Andy here with a recap of the first game of the College Championship! (No pictures today.)
This week’s College Championship contestants:
Whitney Thompson, University of Oklahoma
Sarah Stevens, University of Delaware
James Fulwiler, Temple University
Laurie Beckoff, The University of Chicago
Cameron Kim, Duke University
Ben Juster, University of California, Los Angeles
Kenesha Bennett, Oakwood University
Terry O’Shea, Princeton University
Kevin Shen, University of California, Berkeley
Julia Clark, Harvard University
Tucker Pope, Texas A&M University
Eric Turner, Vanderbilt University
Maria Khrakovsky, The Ohio State University
Erika Sloan, Middlebury College
Alex Sventeckis, Ball State University
Whitney, Sarah, and James are our first set of quarterfinalists!
Today’s J! round categories:
NOVELS BY QUOTE
BACKING BANDS
NAMES IN NATURE
CAL TECH
OTHER COLLEGES
“ACA”DEMIA
Whitney and James had the best start, getting 5 questions apiece over the first three categories. Whitney had two negs, though! Scores at the first break:
James $3,000 (5 right)
Whitney $1,600 (5 right, 2 wrong)
Sarah $400 (1 right)
The interviews are usually slightly less awkward during the College Championship.
Whitney has written a children’s book about bassett hound genetics!
Sarah doesn’t wear shoes for special events; in fact, she wasn’t wearing shoes during taping!
James did a good deed as a lifeguard the past summer, helping a swimmer who had swallowed too much water!
NAMES IN NATURE $800 had the first Daily Double; it was Whitney’s to play! Scores were:
James $2,800
Whitney $2,400
Sarah -$200
Whitney bet $600. Her clue: They have only one cell each but can take pride in their name, from the Greek for “first animals”. Whitney gave what my first instinct was (“amoebas”), and fell to $1,800.
Half of LearnedLeague groaned, I’m sure, at OTHER COLLEGES $200 (Founded in 1961, Hamburger University is this chain’s training center).
By the end of the round, Whitney had done really well in CAL TECH. The scores sat at:
Whitney $6,200 (14 right, 3 wrong)
James $3,400 (9 right, 2 wrong)
Sarah -$200 (2 right, 2 wrong)
DJ! round categories:
ANCIENT HISTORY
POP CULTURE
FAMOUS HOMES
CLASSICAL MUSIC
“D” PLUS
THERE’S ALWAYS NEXT TERM
I was going to suggest that Sarah find some shoes, but she got two of the first three POP CULTURE clues! Then Whitney and James found their buzzer mojo again! The second Daily Double of the game went Whitney’s way, at the bottom of ANCIENT HISTORY.
Scores:
James $7,400
Whitney $7,400
Sarah $2,600
Whitney bet small again: $600. Her clue: In 439 A.D. Genseric the Vandal captured this North African city, which became the Vandal capital. Whitney said Cairo and fell to $6,800.
Two clues later, James found the final Daily Double under FAMOUS HOMES $800. Scores:
James $7,800
Whitney $6,800
Sarah $2,600
James bet $1,000. His clue: Peacefield in Quincy, Massachusetts was the mansion of this man who purchased it in 1787. James’ correct response put him at $8,800 — and an opportunity was lost.
I’m glad I was blogging after CLASSICAL MUSIC $800: At age 37, Rossini wrote his last opera — this one about an archer. (Sorry, Jeanie)
I’m proud of myself: I ran CLASSICAL MUSIC!
A close call on the timing of James’ proper phrasing on a $400 clue ended up costing him $800 and a tie for the lead! I thought that he was okay, but the judges said otherwise!
Scores going into Final:
Whitney $10,000 (5 right, 2 wrong)
James $9,200 (9 right, 4 wrong)
Sarah $6,200 (7 right, 1 wrong)
Those negs sure kept the scores down!
As always seems to happen during the College Championship, there is lots of Tweeting going on. Some of it good, some of it not. This encapsulates everything:
seriously cracking up at all this #Jeopardy hate. remind me, who was the one who was on it again? #ohwait #thatsme
— sarah stevens (@_evenstevens_) February 11, 2014
FJ! category: ISLANDS
FJ! clue: In a satellite photo, volcanic activity can be seen on this 10,000-square mile island
Sarah 6200 – 4800 = 1400
James 9200 – 9200 = 0
Whitney 10000 – 0 = 10000
And a tweet from the peanut gallery on James’ wager:
WHY, JAMES, WHY?!?!??? #jeopardy
— Duke E. Brown (@hotterthanjuly) February 11, 2014
So Whitney is our first semifinalist!
Wild Card scores:
Whitney Thompson (Monday winner)
Sarah Stevens $1,400
James Fulwiler $0
I’ll be back tomorrow!