Posts
At any rate, yesterday's contestants:
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| Milind Kulkarni |
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| Paul Wampler |
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| Betsy Stephenson |
Paul swept "Br-r" in the Jeopardy round, where the correct response begins with "br," then has an "r" later in the response. Sample clue: "This two-word name for the type of glass seen here includes a kind of spirit."*
Each contestant found a Daily Double today. Milind found the first one, also the last clue before the break, in State of My Birth. (I swept that category, by the way.) Milind had 2000, Paul had 5000, and Betsy, who appeared to struggle at first with the buzzer, had 400. Milind wagered 1000 on this clue: "Cesar Chavez, Joe Jonas, Barry Goldwater."* Were it not for the "Barry Goldwater" I wouldn't have gotten this one. Milind got it too.
At the end of the Jeopardy round, Paul had 6400 and Betsy and Milind were tied at 2400.Betsy found the next Daily Double, in Peeved Veeps. By then she had gotten the hang of the signalling device. She was still tied with Milind, but this time with 7200. Paul had 8400. Betsy wagered 1200 on this clue: "This veep led the Democratic-Republican attacks against 1798's Alien and Sedition Acts."* That one was kind of a toughie, and I thought Betsy gave a reasonable response, but it was wrong.
Paul, then, found the last Daily Double in The Country that Borders.... It was the second-to-last clue on the board. He was leading (as usual) with 13200. Betsy had 8000 and Milind had 10800. Paul wagered 1200 on this clue: "Iran and India."* I missed the other four clues, but I got this one right, and so did Paul.
No one answered the last clue, so Paul ended with 14000, Betsy with 8000, and Milind with 10800. The Final Jeopardy category was The Law. This was the clue: "Asked in 1966 to write a concise statement for arresting officers to recite, Ca. D.A. Harold Berliner started with these 7 words."* I thought this one was a no-brainer, and all three contestants got it right, too. Betsy added 4000 to her score, and Milind added 5201. Paul wagered enough to win if Milind had doubled, so he is your champion again. Paul is looking really good, horizontal stripes notwithstanding. He's looking like Tournament of Champions material. My own Coryat score today was 24800. Paul's was 14800, Betsy's was 9200, and Milind's was 10600.
There was an abundance of quadruple-stumpers today, to coin a phrase (it's easier than "triple-stumpers that stumped me too"). I'll be writing entries on such questions soon, so if you have a preference from among these, please let me know in a comment: Notre-Dame de Chartres, Austria, Nicaragua, bulkheads, fluke, Cuzco, screech owl, Bulgaria.
Did anyone else watch the Nova episode on "The Smartest Machine on Earth" last night? What did you think? Some of my observations:
- I recognized a few former champions who were warming up "Watson" for the big day.
- I loved it when Ken Jennings said that Jeopardy! is too daunting a task for a computer! You go, Ken!
- I also had to agree with producer Harry Friedman when he scoffed at the idea at first, saying that of course a computer was going to have all the answers. This still makes me wonder what all the fuss is about!
- I found it interesting that "Watson" will not be connected to the Internet. I wonder where he gets his knowledge. But did you notice that later in the program that he found an answer using Internet Movie Database? (I love that site, by the way.)
- Has Brad Rutter really never been beat before?
- I had to wonder whether the writers knew that their clues were going to be for the "Watson" episodes...? It seems like that could make a difference.
8 comments:
It's odd that you've had so much trouble with scheduling posts. Morgan and I have scheduled almost all the posts we've written and never had an issue.
The addition of Barry Goldwater in that state clue helped me, too. I would have guessed Cesar Chavez was born in California. The Final seemed ridiculously easy - the hardest part was double-checking you had 7 words and writing them down in 30 seconds. My Coryat was the week's low (so far, haha) at 24400.
I wondered if anyone else had had any trouble. I can't figure it out, but it really bothers me.
I would've thought Cesar Chavez was born in California, too. And yes, I thought the final was easy. I was counting the words on my fingers before Mr. Trebek was done reading the clue!
I wanted to ask you: Where did you have your in-person audition last year?
My friend Robert, an avid and very smart Jeopardy! fan, e-mailed me in response to my question about whether Brad Rutter's ever been beaten. Here's what he had to say (Thanks, Robert!): "...I would say no other contestant has been luckier than him. In his very first game on 10/30/2000, he was sluggish for about a round and a half (even being in negative numbers) before he woke up & got on a roll that took him into the lead; but, one of his opponents, Regina, helped his cause by missing both Daily Doubles (the one for $1500 which could have given her the lead going into the final). After that game, it was lights out until...The semifinal of the MDM in New York, May, 2002 -- a back & forth brawl between him & Leslie Frates; he trailed $20,400 - $19,600 going into FJ; both get FJ right, but Brad bets the farm (although he didn't have to, since the third player was way behind & might win only on a TS) & what does Leslie do -- sits tight & wagers $0...game over, wondering why? And last, but not least, in round 3 of the UTOC, Brad's in 3rd place, trailing two legends; scores are Steve -- $12,400 Brad-- $5600 & Michael $9200. Brad had a response, struck over it & put "Crete" -- he's right, his opponents both miss, & by the smallest of improbable comebacks, the final scores are: Steve -- $6,399 Brad -- $6,400 Michael -- $5600. Which goes to show you how luck has played an important role in this show! :)"
I auditioned in San Francisco.
By the way, my favorite blog posts are in arrows and when I clicked something, it won't let me go to it. *sigh* When is this going to be fixed? I was thinking about the Austria triple-stumper you should write about. And does it list all of the titles of the entries? It feels new to me. By the way I like that Mii in the new picture. It's great. Thanks!
Easy, Peter. I don't understand the problem you're having. The links work for me. They're not for you, is that what you're saying? I'm glad you like the Mii.
No, but I mean that the titles of the blog posts are shown next to an arrow. Did you know that the blog is 1 year old? I knew that because the first one was in February. Thanks!
Hi, Peter. Yes, I know my blog is one year old. Thanks for noticing.
Are the links working for you?
Look for an entry on Stuart Little tonight, as you requested. :-)