Here’s tonight’s Final Jeopardy answer and question for Wednesday, April 5, 2017:
Final Jeopardy! category: SPORTS MASCOTS
Final Jeopardy! clue/answer: The animal on this NBA team’s primary logo peaked about 75 million years ago
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s contestants:
Nora Rowaily, a scoring director from Cincinnati, Ohio |
Amy Falconetti, an accountant from Denver, Colorado |
Abigail Myers, an education administrator from Brooklyn, New York (2-day total: $39,200) |
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[spoiler title=’Click/Tap Here for Correct Response/Question’]Who are the Toronto Raptors?[/spoiler]
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! tonight? Today’s Jeopardy! results will go up on this page late afternoon, with full stats early evening. They will be seen in the comments section at the bottom of this page.
Of course, the Toronto Raptors were named after the velociraptor as a result of Jurassic Park. The velociraptor lived during the late Cretaceous Period, between 75-71 million years ago. The Raptors’ primary logo contains a velociraptor claw print on the basketball.
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(contestant photo credit: jeopardy.com)
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Scores going into Final:
Abigail $19,000
Amy $17,200
Nora $13,600
Final results:
Nora $13,600 + $10,000 = $23,600 (1-day total: $23,600)
Amy $17,200 – $17,200 = $0 (What is a timberwolf?)
Abigail $19,000 + $2,000 = $21,000 (What is a raptor?)
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Abigail $9,400
Nora $1,800
Amy -$200
Opening break taken after: 14 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) 5-LETTER BODY PARTS $1000 (14th pick)
Abigail 5400 -1400 (Nora 0 Amy -800)
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2) AVIAN LITERATURE $1600 (14th pick)
Nora 8600 +5000 (Abigail 13400 Amy 1400)
3) ROMAN NUMERAL WORDS $800 (22nd pick)
Amy 6600 +5000 (Abigail 15800 Nora 13600)
Unplayed clues:
J! round: ICE CREAM KOANS $200 & $400
DJ! round: None!
$ Left on Board: $600
Game Stats:
Nora $10,200 Coryat, 15 correct, 2 incorrect, 29.09% in first on buzzer
Abigail $20,400 Coryat, 25 correct, 1 incorrect, 43.64% in first on buzzer
Amy $13,000 Coryat, 12 correct, 1 incorrect, 20.00% in first on buzzer
Lach Trash: $6,400
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $3,400
Abigail Myers, final stats:
71 correct
6 incorrect
1/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $-400)
2/3 in Final Jeopardy
41.98% in first on buzzer (68/162)
Average Coryat: $18,400
Nora Rowaily, stats to date:
16 correct
2 incorrect
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $5,000)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
29.09% in first on buzzer (16/55)
Average Coryat: $10,200
Nora Rowaily, to win:
2 games: 33.34%
3: 11.12%
4: 3.71%
5: 1.24%
6: 0.41%
Avg. streak: 1.500 games.
Avg. Total Winnings (including possible ToC): $35,561
ToC projection update:
With a projected 92 regular-play games to go prior to the Tournament of Champions cutoff, after 250,000 simulations, our model shows:
An average of 3.3897 5+-time champions (standard deviation 1.4258).
An average of 5.2307 4+-time champions (standard deviation 1.743).
An early cutoff took place 21.193% of the time (or a 5-game winner will be left out).
Tim Kutz qualified 51.784% of the time.
Todd Giese qualified 15.145% of the time.
Rob Liguori qualified 3.059% of the time.
Fred Vaughn qualified 0.639% of the time.
(Note: Due to the possibility of a WGA strike, I feel that it is more accurate for ToC projections to add 20 games to the end of the previous projected qualifying period.)
Miscellany:
I was wondering if they would just take Raptors. (I got that part, but couldn’t remember Toronto.)
I don’t think Abigail actually got Final Jeopardy correct. The clue was looking an NBA team, she gave a singular form of the mascot–and as a sports fan, no one would refer to the Toronto Raptors as “a raptor.” I know I’m being technical, but she answered with the mascot, not the team.
The judges consider the singular and the plural to be equivalent.
you are 100% right, kimberley!! beat me by 3 minutes, you were posting while I was still typing. They DID ask for the team, and Andy’s info about the judges is a wrong by the judges! A raptor is an animal or ONE player with the raptors………..
I agree – it didn’t ask for the logo – it asked for the team…”The animal on THIS NBA team’s primary ……
sorry for the extra “e” in my reply,Kimberly!!
No worries on the extra “e”!
I understand the precedence set in the past with the singular vs. plural form of a rule, but in this case, the singular shows a different intent with the answer–she answered the animal, and not the team.
For the record, had she said “Raptors,” I would not be questioning this. I would even see less reason to be technical if she had capitalised “a raptor,” but she didn’t. The team name is considered a proper noun, so her not capitalising the singular form of the team mascot, shows she was not answering with the team name.
Kimberly:
The precedent is that the mascot (in this case, “a raptor”), and the team name (“The Toronto Raptors”), are considered to be equivalent (much like “fleur-de-lis” and “New Orleans Saints” were in Nov. 2014).
http://j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=4719
that “fleur-de-lis_” nswer should also not have been accepted, since they were asking for the SAINTS… ah well, the judges are sometimes very liberal and the soooo fussy and pedantic, but we have seen enough examples of that.
BTW, since I am in Hawaii (Lahaina,Maui) I guess I am the last one of you guys to see the show, which airs at 16:30 HST,which is already 22:30 EDT. Hawaii does not observe DST and I have not seen anyone from Alaska posting….
I am sort of the husband who is always the last one to know :):):) hope , that does not violate any standards!!!!!
Had I been a judge, I would not have accepted “fleur-de-lis” either.
That being said: I am not a judge.
And sometimes we need to just make sense of the precedent that has come before us and realize that we’re not going to like every single rule in a rulebook that we have zero control over. 🙂
Well, finally tonight: in that “SAINTS” game from 11/7/14 Alex said AFTER Jennifer’s answer was revealed, that they accept both the team and the plant….that was completely contrary to the WRITTEN FJ that said ” THIS NFL’S TEAM LOGO….”, so they were asking for the SAINTS and NOT the fleur-de-lis. Alex changed the rules after everything was said and done. Charles should have won that game with the 7.500 he had left after he answered “vine”. I have to say that I am sorry that J is sometimes so inconsistent and every long time viewer will agree that they sometimes make up the rules on the fly….don’t you think??
Btw, Aloha from Hawaii (currently 14:52 and 92 degrees (33,33 in C)
When Alex says “we’ll accept that”, that’s not Alex making the call. That’s the judges off-camera telling Alex to accept the response after careful deliberation.
I would also completely disagree that rules are made up on-the-fly. I may not agree with them, but rulings always seem to be based on precedent and sound thought, and are certainly not off-the-cuff.
I’m not a grammar maven, but I think the clue’s phrasing is ambiguous enough to permit either the single or the plural to be acceptable. Though not set off by commas or parenthesis, the phrase “on this NBA team’s primary logo” could be considered a subordinate clause modifying “animal,” the subject of the sentence.
If the phrase was set off by parentheses, the clue would read, “The animal (on this NBA team’s primary logo) peaked about 75 million years ago,” making singular raptor preferable to the plural.
The resulting debate is exactly why there is sometimes similar argument about an Oxford comma.
Kevin:
I think that your (perfectly reasonable, I might add) interpretation of this question’s grammar is the basis behind Jeopardy’s current and past rulings in these situations.
(Site Comment Policy violation deleted.)
Can somebody please explain to me the rationale behind Abigail’s bet? (Site Comment Policy violation deleted.)
I guess she figured nobody will get it. 3 ladies and a sports FJ. Had she bet the conventional 15.401 she would have had a 33.801 payday! (Site Comment Policy violation deleted.)
Abigail’s response was accepted because the judges ruled that singular and plural forms of words are generally considered to be equivalent (unless there is a specific disqualifying factor like “number of letters”.)
You may feel that the rule is incorrect, but it would fly in the face of 30 years of precedent.
Regarding Abigail’s bet? Her random number worked yesterday, she didn’t like the category, she tried it again, and it didn’t work twice? Best I can come up with for it.
The exact form of Nora’s response was “What is the Toronto Raptors”.
As for the wagering – to the chagrin of some viewers (a former College Champion among them), some players choose to take the stage without studying wagering strategy. In contrast to trivia knowledge and personability (as judged solely by the show’s staff), it’s not and never has been a required element of the contestant selection process. Abigail’s rationale thus may simply have been that she felt only confident enough in the category to risk $2,000.
Strategically speaking, Nora’s was the best of the three, as it would have left her just above Abigail if the champ makes the standard lockout wager and they’re both wrong. I thought a better range for her would have been $5,401 (cover a zero wager by Abigail) to $6,399 (stay above Amy if she misses with a minimum bet to lock Nora out).
Amy also certainly over-wagered, but I noted going into Final that the gap from 1st to 2nd was exactly half that between 2nd and 3rd… as in this game. In addition to the $10,001-$13,599 range that I calculated for her, $3,600 exactly seems like it would have served her well (although in hindsight, it would have been insufficient to counter Abigail’s actual wager).
see, Matt, I would disagree that Amy overwagered, especially after having seen Abigail’s $2,000 yesterday from the bullpen. Generally, the best thing to do in 2nd place if you don’t think that the leader will cover you is to bet everything. At least in my opinion. 🙂
Then Nora won the game fair and square. No harm, no foul!And the win is not overshadowed by a ruling that could be seen ambiguous….
The reply re: Nora was answering Matt’s info about her answer.
Then that’s a mistake by the judges, at least in this case I think, Andy. As I replied to Kimberly, A RAPTOR is an animal or ONE player with the {Toronto)raptors…….not the entire team and they WERE asking for the team!So either they were very lenient……, or how does Alex always put it? BOO HISS :):)for the judges. yes, it’s kind of technical, but then they could have phrased it even more clearly!!
Though in my opinion it was clear enough that they wanted the TEAM, not the animal. Boy, if I had made the argument of singular=plural to my Latin teacher (or German, Englishand French teachers)!!!!!!!
This ruling is consistent with past precedent. That’s all I can say to everyone.
I invite everyone to look at Final Jeopardy in this game here, and look what they accepted that day. I defy you to tell me that Abigail’s response should have been denied in the face of that precedent set there.
no, you are right. But then the precedents leave something to be desired, like a lot of decisions by the judges over the years, as we both know! Sometimes they issue a ruling where you can just shake your head!
I meant “THEN” so fussy etc…. sorry about the typo.
My sister’s name is nora so I’m excited she won
I guess the inconsistencies can be explained with an old German saying:
“Wer zahlt, befiehlt!” Verbatim: Who pays,commands! Better phrasing would be ” (He ) who pays, commands /gives the order(s). And that’s too badf, because the contestants deserve fair and moist of all consistent rules. Just saying…
And the contestants receive fair and consistent rules.
The fact that both “a raptor” and “fleur-de-lis” were ruled acceptable highlights just how consistent the judges are. And thus, I can confidently say that the contestants unequivocally receive fair and consistent rulings.
I’m not sure this is the right place to post this – I hope no one minds.
Did anyone catch the clue about the Will Ferrel, Kristen Wiig movie? If so, what was it?
I’d really appreciate it if someone could answer this.
Cheers
What is “The Spoils Before Dying”?
Thank you – do you know what the clue was?
Cheers
I think Andy’s getting some kind of kickback from the Jeopardy! judges. He always sides with them despite the protestations of the masses. I’m with the majority on this…
No, I usually side with them because: a) I believe they’re generally correct; b) it makes most champions feel pretty crappy if they start seeing a bunch of people calling their wins into question.
But thanks for questioning my integrity. It’s certainly greatly appreciated.
Also: argumentum ad populum?
I think the clue is wrong regardless. It clearly states the animal ON this team’s primary logo…the Raptor’s logo does not have ANY animal on it, it is simply a basketball with claw marks.
The claw marks are that of a raptor’s; there is no issue with the clue, in my opinion.
Would you say that an animal appears on that logo? I don’t see one (whether those claw marks are from a raptor or any other animal). But, alas, minds differ.
To me, a part of an animal is still an animal.
But that’s just it, the logo doesn’t even have part of the animal. Unless you consider footprints a part of a human? I see the argument, albeit vaguely, but think it is quite a stretch to consider puncture marks in a basketball part of the dinosaur that left them there. Thanks for engaging though, always fun to hear how others see things.
Looking at the logo, I would say that the claw is gripping the basketball and that they are not puncture marks. I would have never considered them to be puncture marks.