The third thing I learned today, after leave supersuper early and never rent a car again in D.C., was I was way…hu-way in over my head volunteering as a reader. I didn’t know I’d be flying solo! You should’ve seen those expectant faces staring at me. They should’ve been expecting lots of questions from me – about how to play. I relied on the kids and parents to tell ME what to do, which was a little awkward sometimes. For example, I asked for a parent to volunteer to keep score, and one eagerly did – only to ask me how to do it. I have no idea! It all worked out, but don’t think that this competition isn’t taken seriously – it is. I heard a coach say today that she was formally protesting a question in a previous match (thank God, not one of mine) even though her team WON, because a moderator ruled an answer incorrect without asking the team to be more specific. Why waste someone’s time on that protest? But anyway, she made me very nervous in my matches, and I read to her team twice while she was present. I kept looking at her to make sure everything was cool, and I haven’t heard any complaints.
Here’s a pic of the room I was in:
And tonight at the Newseum, I was watching a match where the moderator (you’ve heard of him) got a little testy when the coach and the kids complained over the wording of the clue. It was asinine, but the kids said they were going to file a protest.
Oh, and these people are as serious about silence as fans are at a tennis match (and I should know). At the same match where there was quibbling about the wording, I saw two people stop the game to get up and run out the door to make people be quiet who I didn’t even think were bothersome.
This morning, one team suffered quite a devastating loss. It was my second or third game, and I noticed no one said the score after the match. All I could think was, “Yeah, you got your butts kicked.” Incidentally, the teams have a charming custom of shaking the hands of every other team member. So cute. Anyway, later, a team member asked her mother what the score had been – It was like 290-30 or something. The girl’s jaw dropped open, and the mother said in a disinterested tone, “They were pretty good.”
But the biggest loss of the morning, for me, anyway, was the loss of my notes I’d taken for the blog til roughly lunchtime. Talk about a test of the memory. But I think I got it all. I guess I won’t really know if I missed anything.
I DIDN’T miss this: The kids often got killer questions right while ones I thought were easy went unanswered. If you aren’t familiar with the format: The clues are quite long. They start obscure and get more and more detailed until at the end of the clue it’s almost handed to you, if you know it. (I learned this is called “pyramidal”-style. Well today there was a question about Steinbeck. The clue finally ended with something like “this author of The Grapes of Wrath.” And the kids didn’t know it! Did you guys have to read that in high school? I did. I know someone like current Teen Jeopardy! champ Raynell Cooper would’ve gotten that one right early in the clue. Oh, and one boy said he’d never heard of Lee Greenwood when a bonus question asked about the “Proud to Be an American” song. Really?!
I saw Raynell seemingly over and over, but it must have all been tonight, because I didn’t read to him. That would’ve been extra-difficult! Needless to say (probably), Raynell’s good. And he’s confident. Maybe his team will win tonight. Here’s a pic of Bob Harris reading to Raynell’s team. (This was the best I could do without being too disruptive.) That’s Raynell two people from Bob, on Bob’s left.
Tonight at the Newseum I saw a kid I remembered had been in the Teen Tournament, but the year before Raynell. I’d never remembered his name, but I heard someone call him “Aidan,” and I looked it up just now, and it was Aidan Mehigan.
I couldn’t help but wonder today how David himself would do on these clues, if he was a team. In one of my matches today, a kid was his whole team. Just him. The kids told me they were ready to start, and I thought his teammates hadn’t shown up yet! When the kids were chatting, he said he was undefeated on the day, and we were pretty deep into the day. He won that match too, and his next one. I was glad he won mine. I didn’t want to be responsible for his first loss! And I was QUITE pleased to see him playing tonight, which means he had a chance to win it all. Very nice, well-dressed kid. I hope he wins it all! How sweet would that be? He actually said to the other team that it is sometimes nice to be on your own team – You don’t have to confer with anyone else, and you live or die by your own choices. (That’s not how he put it, but you get the idea.)
Occasionally I asked a team where they were from. Today, one boy said his team was from Lancaster, PA. I said, “Isn’t Brad Rutter from there?” and they said they were from his high school! Unfortunately, they were 1-5 that day, and then they were 1-6. They DID win the next one, though, against a team that had NO wins on the day. Brad Rutters-in-the-making they ain’t.
Speaking of Rutter, tonight Brad and Bob Harris came into one of the rooms while they were waiting to begin. Bob walked in first, and when Bob asked Brad to come up as he was walking in, I started clapping, and everyone started doing it, too. Bob goes, “You get a round of applause?! What is it like to be you?” I was amused that I had started it. Gotta say it again, I love Brad.
Then when there was mention of the “director” (or some such word), some kids behind me started chanting, “Da-vid Ma-dden…Da-vid Ma-dden…” David walked in later and the kids did it again, and David looked like he liked it. David actually read some questions to two teams to determine who would be the 16th seed. Need I tell you he was enthusiastic? Here’s the best pic I could muster of him (I’ll try to get one with him tomorrow, if he can hold still long enough! Or should I say if I am fast enough?):
I mean this in the nicest way possible: David reminds me a lot of Jack Tripper on Three’s Company. Again, don’t get me wrong. I like Jack Tripper and Three’s Company. David acts like that, I think.
Between today’s day and evening events, I had planned to go to Mass. (Actually when I asked David when would be the best time, that’s what he suggested.) Minor hangup: I couldn’t find my rental car. And it was POURING. I had an umbrella, which I truly never ever use, but I COULDN’T use it today because I was carrying a not-too-heavy but still awkward box with a buzzer system. I walked forever and never did find it. I didn’t really have a phone number for any staffperson who might be able to help at that time, so I wound up (eventually) taking a cab to the Newseum and decided to find the car later. I was stressin’ by that time, and my arms were as useless as noodles from carrying that big ol’ box.
Once I was settled, a guy I sat next to asked me if I noticed there are hardly any girls playing. I kinda did, and it’s true. I only saw one girl playing the entire day, including at the Newseum. That’s kind of weird, but I don’t really care. I’m not a girl-power type.
I sat by David’s mother briefly tonight, and I didn’t even mean to! I wanted you to know,
Jeopardy! hopefuls: I heard her tell someone that David devoured the book An Incomplete Education. She also said the words SIXTH GRADE with that same thought. I guess that’s David for you! She also mentioned he has a sister. I had wondered if he had siblings.
Speaking of David, he came to my venue rather early today. He told me he could tell I was having fun last night (at the Jeopardy! panel discussion), and I was! I thought it was nice that he noticed that.
I was super-stressed about my car and was hardly concentrating anyway, so I left around 9:30. (I hadn’t been to Mass yet, had to be at the School Without Walls early tomorrow, had to go to Mount Vernon in the afternoon, etc.). But I’m sure they are still going strong and will be til after midnight. I will ask someone tomorrow. As for my car, I had the good fortune to randomly get a BRILLIANT cabbie who took me straight to it and never had any doubts. He was such a good Samaritan he helped a fellow driver with directions at a stoplight, and let her turn in front of him. Good guy. And good night.