The new season of Jeopardy! has begun, and I finally have a chance to blog about it! What do you guys think of the new Jeopardy! set? I noticed the floor is black now instead of blue. The set feels darker to me, and I don’t really like it.
Here are my scores for this week:
Tuesday: Mandy Strine Tony Fan Roger Craig me
-400 10000 77000 10802
(That’s not supposed to be 7700; yes, Roger Craig smashed Ken Jennings’ one-day record with 77000 dollars. Wow. I actually knew about it before the show aired in my area, because of a comment someone left on this blog. But that’s okay.)
Wednesday: Katie Ganfield Kevin Knudson Roger Craig me
6400 200 24401 12398
All three players were active in ringing in and answering. Les Taub found the first Daily Double before the first commercial break, in Silence. If you’ve been watching the past few days, you know that Roger has been wagering huge on Daily Doubles, even wagering 10000 on one once! So a contestant would do well to keep that in mind and maybe do the same thing. When Les found this Daily Double, he had 2600 while Roger had 1400 and Ruth Anne had 1800. Les wagered 1500 on this clue: “The type used for a trumpet or sax is more familiar, but string instruments can also be muffled with this device.”* He got it right. At the end of the Jeopardy round, Les led with 9900, Roger had 3400, and Ruth Anne had 2200.
Roger found both Daily Doubles of the Double Jeopardy round, which makes it difficult for his opponents because of the big wagers and because he gets so many clues correct. He wagered 7000 both times, and got them both right. So you see what I mean? In the case of the first Daily Double, the 7000 wager was a true Daily Double. This was the clue, in Dow Jones Industrial Average Companies: “Its original purpose was to insure people on journeys.”* This was the second Daily Double, in Photographers: “He once said that his life was ‘colored and modulated by the great earth gesture of the Sierra.'”*
There were still two clues left at the end of the Double Jeopardy round, which could have prevented a runaway: Roger had 30200, Les had 13100, and Ruth Anne had 9000. Those two clues may have made a difference in the Final Jeopardy wagers, then. No one got this Final Jeopardy clue right, in Word and Phrase Origins: “Meaning ‘rapidly,’ this term began in England, referring to the speed with which the mail was delivered.”* I too thought this one was a toughie, and I missed it. Did you guys know it? Roger only wagered 1800 on this clue, making his total for the day 28400.
So how far do you guys think Roger can go? Do you think he is as good as Ken Jennings or Brad Rutter?
Also, does anyone know the tournament or opponent that this clue refers to, in Good Sportsmanship?: “The chronicles of this hard-serving American include, in 2005, calling an opponent’s shot in, costing himself the match.”*
In other news: Thank you to those who participated in the poll above. I am confused, though: most people voted that, during the summer hiatus, they’d rather see something other than this year’s Tournament of Champions or the Million-Dollar Celebrity Invitational. Good, but no one left a comment about what they’d rather see! You still can, if you feel like it. I’d still like to know.
Speaking of the hiatus, the Summer Hiatus Challenge on the Jeopardy! message boards is over, for most of us. Congrats to gillianwallis, the winner of my giveaway of Chuck Forrest’s Secrets of the Jeopardy! Champions. (Gillian, please leave me a comment with your e-mail address. I moderate comments and will NOT publish your address, of course!) Sadly, none of the champs I was following has made it into the Challenge’s Tournament of Champions, although they did do quite well. On a happy note, “mrbungle” (Ryan Chaffee) has agreed to be interviewed for this blog! Details to follow. You can follow the action of the Tournament of Champions by clicking on the message boards link above.
*mute, Travelers, Ansel Adams. posthaste, Andy Roddick