So I was really pleased to finally see this thread on the message boards. Notice, though, there’s no mention of an “unofficial Jeopardy! reunion,” or any events like the pub quiz and champions panel like there’s been the past two years. Nor is there mention of the entertainment, sports or Jeopardy! bees, like were held last year. I got scared, and did some digging. I’m very sorry to bring bad news – that aspect of the National History Bowl and Bee finals has been eliminated this year.
If you don’t want to read what’s in this link (not really for the faint-of-heart, if you love Jeopardy!), a few vocal attendees of last year’s Bowl had the nerve to blame us J! people for all that ailed the event last year (as well as the Bowl staff for supposedly spending too much time organizing that piece of it). Anyone who attended last year – except of course for those few – can tell you this is ludicrous. The bad guys got what they wanted, this despite my efforts after last year’s events to rally the troops. Not to mention my encouraging every J! person to attend, who I thought might! That’s a little embarrassing now, isn’t it? But mark my words: This year, the Bowl will be beset by the same troubles it’s had the past couple of years.
I can’t help but wonder, if there aren’t any Jeopardy!-related events, and if Jeopardy! fans were so bad at their jobs last year, why does the Bowl bother to look for staff in one place where we congregate…?
So I’m weighing my options. There’s this TCONA thing, and supposedly lots of Jeopardy! types attend. But I wouldn’t play, and I assume it’s expected that everyone does. You know, people might resent my presence if I don’t! Alternatively, I wouldn’t at all mind just going to L.A. some week to watch Jeopardy! from the audience.
Okay, my smile will be back after these recent Coryats:
Originally 5-20-09: 19800 (27800 without negs). Ouch.
Originally 5-21-09: 29400 (33400 without negs). I just hours earlier had read about Barleycorn and Eden in this book, and even wrote them down as books I’d like to pick up! (Our library doesn’t have ’em though.) And this was a triple-stumper! 😀 I went 26/30 in the Jeopardy round and swept 3 categories. Then would you believe I did a crossword with a clue about Nineveh and Assyria, only a few hours before too?? This is Justin Bernbach’s first game, by the way.
Originally 7-16-12: 33000 (35000 without negs). The first time I played, my score was 28200 (31600 without negs).
Originally 5-22-09: 15800 (23800 without negs)
Originally 5-25-09: 29600 (31800 without negs). I had 3 bad clams worth 2000, and two 1200 ones.
Originally 5-26-09: 22600 (25000 without negs)
I’m still seeing red, but it’s the contestant clothes:
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| Dave Leach |
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| Jason Shore |
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| Kristin Morgan |
This is the first semifinal, so today’s winner goes to the finals and the others go home.
Everything from A to C reminded me of From B to C in the 5-25 game above.
Dave, who by the way I was lucky to meet at last year’s unofficial reunion, found the first Daily Double in Literature: The End of the Line. He’d gotten 4 right and had 1200! Kristin had gotten one right and one wrong, and had 200. Jason had gotten one right and had 200. I had no doubt that Dave was gonna wager it all, and he did, on this softball: “‘He bequeathed…property, both here and in England, to little Pearl, the daughter of’ her.” Naturally, Dave got it right.
By the first break, it seemed like everyone was responding to clues but Dave led with 4000. He’d gotten 3 right and one wrong since his Daily Double. Kristin and Jason had each gotten 3 right and had 1600 and 1400, respectively.
Jason didn’t respond in the second segment of the show, and still had 1400 at the end of the round. Dave had gotten 4 right and had 6600, and Kristin had gotten 7 right and had 7600. The last clue of the round broke her tie with Dave.
Bored in grade school one day, I memorized The Gettysburg Address. It paid off today – I swept Words in the Gettysburg Address.
Jason started to find his groove again when Double Jeopardy began. He had gotten 5 right and had 8200 by the time Kristin found the first Daily Double of the round. She’d gotten 5 right also, and had 11200. Dave had gotten 3 right and had 9000. Kristin wagered 4800 on this clue in It Happened in the 1200s: “This family gained sovereignty over Austria, beginning a dynasty that would last in Europe until 1918.” She and I got it right.
Dave found the last Daily Double of the game in Movies: The Line of the End. Ooh, there were 2 clues left on the board after this one. This was a pivotal moment for me, too: I needed either the 1600 or 2000 right to get a Coryat higher than my average for the last tournament.
Dave had gotten 4 right since Kristin’s Daily Double, and had 13800. Kristin had gotten 2 right and one wrong, and had 18000. Jason had gotten 2 right and had 9800. Dave wagered 4000 on this clue: “‘I hope to see my friend & shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.” Now this is true: As with the 5-21 game above, I just last night learned this in this book (the top one in the post) that I’m reviewing for my other blog. I would not have gotten this clue right otherwise, even though I saw the movie 7 or 8 years ago. Awesome feeling I’m sure you’ve experienced! Dave got it right, too.
Jason got one of the last 2 clues right, and the other
was a triple-stumper. So the rounded ended with Kristin having 18000, Dave having 17800, and Jason 10600.
The Final Jeopardy category was Classic Jazz Songs. This was the clue: “The title of this 1959 instrumental is a synonym for ‘time out,’ the album on which it first appeared.” I threw out a wild guess that I thought I may have made up, at the last second. And it was right. All three contestants got it, too! So if Dave had wagered for the lead on his last Daily Double, he’d have had the lead going into the Final and could’ve won today. But it wasn’t meant to be. He wagered 3401 on this Final. Jason wagered 10022, and Kristin wagered 17601, enough to win if Dave doubled. So we’ll see her in the finals of the Tournament.
So my Coryat today was 20000 (21000 without negs).