Sports trivia

Greg Peterson

Q1: With the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees both eliminated, this year’s World Series features two teams – the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants – from west of the Mississippi River. In what year did this last occur, and what two teams faced off in that World Series?A1: In 2002, the Anaheim Angels defeated Dusty Baker’s Giants in an all-California Series. Mike Scioscia’s team, behind the astoundingly scrappy play of David Eckstein and cheering spurred on by the Rally Monkey claimed the first World Series title in franchise history. The last all-West World Series before the one held in 2002 took place in 1989, when the Giants lost to Tony La Russa’s Oakland A’s.

Q2: The top team in the college football rankings has lost in each of the last three weeks, with AP #1s Alabama and Ohio State and BCS #1 Oklahoma falling to their conference rivals in quick succession. With those losses, there are now only seven undefeated teams left in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Of the 11 conferences in FBS, which is the only conference to boast two undefeated teams?

A2: The Mountain West Conference. While the Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10, SEC and WAC each have one team holding on to an undefeated record, the MWC has two teams – TCU and Utah – sitting on perfect records. Of course, this is guaranteed to end soon, with the two schools scheduled to play in Fort Worth Nov. 6.