Let’s play a love game

     I have a question for you that I didn’t think I’d ask but I’m super-curious and heck, I have my own forum for such things. The other day a friend and I were talking about whether we’d ever date someone who beat us on Jeopardy! I said absolutely not, and he said he would! To my astonishment, a day or two later a thread appeared on the J! board about a couple who’d met when they played each other on Jeopardy! (One beat the other; they didn’t both lose that game.) I was hoping the conversation would eventually turn to the question my friend and I discussed, but it hasn’t. So I’m posing it to you: Would you date someone who beat you on Jeopardy!?
     Today’s contestants:

Matt Samberg of Pittsburgh, PA (I really like his tie today.)

Taylor Norwood of Dallas, TX

Misha Bushyager of Baltimore, MD

     Matt was a one-time winner when the day started.
     I knew that the first category introduced, Rolling Stone’s Greatest Guitarist, was going to be on today thanks to this tweet from Jeopardy! And thanks to an impossible – impossible – Guitar Hero challenge, I sort of knew this response, or at least that it ended in “-ello.” I was like, “Who is Tom…Porcello???” (I know quite well Porcello is a pitcher. In fact he’s on Andy’s fantasy team.) I’d not have had a clue at all if it wasn’t for Guitar Hero. It’s been far too long since I played that crazy-fun game.
     Anyway, this was the only one I didn’t get in the category, even though this guy’s featured in one of my favorite movies: “Though ‘Dazed and Confused,’ this Zep axeman climbed a stairway to the No. 3 spot.” I was thinking “Robert Plant” but I didn’t ring in. When Taylor found the Daily Double at the bottom of the category, he and Matt each had 5 right and 1 neg. Taylor had 1400, Matt had 2200, and Misha, with 1 right, had 600. Taylor wagered 1000 on this softball: “The cream didn’t quite rise to the top; this guitarist floated up to No. 2.” Taylor got it. Hey, maybe he’s read this guitarist’s memoirs, like I did! At the first break, he’d gotten 1 more right and had 2600. Matt had gotten 2 more right and had 2800, and Misha still had 600.
     Now, I tracked Taylor down for an interview by finding his blog this morning. I left a comment there, and he e-mailed me! He talked about his blog today during his interview with Mr. Trebek. The idea is to read 100 books in 1 year. A worthwhile endeavor, for sure, and I have a couple questions about it! My first guest-blogger had kind of a similar idea for his own blog.
     Naturally I was pleased about Medical Talk, which started the game strong for me when I swept. For all the triple-stumpers in the round, I didn’t get any. At the end of it, Matt had gotten 3 more right since the first break and 1 neg, and had 3600. Misha had gotten 2 wrong and 1 right and had -1000, and Taylor had gotten 2 right and had 4000.
     Like the Jeopardy round, I started out Double Jeopardy with a sweep, in Oliver Twist. The round featured a Dickens theme. Matt found the first Daily Double of the round. Misha’s response of “rile” was accepted here for this clue in Oliver Twist: “To disturb and make cloudy by stirring up sediment.” (Correct responses can be formed from the letters in “Oliver.”) In that case, she’d gotten 6 right since the round started and had 8200. Taylor had gotten 7 right and had 10000. Matt had gotten 4 right and had 7600. Matt wagered 2400 on this clue in Hard Times: “The economic contraction known as the Panic of 1907 led Congress to create this system in 1913.” I sure didn’t know this, but Matt did, leading to a tie with Taylor then.
     We had one category left, The Charles Dickens Bicentennial, when Mr. Trebek announced there was less than a minute to go. The last clue of the round was the Daily Double, and Matt found it. Poor Matt was pushed by Mr. Trebek to make a quick wager. Matt said “Sorry” and I wish I wouldn’t have. I mean, you might say this is a big decision! Anyway he’d gotten 5 right since his last Daily Double and had 17600. Misha had gotten 1 right and had 9000. Taylor had 11600 and had gotten 5 right and 1 wrong. Matt wound up wagering on this clue: “This city named for its ‘harbor entrance’ location re-created the dance at which Elizabeth Dickens’ water broke.” I thought this was a toughie, even though we just saw this word in a final not very long ago. Matt didn’t get it either. So he ended the round with 12300, still in the lead as Mr .Trebek pointed out.
     The Final Jeopardy category was Famous Relatives. This was the clue: “In 2011 his daughter Svetlana, living in the U.S. under the name Lana Peters, died in Wisconsin at age 85.” This was the ultimate instaget for me. I vaguely remember doing a report on this guy once, and maybe that’s why I knew it. All three contestants got it right too. Misha doubled her score. Taylor too wagered it all but $10. Matt made the traditional cover wager and wins with a 2-day total of 44601.
     My Coryat today was 24000 (27400 without negs).
     Recent Coryats:
originally 10-8-08: 25400 (29000 without negs)
originally 10-9-08: 21800 (29200 without negs)
originally 10-10-08: 17400 (23400 without negs)
*I’d have today’s rerun ready but it did not air at 11 a.m. like it has been. When I know more I’ll get back to you about it.
6-29-12: 15600 (24400 without negs)