Jeopardy! Season 33 (2016-2017)

[CarpeDiem54]

45 minutes ago, HavartiHead42 said:

Without looking, I think it was Janet Guthrie. It's dumb not to check, because why would you guys either know or care that I know that stupid factoid?

It was Shirley Muldowney.

"She was the first woman to receive a license from the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) to drive a Top Fueldragster. She won the NHRA Top Fuel championship in 1977, 1980, and 1982, becoming the first person to win two and three Top Fuel titles."

[GreekGeek]

I remember the flap about his being sworn in as "Jimmy" rather than "James" and the giggles people had imagining "Woody" Wilson and "Herbie" Hoover.

As for the female racer, the clue specified the Indy 500 and Janet Guthrie was indeed the first woman in it. People were wondering how the traditional "Gentlemen, start your engines" would change. I think they ended up saying, "Gentlemen and Janet, start your engines". They now say "Ladies and Gentlemen..." if there are women competing.

The game wasn't bad, but it still irks that they seem to dumb down the clues for the teachers.

[fireice13]

It definitely did seem as if the teachers got easier clues. I got every answer in more than one category and that hardly ever happens for me! I couldn't believe the FJ answers either. I had no idea about the woman driver, but figured DOE had to be post WWII so then it was just going through the presidents and the only ones I could think of with nicknames were Clinton and Carter and 1993 seemed too late for the DOE so I went with 1977. I was very happy to see I was right, because it was more of an educated guess than actually knowing. 

I hope this group was the worst of the quarterfinalists and the next games will be better.

[Prevailing Wind]

I think the 1950 answer wasn't going for Ike, but for Harry S Truman, who was named weirdly in any case. Besides having just a nickname for a first name, his middle name was, indeed, the letter S. They couldn't decide which grandpa to name him after, so they just went with the shared initial, but never put the period after it, so in Harry's case, it *wasn't* an initial, it was the entire name.

[Trey]

11 hours ago, Mountainair said:

I came up with the 70s as being the right decade to pull from mostly because of the first female race car driver clue (I don't follow racing at all but was pretty sure the 70s was the only decade that could fit since I was born in 1984). By that point I ran out of time and guessed 1973.

My mind followed the very same path as yours and I also came up with 1973.  I was not born in 1984 - not by a long shot:)

I enjoyed the game even it was dumbed down a little.  The guy in the middle forgot about wagering for a wild card spot in FJ. 

[peeayebee]

8 hours ago, CarpeDiem54 said:

It was Shirley Muldowney.

"She was the first woman to receive a license from the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) to drive a Top Fueldragster. She won the NHRA Top Fuel championship in 1977, 1980, and 1982, becoming the first person to win two and three Top Fuel titles."

Yes, that's who Heart Like a Wheel was about. Thanks.

 

4 hours ago, GreekGeek said:

As for the female racer, the clue specified the Indy 500 and Janet Guthrie was indeed the first woman in it.

Thank you. I couldn't remember what type of racing the clue specified.

 

8 hours ago, Toothbrush said:

Congo was a total guess; river in Africa = Congo or Nile and I got lucky :-)

I guessed The Niger.

I have a hard time remembering INRI. I was thinking there was a Z in there somewhere. Maybe next time.

[DXD526]

I guessed 1974 for FJ, thinking maybe Ford was sworn in as Jerry. The fact that it wasn't a traditional inauguration year made me think it was somewhat of a trick question and made me more confident I was right. I was so proud of myself for figuring it out, then, of course, I was wrong. 

After all these years, I'm so used to Carter being Jimmy, the fact that it's a nickname didn't even occur to me. It did trigger flashbacks, though, of how unusual it was at the time. I remember a local DJ saying, what's next? Is our next president going to be sworn in as "Stretch" or "Stinky"?

[Mondrianyone]

2 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

I think the 1950 answer wasn't going for Ike, but for Harry S Truman, who was named weirdly in any case. Besides having just a nickname for a first name, his middle name was, indeed, the letter S. They couldn't decide which grandpa to name him after, so they just went with the shared initial, but never put the period after it, so in Harry's case, it *wasn't* an initial, it was the entire name.

The business about his middle initial not using a period apparently started as a joke Truman made that was taken seriously.  I worked on one of his daughter's books, and her father's name appeared in it, so I asked her whether the period should come out, and she said to leave it in.  I just looked it up, and aside from that extremely good original source (Margaret Truman Daniel), there's some other strong support for the no-period myth being just a myth.  (The Truman Library page linked in the article is the first place I checked.)  It's fun because it's quirky, but it doesn't seem to be true.

[DrSpaceman73]

Growing up in Indianapolis I knew it was mid 1970s, I thought it was 1976 but the inauguration clue told me it was 1977. 

Alex of course had to say what all the latin abbreviations meant. 

I too though the questions were easier.  The Hall of Fame and medical category were incredibly simple

[HavartiHead42]

Quote

As for the female racer, the clue specified the Indy 500 and Janet Guthrie was indeed the first woman in it.

Thank you for clarifying, greekgeek! The text is frequently clearer in my head than it is on the screen.

Quote

Well, I knew it wasn't a president from my lifetime for FJ.

Wait, what Mountainair? People make fun of me all the time for watching Jeopardy, because I'm not yet an 80 year old woman. You're way below even my demographic. (I arrived for part of JFK, even.)

[Mountainair]

19 minutes ago, HavartiHead42 said:

Thank you for clarifying, greekgeek! The text is frequently clearer in my head than it is on the screen.

Wait, what Mountainair? People make fun of me all the time for watching Jeopardy, because I'm not yet an 80 year old woman. You're way below even my demographic. (I arrived for part of JFK, even.)

Heh! I even DVR Jeopardy so I won't miss an episode. I grew up watching with my dad and now my oldest kid watches with me as well even though he's seven and doesn't "get" most of it. Don't worry, I balance it out with a fair amount of trashy TV :)

[Prevailing Wind]

4 hours ago, Mondrianyone said:

The business about his middle initial not using a period apparently started as a joke Truman made that was taken seriously.  I worked on one of his daughter's books, and her father's name appeared in it, so I asked her whether the period should come out, and she said to leave it in.  I just looked it up, and aside from that extremely good original source (Margaret Truman Daniel), there's some other strong support for the no-period myth being just a myth.  (The Truman Library page linked in the article is the first place I checked.)  It's fun because it's quirky, but it doesn't seem to be true.

I could swear I read it in a book of his & Bess' letters to each other, compiled by Margaret. But perhaps my memory isn't what it used to be.  <shrug>  Thanks for the clarification.  (Still, "Harry" is considered a nickname, LOL)

[illdoc]

22 minutes ago, Prevailing Wind said:

(Still, "Harry" is considered a nickname, LOL)

But it is a nickname for "Henry" and if he was named "Harry", then it's not a nickname. 

[Mondrianyone]

42 minutes ago, Prevailing Wind said:

I could swear I read it in a book of his & Bess' letters to each other, compiled by Margaret. But perhaps my memory isn't what it used to be.  <shrug>  Thanks for the clarification.  (Still, "Harry" is considered a nickname, LOL)

You probably did read it.  That period has a way of coming and going.  What the pages I linked say is that both grandfathers' names started with S, so in a sense Truman's S is still an abbreviation, but it's just an abbreviation for both names--or either.  It was all before my time (thank God something was!), but I wish presidential controversies these days were as innocent as that one.

[just prin]

20 hours ago, Mountainair said:

 I was born in 1984).

You shouldn't even know who Alex Trebek is!!! ;)

[peeayebee]

I'm pretty sure that when Alex started reading the clue for Martin Luther King Jr, he was using an accent but then abandoned it. Did anyone else hear this?

[Mystery Author]

Quote

I'm pretty sure that when Alex started reading the clue for Martin Luther King Jr, he was using an accent but then abandoned it. Did anyone else hear this?

Yup. I groaned. Then thought he'd sounded like Joe McCarthy! Not good, Alex. You don't want to sound like Joseph McCarthy!

[Toothbrush]

7 hours ago, peeayebee said:

I guessed The Niger.

Thanks a lot peeayebee! Now when a river in Africa comes up I am going to have to guess between 3 instead of 2. ;-) Or I guess I could brush up on African geography! 

6 hours ago, DXD526 said:

I guessed 1974 for FJ, thinking maybe Ford was sworn in as Jerry. The fact that it wasn't a traditional inauguration year made me think it was somewhat of a trick question and made me more confident I was right. I was so proud of myself for figuring it out, then, of course, I was wrong. 

After all these years, I'm so used to Carter being Jimmy, the fact that it's a nickname didn't even occur to me. It did trigger flashbacks, though, of how unusual it was at the time. I remember a local DJ saying, what's next? Is our next president going to be sworn in as "Stretch" or "Stinky"?

Jerry Ford came to mind for me at first, too, and also because I at first forget that Jimmy is not Pres. Carter's given name. He's always been Jimmy. 

5 hours ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

Alex of course had to say what all the latin abbreviations meant. 

Of course he did. 

6 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

I'm pretty sure that when Alex started reading the clue for Martin Luther King Jr, he was using an accent but then abandoned it. Did anyone else hear this?

Yep. Dr. Toothbrush & I just shook our heads. Alex's attempts at accents has only helped me to get an answer a handful of times, and I would gladly give those up if it he would just can it with the accents. 

[mojoween]

I think my favorite was when he gave a sad-sack hangdog reading for FJ which totally gave away the answer was Eeyore.

[secnarf]

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

I'm pretty sure that when Alex started reading the clue for Martin Luther King Jr, he was using an accent but then abandoned it. Did anyone else hear this?

I heard this and was cringing. It's got to be the worst attempt at an accent yet.

[illdoc]

Anyone who, given the category "people on the page", sees "sea captain" & "revenge" and does NOT answer "Ahab" should automatically be disqualified! My mother (who was out during Jeopardy) answered "Ahab" upon hearing "sea captain"!!! As to the final, did he really thing Darrow was only about 25 during the Scopes trial??

[mojoween]

Mary either sounded like she was guessing or she was ACTUALLY guessing and it drove me batshit bonkers.  Boo hiss.

*I* knew Ahab and Che Guevara so therefore the DD's were too easy.  Also, Scopes.

[CarpeDiem54]

Yeah, Mary seemed shocked that her answers were correct.  It's bad when the Teachers Tournament makes me feel like a genius.  You'd think that tourney would have the hardest clues ever instead of dumbing them down so the contestants can win something.

I got Sherry and, of course, Ahab (missed DD).  I didn't even bother screaming my answer at the TV.  Instead, I muttered "dumbass" under my breath.

FJ was pretty easy.

[GreekGeek]

1 hour ago, illdoc said:

Anyone who, given the category "people on the page", sees "sea captain" & "revenge" and does NOT answer "Ahab" should automatically be disqualified! My mother (who was out during Jeopardy) answered "Ahab" upon hearing "sea captain"!!! As to the final, did he really thing Darrow was only about 25 during the Scopes trial??

Yeah, not knowing Ahab was pretty sad. I never read the book but the story and the characters are so famous that I can't understand anyone with an education missing such a basic question.

Regarding FJ: I think he knew the clue referred to the Scopes trial but misread the clue and forgot the name of the category.

I said Brandy instead of Sherry and Simon Bolivar instead of Che.

[halfpint ingals]

I was born in 1977 ( Turning forty next month ) so I knew last night's FJ pretty much immediately knowing it was Jimmy Carter and thinking it was a good year . 

[YoureSoUrban]

I had no clue for FJ. "Ike" came to mind immediately but knew he wasn't sworn in that way and that timing couldn't be true for the other 2 parts of the clue. I skipped the Carter (and Ford) years entirely which makes me feel badly because I quite admire Carter as an elder statesman.

Quote

I'm sure most people think Danica Patrick when it comes to women race car drivers

Yep, I was one of those too...

The Ahab DD miss was just criminal. I was also surprised 3 teachers missed "volcano". Other tS I got were Fist Fight (never saw the movie, just thought it was obvious from the clue), river and atoms.

[peeayebee]

1 hour ago, halfpint ingals said:

I was born in 1977...

Hey! You could have been part of the FJ clue Monday night!

 

5 hours ago, Toothbrush said:

Thanks a lot peeayebee! Now when a river in Africa comes up I am going to have to guess between 3 instead of 2. ;-) Or I guess I could brush up on African geography! 

Mucho apologies. We both need to brush up on our geography knowledge. :)

For tonight's TS's, I got river (fiume), atoms, and Francis Macomber, as well as the DD of Capt Ahab. FJ was pretty easy.

[Bastet]

I haven't watched the show all season, tuned in tonight during DJ, and some teacher couldn't come up with Ahab.  I think I'll crawl back into my hole.

Actually, what I think I'll do is temporarily become a teacher so that I can audition for the Tournament and win the grand prize.  Because, holy crap, are the clues always insultingly easy - and then the contestants stand there like dumbasses.

FJ was an instaget for me, and color me surprised the Ahab moron is the one of the three who didn't lose sight of the category and at least start to write down Darrow instead.

Edited May 10, 2017 by Bastet

[Driad]

Maybe the many teachers who know a lot are too busy teaching to play Jeopardy? The easy questions in the teachers' tournament are always disappointing. 

[Toothbrush]

I was afraid that we would have Mary, the French teacher, and Alex trading French accents.

The only TS I got were atoms & the missed DD of Captain Ahab. Couldn't believe Eduardo missed FJ. I thought Scopes was wrong at first because it was too obvious. 

Two days in a row we have teachers who, IMO, are coddling their students - Graham (or was it George) with the emoji check yesterday, and Mary's crying corner today.  Certainly if one of the mini-Toothbrushes were having a crisis I would want the teacher to be understanding, but this just seems like pandering to me. Maybe I'm just in mean Mommy mode right now. Summer fever seems to have hit the Toothbrush household early this year, and it is all I can do to try to get my 3 to buckle down for the last 3 weeks of school. I want their teachers to make them focus, not gauge their moods. 

5 hours ago, mojoween said:

Mary either sounded like she was guessing or she was ACTUALLY guessing and it drove me batshit bonkers.  Boo hiss.

It didn't bother me too much since her guesses were pretty spot on. 

[Good Queen Jane]

For FJ, I first thought Darrow but realized 1) He was too old to have been in high school only 5 years before the trial and 2) the category was Famous Teachers. That made Scopes pretty obvious. As to Ahab, I think that the clue also said the object of his revenge was not human, which makes the miss even more egregious.

[peeayebee]

Capt Van Hesling?

[teebax]

14 hours ago, Driad said:

Maybe the many teachers who know a lot are too busy teaching to play Jeopardy? The easy questions in the teachers' tournament are always disappointing. 

I'm a teacher and should definitely try out for the tournament. I think I'd do quite well, based on how I've fared at home.

That being said, it saddens me to think people are watching this at home and thinking teachers aren't smart. I work with teachers who are incredibly smart. Also, didn't Colby come out of the Teachers' Tournament a few years ago? He was annoying but one of the sharpest players I've seen on Jeopardy. I think he did well in the TOC that year, too.

[surreysmum]

It's perhaps a sign of the times (or my aging brain) that my synapses misfired for "Scopes" and I said "Snopes" (the fact-checking website) instead. :P

Did the online sample tests the other day and concluded that if I had ever seriously considered trying out (which I wouldn't - I'm way too shy), I would have had to do it a couple of decades ago when my retrieval time was quicker.  I knew all but two of the answers, but more than half a dozen of them took too long to summon up, or were (like the answer above) just a hair off when I tried to say them aloud.

I'm not inclined to snark on the contestants in any case, but that exercise gave me a lot more sympathy, especially considering how nervous they must be. Swaying, fidgeting - if it helps you spit out the answer, go for it! say I.

The somewhat lower standard in the teacher tournament doesn't really either surprise or bother me much. The regular tournament isn't drawing proportionally from all segments of the general public, but from a self-selected sample of intellectually confident and highly educated people (formally, self-directed, or both).  I'd contend, without actually having any numerical proof, that you'll probably see a lot more people with graduate degrees (or professional equivalent) in the regular tournament, whereas in my part of the world at least teachers generally have one degree and a couple of years of teacher training. As someone remarked, that doesn't mean that you don't get really, really smart and knowledgeable people in teaching - of course you do -  but the pool the show is drawing from is substantially smaller. In addition, the people in that teacher pool aren't there just because of Jeopardy! skills (general knowledge, quick inference) but because of other crucial skills that aren't particularly useful on Jeopardy (dealing with children, for instance!)  

[Pallida]

Other than perhaps the Tournament of Champions, something is tickling my brain to think that the first set of games are always "easier" in tournaments because they have to get through every clue on the board to make it fair for wild card slots. I feel like even in the last Tournament of Champions I felt better at trivia than I am because of the first few games.

I wonder if the wild card slots also factor into triple stumpers where perhaps the contestants are more cautious about anything they aren't 100% on. Plus, I imagine there's extra pressure for these teachers because in some ways, they are representing their schools and careers. 

[PaulaO]

I said Darrow also, but the other half of my brain said "no, it was the teacher what's his name."  

[GreekGeek]

Another close game today, but with a lot of TS's. I knew circuit, gluteus maximus, Blue Bloods (despite never having watched the show), Wagner, Beethoven, the Azores, and made a wild guess on bleach. I wasn't sure of FJ because I thought the stage version of War Horse and maybe the film were much better known than the book, but I could be wrong. I suppose it's joined My Friend Flicka and Black Beauty as popular children's books about horses.

[Browncoat]

I was so happy when they finished the Archipelago-go category.  Their pronunciation of "archipelago" was driving me up the wall.  For once, I appreciated Alex's pronunciations!

A photo of Bing Crosby was completely unnecessary.  If you couldn't get Bing from just the clue, a photo probably wouldn't help.

FJ was an instaget for me.  Equus (and Seabiscuit) never entered my mind.

[CarpeDiem54]

So many TS in so little time.  I got circuit, gluteus maximus, Blue Bloods, Wagner (a factoid I learned recently from watching Jeopardy!), Beethoven, Swiss Army Knife (missed DD with accompanying annoying noises), and bleach.

The picture of Bing Crosby made me yell, "Gimme a break!"

I answered FJ before Alex finished reading the clue.

[peeayebee]

I got Blue Bloods, Beethoven, and the DD of Swiss Army Knife. Instead of "beginner's luck" I said "dumb luck." A lenient judge might have given it to me.

For FJ, Equus occurred to me, but I didn't think it was from the point of view of the horse. I also believe it wasn't a book, but a play. When War Horse came to mind I thought 1982 was too early, but I guessed it anyway. Yay.

[mojoween]

I'm just starting but Michael with his winking at the camera has got to GO.

[Fex]

Very surprised that no one got Wings. How do you go on Jeopardy without brushing up on Oscar trivia? The first best picture winner should be an easy one!

I always struggle with x-letter word categories, so was very tickled to get the $2000 one (bandolier) in the 9 letter word category! Especially when none of the contestants did.

[Browncoat]

7 minutes ago, Fex said:

Very surprised that no one got Wings.

Me, too.  I thought that was a very well-known bit of trivia.  I got that along with bandolier (picturing Chewbacca with his), Soyuz, Chevrolet, Newport (because Chappaquiddick is not in Rhode Island), frog, iodine and plutonium.

FJ was another instaget for me.

[mojoween]

Chappaquiddick is kind of a pretty famous town relating to a pretty fucking famous Massachusetts family. 

Newport was obvious to me but probably because we were at the area in the clue three summers ago.  It was beautiful, but the weather was rainy and grey, and parts of it were still closed because of Hurricane Sandy.

Also no one should be too young to know a Chevrolet Bel Air for cod's sack.

[Kimmmmmm]

6 minutes ago, mojoween said:

 

Also no one should be too young to know a Chevrolet Bel Air for cod's sack.

Right?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

[CarpeDiem54]

Thank goodness Nan won.  Michael's winking and kind of haughty attitude bugged me.  And Lindsey - was she curtsying to Alex after every answer or what?

Again with pictures!  John Kerry and Pope John Paul II.  Knock it off clue writers.

I got plutonium, iodine, frog, Newport, Chevrolet (Chevy Bel Aire -WTF!?), Soyuz, bandolier, and Wings.

I didn't get FJ today.  I guessed Visionaries.  Boo hiss. 

[M. Darcy]

I guessed FJ correctly but I thought my answer was stupid. 

[Fex]

1 hour ago, mojoween said:

Also no one should be too young to know a Chevrolet Bel Air for cod's sack.

Literally the only cars I can identify by sight are a Delorean, a stretch limo and a Batmobile. There might be a handful of cars which I could correctly match up company name with model. This was not one of them!

[peeayebee]

Man, I couldn't remember Matthew Modine's name. But I did come up with iodine, frog, Chevrolet, Soyuz, and Wings.

It took me a minute to get FJ, though I spelled it wrong:  avant guarde.

[just prin]

Nan to win THE WHOLE DAMN THING!?