Wednesday, January 9, 2013 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Archivists]

Game Recap for Show #6518, 2013-01-09

CONTESTANTS
Brett Swartz, a graphic designer from Athens, Georgia
Kristin Morgan, a strategic analyst for NASA from Huntsville, Alabama
Ashok Poozhikunnel, an underwriter from Wheaton, Illinois (whose 4-day cash winnings total $69,002)

OPENING REMARKS
Alex: Thank you, Johnny. Hi, folks. I'm still in shock from yesterday's program. We had the potential of a $38,000 payoff for one of the players, but all three contestants missed the final, and Ashok picked up $3,400. But he's the returning champion. And he's accumulated a lot of money. So, Kristin and Brett, it's up to you to replace him as champion if you can. Good luck to all three. Here we go. Jeopardy! Round. And these categories...

JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
COMPUTING (5/5)
U.S. PLACE NAMES (2/5, including 1 missed Daily Double)
TV NEWS (4/5)
THANKS TO OUR "VET"s (5/5)
ENTERTAINMENTS (3/5)
SUPERSTARS OF SCIENCE (5/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Kristin: 11 R, 2 W
Ashok: 10 R, 2 W (including 1 DD)
Brett: 3 R (including 1 rebound), 0 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 5
Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $4,200



SCORES AT THE FIRST BREAK
Ashok: $1,800
Kristin: $1,800
Brett: $1,000

CONTESTANT INTERVIEWS



Alex: The first player we introduced on the program today has been told he looks like Alex Trebek. I haven't worn a mustache in a long, long time, but I can see the resemblance.

Brett: Well, actually, when people found out I was going to be on "Jeopardy!," a few friends said, "You know, you do look kind of like Alex Trebek." And maybe back when you had your mustache, but I take it as a compliment.

Alex: You do? Oh, thank you so much.

Brett: Yes.

Alex: I appreciate that.




Alex: Kristin Morgan, a strategic analyst for NASA. She's from Huntsville, Alabama. And you have done something that I am very, very envious about, and that is climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Kristin: Yeah.

Alex: Not just once.

Kristin: I climbed it twice.

Alex: And not alone.

Kristin: Not alone, No. I went with my father.

Alex: How long does it take?

Kristin: Um...depends. We took seven days. So, five days up and then two days down.

Alex: Was it exciting?

Kristin: Oh, it was fantastic.

Alex: I'm sure it was. I'm too old to do it.




Alex: Ashok Poozhikunnel is our champion. And are you still wearing that pink stopwatch that I noticed on one of your previous appearances?

Ashok: Yeah. So, my best friend, for a graduation gift, he got me a pink stopwatch on a gold chain, so I just wear it...

Alex: Whoa, that's a big gold chain.

[Laughter]

Ashok: Yes. So, it's completely ridiculous, and I just wear it just as a thank-you to him.

[Laughter]

Alex: What, are you sort of timing how long the program's gonna--it's a half-hour show, you know?

[Laughter]

Ashok: Minus commercials.

Alex: All right, let's get back into this. Alex--oh, no, I'm sorry. Brett, please make our next selection.

[Laughter]

JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Ashok found the Daily Double on the 29th clue. Ashok had $4,200, Kristin had $2,800, and Brett was at $2,400. Ashok wagered $4,000.

U.S. PLACE NAMES $1000: Warm Springs, Georgia's airport is named for him
(Ashok: Who is Jimmy Carter?)

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
ENTERTAINMENTS $800: In the '80s Photon was a chain of venues for this game inspired by "Star Wars"
(Kristin: What is Tron?)

ENTERTAINMENTS $1000: A saying in this circus activity is "the trouble is that the balls go where you throw them"

TV NEWS $1000: We're glad this CNN show hosted by Candy Crowley isn't just on once a year in January

U.S. PLACE NAMES $600: No shortage of U.S. islands called this; there are 162 besides the one that's home to Queens & Massapequa
(Ashok: What is... Manhattan?)

U.S. PLACE NAMES $800: (Sarah of the Clue Crew reports from Idaho.) This Idaho ski resort was developed by the Union Pacific Railroad & named by a press agent who brought Hollywood stars to popularize the area

SCORES AT THE END OF THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
Kristin: $2,800
Brett: $2,400
Ashok: $1,200

[Archivists]

DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
OUTLAWS (3/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
IN-LAWS (5/5)
WORDS FOUND BEFORE BEAR (4/5)
THE UNREAL McCOYS (5/5)
THE LONDON STAGE (4/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
"F"OOD LOVERS (4/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Kristin: 10 R (including 2 DDs), 2 W
Ashok: 8 R (including 1 rebound), 1 W
Brett: 7 R, 0 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 5
Double Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $8,800



FIRST DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Kristin snagged the next Daily Double on the 3rd clue. Ashok had $1,600, Kristin had $3,600, and Brett was at $2,400. Kristin wagered $1,400.

OUTLAWS $1200: The Younger brothers, standing, formed an outlaw alliance with these brothers seated in the photo here

SECOND DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
It was Kristin who snatched up the last Daily Double of the game on the 6th clue. Ashok had $1,600, Kristin had $6,200, and Brett was at $2,400. Kristin wagered $800.

THE LONDON STAGE $1200: In summer 2012 this play based on a movie about 2 British athletes at the 1924 Olympics was off & running

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND
"F"OOD LOVERS $1200: Focaccia & naan are types of this
(Kristin: What is bread?)

THE LONDON STAGE $2000: A 1991 production of "Three Sisters" featured these 2 daughters of Sir Michael, & their niece Jemma

WORDS FOUND BEFORE BEAR $2000: A tough lad in 1950s England was this type of "boy"
(Ashok: What's a Tommy boy?)

OUTLAWS $1600: "Bonanza" star Lorne Greene had a No. 1 hit about this outlaw, the "fastest gun in the West"

OUTLAWS $2000: Declared an outlaw by the feds, he & his "raiders" were made an official part of the Confederate Army in 1862

SCORES ENTERING FINAL JEOPARDY!
Brett: $12,800
Kristin: $9,800
Ashok: $6,400

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
CAPITAL CITIES

VENUSIAN MONOLOGUES/MARTIAN CHRONICLES
First equals twice third with second crushing third.
Brett: Wager $6,800--wagering any more risks falling behind Ashok's wager of $400.
Kristin: While a wager of all $9,800 may be a rational possibility (since it has the potential to tie Brett if you both get Final right), your more optimal choice is to wager $3,000.
Ashok: Wager all $6,400 if you have confidence in your Final-solving abilities or Kristin's wagering abilities. If neither, a wager of $400 is good for at least the extra prize potential of a second-place finish (if Brett misses Final) and can possibly score the win if Kristin goofs in wagering. Importantly, this latter wager ties Brett should Brett wager $6,800 but give the incorrect response.

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
These 2 world capitals are separated by only 250 miles of land & less than 1 degree of latitude, at 59º 17' & 59º 57' N.

FINAL SCORES
Ashok: $6,400 - $6,400 = $0 (What are Seoul and Pyongyang?) (3rd place: $1,000)
Kristin: $9,800 - $3,100 = $6,700 (What are Copenhagen) (New champion: $6,700)
Brett: $12,800 - $8,000 = $4,800 (What are ?) (2nd place: $2,000)

Total Potential Lach Trash: $13,000

GAME DYNAMICS


CORYAT SCORES
Brett: $12,800, 10 R, 0 W
Ashok: $10,400, 18 R, 3 W (including 1 DD)
Kristin: $10,000, 21 R (including 2 DDs), 4 W
Combined Coryat: $33,200

BATTING AVERAGES
Kristin: 21/60 = .350
Ashok: 18/59 = .305
Brett: 10/58 = .172
Team: 49/63 = .778

MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTING CLUES
THANKS TO OUR "VET"s $1000: Oy, it means to complain or someone who complains a lot
(Kristin: What is a kvetcher?)

"F"OOD LOVERS $2000: Eaten raw or cooked, this fern is named for its resemblance to part of a violin

WORDS FOUND BEFORE BEAR $800: 4-letter word of disdain; when doubled, it's a verb meaning to dismiss
(Ashok: What is [*]-[*]?)
(Alex: [Laughing] We'll accept it, yeah.)

IN-LAWS $1200: This Scot, the winner of the 2012 Indy 500, is the son-in-law of country superstar Naomi Judd
(Kristin: Who is Castroneves?)

IN-LAWS $2000: Charlie Chaplin's last father-in-law was this dramatist
(Alex: You got it with one minute to go.)

CORRECT RESPONSES
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
laser tag
juggling
State of the Union
Long Island
Sun Valley
the James brothers
Chariots of Fire
flatbread
Lynn & Vanessa Redgrave
Teddy boy
Johnny Ringo
William Quantrill
Stockholm & Oslo
kvetch
fiddleheads
pooh
(Dario) Franchitti
Eugene O'Neill

[JFanForever]

Rough game today. Only 14 right with 8 and 6, respectively.

It seemed rough on the contestants too. Just like with Ashok, I thought of Carter for the Daily Double clue.

Also, for the spam clue, I said junk mail. Could this be accepted as an alternate to spam?

My FJ guess was Moscow and Beijing, since their countries are separated from Mongolia.

[jlm1223]

I guessed Buenos Aires and Montevideo bc they are on opposite shores of the Rio de la Plata, didn't realize that the latitude coordinates were somewhere in the Northern Hemisphere.

They are closer to each other though than the right answers.

[Linear Gnome]

I would feel really bad for anyone who said Stockholm and Helsinki. They are separated by 247 miles (closer than Stockholm-Oslo) and less than 1 degree of latitude, but Helsinki is at 60 degrees 10 minutes.

(I said Oslo and Helsinki--world geography isn't one of my stronger categories.)

Good game and excellent bet by Kristin.

Good luck to everyone taking the J! test tonight!

[jeff6286]

Capital Cities
These 2 world capitals are separated by only 250 miles of land & less than 1 degree of latitude, at 59°17' & 59°57' N.

Spoiler

What are Oslo, Norway and Stockholm, Sweden? Ashok said Seoul and Pyong Yang; Kristin only had Copenhagen; Brett had no guess.

Brett Swartz: $12,800-$8,000=$4,800
Kristin Morgan: $9,800-$3,100=$6,700...now a 1-day champion with $6,700
Ashok Poozhikunnel: $6,400-$6,400=$0

[dhkendall]

I guessed Buenos Aires and Montevideo bc they are on opposite shores of the Rio de la Plata, didn't realize that the latitude coordinates were somewhere in the Northern Hemisphere.

They are closer to each other though than the right answers.

The key part was "land" (Buenos Aires and Montevideo are separated by water), which made me rule out Copenhagen (on an island). What did me in though, was the "250 miles" part; as I've mentioned before I'm terrible at estimating spatial distance, that seemed very close together, much closer than Oslo and Stockholm, although I knew to look on that part of the world. (Went withoscow and Tallinn, knowing it was wrong for several reasons (seem farther than 250, it's unlikely they'd have Tallinn on a FJ paired with another capital, etc)

Rough game today. Only 14 right with 8 and 6, respectively.

It seemed rough on the contestants too. Just like with Ashok, I thought of Carter for the Daily Double clue.

Also, for the spam clue, I said junk mail. Could this be accepted as an alternate to spam?

My FJ guess was Moscow and Beijing, since their countries are separated from Mongolia.

Even I know they're WAY more than 250 miles apart! However, it does make me think of another trivia question: what two capitals are the farthest apart of two countries that border each other? (Hint, it's not Moscow and Beijing)

Spoiler

Moscow and Pyongyang

[TenPoundHammer]

Nice bling, Ashok. Also loved Alex's "Alex…I mean, Brett."

Since when does arm wrestling involve straps?

Ran "Vet" and skunked TV News.

Long Island a TS? What the hell, players?

I didn't make the connection of "helpful" + "hospital" = Good Samaritan. All I could think of was St. Joseph.

0/5 in Outlaws. I clammed on $400, and knew $1600 from seeing Lorne Greene in the Joel Whitburn Hot Country Songs book, but was drawing a blank on the name. Also totally lost on all the In-Laws. So some coach I neither know nor care about is related to Obama. Big whoop.

Thought for sure I'd run Bear, but then they threw that mega obscure Teddy clue in at $2000.

"Wait, how is bread wrong? I see focaccia bread at Walmart all the time… Oh yeah, it begins with F. But how do you make bread begin with F?"

Totally arbitrary, asinine FJ! No way in heck are you getting that unless you're a freaking genius at calculating every place's latitude. I had no guess.

[ElendilPickle]

Rough game today. Only 14 right with 8 and 6, respectively.

It seemed rough on the contestants too. Just like with Ashok, I thought of Carter for the Daily Double clue.

Also, for the spam clue, I said junk mail. Could this be accepted as an alternate to spam?

My FJ guess was Moscow and Beijing, since their countries are separated from Mongolia.

I haven't watched tonight's game, but I killed it from the audience, including getting FJ right.

[econgator]

I would feel really bad for anyone who said Stockholm and Helsinki. They are separated by 247 miles (closer than Stockholm-Oslo) and less than 1 degree of latitude, but Helsinki is at 60 degrees 10 minutes.

Those two are separated by water (at least at that distance), but unless you know the exact location of the Scandinavian capitals, it's a toss-up (one which I lucked out on).

[cinemaniax7]

I would feel really bad for anyone who said Stockholm and Helsinki. They are separated by 247 miles (closer than Stockholm-Oslo) and less than 1 degree of latitude, but Helsinki is at 60 degrees 10 minutes.

I went with Stockholm and Helsinki, but everyone in my living room agreed it could just as easily be Oslo and Stockholm. Unfortunately, this broke my string of 19 straight correct FJs.

[BADuBois]

Meh game for me, not too sure why. Felt sorry for Brett, who was at zero at the first commercial break, but then was rooting for him as he took the lead in the last minute or so. Alas, FJ was a killer for all of them.

Maybe Ashok should have kept his chain and clock hidden away... he never really seemed to gain his footing after that. I believe you could sense his frustration as the game proceeded.

Swept the Outlaw category... professional courtesy, of course.

FJ wasn't an Instaget for me, but I managed to puzzle it out... 59 degrees says pretty far north to me, and with the capitols being close together, not sure why, I zeroed in on Scandinavia, and from there, picked Oslo and Stockholm. But pretty rugged, no matter what.

Congrats to Kristin, who works for NASA, one of my fave Federal agencies.

[jeff6286]

A "strategic analyst" for NASA? Does that mean Kristin is literally a rocket scientist? I also thought she bore a striking resemblance to former Saturday Night Live star Kristen Wiig, and not just because they share the same first name. Did anyone else see that, or am I crazy. As already mentioned, excellent bet by Kristin in FJ. She was positioned perfectly to be able to cover an all-in bet by Ashok and still have enough left to win on a triple stumper, and she did so.

I was kind of hoping that Ashok would be champion forever. 5 games played, all 61 clues revealed in every single one of them. He kept the game moving, and maybe it rubbed off a bit on his opponents so they kept it moving as well. He definitely seemed like a player that runs really hot and cold on the buzzer, as for the second day in a row, he seemed to disappear for a long stretch of DJ, but then came to life at the end and got enough clues to give himself a chance to win in FJ, and he would have done so with a correct response.

I agree that it would be a tough break for someone to guess Stockholm/Helsinki, with a similar distance and similar latitudes, but of course that must be why they put the "250 miles of land" bit in there. Tallinn, Estonia to Riga, Latvia would not be a bad guess either, with Tallinn at about 59°N and Riga at 57°, about 200 miles apart. There is almost a clear path of land between the two, but the Gulf of Riga does just slight stretch between them.

Like yesterday's, I wasn't the least bit confident that I had the correct response, but I knew that my answer made sense and at least had a chance. I knew that 59° was really far north, and it almost definitely be around either Scandinavia or the Baltic. I know the order of Norway/Sweden/Finland, so I quickly narrowed it down to Oslo/Stockholm or Stockholm/Helsinki. I don't think it occurred to me that Stockholm/Helsinki might have water between them. I think the fact that Norway-Sweden used to be a united kingdom may have steered me toward picking that combination, even though that isn't really much of a reason. I guess it might be good to remember for future reference that Norway/Sweden share a border that runs nearly the entire length of the 2 countries, while Finland/Russia are similarly "paired up".

[StrangerCoug]

I answered with the same thing Ashok did. Shame to see him go home—I'm waiting to see the next Ken Jennings.

[ej!]

I would like to thank my Norwegian and Swedish ancestral ghosts for helping me with tonight's FJ

[alietr]

Crud. Seoul is only 37.58 degrees North. I thought it was far south of 59 degrees, and shouldn't have gone with it as a result. General rule of thumb: places in Asia are much farther south than you would think; places in Europe are much farther north.

[marpocky]

My FJ guess was Moscow and Beijing, since their countries are separated from Mongolia.

Even I know they're WAY more than 250 miles apart! However, it does make me think of another trivia question: what two capitals are the farthest apart of two countries that border each other? (Hint, it's not Moscow and Beijing)

Spoiler

Moscow and Pyongyang

Actually, it's

Spoiler

Brasilia and Paris

[marpocky]

Totally arbitrary, asinine FJ! No way in heck are you getting that unless you're a freaking genius at calculating every place's latitude. I had no guess.

Or, unless you have a pretty good idea of how far north 59 degrees is (the Arctic Circle is somewhere around 66), and realize it pretty much has to be Scandinavia. Then you rule out any combo that requires crossing water.

Crud. Seoul is only 37.58 degrees North. I thought it was far south of 59 degrees, and shouldn't have gone with it as a result. General rule of thumb: places in Asia are much farther south than you would think; places in Europe are much farther north.

I wondered if someone would say that, but isn't the (approximate) latitude of Seoul and Pyongyang fairly well known? The 38th parallel being the (approximate) dividing line between the Koreas.

[bpmod]

but isn't the (approximate) latitude of Seoul and Pyongyang fairly well known? The 38th parallel being the (approximate) dividing line between the Koreas.

Stop 'em at the thirty-eighth parallel
Blast those yellow reds to hell

Brian

[TenPoundHammer]

Totally arbitrary, asinine FJ! No way in heck are you getting that unless you're a freaking genius at calculating every place's latitude. I had no guess.

Or, unless you have a pretty good idea of how far north 59 degrees is (the Arctic Circle is somewhere around 66), and realize it pretty much has to be Scandinavia. Then you rule out any combo that requires crossing water.

Because everyone totally knows what degree of latitude every freaking country passes through.