style is the answer. But technically none of the other shows are spin-offs of that show, so The Blot is making an executive ruling with All In The Family. Another top contender for the title of “TV Show with the Most Spin-Offs” is The Mary Tyler Moore Show with 3: Lou Grant, Phyllis and Rhoda. Thanks everyone for playing and all winners should be receiving their No Prize any minute now.

The Blot Says... Trivia Contest #1

Due to some unfortunate technical difficulties brought about by The Blot's own stupidity, today's regularly scheduled post won't be posted until tomorrow. That is if I didn't lose the post completely, which I'm really hoping didn't happen. I won't be sure of that until I get back into the office tomorrow morning, so everyone please cross their fingers! But as the old saying goes, the show must go on.
I've been thinking of ways to get our many readers to start posting comments on the site to give The Blot Says... more of a community feel to it, and so I guess today is as good a day as any to introduce a new segment to the blog: a trivia contest. The winner of the contest will be awarded the very first "The Blot Says... No Prize" and maybe, depending on who wins, a personal phone call by me to congratulate them on their victory. Its only one question and shouldn't be that difficult. So here goes:

1. It is a long standing tradition for television shows to take popular characters from a show and spin them off into their own show. These shows are appropriately named spin-offs. As an example, Beverly Hills 90210 introduced the character Jake Hanson for two episodes before spinning him off into the new show Melrose Place. The most recent example of this is when Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) was spun-off from of Grey's Anatomy to start the new show Private Practice. The person who can come up with the TV show that has the most spin-offs wins the inaugural The Blot Says... Trivia Contest.

Please post all answers in the comment section for this post. This isn't a trick question and there isn't a set answer, but I do think I have a pretty good idea of the winning answer. We'll see what everyone comes up with. You have one week from the posting of this contest to answer, so the contest will be officially ending Wednesday, October 25th. The Blot will be the final judge if a show is accurately categorized as a spin-off or not. Good luck to all!