If Philip Seymour Hoffman is nominated for best actor for "Capote," Oscar trivia geeks will note that, should he win, he would be the first actor who uses his middle name to be so honored since Daniel Day-Lewis in "My Left Foot."

Oscar trivia geeks will also note that if Day-Lewis doesn't count because of the hyphen, then you have to go back to F. Murray Abraham in "Amadeus."

The combined box office of the five Academy Award best picture nominees won't equal the grosses for "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and probably won't equal the take of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

At least one TV anchor will ask the station's entertainment reporter on air, and in all seriousness, if Tom Cruise took himself out of the Oscar race when he jumped on Oprah's couch.

The Barbara Walters annual post-Oscar show will include a segment featuring "Brokeback Mountain's" Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal. Ads promoting the show will feature Walters asking a sexually provocative question along the lines of whether the heterosexual guys enjoyed their gay love scenes, followed by a cutaway to a tense close-up of the actors pretending they had no idea the question was coming.

Another Walters segment will feature George Clooney, who will be dubbed as "Hollywood's renaissance man who can do it all — act, direct, produce ... even build a casino!"

An emperor penguin will march onstage at the Oscars carrying the envelope for a lesser category.

In keeping with the recent use of the Oscars as a plug-a-thon to hype upcoming movies or fresh stars, one of the presenters in another lesser category will be new James Bond actor Daniel Craig.

Another will be new Superman star Brandon Routh, who may be teamed with Craig.

Someone will tell a Jude Law joke, which will go over the heads of most viewers because they won't remember that last year's host, Chris Rock, made fun of him during his monologue.

If there is no major natural disaster within three weeks of the Oscars, no single cause will dominate the ribbons and bracelets worn by stars at the ceremony.

If there is, "our thoughts and prayers" will be with the victims.

A young, rising star will offer a poignant, close-to-tears acceptance speech thanking a relatively unknown agent for having faith during the rough years.

Two months later, the agent will be replaced by someone at CAA, ICM, William Morris, UTA or Endeavor.

Oscar ratings will be flat or down, leading to hand wringing over whether commercials at the multiplex, high-definition TVs, or the shorter window between the theatrical and DVD release are to blame for turning off audiences to theater-going.

Oscar producers will congratulate themselves for keeping the show closer to three hours than four.

In the spirit of stupid sports trivia that pervades TV and radio ("Any time a school with a left-handed quarterback who drives a Honda and has a 3.2 GPA enters the fourth quarter trailing by 14 with only two timeouts left, the team usually loses."), we're starting a Dumb Awards Trivia section here. For inspiration, see the above items on actors using their middle names, Aussie stars and nominees born in Puerto Rico.

E-mail any suggestions. No money or merchandise of value will change hands, but full credit will be given to those submitting the dumbest ones.