I wasn’t gonna mention it but I was so heartened by two tweets from friends today (here and here) I changed my mind: my episode reran today in areas of the country that show the previous season. Tomorrow the 28th is the one-year anniversary of my original airdate. I guess that’s all I have to say about that, except it feels more like 5 years. And I’d still love to know where all the previous season airs. (Santa Fe? I have a cousin there, and I just found out her whole family didn’t know I’d been on the show. I found her blog, which I didn’t know she had, and I’m pretty happy about that. She’s an aspiring writer, and I’m following her now.)
Here are today’s contestants.
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| Ryan Truchelut of Tallahassee FL |
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| Pat Clevenger of Chalfant Borough PA |
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| Tom Carroll of White Plains NY |
Can Pat win today for the second time? My money’s on “no.” (And yes, I’m typing this before seeing even one second of the show.) Above, he looks like something I’d see on this website. And this was how he looked when Mr. Trebek said he got the Final right yesterday! And speaking of followers, look at the bottom of this page – Is he my latest one?
As for Ryan, he smiles in his picture but he was on a mission during the show. Viewers keeping track of their scores had to be on their toes. Ryan hopped around the board looking for the Daily Double.
I totally said “Hideki Matsui” and thought it was right on this one in Major League Batting Champs: “Pacific League (in Japan) 1994-2000, American League 2001 & 2004.” I wonder how baseball-loving Andy did in this category. He and I play in the same fantasy baseball league! And Ichiro Suzuki’s on my team! I went 3/5, with the one neg and a clam on “Ty Cobb.”
Tom found the Daily Double of the round before the first break, in From the Greek. He’d gotten 5 right and had 3400. Pat had gotten 5 right also and had 2400. Ryan had gotten 2 right and one wrong and was in the hole 200. This was Tom’s clue, on which he wagered only 1000: “From Greek words for ‘two propositions,’ it’s a difficult problem with equally unfavorable alternatives.” I knew this one immediately, but Tom missed it. Pat got one more right before the break, and went into the commercial break with 3200.
After today’s interviews, I reiterate my call to abolish them.
There seems to be a baffling clue and a shocking triple-stumper in each episode. Today’s head-scratcher, in “I”-Podge: “In a 2009 film, it was the title possession of Dr. Parnassus.” And later, the jaw-dropper in “CC” Me on That: “Concise. Terse. 8 letters. This.” Okay, this was the one I meant to dub the jaw-dropper, in I’ll Take Your Character: “Laura Kalpakian’s sequel to ‘Les Miserables’ is named after her, Jean Valjean’s adopted daughter.” Maybe the contestants over-thought it. Has anybody read this? I’d had my doubts about “Scarlett” after reading “Gone with the Wind,” but it was just as good. That’s why I ask.
At the end of the round, Pat had 4400 after answering 2 more right. Tom had 7200, having answered 7 right. And Ryan had 2800. He’d answered 5 right.
Pat found the first Daily Double of Double Jeopardy, the second clue of the round. He now had 5600. He wagered 2000 on this clue in Out West in the 1850s: “In 1852 Henry and William opened this bank for express money transport using steamship, railroad or stagecoach.” Pat and I got it right.
Mr. Trebek pointed out when there were 8 clues left that They were all at the top of the board. We hadn’t seen the other Daily Double yet, but Tom still went to the category where we’d already seen a Daily Double. Then he did it again when that clue was a triple-stumper (and both his opponents negged on it!). Was he avoiding it? Ryan wound up finding it in Movie & TV Dogs. He’d gotten 6 right and 2 wrong since Pat’s Daily Double, and had 8000. Tom had gotten 9 right and no negs, and had 18800 to show for it. Pat had gotten 3 right and 3 wrong, and had 5200. Ryan’s critical wager, with 3 clues left after this one? 7500. Good for him. The clue was a video read by Cesar Millan, but you don’t need to see that: “Today I rehabilitate dogs & train people, but as a kid, I wanted to be a trainer after watching these 2 legendary movie dogs; a collie and a German shepherd.” Ryan got it right. Tom got the next 2 right, and Ryan got the last one. So the scores going into the Final: Pat 5200, Tom 20000, Ryan 15900.
The Final Jeopardy category is Awards. This is the ridiculous (sorry) clue: “For 2012, the front of these awards shows Nike stepping out of the Parthenon & the reverse depicts the Thames.” Of course all three contestants got it right. Pat doubled his score, Ryan added 4101, and Tom added 12000, making Tom your new champion. It almost – almost – looked like he was crying at the end, but I’m sure that was his intention. He even looked like it when chatting with Mr. Trebek. (This is like the second time in my life I’ve watched that part. Not really, but close.) And what was Tom fiddling with? It might’ve been his buzzer but he looked like he put it in his pocket eventually.
My Coryat today was 26200 (32200 without negs). Wow.
I wasn’t gonna mention it but I was so heartened by two tweets from friends today (here and here) I changed my mind: my episode reran today in areas of the country that show the previous season. Tomorrow the 28th is the one-year anniversary of my original airdate. I guess that’s all I have to say about that, except it feels more like 5 years. And I’d still love to know where all the previous season airs. (Santa Fe? I have a cousin there, and I just found out her whole family didn’t know I’d been on the show. I found her blog, which I didn’t know she had, and I’m pretty happy about that. She’s an aspiring writer, and I’m following her now.)
The thing I put in my pocket at the end was a case containing my reading glasses. It turned out I never needed them.
And just for the record, I WAS crying at the end. I continued to cry off and on for the next hour or so (when we were on our lunch break – that show was #3 for the day)
There I was, 51 years old and winning on Jeopardy! After watching it since Art Fleming was the host and taking the test God knows how many times.
Here’s why the tears: After writing the correct question and knowing that I had wagered enough to win, I thought of some friends of mine. I worked with these people when I had tended bar in their restaurant years before. A married couple owned the place and two of their kids worked there. Whenever Jeopardy came on, they would watch along with me as I answered quite a few questions correctly.
Years after I had stopped working there I saw in the paper that the wife, Jeanne, had passed away after a brief illness. I went to her wake and as I was leaving, her daughter Carole said to me, “So when are you going on Jeopardy?”
Several years after that Carole had passed away suddenly at a very young age (in her 30’s). I hadn’t been in touch with the family in years, but I went to her wake as well.
There was her father, Bill, who I hadn’t seen in a long time. He was bald as an egg from chemotherapy, I felt badly because I hadn’t known he was ill, hadn’t spoken to him in a long while. It was good to see and speak with him, and the last thing he said to me was “So Tom, when are we going to see you on Jeopardy?”
This all came back to me after I had written “What is an Olympic Gold Medal?” and the Final Jeopardy music was still playing.
I was overwhelmed. I realized that most of the people in my life who had encouraged me to go n Jeopardy! were now dead. My parents, my oldest brother, many friends, etc.
How could I not be moved by this?
Anyway, one of my fondest memories is my short-lived reign as a Jeopardy! Champion.