Outrageous tweets. A new football team. Falling space debris. A quiz on Florida news | Commentary
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell's quiz tests your knowledge on recent Florida headlines. (Orlando Sentinel)
Time for another news quiz on all things Florida — politics, sports, pop culture and more. How closely have you been paying attention?
After House Republicans cast a record-setting 15 votes to elect Kevin McCarthy as speaker, Central Florida's newly elected GOP Congressman Cory Mills tweeted what?
A) "The 15th time's the charm."
B) "It wasn't pretty, but we got there."
C) "Nobody ever said democracy was pretty."
D) "Finally one less gavel in Pelosi's house for Paul to fight with in his underwear."
Answer: D. Many people, including at least one member of Congress, demanded Mills apologize for joking about the bloody hammer attack that sent Nancy Pelosi's 82-year-old husband to the hospital. Mills did not. Instead, he lashed out at some of his critics. But he did later delete the 2:49 a.m. tweet.
Freshmen Rep. Cory Mills R-FL has deleted this tweet from early this morning. pic.twitter.com/Jrap5b8Rlo
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) January 7, 2023
Orlando's newest XFL team, the Guardians, takes the field next month. But don't get too attached. Orlando has had more short-lived football franchises than Tom Brady has Super Bowl rings. In fact, all of the following were actual football teams in Orlando at one point except which one?
A. The Blazers
B. The Breakers
C. The Americans
D. The Thunder
Answer B. But if the Orlando Breakers sounded familiar to you, there's a good reason. That was the name of the fictional NFL team Craig T. Nelson coached in the old ABC sitcom, "Coach."
The logo of Orlando's new XFL team, the Guardians. (Courtesy of the XFL)
Florida Democrats' leader Manny Diaz resigned after his party got walloped in the recent elections. But Democrats have been a second-class party in this state for years. In fact, the last time a Florida Democrat managed to unseat a statewide Republican, what movie was playing in theaters?
A. Goodfellas (1990)
B. Jurassic Park (1993)
C. Jerry Maguire (1996)
D. Shrek (2001)
The answer: A. That was 32 years ago when Democrat Lawton Chiles ousted Republican Gov. Bob Martinez.
When Florida was scrambling to fill 8,000 vacant teacher positions, Gov. Ron DeSantis said he wanted to encourage military veterans to teach. According to Military.com, how many vets took him up on the offer to get certified?
D. 2,700
Answer: A. Military.com reported that state officials originally refused to answer that question, saying only that 480 veterans had applied. But after the armed-forces news organization began contacting every school district in Florida to find out how many actually got qualified to teach, state officials acknowledged that number was only seven.
Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to fill vacant teaching positions by asking veterans to step in.
But veterans already teach in Florida classrooms.
Some say they're treated just like other teachers - like dirt.
One left after 2 years and now drives a truck.https://t.co/iEq3l646jO
— Scott Maxwell (@Scott_Maxwell) August 19, 2022
A piece of space debris was plummeting towards earth this week. What are the odds NASA estimated of anyone being injured by the falling satellite?
A. 1 in 9,400
B. 1 in 94,000
C. 1 in 940,000
D. 1 in 9.4 million
Answer: A. Maybe it's just me. But I found those odds low.
The Orlando Magic have been steady losers for the past decade and are 15-26 this season. Still, that's an improvement over the team's 0-5 start this year. And the club showed glimmers of hope when it posted a 6-game winning streak last month and beat Golden State on the road for the first time since when?
D. 2019
Answer: A. Yes, it had been a full decade since Orlando went to California and beat the Warriors in 2012 — a highlight in another otherwise-dreadful year when the team finished last in the conference.
Florida has had more people charged with crimes in connection with the Capitol riot than any other state. That includes former police officers from Apopka and Windermere and a Full Sail student accused of hitting a cop with a skateboard. Out of 940 people charged nationwide, how many are Floridians?
Answer: C. The number of cases has fluctuated. But data from George Washington University from early last year found that Floridians accounted for more than 10% of all those arrested.
Ousted Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is unpopular in his homeland and facing the threats of prosecution. So he did what many outcasts do — headed to Florida. He's staying at the Orlando home of a former professional what?
A. Soccer player
B. Reality-show chef
C. Mixed-martial-arts fighter
D. Telenovela actress
Answer C: Retired fighter Jose Aldo. So we have a defrocked South American leader who fled to Orlando where he's now staying with a cage-fighter and making chicken runs to KFC.
Disgraced former North Carolina Congressman Madison Cawthorn has also apparently relocated to Florida. What did Cawthorn do before Tar Heel state voters tossed him out of office?
A. Participated in a rally on the morning of the Jan. 6 riot where he called the election results a "fraud"
B. Called Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "thug"
C. Angered Kevin McCarthy by claiming that he'd been invited to an "orgy" by a fellow member of Congress
D. Was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a staffer who accompanied Cawthorn and his wife on their honeymoon and was also a distant cousin
Answer: All of the above. It was all too much for North Carolinians, who wanted him gone. So Cawthorn opted for a place where he'd feel more welcome ... and is now reportedly a resident of southwest Florida.
smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com
Former U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., speaks to supporters and the media at his watch party on primary night - where he only fetched about 30% of the vote after a long string of controversies. The Raleigh News & Observer reported Cawthorn is now a Floridian. (Nell Redmond/AP)