First, I hate to bring this up again, but I fear the “comments” function is still not working properly. I’m trying something else, so, again, if you’ve commented and it has not appeared on the blog, feel free to try again. It might work this time, and of course I hope it does!
Now for today’s episode: J.R. Lind, the newspaper reporter from Tennessee, was back to defend as champion. I like him, but I have to admit I was pulling for Becky Henderson today, because she lives in the Midwest! Joshua Weiss of Chicago was the other contestant today. He found the Daily Double in the Jeopardy round in Literary Dedications. He was in the lead with 2600, to one-day champ J.R.’s 1600 and Becky’s -1000. Since Joshua is a Ph.D. candidate in English Literature, I was hoping he would let it ride here, but it’s easy for me to say while I’m watching from home! He did not get the first two clues in the category right. He may have known the first one but didn’t ring in first, and no one got this second one: “e.e. cummings ‘dedicated’ his book ‘No Thanks’ to the publishers who rejected it & to this woman who paid to print it.”* Joshua wagered 600 on his Daily Double (and women wager conservatively?): “Herman Melville dedicated ‘Moby Dick’ to this fellow author and mentor.”* I remembered this one from American Lit class in high school. Joshua, naturally, got it right.
At the beginning of the Double Jeopardy round, Joshua had a big lead with 9800, while J.R. had 2400, and Becky had 800 after getting herself out of the hole on this final clue in the Jeopardy round, in You Make My “Heart” Sing: “This Springsteen song begins, ‘Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack.'”* Joshua continued to command in Double Jeopardy. He picked up 2000 on this Daily Double clue in Double “C,” giving him twice of J.R.’s total, who was his nearest opponent: “From the name of an ancient Roman festival, it now refers to any riotous or drunken festivity.”* By the end of Double Jeopardy, though, J.R. had made sort of a comeback, and at 15200, he was only 3000 behind Joshua at 18200. Becky had 2800.
The Final Jeopardy category was Meteorology, a category I don’t think I’ve seen before, at least not in Final Jeopardy. This was the clue: “Low- and high-pressure systems and tropical moisture set the stage for a 1991 Nor’easter nicknamed these two words.”* All I could think of was El Nino, but I knew that was wrong. Becky got it wrong, too, but didn’t lose anything. J.R. got it right and added 9200 to his score, which was like a bonus because Joshua couldn’t come up with anything and wagered 12201. J.R., then, became a two-day champion with 52000+! Impressive. Tomorrow I’m expecting to watch the show with Jeopar-daddy and my mom. Yippee!
Did you guys get these two triple-stumpers?: In The Country Where You’d Find: “The longest bridge over water in the world.”* I got this one right, but I was actually thinking of a different location than the one Mr. Trebek said the clue was referring to. What about this one in Movie Number, Please: “Sandra Bullock as a journalist who ends up in rehab.”*
By the way, this has nothing to do with Jeopardy!, but I can’t resist: In my last entry, I told you about a couple of mistakes I’d seen by closed captioners in the past. I was watching the French Open this morning, and I’m glad I noticed this one: Wozniacki, a female tennis player, was transcribed as “Woodsbackky.” Wow.
*his mother, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Hungry Heart,” bacchanal, “perfect storm,” the U.S. (I was thinking of the Everglades, but the bridge is actually over Lake Pontchartrain), 28 Days