Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions

[Athena]

The thread for ToC discussion!

[Roaster]

Matt Jackson has to be the favorite to win.  But last year the favorites were Julia and Arthur and they came up short in the final games.  You never know in a short tournament.

 

I would like to see Matt and Alex Jacob in the same game just because they have contrasting styles of play.

[ClareWalks]

TEAM MATT "ACTION" JACKSON! Although I agree that I want to see him and Alex together in the finals.

[Jesse]

Poor Julia had the flu! I hope there are more special event type tournaments so she gets another shot. 

[dcalley]

The TOC page is hilarious because if you hover over the pictures, you get a little gif of the person doing a signature move.

More evidence that the show is encouraging players to be...more animated, let's call it.

[Browncoat]

More animated or more assholish?

[Setra]

The TOC page is hilarious because if you hover over the pictures, you get a little gif of the person doing a signature move.

Thank you, that was fun! Also addicting.

[Scott]

 

The TOC page is hilarious because if you hover over the pictures, you get a little gif of the person doing a signature move.

Holy cow, that's embarrassing.  

[CarpeDiem54]

I want to see a Matt the Serial Killer and Itchy Alex match up in the finals. And have them both lose to the third contestant.

[mojoween]

Kinda like beautiful wonderful awesome Julia and annoying ol' Arthur losing to that tall fellow in the last one. But regardless of history, I just don't see Matt losing.

There are 15 people per what Alex said last night but if the guy who won last night wins all week he would be eligible. How would that work? Would there then be 16 people or would the lowest earner get bounced?

[M. Darcy]

 

There are 15 people per what Alex said last night but if the guy who won last night wins all week he would be eligible.  How would that work? Would there then be 16 people or would the lowest earner get bounced?

He had to have meant next year - unless he won a lot of games and then lost before the TOC was filmed. 

[HelenBaby]

I don't remember some of these people. I'm getting old, damn it. But it seems like Greg & Andrew were pretty pleasant if I remember correctly. But yeah Matt is going to tough to beat.

[saber5055]

I don't remember some of these people. I'm getting old, damn it.

 

I'm with you, Helen. Unless the contestant got lots of trash talk here because of some irritating play or habit, I don't remember the faces much less the names. Bright side: The week will be like all new games with all new players for us both!

[Bastet]

I don't remember some of these people. I'm getting old, damn it.

 

I'd blame it on age, but every year most of the ToC players look, at most, vaguely familiar to me. 

 

I don't know how the producers look at that heavily white and male line-up and don't cringe with embarassment.

[Roaster]

The line-up for the quarterfinals this week is at

https://www.jeopardy.com/tournaments/2015/tournament-of-champions

(I know someone pasted this URL before).

 

The way the producers have seeded it, each of the 5 biggest money winners from the past year gets to be in the leftmost position one day.  I remember Matt Jackson, Alex Jacob, and Greg Seroka.  I don't remember Dan Feitel (won 5 games) or Kerry Greene (won 6 games).  But I don't watch every day.

Edited November 8, 2015 by Roaster

[CarpeDiem54]

I'm rooting for my "local" (to the state of Colorado) peeps, Jennifer Giles and Greg Seroka. It looks like Greg moved from Steamboat Springs to Detroit.

[saber5055]

I don't know how the producers look at that heavily white and male line-up and don't cringe with embarassment.

 

It's not the producers' fault. If more women or different ethnic groups applied, passed the tests, competed and then won five or more games, they'd be in there with or instead of all those white guys. Non-white males and all females: Step up and get on this show. Then win. And keep winning.

 

Someone loan me their magic wand so I can be on TofC next season!

[Bastet]

It's not the producers' fault. If more women or different ethnic groups applied, passed the tests, competed and then won five or more games, they'd be in there with or instead of all those white guys.

 

It's 2015.  It's past time for the show to take a good look at its practices and address some of the reasons it's still so disproportionately filled with white male contestants. 

[just prin]

Geez, yes, show! I know one of the practices you can address immediately: Stop selecting those damn white males, intelligent tho they may be.  Wait until this board's females show up--because you don't know what you're missing!!!! :)

[saber5055]

It's 2015.  It's past time for the show to take a good look at its practices and address some of the reasons it's still so disproportionately filled with white male contestants.

If you have read Ken Jennings' "Brainiac," you will know that so many Jeopardy contestants come from high school and then college quiz bowls, not only contestants but judges and quiz writers, people who have studied triviata their entire lives. Trivia as a hobby is a lot like all past times, it appeals to certain demographics. Just because it's 2015 doesn't mean I've all of a sudden turned Mensa genius and can get on, compete and then WIN a whole week of Jeopardy. And I'm positive I STILL couldn't pass the test if, by some bad joke, I turned into a caucasian man. So: I'm one less white man in the Jeopardy pool.

Wait until this board's females show up

We need to get those show producers to create a week for us online board posters! Yes! Fabulous idea!

Edited November 9, 2015 by saber5055

[Roaster]

The website 538 had an article earlier this year about why we'll never see another win streak like Ken Jennings.

 

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/ken-jenningss-jeopardy-streak-is-safe-for-the-rest-of-time/

 

There are several possible reasons given.  One is that the pool of applicants for the show has expanded since they started using online qualifying tests.  More good players means tougher competition.  The number of women applying is up, too, and the article said "Almost half of returning champions this season have been women. In the year before Jennings’s streak, fewer than 1 in 3 winners were female."

[CarpeDiem54]

We need to get those show producers to create a week for us online board posters! Yes! Fabulous idea!

Yes! Because none of us would ever flail, cram the buzzer, scratch ourselves or stare at the board like a deer in the headlights. Personally, I'd just pee my pants and then pass out. They'd have to haul me off the stage with a crane. Now, that's entertainment!

[ClareWalks]

Yes! Because none of us would ever flail, cram the buzzer, scratch ourselves or stare at the board like a deer in the headlights. Personally, I'd just pee my pants and then pass out. They'd have to haul me off the stage with a crane. Now, that's entertainment!

 

Truth. I am more of a "Monday morning quarterback" type of Jeopardy player. Also, while I know a little about a lot of things, I know NOTHING about Shakespeare, so I'd be fucked, LOL.

[CarpeDiem54]

Yeah, with my luck, I'd do relatively well (once they woke me up from my pee soaked coma) and then get an Opera FJ.

[secnarf]

It's not the producers' fault. If more women or different ethnic groups applied, passed the tests, competed and then won five or more games, they'd be in there with or instead of all those white guys. Non-white males and all females: Step up and get on this show. Then win. And keep winning.

 

Someone loan me their magic wand so I can be on TofC next season!

Well, we don't actually know the ethnic/gender balance of the applicant pool. Ultimately though, contestants are selected (at least in part) based on what the casting director thinks of them - this includes their personality and appearance, and therefore also their ethnicity and gender, at least on a subconscious level. It's not purely merit-based.

 

It is pretty sad the way it ends up, though. The gender balance is improving, but this year's TOC is pretty much entirely white. I think the only "non-white" person is Matt, and he is biracial (white and black).

[Wanderlust]

I would be very pleased to see more diverse contestants -- so long as neither the application process nor the actual questions are dumbed down. Even some of the recent final J questions have been embarrassingly simple. Matt Jackson, who is a quiz bowl champion, discussed his intense preparation for his appearance -- he didn't just stroll in and say "I've got this."  I'm solidly behind everyone who works their butt off to achieve a goal -- and I'm not behind anyone who gets in to fill a "quota."

 

The lack of contestant diversity is not the producers fault. They can't get into schools and make acquisition of knowledge more attractive than cheer leading or playing football. That starts at home.

[saber5055]

Carpe, you totally cracked me up. Thanks for the laugh. Make that two laughs. Well done.

 

"Brainiac" goes into detail about Jenner's training and background for his success on the show and talks about how and why others were successful. And a great, big YES to this:

I'm solidly behind everyone who works their butt off to achieve a goal -- and I'm not behind anyone who gets in to fill a "quota."

I remember when Equal Opportunity was a Brand New Shiny Idea in the workplace. If any of you remember that, or are working with it still, I don't need to explain what a big cluster-you-know-what that turned into.

 

Could not believe, after a relatively good game, that FJ was the DS (Double Stumper). While I didn't have a clue Charlie was a Poodle, the answer was the only author I could think of who wrote a best seller about a dog. Don't know his non-fiction book though. Still, I would have written the correct answer. Ha ha on me!

Edited November 9, 2015 by saber5055

[jaybird2]

i've never posted on this site before but just had to tonight!  i cannot believe how simple fj was and only dan knew the answer. i knew  immediately and i don't consider myself to be contestant material.  this episode was extremely easy and not worthy of toc's.  i hope the remaining episodes are better than this one.

[jaybird2]

saber,   'travels with charley' was his non-fiction book.

[Browncoat]

I hate Steinbeck and have barely read any (what I have read I detested), so I missed FJ.  Didn't even know the man had a poodle.  In hindsight (20/20!) I should have known, simply because Steinbeck shows up so frequently in Jeopardy!

 

I do like that they all played for wildcard spots if they couldn't get a win.

[mojoween]

I hope Dan's money holds up because I still love him. He's so pretty! [/shallow]

Catherine's assault on the buzzer makes me cringe.

Didn't Alex say they had a teacher, a writer and a lawyer? And the author didn't know FJ?

I giggled to myself because FJ was American Authors, and because it didn't say "Women American Autors" I knew the answer was going to be male before they revealed it.

[Trey]

I was really pulling for Dan - frankly, I didn't even remember the other two.

 

Re FJ,  I thought it was whoever wrote Travels with Charley but I had no idea who that was.  I thought it was Kerouac but then I couldn't think of what fiction he wrote.

[CarpeDiem54]

I was rooting for Dan. I didn't remember Vaughn at all. I remembered Catherine because of her buggy eyes.

I got a TS - BTU. Clueless on FJ. *le sigh*

[GreekGeek]

I figured out FJ, but I hesitated because a poodle seemed kind of a froufrou dog for a writer I think of as "macho."

 

Excellent game!

[Prevailing Wind]

 

Personally, I'd just pee my pants and then pass out. They'd have to haul me off the stage with a crane.

I'd never get on to the stage.  They don't make enough Imodium, if you get my drift.

 

I knew "Travels with Charley" = Steinbeck and it was only recently I learned Charley was a poodle.  I can only hope he didn't have one of those "poodle" haircuts and was just left to grow his hair natural.  Those haircut dogs always look to me like they're embarrassed.

[Mondrianyone]

I knew "Travels with Charley" = Steinbeck and it was only recently I learned Charley was a poodle.  I can only hope he didn't have one of those "poodle" haircuts and was just left to grow his hair natural.  Those haircut dogs always look to me like they're embarrassed.

 

Charley kind of did have one of those froufrou poodle cuts.  I say we blame Steinbeck's wife, but compared to the poor poodle I've got as my avatar, Charley didn't look all that bad.

[M. Darcy]

I was also surprised that only one of them knew FJ - and also that no one knew The Spice Girls.

[Bastet]

Halftime wound up being perfectly timed, but then I still wound up missing most of the game due to a phone call.  So this is all I have to offer:

 

On a shallow note, Catherine’s dress was beautiful and I want it.

 

I got FJ, but I’m not sure if that’s only because Steinbeck’s oeuvre rather randomly came up in conversation at a dinner party a couple of weeks ago.  (My, but that sounds pretentious; bodily functions and ‘80s pop music were also on the conversational menu, so ...)

[NorthstarATL]

I figured out FJ, but I hesitated because a poodle seemed kind of a froufrou dog for a writer I think of as "macho."

 

Excellent game!

I know it's based upon stereotypes alone, but I guessed Capote as well. TOC games move nice and fast. Cannot wait to see Matt!

[Mumbles]

Ugh. I guess I need to gird myself for a lot of starting-the-category-in-the-middle.

Edited November 10, 2015 by Mumbles

[jaybird2]

one more tidbit before i go back to lurking.  back in the day, charles kuralt had a recurring segment on the cbs evening news called "on the road".  it was called "on the road".  i always thought it was based on "travels with charley.

 

anyway this was well before you all's time

 

now back to my lurking!

[peeayebee]

I did not get FJ. I think at one point in my life I heard of the book and what it was about, but I've always conflated the title with "Travels With My Aunt" and "Charley's Aunt." Hopefully next time I'll remember correctly.

[proserpina65]

Could not believe, after a relatively good game, that FJ was the DS (Double Stumper). While I didn't have a clue Charlie was a Poodle, the answer was the only author I could think of who wrote a best seller about a dog

 

I had nothing for that FJ - I would've written "who is some guy with a poodle?" because I had no idea that Steinbeck wrote a best seller about his dog.  Or that he had a dog.  My exposure to Steinbeck is having read Of Mice and Men in high school and trying to read East of Eden after watching the miniseries with Jane Seymour eons ago.

I was also surprised that only one of them knew FJ - and also that no one knew The Spice Girls.

I thought of the Spice Girls (have heard Wannabe more time than I care to remember) but had never heard of the second song so I wasn't sure and didn't want to guess.

Edited November 10, 2015 by proserpina65

[ChicagoCita]

I got FJ, but it made me muse about the weird ways that knowledge seeps in...  I used to love the Beach Boys, and one of their songs (California) has these lyrics:

 

Have you ever been down Salinas way? Where Steinbeck found the valley

And he wrote about it the way it was in his travelin's with Charley

 

Which made me, as a teenager, curious enough to look up what that reference was. Combine that with: A month or so ago, I saw Steppenwolf's East of Eden, and stayed for the post-performance discussion with the producer, who mentioned Steinbeck having a non-fiction bestseller, written as a palate cleanser from the heavier stuff.

 

While I loved Sweet Tuesday and Cannery Row, which I read because of the old Nick Nolte movie, I've never read any of Steinbeck's other work. Just made me think about how strange it is that little mentions here and there can stick in the far reaches of the mind and (sometimes) come together for a correct answer. (Which didn't happen for me at ALL during the in-person test last June, damn the luck, in which I tanked like Shamu).

Edited November 10, 2015 by ChicagoCita

[saber5055]

saber,   'travels with charley' was his non-fiction book.

Oh, Jaybird, thanks for pointing out what a moron I am. Of COURSE Travels with Charley was his non-fiction book. I could name all his fiction books so just lumped "Charley" into that category. I was trying to think what book he wrote about building houses or canning tomatoes or something REALLY non-fiction. Which means I wasn't thinking at all.

 

I read Charley way back in high school, when all his other books were studied. Maybe enough newer authors have come along so that Steinbeck is glossed over more these days. That's why you guys need an oldie like me on our Jeopardy Online Posters team.

 

Jeopardy reruns are shown an hour before the current episode here, so I just saw Catherine's run last week, making her another one I recognize in this new T of C. The reruns are rerunning the last T of C right now. Interestingly, I still don't know many of the answers. 

in which I tanked like Shamu

Which means you are soon to be freed from your tank.

I think I've heard  poodles are considered #2 in smartness

While I do not know any dog's "smartness rank," Poodles are indeed extremely smart. I've worked with many and shown/groomed quite a few. They were bred as hunting dogs, retrieving birds from water, hence the crazy hair styles that have persisted to this day. They also are popular in grooming shows since their coats hold a trimmed shape. And the hair colors nicely for those special color grooming competitions, as Mondrianyone's avatar attests!

Edited November 10, 2015 by saber5055

[Good Queen Jane]

I want to know who are the other game show contestants who are on Vaughn's pub trivia team. If Vaughn has only the fifth highest winnings, the other guys must be pretty spectacular.

[CarpeDiem54]

We have Jeopardy! reruns on at noon here. This week they are showing last year's TOC and so far the clues were waaay harder. There were several TS on today's rerun and Arthur was on.

[pandora spocks]

Only one day into ToC, I found the categories hard.  The only category that I excelled in was Artists' Self-Portraits.  To me, Albrecht Durer's portrait made him look like a brooding rock star.

[jaybird2]

saber, i'm right there with you in the oldie department.  i also read tcc in high school.  also one of my dearest friends taught an english lit class covering steinbeck (also many years ago)!

[peeayebee]

To me, Albrecht Durer's portrait made him look like a brooding rock star.

I mainly knew that was Durer because of his signature. Somewhere I have a Durer print of a hare. I haven't seen it in decades, but the signature is very distinctive and unique.