2006 Trivia Updates - Random Trivia Answers

Non-Sports:
• A1) U2. The rock band arrived at the February 8 ceremony with 17 Grammys and converted all five of its nominations to leapfrog over Stevie Wonder's 21.
• A2) Neptune. The International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto from a full-fledged planet to a small solar system body or dwarf planet on August 24.
• A3) 118. Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory working with their Russian colleagues at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia, announced on October 10 that they had indirectly detected ununoctium-294. Element number 116, ununhexium, was the previous highest as element number 117, ununseptium, has not yet been synthesized. (Note: the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry has not assigned official names to these elements yet.)
• A4) 12,000. The mark was set on October 19, exactly 19 years after the 507.99-point, 22.6% drop of Black Monday. The 11,000-point milestone was first topped on May 3, 1999.
• A5) Kurt Cobain. The former Nirvana lead singer ($50 million) knocked Elvis Presley ($42 million) out of the top spot for the first time since the annual list debuted in 2000.
• A6) Gerald Ford. Richard Nixon's successor surpassed Ronald Reagan's longevity mark on November 12, just six weeks before passing away at the age of 93 years and 5 months. Only John Adams and Herbert Hoover also reached their 90th birthday.

  Sports:
  

• A7) Kobe Bryant. The Los Angeles Lakers guard scorched the Toronto Raptors for 81 points on January 22, only a month after tallying 62 in only three quarters against the Dallas Mavericks. He pushed aside the Denver Nuggets David Thompson, who dropped 73 on the Detroit Pistons on April 9, 1978.
• A8) Roger Federer. The extraordinary Swiss eclipsed Bjorn Borg's string of 41 by defeating Richard Gasquet in their opening round Wimbledon match on June 27 and increased his ongoing streak to 48 by upending Rafael Nadal in the final.
• A9) Ronaldo. The Brazilian erased Germany's Gerd Muller's record with his 15th goal in a win over Ghana on June 27.
• A10) Corey Pavin. His opening round at the U.S. Bank Championship on July 27 included eight birdies for a 26 on the front nine. Mike Souchak, Andy North, Billy Mayfair, and Robert Gamez had shared the previous best of 27.
• A11) Trevor Hoffman. The righty saved his 478th game on September 23 to catch Lee Smith and needed only one more day to break the tie.
• A12) Matt Leinart. The Arizona Cardinals signal-caller went to the air for 405 yards against the Minnesota Vikings on November 26 to break former Cardinals quarterback Jake Plummer's nine-year-old record of 388.