A fitting champion for Superbowl weekend

     I was lucky today, in that I caught up on the past two weekends of Jeopardy! Here are my Coryat scores from last week’s episode and the one two weeks ago:
Terry Linwood 12600     Nathan Murphy 8600     Tammy Queen 12800     Me 21400
Terry Linwood 17200    David Garcia 8000     Abra Belke 11000     Me 19200
     These were the contestants for the episode airing today:

Terry Linwood

Joey Johnson

Carin House (She actually pronounces her name “Ca-RINN,” and yes, it’s weird.)

At the first break, Terry led (no surprise, as this was his fifth game) with 2600, while Carin had 800 and Joey had 1000. Terry found the Daily Double in the Jeopardy round, in Children’s Lit. He was still leading, with 4000. Carin had 1800 and Joey had 1200. Terry risked 1500 on this clue: “A book by Laura Ingalls Wilder’s great-grandson is appropriately called this ‘on Rocky Ridge.'”* Terry got it right. Play didn’t seem particularly slow, but there were two clues remaining at the end of the round. Terry had 6700, Carin had 2400, and Joey had 3000.

     Like yesterday‘s episode, this one had a theme round. It was television this time.
     Joey found the first Daily Double of the round in Nip/Tuck. He had 7400, Carin had 7200, and Terry continued to lead with 16700. Joey wagered 4000 on this clue: “Repairs to the paws of this over 4,000-year-old structure started around 1400 B.C.”* Joey got it right.
     Carin found the next Daily Double, in The Sandra Day O’Connor Chronicles. She had 8400, Terry had 17900, and Joey had 11800. Carin wagered 3000 on this clue: “In 2000, O’Connor attended the dedication of the federal courthouse named for her in this state capital.”* My dad knew this one, as did Carin. I didn’t, but probably should have!
     That Daily Double wound up being the last clue of the round. There were three remaining! At the end of the round, Terry had 17900, Carin had 11400, and Joey had 11800.
     The Final Jeopardy category was Poets, which didn’t please my dad. This was the clue: “In a 1921 letter, this American-born poet had ‘a long poem in mind…which I am wishful to finish,’ and he did at 433 lines.”* Carin and Joey incorrectly guessed the same thing, Walt Whitman, even though he died 30 years before. Terry got it right, which left my mom marveling again at how smart he is! His wager, of course, didn’t matter because the other two got it wrong, but he did add 5501 to his score. (Joey lost 11400 and Carin lost 10000.) My Coryat score was 17000, not bad after a HORRIFYING Jeopardy round of 3800. (I got 10 right, 5 wrong, didn’t answer 13, and 2 were left covered.) Terry’s Coryat score was 17400, Carin’s was 10000, and Joey’s was 9400.
     I had another idea while I was typing this entry: You know how I decided to seek explanations of triple-stumper clues, and blog about them? Well it seems that each day there are several to choose from.  How would you guys like to decide which ones I write about, given the correct responses? I’d like to do my next entry tomorrow, since there is no Jeopardy! episode. Here are tonight’s triple-stumper responses (that stumped me too), and you guys tell me what you’d like to know more about: San Salvador, Stuart Little, bossa nova, major-domo, and Underwood. I look forward to reading your responses!
*’Little House,’ the Sphinx, Phoenix, T.S. Eliot