2023 County Cup Comes to Dramatic Conclusion, New Contest Begins at Employee Wellness Expo!
By: Tim Moubray, Director, Orange County Parks & Recreation
As 2023 came to close so did our inaugural County Cup! Attached are the results of the “ JOEpardy, With Your Host, Joe Falin ” and the Final Leaderboard. A YouTube video recap is also available. The first big jump came on Wednesday, December 20, around noon. Team Public Works, despite only having three players, had increased their point total from 67.5 to 83, with one question to go. They hit the John Daly Double, wagered it all, and won big. The question was, “ In Mean Girls, what was the song in the talent show? ” Autumn Pembleton correctly answered, “ Jingle Bell Rock!!!! ”, and the room went crazy. They doubled their score to end at 166 and temporarily took first place. Team DSS had their shot around 4:00 that same afternoon. They started at 121.83 and, with one question to go, stood at 153. Not
knowing what any of the other teams had done, they decided to go big with the 15 point question in Holiday Potpourri, unaware that this was actually the only question they could have chosen to pass 166. Joe and I did, though, and we could hardly hide the anticipation. The question was, “ What is the name of the warm, round jelly donut served during Hannukah? ”. The answer: Sufganiyot. Had they gotten it correct, they would have scored 168, and had an opportunity for 5 bonus points it they could spell it. Unfortunately, they were not able to come up with the correct answer and dropped back into second place at 138…. for now. Thursday morning at 10:30, the Ops Team, consisting of Stephanie Straub, Jayson Woods, Rosanna Zamudio, and Karen Gibson, chose to play the blue board over the red board, and then choose all higher point questions, and correctly answered them all, plus bonuses, through nine questions. They had increased their point total from 55.5 to 152, with one with question remaining and without hitting a John Daly Double. They debated on going safe or going big and Jayson said “ We ’ re all in. ” They also choose the 15 point question in Holiday Potpourri, also not knowing it was their only chance to win, and also causing Joe and I internal stress. The question was, “ Who composed the music for The Nutcracker? ”. Stephanie correctly said Tchaikovsky. They were not able to correctly spell it for the bonus, but they had already overtaken the lead with 167. If DSS had been able to pull out “ Sufganiyot, ” the final scores would have been 168, 167, 166…. without anyone knowing where others stood. It was definitely exciting for Joe and I, and we hope our staff had some fun, too. We recently presented the big cup to the Ops Team. They will get the big cup to possess and display for the year, and have their name on it for eternity. We also have smaller first, second, and third place trophies for our top three teams to keep. We ’ d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who participated this year, and those who had to gather their coworkers to play. We hope you had as much fun playing as we did hosting. The teamwork and camaraderie was amazing, not to mention seeing the competitive side of some of you. We look forward to bringing Orange County employees another year of fun and exciting contests, beginning at the Orange County Employee Wellness Expo on Wednesday, January 17, at the Orange County Airport!
Page 35 | January 2024
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