Four days of the Tournament of Champions are now complete.  Are you guys amazed by the (generally) low scores of “non-winners” this week?  Here they are, and I’ve put the four highest scores in bold (as there are four wild card spots for high scorers among those who didn’t win their games):

Ryan Chaffee 1800
Patrick Tucker 4700
Nick Yozamp 16400
Stephen Weingarten 50
Regina Robbins 4600
Dave Belote 4999
Christine Valada 2400
Joey Beachum 0

     Tomorrow’s contestants are Stefan Goodreau, Jason Zollinger, and Vijay Balse.  With scores like those above (and with the talent of these three champions), I feel confident that all three of them will appear in the second week of the tournament.  Any predictions?
     When I consider the scores above, I feel better admitting how tricky The Tournament of Champions has been.  It’s only during the Tournament of Champions that I’m even stumped by the categories, like today’s The Hecuba, You Say.  It makes me think that the contestants are really special.  What do you think it’s like to hang out with them?  What do you think they talk about when they are all together?
     These scores also make me wish that I had seen through the two games that I played on my Jeopardy Challenger.  They really weren’t so bad!  And I have read over and over that you really want to succeed, you can’t worry about what it’s gonna look like when you fail.  That’s why I wanted to post my scores in the first place, because I really, really, want to succeed on Jeopardy!  So somehow I feel worse yet better than ever: I have failed both in getting winning scores and in posting my scores at all.   BUT, there is next week.  I expect to be playing on my Challenger at least twice, and I will post my scores no matter what.
     Finally, Mr. Trebek mentioned that former 5-time champ (and Tournament of Champions finalist!) Bob Harris was in the audience today. I have his book, Prisoner of Trebekistan: A Decade in Jeopardy! I enjoyed it, and would recommend it.