If you follow me on Twitter or if you've noticed my Twitter feed on the right side of this page, you know that, like last year at this time, I have been in Miami for another magical experience at the Sony Ericcson Open.  It's been almost a week since I blogged!  I'm relieved to be publishing today.  Thanks for being patient.  I got home last night, and just now got caught up on the four episodes of Jeopardy! that I missed.  Here are the Coryat scores:
3-24: Connie McClung 18200     Michael Brown 1800     Megan Barnes 15400     Me 20800
3-25: Julie Ross Godar 12600 (She hosts a website for female bloggers!); Eric Sebert 7400; Megan Barnes 8800    Me 18800
3-28: Denise O'Connor 11600     Trey McCraw 10600     Julie Ross Godar 17000     Me 12400
3-29: Ted Sitting Crow Garner 12800     Jennifer Carlo 8600     Denise O'Connor 8000     Me 22200
     I expect to blog again on Friday.  Til then!

Four gets (yet a loss)

     Today's contestants:

Megan Barnes (a stay-at-home mom!)



Janet Russell (a family physician!)



Jamie Santo

     Megan knocked off 5-time champ Tom Kunzen yesterday.  (What if he and the other Tom play in the same game in the Tournament of Champions?)  Both she and Tom are regulars on the Jeopardy! message boards, incidentally.

     One of the categories in the Jeopardy round was Old Names for Medical Conditions.  This seems like it would be a wheelhouse category for Janet, a family physician.  I'm a little surprised that she didn't choose the category until after the first break.  She got three of them right, and Megan got the other two.  I wonder if Janet knew all of them but couldn't ring in first.  I'm an RN, so I was happy about this category.  I got four of them right, and couldn't answer this one: "An old name for influenza wasn't grab or clutch but this, from French for 'seize.'"
     Janet found all three Daily Doubles today, and she got them all right!  The first was the very last clue of the Jeopardy round, in The Arabian Nights.  Janet had 4800, Megan had 7600, and Jamie had 3800.  This was the clue: "To prevent her execution, this daughter of a vizier tells the king a story a night for 1,001 nights."
     The next Daily Double Janet found was in Monumentally Odd.  She led with 8600 while Megan had 5600 and Jamie had 7400.  (Three strong contestants today!)  Janet wagered 2000 on this clue: "Go to this European capital if you'd like to see a statue of Saint Wenceslas mounted atop the belly of a dead horse."  I didn't get this one.
     Her final one was in Islands of the Atlantic.  She had just taken the lead with 13000, while Megan had 12800 and Jamie had 9400.  She wagered 2000 again on this clue: "In antiquity this Spanish archipelago with an avian-sounding name was known as the Fortunate Isles."  I thought this one was pretty easy, and Janet got it too.
     Going into the final, Megan had 17600, Jamie had 11000, and Janet had 16200.  The Final Jeopardy category was British Novelists.  This was the clue: "In his journals he described how he once set 2 groups of boys against each other, likely inspiring his 1954 novel."  This clue was an instaget for me, and all three contestants got it right, too.  Jamie added 10001.  Janet added 12000, but Megan had been in the lead, and she wagered enough to win even if Janet doubled.  So we'll see Megan tomorrow. 
     What do you guys think of Janet's wagers today?  Should she have lost after getting three Daily Doubles right?
     My Coryat score today was 18600.  Megan's was 17600, Jamie's was 11000, and Janet's was 13000.  My best categories were Old Names for Medical Conditions, The Arabian Nights (which I swept), and Famous Pairs.  My worst was Songs in Musicals.
     Here are some recent Coryat scores, including two from weekend episodes:
originally 10-21-09: Kevin Wilson 4800     Jen McFann 13800     George Long 16800     Me 22200
originally 12-18-09: Jennifer Montgomery 3200    Ryan Chaffee 18800   Bobbie Fulton 3200   Me 14200
3-21: Erin Maxwell 7000     Stephen Huey 11400     Tom Kunzen 19000     Me 10800

Like lambs to the slaughter

     Good news: I've discovered another Jeopardy!-related blog!  It's called Image Relay.  It is not solely about Jeopardy!, but the author, Nicholas Condon, is going to appear on the show on June 13th, and he says on the blog he "will discuss [his] recent ideas about mathematical modelling of Jeopardy! performance."  This blog is brand-new, with only four posts so far and its first one on March 2nd.  It looks good so far and I wanted to pass it on to you in case you will benefit from it.  Let me know in a comment what you think!
     It always seems like I'm unable to blog on nights that something big has happened on Jeopardy!  On Wednesday, it was the rare occasion that two contestants were in the red going into Final Jeopardy, leaving just one contestant to play it.  My friend Robert tells me it hasn't happened in a regular season game since 1987.  No wonder I didn't remember it ever happening!
     Today's contestants and even Mr. Trebek all seemed to be dressed as though they were going to a funeral.  I'm kinda surprised Mr. Trebek didn't mention it himself.  I have to wonder if that's how Tom's opponents felt soon into his fourth episode.  He had won $92,001 going into today's episode.  The guy has been a bulldog and a bulldozer, and he seems to run away with each game before his opponents know what hit 'em.

Tom Kunzen

Duncan Stewart

Christine Varnado

     Mr. Trebek mentioned earlier this week that Tom seems to find all the Daily Doubles.  He did today, too.  The first one was in 1911.  By then he had 4000, while Christine had 200 and Duncan had -600.  Tom, wisely but not surprisingly, wagered everything on this clue: "Forgotten for centuries, this royal retreat of Incan kings was rediscovered by Hiram Bingham in July."  Tom seemed to be smiling as this clue was being read, and indeed he got it right.

     Mr. Trebek gave the one-minute warning with a whopping 8 clues left!!  Luckily, we got through 6 of them, but I wish we could have seen the last clue in Classic Movie Trailers.  Anyway, when the round ended (you might want to hang on to your hat), Tom had 9800 while Christine had 1000 and Duncan had 800.  Duncan mentioned in his interview that he is at a disadvantage because he is not holding a beer like he usually is when he watches the show.  Somehow, I don't think that's it.

     Tom's next Daily Double was in Battles.  He had 15800, Christine had 1800, and Duncan had 1200.  (No, that's not a mistake, this time! ;-))  I half-expected Tom to wager 10000, but he wagered 5000 on this clue: "Crecy in 1346 is believed to be the first European battle where this substance was used; business was booming."  Tom got it right. 
     His next Daily Double was in Shakespeare, for Starters.  He had 29200 while Christine had 3800 and Duncan had 2800.  (How does Tom do it?)  Tom wagered 9000 on this clue: "Philo's first speech in this play includes the line 'The triple pillar of the world transformed into a strumpet's fool.'"  Tom actually missed this one! 
     Finally (for Christine and Duncan but not the rest of us!), the final.  Tom had 22600, Christine had 9000, and Duncan had 6400.  The category was The Presidency, and this was the clue: "With a combined age of just 90 years, this president and vice president were the youngest team ever inaugurated."  I got this one right, as did Christine and Duncan.  Mr. Trebek said he couldn't imagine that Tom got this wrong, and I thought so too but wouldn't have said so!  Tom did get it wrong, though.  He had a lock (more like a stranglehold) on the game, of course, so we'll see him Monday.

     My Coryat score today was 17800.  Tom's was 24600, Christine's was 9000, and Duncan's was 6400.  Two things are bothering me, though (besides not getting the highest Coryat score): I answered "TNT" for "gunpowder" and "kielbasa" for "knockwurst."  I assume those can't be accepted, but I'd love to hearing your comments on it!  My best categories were Bad Fortune Cookies, "K" as in..., Me and Ms. Jones, and Classic Games.  My worst were Which Direction Are You Headed? and Battles. 

     Coryat scores for Wednesday and Thursday:

3-16: Peter Perigo -1400     Rebecca Rogers -3600     Tom Kunzen 25600     Me 18800 (This is the first time I've ever seen negative final Coryat scores.)

3-17: Tom Kunzen 27000     Zack Azzam 13800     Mary Linnenbringer 2600     Me 24400

Are we having fun yet?

       I'm learning more all the time about the unofficial Jeopardy! reunion and National History Bee and Bowl in Washington, D.C. on April 16th and 17th.  Like: The pub quiz is going to be on Thursday night that week.  I hope there will be one Friday night, too, because I was looking forward to it but I'm not arriving til Friday afternoon.  Also, they're asking people to pay $50, which will go toward the prizes.  On Friday, a panel discussion with former Jeopardy! contestants is being planned.  Current teen tournament champ Raynell Cooper might be at the discussion, and he is competing that weekend!
     Those are some of the latest bits of information.  You know I'll keep you posted!

Lori Cain

 
Today's contestants: 

Tom Kunzen (call me "Joe Jonas")

Kristi Meyers (She lost 60 post-pregnancy pounds exercising while watching Jeopardy!)

     Mr. Trebek made a pretty big deal out of how Lori was doing so poorly at the beginning of yesterday's program.  That day, he said not once but twice that Lori said she was not having fun because of it.  (What?!)  Needless to say, I didn't like Lori's attitude.  She doesn't want this very badly, and that's too bad.

     Today's Jeopardy round featured an Ides of March theme.  Tom, who I saw on Twitter has been on a "Brain Bowl" team, found the first Daily Double at the end of the second complete category.  Tom was off to a fast start with 3000, while Lori had 2000 and Kristi had yet to ring in.  Tom wisely wagered everything on this clue, in Julius Caesar: "It took from 58 to 50 B.C., but Caesar decisively overcame this fractious French region."  I got this wrong but Tom didn't.  At the first break, Lori still had 2000, Kristi had 1800, and Tom already had 7200.  At the end of the round, Lori had 1200, Kristi had 4600, and Tom had 12600.
     Tom continued to dominate, and by the time he found the first Daily Double in State Department Travel Warnings, he had 26600 to Lori's 4400 and Kristi's 9800.  Mr. Trebek did his usual encouragement to wager all of it, but Tom wagered a still-healthy 6000.  This was the clue: "From December 31, 2009: 'recreational craft...risk seizure by pirates...in the international waters near' this African country."  Tom and I got it right.
     The very next clue was the second Daily Double!  Trebek goaded Tom again, but Tom wagered 6000 again on this clue in Accidental Inventions: "In 1946, a Raytheon engineer's candy bar melted while he worked on a magnetron, leading to this; the first ones were 750 pounds."  I was surprised that Tom missed this one.  He definitely had some tougher gets.
     At this point Mr. Trebek said there was less than a minute to go, and regrettably, three clues remained uncovered when all was said and done.  Lori finished with 6800, Kristi still had 9800, and Tom had 28600.  The Final Jeopardy category was Sports and Music.  This was the clue: "In July 2010 this Rock and Roll Hall of Famer performed at the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies."  I was pretty confident about this one but I had it wrong.  Lori was the only one who had it right.  She almost doubled with a wager of 6700.  Kristi lost 4200, and Tom lost his usual 6000 (edited: he lost 600!!!).  Tom looks strong, maybe as strong as another Tom from this season?  I liked this Tom's fist-pump at the end of the game!

     My Coryat score today was 23600.  Tom's was 28200, Kristi's was 9800, and Lori's was 6800.  My weakest categories were Julius Caesar and The Civil War.  My best were Exes and "O"s, which I swept, and "B" Wear.

     There were no quadruple-stumpers OR triple-stumpers today!
     The Coryat scores for Monday:

3-14: Katie Sowder 5000     Ethan Dougherty 4800     Lori 16800     Me 22400

Seeing is solving

     As I was trying to decide which quadruple-stumpers I'd write about in this entry, I realized that there were three in the last episode alone that could've been solved with a better visualization of the globe. I've chosen all of them today because I always benefit from looking at a map. I feel kinda bad that there's not much else to say about them, but that's just because of the nature of the subject.  (I really do need the answer to these; I don't want you to think I'm being lazy!  I would write a complicated entry if that's what it took.)      So, one at a time:
     In Islands in the Sea: "Masirah, off the Omani coast." (You provide the sea where the island is found.)  The correct response is the Arabian Sea:


The image on the left is from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/maps/mu_largelocator_template.html.  In that image, Oman is highlighted.  You can see the countries surrounding it in the image on the right.  Can you see Masirah there, as well as the words "Arabian Sea" underneath?



     About 12,000 people live on Masirah, and it's considered a part of Oman.
      The next quadruple-stumper, in Peace Corps: "The corps serves the 2nd as well as the 3rd world, in Romania and this Balkan neighbor on its southern border."  The correct response is Bulgaria:

    

The image on the left is from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/maps/bu_largelocator_template.html
Bulgaria is the one highlighted.

     The last quadruple-stumper (quite literally, as it was the last one in the game that day!), also in Peace Corps: "At the invitation of President Nkrumah, the first overseas volunteers arrived in this country on the Gulf of Guinea in 1961."  The correct response is Ghana:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/maps/maptemplate_gh.html (Can you see the words "Gulf of Guinea"?)

     Kwame Nkrumah was the first president of Ghana, from 1960-1966, and its first prime minister for three years before that. 

No Maas

     Breaking news about the unofficial Jeopardy! reunion/National History Bee/Bowl: Brad Rutter's going to be there!  So said David Madden on the Jeopardy! message boards.
     Today's contestants:

Tim Maas





Katie Sowder



  

Mary McGlynn

     Today's Jeopardy round featured a theater theme.  My favorite category was God Spell, where you had to spell the name of the god described in the clue.  I was pleased when one-day champ Tim picked that category first, but when Mary answered that clue correctly she went to the category Camelot.

     At the first break, Tim and Mary were neck-and-neck at 3000 and 2800 respectively, while Katie only had 200.  Mary found the Daily Double of the round in Wicked.  She had taken the lead with 4000, while Tim had 2200 and Katie still had 200.  Mary wagered 1500 on this clue: "In 1859, he joined a Shakespearean stock company in Richmond, Virginia (but that's not why he's in the category)."  Mary gave an incorrect response, then gasped and nodded like she knew what the correct response was.  When Mr. Trebek asked her what she should have said, she had to admit that she still didn't know.  I'm glad Trebek caught here.  She looked a little silly, which was okay.  I didn't like her attitude.

     The contestants got back to God Spell eventually, but not until there were only 8 clues left on the board.  At 7 clues left, Mr. Trebek gave the one-minute warning!  Luckily, they finished God Spell, but they left two clues in Camelot.  At that point, Tim had 4000, Mary had 3300, and Katie had 1400.
     Tim had surged to a bigger lead when he found the Daily Double in The Great War.  He had 6400, Mary had 2900, and Katie had 2600.  Tim wagered 1400 on this clue: "In 1916, some 10000 British and Indian troops trapped in the Mesopotamian town of Kut surrendered to these foes."  This clue was way over my head, but Tim got it right.
     Katie, who had been relatively quiet, was in second-place when she found the next Daily Double in Islands in the Sea.  She had 7000, Tim had 9400, and Mary had 4500.  Katie went for a hundred-dollar lead with a wager of 2500 on this clue (you provide the name of the sea): "Nunivak."  Katie got it right.
     Like in the Jeopardy round, Mr. Trebek gave the one-minute warning with 7 clues left on the board!  This time, three clues were left uncovered in Peace Corps.  Tim finished the round with 13800, Mary had just 3700, and Katie had 11900.  The Final Jeopardy category was European Capitals.  This was the clue: "Although capital of its country, it is not the capital of the province in which it is located, nor is it the seat of government."  I was proud to get this one right, especially after no one else did.  I think it helped that I had a layover there on the way and back from Frankfurt, Germany, last summer.  To be fair, Tim may have misread the clue, as he provided the seat of government but not the capital of the country.  Mary lost 1500.  Katie lost 6000, and Tim lost 10001, enough to lose.  We'll see Katie Monday.  I don't think she is strong enough to last much longer.
     My Coryat score was 15000.  Tim's was 13200, Mary's was 5200, and Katie's was 11000.  My best category was In the Heights and my worst was The Great War.  Coryat scores for Wednesday and Thursday:

3-9: Quinn McDonald 24400     Harley Savage 7800     Mike Nelson 10800     Me 12400

3-10: Quinn McDonald 7200     Tim Maas 19600     Evan Bastian 15800     Me 19600
     Here are the responses to today's quadruple-stumpers, in case you have a preference about what you want to learn more about: Hertz, grok, France, John Quincy Adams, Arabian Sea, Bulgaria, Ghana.  Leave a comment here.

More from 4-time Jeopardy! champ Buddy Wright

     I hope you saw the first installment of my interview with 4-time Jeopardy! champ Buddy Wright yesterday.  If not, please go back and read it.  You'll be glad you did!
     Before attending Texas A & M and majoring in history, Buddy was quite the force in high school: Besides being a National Merit commended student, student council president, and senior prom king (as if that is not enough!), Buddy was active on his school's quiz bowl team.  (By the way, Buddy did love the clue asking for identification of the initials "A & M" on Jeopardy! two days ago.)
     Buddy says of his quiz bowl experience, "I owe a lot of my success on Jeopardy! to high school quiz bowl. It forced you to think quickly.  My teacher and sponsor, Gail Shewmake, was really instrumental in that effort.  She was constantly encouraging, pushing, keeping me focused.  So it was a lot of fun volunteering with David Madden in the National History Bowl and Bee."  He's referring to one such bowl that took place in Plano, TX on February 19th.  I had a particular interest in Buddy's role as a volunteer because I will be volunteering at the National Championships in Washington, D.C. in April.  Buddy says he moderated, read questions, and kept score at the Plano event.  He says, "There were several teams competing at the same time, so I was not the only moderator on site."  These events are taking place all over the country and they are open to the public, so you should check to see if there's one near you!
     As you can see, Buddy's life experiences paved the way for him to succeed on Jeopardy!  He says, "I always wanted to be on Jeopardy!  Now I may get my chance at the Tournament of Champions.  After that...who knows?"  

Yeah, Buddy!

     Last night I had the pleasure of chatting with 4-time Jeopardy! champ Buddy Wright.  He has won his matches since the last Tournament of Champions, so he is eligible to be in the next one!  With more than $89,000 in regular-season winnings, he is second to Terry Linwood as the winningest Texan on Jeopardy!



Courtesy Buddy Wright, via Jeopardy!

 
     Buddy had an early start on the road to Jeopardy! glory: By second grade he was reading at the level of a senior in high school.  Buddy tells me he and his mom Margaret played Scrabble together when he was growing up, which probably helped!  Buddy thinks he has only beaten her at Scrabble twice in his life!  He and his mom also used to watch Jeopardy! together, and they'd keep track of their scores with a calculator.  I asked Buddy if his mom ever took the Jeopardy! test.  He said, "[S]he didn't even fly out to watch me film, because she said it would be too nerve-wracking for her....I don't think she'll ever try out, though she's every bit as good at this as I am, if not better."
     Buddy's father John, who died when Buddy was 16, also contributed to the foundation on which Buddy built his winning ways:  He helped Buddy with homework as a boy.  At the time of his death, John was nine credit hours away from completing a degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas - Arlington.  The university set up a scholarship in John's honor, which ended due to lack of funding.  Buddy says his father was a big influence on him, and adds, "I always remember him studying, working hard at the books.  If I win big in the tournament, I'm going to reestablish a scholarship in my dad's memory, to help people in the EE department who have returned to school after a long absence."
     Today, Buddy's wife Jill keeps track of his score via the Coryat method so he knows what his weaker subjects are as he is preparing for the possibility of appearing on the Tournament of Champions.  Says Buddy, "There's a quarter of a million dollars at stake - I think I would be remiss if I did not try to prepare in some way."  I asked Buddy if Jill hoped to be on Jeopardy!   He said, "My wife is a great inspiration, and a great coach, but she doesn't have any aspirations to be on Jeopardy!"  Buddy's wife helped him keep track of his score as he was taking the online test before he first appeared on the show.  (Incidentally, it was the first/only time he took the test!)  She also reads Trivial Pursuit questions to him when they are on road trips together!
     I had read that Buddy had felt a sense of relief when he lost his fifth game.  This surprised me, but I've read that Ken Jennings had similar feelings, and Stephen Weingarten told me he did as well.  I asked Buddy about that.  He said, "Jeopardy! is the most stressful thing I have ever done.  So when I did lose, there absolutely was a sense of relief.  If I had lost the first game, I think I would've felt differently. :)  But I really don't know how David Madden and Ken Jennings managed to win as many as they did in a row."
     Buddy taped his five episodes in two separate trips to Los Angeles.  This added to the stress: "We flew back to DFW, I went to work the next day and had to immediately ask for more time off.  Then I had to arrange for someone to watch my son again while we traveled back to LA. Then there's just the logistics of booking Jill's flight, unpacking, repacking, doing laundry, all of that stuff.  By the time I got back to LA, I was a wreck :)"
     Come back tomorrow to find out about Buddy's quiz bowl past and about his experience volunteering at the National History Bee and Bowl.

It was the worst of times

     I mentioned in a previous post that I am trying to get ready for the pub quiz that will be part of the unofficial Jeopardy! reunion in Washington, D.C. in April, which itself is linked to the National History Bowl.  (I'm making a big presumption that is assuming I'm invited.)  While looking up something about a clue tonight, I found pubquizhelp.com.  It's a British site, and I haven't looked too much at it, but I definitely will.  I think it will help.
     I also asked for help from members of the Jeopardy! message boards.  I didn't get a huge response, but I did learn a thing or two: I didn't know that pub quizzes are team events.  It was also suggested that I needn't bother studying, in that case: It's better to know something everyone else doesn't than to know something everyone else does.  I'm taking that into consideration.  Furthermore, 5-time champ and 1992 Tournament of Champions finalist Jerome Vered responded with a link to obrienspubquiz.com.  Jerome was also a finalist in the 2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions that also featured Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings.  And I just found out tonight, Jerome's going to be in Washington, too!  Roger Craig has also confirmed.
     Today's contestants:

Meg Khavari



Mike Nelson



 



Joe Mastroeni

     Every contestant was active from the start, but Joe suffered from guesses (or so they seemed to be) throughout the Jeopardy round.  At the first break, he had -200 while Mike had 1800 and Meg had 1200.  Mike found the Daily Double in Book Numbers shortly after the first break.  He had 2600, Meg had 3000, and Joe still had -200.  Mike wagered 1000 on this clue: "This Dickens novel opens in the year 1775."  I missed this one, but I'd like to point out that I didn't truly read it (sorry, Mrs. Hofeditz).  It was the last book I had to read in high school, and I couldn't muster the desire to do it.  Mike got it right.  At the end of the Jeopardy round, he had 3600, Joe had 400, and Meg had 3400.

     Mike also found the first Daily Double in the Double Jeopardy round, in Sorry About That.  (This category immediately followed one called Multiply by 5, divide by 2, add 3.  Hence the name.  Yeah.)  Mike had 6400, Joe had rebounded and had 4400, and Meg had 3400.  Mike wagered 2000 on this clue: "In 1986, the French government apologized and paid compensation for the sinking of this group's ship The Rainbow Warrior."  I knew this one, but Mike did not.

     I was disappointed to have missed this clue in Abbrev., because I just saw a clue about it on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire last week: "A police cruiser's right front bumper nudges a fleeing suspect's left rear, to induce a stop using the PIT maneuver; PIT short for 'this intervention technique.'"

     Meg found the next Daily Double, also in Abbrev.  She led with 8200, while Mike had 6400 and Joe had 5200.  Meg wagered 2000 on this clue: "It's what the 'A and M' stands for in the name of Alabama A & M University."  Meg got the first part right but not the second.

     At the end of the Double Jeopardy round, Mike had 7600, Joe had 5200, and Meg still led with 8600.  The Final Jeopardy category was American Literature.  This was the clue: "'The Scarlet Letter' says, 'to forbid the culprit to hide his face...was the essence of' this 7-letter punishment."  Ouch.  All three contestants missed it, and so did I.  Two of them didn't even have 7-letter words written.  Joe lost all but a dollar.  Mike lost 2801.  (He would have had a dollar more than Joe had Joe doubled.)  Meg lost 6601.  Mike, then, ended with the most money and has won for the second time.  How long can he hang on?

     I got my butt kicked today (hence the "worst of times" in the title), with a Coryat of 14200.  I did manage to score better than the contestants: Mike's was 9200, Joe's was 5200, and Meg's was 10600.  I did sweep What the "Eck" and Sorry About That.  I'm not happy to admit I only got one of the 400 clues in Double Jeopardy.  My worst categories were Book Numbers, Mytholo-"g", Abbrev., and TV Shows by Kids.

Tragic wagering fail

     I'm interviewing 4-time Jeopardy! champ Buddy Wright soon.  Leave me a comment with your questions for him!
     Fun and interesting match today.  The contestants:

Carl Bradshaw

Dawn Hart

    

Mike Nelson

     Just like last time I blogged on an episode, a contestant answered the first two clues right, then found the Daily Double.  In this case it was Mike, and he found it in The Ivy League.  He wagered all of his 600 on this clue: "The school now known as this was located in Elizabeth for 1 year and Newark for 9."  (Hey, that's where David Madden went to college!)  Mike and I got it right.
     At the first break, Mike and Carl had 3200, while Dawn had 1400.  At the end of the round, Mike and Dawn had each doubled their scores, while Carl's stayed the same.  However, Carl answered 4 of the first 5 clues in the Double Jeopardy round correct before finding the first Daily Double in Stately Flowers.  He had 6800, Mike had 6400, and Dawn had 2800.  Carl wagered 1200 on this clue: "Illinois' flower is the purple this, which is practically saying the same thing twice."  Carl had a good guess, but was wrong.
     Dawn then started to shine.  She led with 8000 when she found the next Daily Double in Language of Love (you provide the language).  Carl had 4400 and Mike had 6000.  I thought Dawn showed a lack of aggression (a foreshadowing, as it turned out) when she wagered "just" 1000 on this clue: "S'Agapo."  She got it right.  At the end of the round, she had a big lead with 14600, while Carl had 8000 and Mike had 8400.
     The final category was Olympic Host Countries.  This was the clue: "3 of the 6 countries that have hosted both the summer and winter Olympics."  All three contestants got it right.  Carl added 7500 to his score, and Mike added 7601.  Dawn inexplicably wagered nothing.  Nothing!  Her lead had been so big she didn't need to wager much to win.  Mike said on the Jeopardy! message boards that Dawn said after the show she isn't confident in sports categories.  I say "Who cares?"; the category doesn't matter in a case like this one.  Anyway, it's too bad.  Mike, then is your new champion.  Let's see what he can do tomorrow.
     My Coryat score today was 22000.  I swept Acting Sequelitis and Stately Flowers.  My weakest categories were Astronomy and Kiss.  Carl's Coryat was 9200.  Mike's was 8400, and Dawn's was 14800.

What is Frye?

     A quadruple-stumper in These Boots from Friday, March 4th: "Boots from this brand, whose logo is seen here, were worn by soldiers on both sides of the American Civil War."

     As you can see above :-), Mr. Trebek even spelled the response when he revealed it.  Curious - had any of you heard of Frye boots?
     I felt sure I'd have to use the Internet to research this one, as opposed to my books.  When I typed "Frye" in Google's search engine, "Frye boots" was the first choice to appear.  The website is thefryecompany.com.  According to the site, the company was founded in 1863, and it's "the oldest continuously operated shoe company in the United States."  The site also mentions the fact about the Civil War that was in the Jeopardy! clue, and adds that the boots were also worn by soldiers in the Spanish-American War (1898) and World War II, including Theodore Roosevelt and General Patton. 
     I had to wonder what makes these boots so special.  They claim both quality materials and attention to detail in the process of making the shoes.  I poked around the site a little bit, and found that many of their pairs of shoes cost around $300.  I didn't see where you could buy them in a store.  (It appears you have to buy them online or over the phone.)  I also saw they appeared in InStyle magazine in October 2010.  I didn't think I was all that unhip, but that's okay.

I've got to keep on Walken

     There's nothing like an imminent test or challenge to get someone motivated.  For me, it's the possibility of attending a "pub quiz" that will feature great Jeopardy! champs.  I've never been to one, but David Madden seems to be familiar with them.  He's planning one as part of the unofficial Jeopardy! reunion that will coincide with the national championships of his History Bee and Bowl in Washington, D.C.  It's the same feeling I had before my interview with David Madden: As long as I don't look like an idiot, I'll be satisfied.  I see on amazon.com that there are plenty of books on pub quizzes.  I also bought Bob Harris' Who Hates Whom: Well-Armed Fanatics, Intractable Conflicts, and Various Things Blowing Up: A Woefully Incomplete Guide.  If you have any studying suggestions, I'm always listening (even if you happen to be reading this after the quiz is over).  By the way, I hope you enjoyed my interview with David Madden as much as I enjoyed chatting with him.
     Speaking of interviews, I have another one coming up, this time with four-time champ Buddy Wright!  He won $88,000+ on the show, and stands a decent chance of being in the next Tournament of Champions.  Buddy helped out at the National History Bowl in Plano, TX, last weekend.  I'm eager to ask him about that, and of course about how he succeeded on Jeopardy!  So, if you have any questions for him, leave me a comment.


Carl Bradshaw

     Today's contestants:

Mark Pudlow



Sara Lichterman (She's part of a pub trivia team!)



    








     Carl answered the first two clues correctly in Water Under the Bridge, then found the first Daily Double there.  He wagered 1000 on this clue: "Under the Petofi Bridge in Budapest: this river."  I guessed the correct answer but didn't really "ring in."  Carl got it right.  At the first break, he had 4600, Sara had 2000, and Mark had yet to ring in.  At the end of the Jeopardy round, Carl had 7200, Sara had 3400, and Mark had 3600.
     Sara found both Daily Doubles in the Double Jeopardy round and wagered 2500 both times.  She missed one of them, though.  The first one she found was in Made for Walken, about Christopher Walken movies.  Sara had 6600, Carl still had 7200, and Mark had 6000.  This was the clue: "2007: Wilbur Turnblad, a father."  I missed it, but Sara got it right.
     The other one was in Latin Lovers Needed (ooh la la!).  Carl still had 7200, while Sara had 11500 and Mark had 6800.  This was the clue: "'Be each head,' in a country."  Sara was on the right track, but wasn't close enough.  I got it right.
     At the end of the round, Carl had 8400, Sara had 10200, and Mark had 10400.  The final category was Scientific Discoveries.  This was the clue: "In 1919, barely 20 years after its discovery, it was the world's most expensive substance at $3 million an ounce."  The word "substance" tripped me up.  It would've helped if the word had been "element."  At any rate, the final was a quadruple-stumper.  Carl wagered 2100, Sara wagered 8000, and Mark wagered 10001, leaving Carl with enough to become a two-time champ.
     Plenty of quadruple-stumpers today to consider writing about in upcoming posts.  Let me know if you have a preference, and ASAP, as I am writing my first one yet tonight: Tagus, ear, Orwell, virginal, Chopin, "Sleepy Hollow," "Communion," Frye, apres-ski, radium.
     My Coryat today was 22400.  Carl's was 8000, Sara's was 11400, and Mark's was 10400.  I swept Tech-Know, Crossword Clues "H", and A Reporter's Basic Questions, but most every other category kicked my butt, especially Water Under the Bridge, Authors, and Made for Walken.  Here are my Coryat scores since Tuesday:
3-1: Raya Elias-Pushett 12400    Kailyn Laporte 14400    Raynell Cooper 16000    Me 37000
3-2: Raya Elias-Pushett 14400     Kailyn Laporte 11800     Raynell Cooper 10800     Me 32000
3-3: Carl Bradshaw 19200    Cecilia Boudreau 5000    Kate Rowland 10600    Me 19200

David Madden interview, part three!

     As for what else David has been up to since his Jeopardy! success, you may recall that David was featured in a "champion update" that aired in July 2009. David was shown hiking from New Brunswick, Canada, to Florida to raise money for the Fisher House, a charity that provides housing for wounded veterans and their families near military hospitals. I asked David how he got the idea, and if he was still planning to write a book about the experience as indicated on his blog. He said:

     "Originally I was planning on hiking the Appalachian Trail; then I decided, well might as well tack on a few more weeks and do the whole country. But eventually, that latter goal superseded hiking the Appalachian Trail, which I did for about 180 miles in Maine, but then it got kind of boring. So I went off the trail but wanted to keep on hiking, then realized that going off the trail would actually help my hiking for a cause. A friend of mine had been hurt in Iraq, and hiking the whole country lent itself well to doing something with a patriotic focus. So I began researching veterans charities and got in touch with the folks at Fisher House, an incredible charity doing amazing work. I will eventually write a book about that, as well as about setting up the National History Bee and Bowl. But not for a few years; too busy at the moment."

     By the way, David's got another blog here. 
     As mentioned yesterday, David tried out for Jeopardy! with his friend Jeff Hoppes.  They tried out when they were together bird-watching in California.  (Incidentally, I was pleased when David said he had spent spring break of his junior year of college observing the famous sandhill crane migration in central Nebraska.)  When he and Hoppes tried out and Hoppes was asked what he would do with his Jeopardy! winnings, he said he wanted to go bird-watching around the world, but his wife would kill him if he didn't put a down-payment on a house.  As it turned out, Hoppes lost to Ken Jennings in Ken's 70th game (although Hoppes did finish with 22000).  They used some of David's winnings to bird-watch around the world, and Larissa put her winnings toward the down-payment on a house. :-)  (I had read that David was recognized in Ghana because of his Jeopardy! appearances!)  Come to find out, Hoppes attended the same school as Brad Rutter!  David added that the school has just signed up a third team for the South Pennsylvania History Bowl.
     Go to the History Bee and Bowl sites to see if there's one near you!  I am really excited about helping at the National Championships in Washington, D.C. on April 16th and 17th.  See you there?

David Madden interview, part two!

     I couldn't help but notice that quiz bowl experience is a good predictor for success on Jeopardy! Two of this year's Teen Tournament finalists, Raynell Cooper and Kailyn Laporte, are quiz bowl participants. I asked David how those of us with no such experience can get caught up now. He said, "It's tough because there's lots of stuff that most educated people simply have no reason to know unless you've gone about it systematically. I spent more than one Friday night in high school memorizing lists of Russian poets, opera composers, etc. The 'Trebekistan' approach is a good one, too." (That is a reference to Bob Harris' book Prisoner of Trebekistan: A Decade in Jeopardy! Harris would create his own cartoons or images that linked two or more bits of information together to make it easy for him to remember them.) I asked David how he (David) retained what he learned. He said, "First, I'm genuinely interested in almost everything under the sun. Next, I'd run through facts in my head to make them stick, sometimes with mnemonic devices."
     David says he also studied for the show by calling his parents every night from Germany (you may recall he was studying there when he appeared on Jeopardy!).  He kept track of which clues he answered correctly just from studying for the show.  By the time he appeared, he was getting an average of three clues right per episode from studying specifically for the show.  He says he picked up $7000 on a Final Jeopardy clue about John Wayne that way.
     David also kept track of Daily Double locations while listening in from Germany.  He's a big believer in searching for them when he plays.  I asked him why, if a person can't be certain he'll get them right.  I asked if the point was to take them away from opponents.  He said, "Absolutely.  And my all-time record on Daily Doubles is 47-2, including 3 against Watson in sparring matches....I bet it all on all three occasions against the machine and got all three right." 
     Until David said that, I didn't know he was one of the former champs who helped Watson prepare!  I told him I didn't remember seeing him on the episode of PBS's "Nova" that featured Watson.  David said, "They didn't want to make Watson look bad. ;)"
     David goes on to say, "I hate Watson and am incensed at its buzzer speed on the show.  It was a joke.  IBM masked its failures through unfair buzzer speed."  I recalled seeing a post of David's on the Jeopardy! message boards about this.  David also mentioned that he wrote an op-ed piece about it.  I don't know about you guys, but I would love to see video of David playing Watson, having read these editorials and having heard David say they didn't want Watson to look bad!  I wonder if the tape was destroyed... ;-)
     I asked David if he had any advice for mastering the Jeopardy! buzzer. He said, "Not really. If the buzzer were about speed I would've done even better. I hated having to wait for Trebek to be done with the question. Sometimes I got in the groove but I don't think I ever really had it down that great. I think I was late ringing in in the two Watson games. Of the 120 questions, I probably knew about 100, but was only recognized on about 15. Very frustrating, but luckily the Daily Doubles and Watson's ineptness in [the] Final saved me."
     I asked David which former champ he played against when warming up Watson. "Larissa Kelly, a friend of mine from college - I tried out with her husband Jeff Hoppes for the show." David said that this was his first time trying out (I'm jealous!) and that he was later told that living in Berlin helped his cause to be selected. David says, "Of course I wasn't privy to the selection process itself, but it's a well known fact that J! strives for diversity in its contestants, and I think the fact that I was living overseas made me stand out some. Also, maybe it gave the show more of an international scope or something like that. In any case, it's pretty rare to see someone on the show who is living overseas."
     Read more about David's Jeopardy! audition tomorrow night!

David Madden interview, part one!

     (That sums up what follows, doesn't it?)
     Last night I had the pleasure of chatting with 19-time (yes, 19!) Jeopardy! champ, David Madden. 

     Madden has founded the National History Bee and Bowl and is currently traveling the country promoting its growth.  In fact, when we chatted, David was in Tennessee, had just come from a tournament in Kentucky, and was headed to South Carolina.  After that, he'll be heading to Louisiana, then Georgia, then New Jersey, all this week.  Next week he intends to be in Massachusetts and maybe Indiana.  Phew!  David says he puts in "110 hour weeks and loves every minute."    
     The National History Bee and Bowl began with a tournament in May 2010.  Thirty-four teams and 135 high school students from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut participated.  David says, "The idea was originally more just to do the pilot tournament for fun and maybe it would give me a leg up in finding a job as a history teacher, but then I realized the potential."
     David's hard work is paying off: he says the number of participants he is expecting in Washington, D.C. (for the National Championships on April 16th and 17th) is "wildly exceeding" his predictions. He says, "I've been so gratified by the willingness of teams to come to D.C."
     David is turning the event into an unofficial Jeopardy! reunion that he has posted about twice on the Jeopardy! message boards.  (That's how I first found out about it.)  David says so far he is expecting Bob Harris to be there (he is on the Bowl's board of advisors), as well as Bill MacDonald, who beat David in the 2006 Tournament of Champions.  Other possibilities include Dave Belote, who is also on the Bowl's board of advisors, Aaron Thompson, and Roger Craig.
     Come back tomorrow for David's thoughts on Watson, and to find out how David succeeded on Jeopardy!