This is it – the last day of the Battle of the Decades tournament. Remember when we were still trying to decide who the fan favorites would be? It seems longer ago than October.
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| Roger Craig |
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| Brad Rutter |
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| Ken Jennings |
Yesterday, Brad earned 10000 to be added to today’s total, and Ken made 7000. Roger famously had no money.
At the first break:
Brad -800 (3 right and 3 wrong)
Ken 4600 (9 right and one wrong)
Roger 600 (2 right and one wrong)
In case you’re wondering, Brad had this to say about the negs in 1 Letter Different:
Ken is so good at these wordplay categories that I thought I’d ring in first and then figure it out. Bad move.
— Brad Rutter (@bradrutter) May 17, 2014
Did you catch the reference Brad made to Shane Whitlock’s son? I told you stole the show!
Brad got the Daily Double of the round in Organizations.
Brad -200 (One right)
Ken 5600 (One right)
Roger 2400 (2 right)
Brad wagered 1000 on this clue: “Now one big happy family, this mentoring group was formed by the union of 2 ‘sibling’ organizations in 1977.” Brad got it!
At the end of the round:
Brad 1800 (3 right)
Ken (2 right)
Roger (5 right)
Just like yesterday, Brad’s going first in the Double Jeopardy round!
Roger found the first Daily Double of the round in Lakes & Rivers.
Brad 1800
Ken 6000 (One right)
Roger 10200 (3 right)
“Oh boy,” Roger said. You may recall yesterday he wagered the same amount, again all he had, on a Daily Double and got it wrong. Remember how Ken whispered for Roger to “Do it”? Today Brad said, “Don’t do it this time!” But he did. He wagered it all again. Trebek didn’t sound very happy! Anyway I didn’t see Roger’s wager yesterday the way Trebek seemed to, as indicated by his interview with Roger today. I liked that Roger wagered it all. Today, this was the clue: “Sharing the name of a city, it’s the largest lake entirely within a Canadian province.” You may remember Bill MacDonald was sitting in front of me for this afternoon session. I put my fingers on his shoulders when Roger got this wrong. Again! But I love his attitude. “That’s okay,” he said. And it is. Do you wonder what his fiancee was thinking in the studio audience? Later, by the way, Bill asked if he’d felt me collapse when Roger lost it all again on the Daily Double.
Brad soon found the next Daily Double, in Nonfiction! Now I wonder what Roger was thinking!
Brad 2600 (One right)
Ken 7600 (One right)
Roger 0
Brad wagered 2000 on this easy clue: “The title of this essay collection by David Sedaris refers to his attempt to learn to speak French.” Brad got it.
I was wondering whether I’d be able to hear myself laughing on this final clue of Double Jeopardy, in Modes of Transport: “You know you’re a family man when you find yourself behind the wheel of one of these, like the Grand Caravan.” It was so fast that I was with Dan Pawson’s wife Andrea when she said, “What just happened?” I wasn’t sure either! So just like Brad and Ken before him, Roger cracked me up at the end of Double Jeopardy. In the studio anyway, no one thought it was near as funny as I did. I didn’t know til this morning about this:
Roger Craig was quoting the talking heads song #jeopardy, if so well done sir, you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
— Jim H. (@RealdealJamil) May 17, 2014
I still don’t know what that’s about, but I saw a lot of tweets on it! Apparently Roger didn’t do it on purpose!
At the end of the round:
Brad 11800 (7 right)
Ken 13600 (7 right)
Roger 2000 (5 right and 3 wrong)
The Final Jeopardy category was Secretaries of State. Bill asked me if I had any prediction about the correct response, and of course I didn’t. When I asked if he did, he said he could think of 5 or 6 it might be. Michael Rooney suggested that the contestants just write numbers during wagering calculation, just to think of as many secretaries of state as possible.
Like the day before, the tournament contestants watching in the audience wrote down their responses too. Maria was back sitting next to Bill at this point, and I asked her if she wanted to join the contestants, in case she missed it. She said she’d write her response from that seat!
Here’s the clue: “Serving 160 years apart, these 2 secretaries of state are the only ones who never married.” Roger was right and he doubled his score. Did you see Ken’s hand move while the camera was on Roger? (Of course, I knew how this ended.) Brad was right too but added nothing! He has a 2-day total then of 21800. Ken? He was wrong, and lost 13001. Trebek was right – Ken needed to get this right to have a chance at winning the tournament. I remember so vividly Brad’s dropped jaw that didn’t seem to close even well after he found out he won! Did you see Ken and Brad hug? Aww.
Immediately the crowd rose to its feet. My pen flew and wedged itself behind Maria’s back! (She was still sitting.) The more I tried to dig it out the worse it got, but if Maria noticed she didn’t look like it.
As the studio audience members filed out, a song with the lyrics “I took a trip on a train” played overhead. Then came the after-party, which is something for a future post.
Now do you wonder what Jill Bunzendahl Chimka is thinking?
At the end of the round:
Brad 11800 (7 right)
Ken 13600 (7 right)
Roger 2000 (5 right and 3 wrong)
The Final Jeopardy category was Secretaries of State. Bill asked me if I had any prediction about the correct response, and of course I didn’t. When I asked if he did, he said he could think of 5 or 6 it might be. Michael Rooney suggested that the contestants just write numbers during wagering calculation, just to think of as many secretaries of state as possible.
Like the day before, the tournament contestants watching in the audience wrote down their responses too. Maria was back sitting next to Bill at this point, and I asked her if she wanted to join the contestants, in case she missed it. She said she’d write her response from that seat!
Here’s the clue: “Serving 160 years apart, these 2 secretaries of state are the only ones who never married.” Roger was right and he doubled his score. Did you see Ken’s hand move while the camera was on Roger? (Of course, I knew how this ended.) Brad was right too but added nothing! He has a 2-day total then of 21800. Ken? He was wrong, and lost 13001. Trebek was right – Ken needed to get this right to have a chance at winning the tournament. I remember so vividly Brad’s dropped jaw that didn’t seem to close even well after he found out he won! Did you see Ken and Brad hug? Aww.
Immediately the crowd rose to its feet. My pen flew and wedged itself behind Maria’s back! (She was still sitting.) The more I tried to dig it out the worse it got, but if Maria noticed she didn’t look like it.
As the studio audience members filed out, a song with the lyrics “I took a trip on a train” played overhead. Then came the after-party, which is something for a future post.
Now do you wonder what Jill Bunzendahl Chimka is thinking?
One
year ago: Idol signs
year ago: Idol signs
Two years ago: Dr. Oz Comes to Washington
Three years ago: [untitled]
Four years ago: Coming soon: An interview with a Jeopardy! champ!
