Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions

[annzeepark914]

Whew! That made me teary-eyed. Well, that was a good game. Glad to know FJ (altho' I thought it was a bit easy). I was pulling for the music teacher. Not a fan of Emma. I'm just appreciating Trebek as long as I can. IMO, he's always been the perfect host for this show. 

Edited November 12, 2019 by annzeepark914

[Annabel11]

Lots of clues about books! Interesting that it was Emma's night and she is a librarian. 

[Ailianna]

I like all three players, so it was hard to know that only one would go on, but Emma certainly earned it.  I felt bad for Druv, since I think the college champs are usually at a bit of a disadvantage, not only from not having lived through as many events, but just not having had as many years to learn things as the others.  I think he was a class act, though, and handled his defeat very graciously.

Emma is definitely showing what she's got in these games so far.

For FJ, I had a brief moment of being stuck on "How the West Was Won," but fortunately didn't stay on it so long that I couldn't get the correct answer before time ran out.

[lb60]

Ugh, I'm not supposed to cry during Jeopardy. Thanks a lot, Dhruv (that was a really sweet thing to do, though). I was rooting for him.

Tonight, I got Arkansas (thanks Duggars for visiting that diamond place on your show. Don't judge me. I watch a lot of crap), basketball, John Nash, and Caddyshack.

My initial response to FJ was the rich get richer, but I quickly switched to the correct answer. Yay!

#anyonebutjamesforthewinbutiknowimprobablygoingtobedisappointedonfriday

#thatsalonghashtag    

ETA: Double ugh! I just read Dhruv's twitter. He said that Alex had just told them that he was reentering treatment, which is why he wrote what he wrote.

#weloveyoualex in trending.  

Edited November 12, 2019 by lb60

[chessiegal]

I got FJ because I couldn't think of anything else, but I've always heard that saying in the context of referring to rich people. So now I know.

Go Emma!

[Kimmmmmm]

Was already rooting for Dhruv!! And his message for Alex was so genuine and sweet. After that, wanted the other guy to win...anyone but Emma . Even when she smiles she looks unpleasant. 

[Bastet]

I read the archive during halftime, so I'm a little bummed I didn't actually see Emma win; I like several of the contestants, but she's the one I'm rooting for most.  I liked her mind going to "Can I get a witness?" rather than "Can I get an amen?" in the bible clue.  (I'm also a little bummed I didn't hear Alex reading the Marquis clues or saying "genre".)

I figured writ of certiorari was going to be a TS.  I also dreaded how many TS there would be in the women's sports category, and they indeed lived down to my expectations, but despite the fact contestants generally don't know much about women's sports, I was surprised soccer was among them, given the recent widely covered victory of the USWNT.

The other TS that surprised me to some degree were ostentatious, Caddyshack, and Blaise Pascal.  That last one probably wouldn't have surprised me at all in a regular game, but I was mildly surprised in a ToC game.

I'm also surprised FJ was missed by any of them, but it's nice that Dhruv included a message to Alex rather than just a big question mark or blank.

Edited to say: Awww.  After reading about Alex's reaction to Dhruv's message and the timing of the whole thing, I tuned in to see the FJ answers revealed, and, wow, yes, that was quite a moment when Alex struggled to get himself together and move on to the next contestant's answer.

Edited November 12, 2019 by Bastet

[Driad]

How the Other Half Lives  was an early work of photojournalism by Jacob Riis. I saw some of the photos on TV, probably PBS.

[suebee12]

Thank goodness for the archives! My recording started out fine but when we got to the first break, the screen went blank😥I guess when it came back on, we got to see the very last of the Jeopardy round and then it went directly to FJ!If it was any other day, I would have called and complained but since it was the Emma day, I didn't care. They sure had a lot of books and titles for the questions!

[peeayebee]

I got John Nash, The King of Comedy, and Caddyshack.

For FJ the only thing I could think of was "other half lives," and since that was three words, I figured it was right.

I was spoiled about Dhruv's "We love you, Alex," but I didn't know that Alex had choked up. Or that I would, too.

I was confused for a sec at the clue that had "Jean-Bapiste Colbert show" in it because The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has as its band leader Jon Batiste.

[Cotypubby]

Yay Emma!

She is my favorite, I was rooting for her the whole time. 

I want to see her go against James a second time. 

[catlover79]

❤

[Toothbrush]

Awww Dhruv 😢❤️

FJ was not an instaget, but I got it in time.  Ran the sports category with 3/5 guesses (knew Gabby Douglas and Ali Krieger & Ashlyn Harris)

Jeopardy will get the James/Emma showdown it forced wanted. What sucks is that if this ends up being Alex's final ToC, more deserving players may not get their ToC opportunity after all. IIRC Emma only won 3 games & just under $100,000 during her run. Hoping François rounds out the 3 finalists, but I will be happy with Gilbert too. 

[Mystery Author]

Quote

Yay Emma!

She is my favorite, I was rooting for her the whole time. 

I want to see her go against James a second time. 

Me, too!

Mr. Author and I call her "Kim" for Kim Darby. (Whatever happened to Kim Darby after True Grit?)

I like James, too. This is a fun TOC for me.

[Mystery Author]

Quote

Jim Bridger (I have no idea who that is).

Actually, Jim Bridger wasn't that bad a guess. He and Hugh Glass (think: The Revenant starring Leonardo DiCaprio) were among a group of trappers heading west overland to the Yellowstone River. Whereupon Glass was severely mauled by a grizzly bear. According to legend, Bridger and another trapper were to stay with Glass until he died, but they abandoned him.

Glass is said to have found Bridger and forgiven him.

Apparently, Glass spared the life of a man who would become one of the most important fur trappers and guides in the American West.

Trivia R Moi! Plus, Mr. Author wrote an historical novel inspired by the grizzly bear attack :-)

[Annabel11]

6 hours ago, Cotypubby said:

Yay Emma!

She is my favorite, I was rooting for her the whole time. 

I want to see her go against James a second time. 

I think so did the show. The clues clearly were in her favor.

[Roaster]

I often criticize the wagering, but let me give credit to Kyle for his gutsy DD bet.  Relatively late in the Double Jeopardy round he was trailing badly and hit the Daily Double.  He went all in - bet it all. If he had got it wrong Emma would have finished with a runaway.  He got it right and tied her up and made it a game.

Those are the kinds of risks you need to take in TOC.

[Clanstarling]

I was pretty verklempt when Alex choked up. In fact, I was still choked up by the end of the show.

A user experience librarian doesn't really work with books (I think), Emma was describing something closer to website user experience testing. Though she would have gone to library school, which does require lots of reading (my favorite part of library school when I went).

I met a user experience librarian at a conference recently, and we bonded over Emma's appearance on Jeopardy. She explained what she did - which is still above my head (despite my own library degree and the fact I work on websites), and not book related either.

[MrAtoz]

Everybody's commented on Alex getting choked up at Dhruv's response.  But did anyone besides me stay to watch to the very end, where Alex goes to the podium to chat with the contestants while they play the closing credits?  Rather than the perfunctory handshake that he usually gives, Alex clasped Dhruv's hand very tightly and held it for awhile.  It was a sweet and very genuine moment.

[Trey]

I had already turned the channel but I wish I had seen that.

Instaget FJ. I'm glad Emma won.

Does anyone really think the boards were loaded in Emma's favour? I do not.  Even though she won only three games, she is a pretty strong player.

Edited November 12, 2019 by Trey

[Quickbeam]

15 hours ago, lb60 said:

Tonight, I got Arkansas (thanks Duggars for visiting that diamond place on your show. Don't judge me. I watch a lot of crap)

The mother of an old boyfriend 40 years ago was from Arkansas and constantly delineated the states mineral wealth including diamonds. She's long dead but thanks, Mae! I hate watch the Duggars as in "know thine enemy".

[biakbiak]

We only got the last two minutes on our DVR because of MNF (Yay Hawks!!) so got to see Alex tear up. 
FJ was an Ig but I have no idea why because I had no idea that is where the phrase came from.

[Toothbrush]

3 hours ago, MrAtoz said:

Everybody's commented on Alex getting choked up at Dhruv's response.  But did anyone besides me stay to watch to the very end, where Alex goes to the podium to chat with the contestants while they play the closing credits?  Rather than the perfunctory handshake that he usually gives, Alex clasped Dhruv's hand very tightly and held it for awhile.  It was a sweet and very genuine moment.

I saw that and I agree it was a very sweet & genuine moment. 

[catlover79]

1 hour ago, Toothbrush said:

I saw that and I agree it was a very sweet & genuine moment. 

I can just imagine how especially touched and honored these particular contestants must feel, with this probably being Alex's last ToC. ❤

[annzeepark914]

4 hours ago, MrAtoz said:

Everybody's commented on Alex getting choked up at Dhruv's response.  But did anyone besides me stay to watch to the very end, where Alex goes to the podium to chat with the contestants while they play the closing credits?  Rather than the perfunctory handshake that he usually gives, Alex clasped Dhruv's hand very tightly and held it for awhile.  It was a sweet and very genuine moment.

I saw that and Whew! again.  What a sweet gesture by Dhruv but I'm glad he couldn't hear me yelling at him, "Quit guessing!" "Be Careful!" "Nooooooooooo".  I always get nervous when players go into the red and want them to be more careful but hey--it's a game and they're a lot braver than I for even being on the show, as well as taking chances. I wish he'd won but as someone else pointed out, these young college students are at a disadvantage as so many clues depend on life experiences.

[Clanstarling]

6 hours ago, MrAtoz said:

Everybody's commented on Alex getting choked up at Dhruv's response.  But did anyone besides me stay to watch to the very end, where Alex goes to the podium to chat with the contestants while they play the closing credits?  Rather than the perfunctory handshake that he usually gives, Alex clasped Dhruv's hand very tightly and held it for awhile.  It was a sweet and very genuine moment.

Damn. We always record (and start it up about 15 minutes in), but we rarely watch to the bitter end. Oh well, I was still misty at that point. It really hits home every time someone mentions it's Alex's last TOC.

[billisd]

I have a clue how to share this info so I'll just summarize...

Steven grade has been posting on the reddit jeopardy board. Apparently the ToC contestants are encouraging loyal viewers to play along on Thursday and Friday and then contribute $1 for each of your correct answers to the  Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research (lustgarten.org) in honor of Alex and in memory of Larry Martin.

You can find his full post at r/jeopardy

The thread is TOC play along for Pancreatic cancer.

And now back to lurking....

[Bliss]

First laugh of the show... Alex's introduction. He got me. I like the way he is upfront about making mistakes. Too bad this attribute isn't contagious... to spread throughout the world. Imagine the peace we'd have!

Second laugh... James' head nod after Alex corrected his pronunciation on the X word. Sorry, can't remember the word... had something to do with swords, I think.

Third laugh... well, not really a laugh... Alex's comment about calling James "our champion". I'd noticed that too and then let it go.

And lastly, I feel redeemed. I'd used "sun" as a clue in a game (Codenames - fun!), attempting to get my partner to say "belt". I was told by one of my know-it-all offspring-in-law (love him to bits) that there was no such thing as a sun belt. Whaaaaat?

[Roaster]

I thought FJ was an instaget.  Surprised they all missed it.  (Not even sure Steven was trying at that point.)

Overall this game was dullsville.

[SoMuchTV]

48 minutes ago, Bliss said:

.Third laugh... well, not really a laugh... Alex's comment about calling James "our champion". I'd noticed that too and then let it go.

I know! I don't want to be too critical of Alex at this point, but I wondered about that!  Thought maybe he still held some "champion" record...?  Naaah.

[Browncoat]

I said rust and steel.  I'm on a roll this week of missing FJ!

[Katy M]

7 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

I know! I don't want to be too critical of Alex at this point, but I wondered about that!  Thought maybe he still held some "champion" record...?  Naaah.

Understandable mistake, though.  Except for in tournament play, or the odd case where all 3 end up in the hole, the first stand is the champion.

I said bible and rust because those are the only 2 belts I know.  I did horribly the whole game.  

[annzeepark914]

I got the TS in Jeopardy cause it's one of my favorite movies. Les Paul & Mary Ford perform their snazzy hit, How High the Moon, during the opening credits. Lainie Kazan was perfectly cast for her role. Anyway, I also got FJ and figured it would be wrong cause it was too easy. Gee, two nights in a row and they were easy enough for me to get (as opposed to DJ where I was feeling a lot of pain). Strange. James must be some kind of savant except he knows way too much in multiple categories for one human bring.

Edited November 13, 2019 by annzeepark914

[Bliss]

10 minutes ago, Katy M said:

Understandable mistake, though.  Except for in tournament play, or the odd case where all 3 end up in the hole, the first stand is the champion.

Exactly! That is precisely why I "let it go"... so often, Alex walks to that position and refers to "our champion".

[SoMuchTV]

Well, y’all are ahead of me. I couldn’t even figure out that they were looking for two different belts for the response  😞

[Grundoon59]

I'm with you annzeepark914 - My Favorite Year is a beloved film in the Grundoon household and my heart hurt that it was a TS.  One of the best Peter O'Toole performances in a distinguished career.   My mom and I even saw the musical version which briefly ran on Broadway with Tim Curry in the O'Toole role - also amazing 

[chessiegal]

I had a "whoa" moment when the Grace Hopper clue was read. I took a tour of the Naval Academy today, and our guide pointed out their new building for cybersecurity that is being named the Grace Hopper building. Spooky. 

[anniebird]

Has there ever been a time before when Alex announced that the Final Jeopardy question wouldn't matter? 

[PaulaO]

How cute that James’ daughter calls him Papa???  For a nanosecond, I thought Alex would announce there would be no FJ! due to the game being a runaway.

[Katy M]

57 minutes ago, PaulaO said:

I thought Alex would announce there would be no FJ! due to the game being a runaway.

That's what I thought, too.  Technically it is unnecessary, but that doesn't mean it's not fun.

1 hour ago, anniebird said:

Has there ever been a time before when Alex announced that the Final Jeopardy question wouldn't matter? 

Yes, he does that a lot when it's a runaway.  Sometimes, he adds "unless person in lead does something crazy."  But, that's even less likely in a tournament, since you don't get your total.

[peeayebee]

No TSs for me. I could not come up with that Peter O'Toole movie. I was picturing the movie poster, and was sure it began with "The." I even paused my DVR so I could think. Nothing. Turns out I was trying to come up with The Stunt Man. But I "knew" it was My Favorite Year.

I also couldn't come up with The Confessions of Nat Turner. Stupid brain.

I thought I'd never heard of xiphoid, but actually I do know of the xiphoid process (of the sternum), but no way could I figure out it meant swordlike.

As for FJ, nada. I too said Bible/Rust even though I was sure that wasn't right. Sun Belt never occurred to me.

[Bastet]

Since I missed James's appearance in the initial round of this ToC, this was my first time seeing him since I got sick of him during his original run.  It turns out enough time had passed that he didn't bug me.  I still have several others I'd rather see win the whole thing, but it was nice that time reset things to me just watching him, rather than being annoyed by him.  Okay, I still rolled my eyes at his shout-out wagers, but less strenuously. 

I loved the lyrics category (especially Alex reading "My Humps") and the Fantasy Football category, even if it did bring back horrible memories of the Seahawks blowing Super Bowl XLIX I had to nearly physically shake off to continue the round.

I can't decide if My Favorite Year being a TS surprised me.  Kind of bummed me out, like it did Alex, but I'm not sure it's actually surprise-worthy, even in a ToC.  Same with The Confessions of Nat Turner; I initially was surprised none of them knew it, but on reflection I backed off that, too;  I think pop culture is a bit unpredictable at any level.  Convoy and posse comitatus (I guess none of them watched The West Wing, heh) still surprise me, though.

FJ was a little challenging, I think; it took some pondering that might easily prove hard to conclude in the time allotted and under game conditions.

Edited November 13, 2019 by Bastet

[Driad]

Apparently James knows enough not to Claven.

[Bliss]

8 minutes ago, Driad said:

Apparently James knows enough not to Claven.

Thank you for this link, Driad! Cheers 😉

[Toothbrush]

Dr Toothbrush noticed that Alex referred to James as the champion, but I didn't even notice. I do think that James as ToC champion is a forgone conclusion, but I think it was more auto-pilot on AT's part. 

FJ was a team effort - I said sun belt & bible belt, while Dr T said rust belt & bible belt. And we both gave a disappointed "aww" when "My Favorite Year" was a TS. He ran the fantasy football category, & I got a grand total of 1. The song lyric category was fun. 

[kathyk2]

I was surprised nobody knew White Teeth. I consider myself smart if I know something James missed. I had no clue  for final Jeopardy.

[mertensia]

I got xiphoid because it was the only word I could think of that I figured might - accent on might - fit the category. 

I got the region right but blanked on the name Sunbelt. And I live in it.

Edited November 13, 2019 by mertensia

[Katy M]

9 hours ago, Bastet said:

Convoy and posse comitatus (I guess none of them watched The West Wing, heh) still surprise me, t

When he revealed the answer of convoy, I was like "duh."  But, I think I was trying to overcomplicate it. 

[MrAtoz]

13 hours ago, Bliss said:

And lastly, I feel redeemed. I'd used "sun" as a clue in a game (Codenames - fun!), attempting to get my partner to say "belt". I was told by one of my know-it-all offspring-in-law (love him to bits) that there was no such thing as a sun belt. Whaaaaat?

Prior to yesterday, I would have agreed with your offspring-in-law.  I've never heard of the "sun belt."

[Clanstarling]

12 hours ago, Katy M said:

Understandable mistake, though.  Except for in tournament play, or the odd case where all 3 end up in the hole, the first stand is the champion.

I said bible and rust because those are the only 2 belts I know.  I did horribly the whole game.  

I shrugged off Alex's mistake - I'm not picky about him these days - I thought it was because of his James love.

I said rust and bible - because those are the only two I thought of - but I knew they didn't make sense. I've heard of the sun belt, but it never stuck.

10 hours ago, Bastet said:

I loved the lyrics category (especially Alex reading "My Humps") and the Fantasy Football category, even if it did bring back horrible memories of the Seahawks blowing Super Bowl XLIX I had to nearly physically shake off to continue the round.

I can't decide if My Favorite Year being a TS surprised me.  Kind of bummed me out, like it did Alex, but I'm not sure it's actually surprise-worthy, even in a ToC.  Same with The Confessions of Nat Turner; I initially was surprised none of them knew it, but on reflection I backed off that, too;  I think pop culture is a bit unpredictable at any level.  Convoy and posse comitatus (I guess none of them watched The West Wing, heh) still surprise me, though.

FJ was a little challenging, I think; it took some pondering that might easily prove hard to conclude in the time allotted and under game conditions.

I am horrible at lyrics categories, which I don't understand, because lyrics make or break the song for me. I guess I just need the music.

My Favorite Year was on the tip of my brain - I could see all the actors, remember the story, but nothing came out.