About faces

     Today was the second day of the two-day College Tournament final. Yesterday, Surya Sabhapathy ended with 12800, Nick Yozamp ended with 20000, and Ryan ended with 14800. These scores are added to today’s to determine the champion of the Tournament.
     This is the first time I have pretended to play along with the contestants as though it were a two-day final for me, too. I have always thought the wagering is soooo much more difficult on both days. On the first day, not only will you not know whether you’ll be right or wrong, but what are your opponents going to wager, and will they be right or wrong? On the second day, the possibilities seem endless even though they of course are not. But I am dreaming big and therefore want to practice for a two-day final as well. I had 22400 after yesterday.
     Ryan found all three Daily Doubles today, with mixed success. He got this one correct in the Jeopardy round with the equivalent of one category to go, in Microbiology Milestones: “By 1980, a global vaccination effort led to the virtual eradication of this, the only time that’s been done to a germ.”* He doubled his score to make 2000, while Nick had 6400 and Surya had 2200. The category that remained was Opera (four of the five clues, anyway), which I cannot believe I swept. I also swept “O” Nouns.  At the end of the round, Ryan had 2600, Nick had 7400, and Surya had 4400. I had 9400.
     The Double Jeopardy Daily Doubles were not as kind to Ryan. This was his reaction after finding the first one of the round:

And this was his reaction upon finding the second (Maybe it was the category?):

He was leading with 13000 when he found the first Daily Double. His nearest opponent was Nick, who had 9000. Ryan wagered 3000 on this clue in 1 B and 2 Ds, so even though he missed it he still led: “It’s the transmission capacity of an electronic communications device.”*

The second Daily Double did not go better for him. The category was African History. He still led by only 1000, and that is what he wagered on this clue: “A kingdom of west central Africa founded around 1390 is called this, like 2 current countries, but spelled with a ‘K.'”* That is a hard one, I think.

At the end of Double Jeopardy, Ryan had 11800, Nick had 14600, and Surya had 8800. I had 23800. The Final category was Biblical Kings, something I feel pretty strong in, but I decided to wager nothing. I assumed that Nick would wager as though Ryan was going to double, making his total today 23600 and for two days 38400. If I wagered nothing today, I would have 46200 over two days.

This was the clue: “These two men first meet in 1 Samuel 16 when one becomes aware of the musical talent of the other.”* Ryan wagered only 1000 and got it right, making his two-day total 27600. Surya wagered 5000 and also got it right, making her total 26600. Nick wagered 3801. Can you tell by his reaction whether he got it right?:

Yeah, he missed it, but it didn’t matter. His two-day total was 30799, and he is the reigning College Tournament champion!
*smallpox, bandwidth, Kongo, Saul and David