This is your final reminder to post your Coryat scores so far this year by Monday afternoon. The possible prizes (your choice): Jeopardy! for the Wii, a copy of Final Jeopardy: Man vs. Machine and the Quest to Know Everything (signed by the author), or a Jeopardy Challenger.
Speaking of man vs. machine, I learned that the PBS show Nova will be airing an episode about the upcoming Watson match on February 9 at 9 p.m. Central. I’ve also been told that those Watson commercials are being shown during programs other than Jeopardy! I have not seen that myself; have you guys?
Since I’m watching the Australian Open as I’m writing this, I thought I’d let some tennis lingo into the title of this entry. There were four clues on the show today that someone else answered (or should have) after someone else missed it. First, the contestants:
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| Amanda Sonmor |
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| Scott Harris |
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| Sandy Holliman |
So how come no one got this one in This is N-P-R right after Sandy virtually said the answer after giving an incorrect answer? (The letters N, P, and R are found in the correct responses, in that order): “It’s the filtering and excretory unit of the kidney.”* Then there’s this one no one got after Scott virtually handed them the answer, in All Things Considered: “One birthstone of the last month of the year is this 6-letter gem that starts with the last letter of the alphabet.”* There’s no excuse since you know how many letters and what letter it begins with.
There were two more, however, that someone did get after someone else messed it up. Sandy got this one right in World Literature after Scott said the correct response after an incorrect one: “This series of tales by Ovid was written in hexameters in 15 books.”* And Amanda got this one right in Also on the Monopoly Board after Sandy added a possessive to one of the words: “Flower patches named for Mr. Hagler.”*
Surprisingly, Sandy’s hairdo was not the biggest of her problems today. At the first break, she was already in the hole 1000, while Scott had 4400 and Amanda had 1600. Sandy found the Daily Double of the round with one clue remaining afterward, in Pluto: Never Forget. (Anyone know the significance of the category title?) She still had -200 and wagered 1000 on this clue: “Pluto is in a stable 3-2 resonance with this planet, completing 2 orbits of the sun in the time the other completes 3.”* She got it wrong. At the end of the round, then, she had -1200, Scott had 5000, and Amanda had 3600.
By the time Scott found the first Daily Double in the Double Jeopardy round, I was struggling in the round and hadn’t answered anything right. Scott had 6600, Sandy had -1600, and Amanda had 5600. The category was Also on the Monopoly Board, and he wagered 2000 on this clue: “Alliterative slang for crying.”* Scott missed it, but I got it right.
Sandy found the next Daily Double in World Literature immediately after getting the clue right about Ovid mentioned above. She had 0 when she found it, while Scott had 3800 and Amanda had 7200. Sandy wagered 2000 on this clue, prompting another “Good for you” from Mr. Trebek: “This South American’s ‘The General in His Labyrinth’ is a fictional biography of Simon Bolivar.”* She missed it. 🙁 Sandy tried but ran out of town, with four clues left on the board (and no good reason). She wound up with -3600, while Scott had 9000 and Amanda had 7600. How would you wager in the final in a situation like this?
The Final Jeopardy category was
Movie Sequels, and this was the clue: “Golf carts used by the crew in production of this 2009 movie bore signs reading ‘Galileo’ and ‘Bernini.'”* I knew the correct original movie but couldn’t come up with the sequel’s name in time. Amanda got it right and added 4700 to her score. Scott almost got it right but left the plural off one of the words! I almost thought Mr. Trebek was going to accept it and I was about to scream, but he noticed it. Scott lost 6201, which would’ve been enough. Tough break. So we’ll see Amanda next week. My Coryat score was 15400.
Scott‘s was 11000, Sandy’s was -600, and Amanda’s was 7600.
In a comment on my last
post, I talked about having gotten an autograph from Rafael Nadal at the Sony Ericcson Open last year. Shortly afterward, Rafa had a video on his website greeting his fans, and I was front and center at the very beginning of the clip! I tracked the
video down. That’s me in the red bucket hat, on cloud nine.
*nephron, zircon, “Metamorphoses,” Marvin Gardens, Neptune, Waterworks, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “Angels and Demons”
