Thursday, October 16, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[evanakm]

If there's a term for spending 10 seconds thinking "what the heck are they even asking?," and then instagetting it once the clue is properly parsed, then that's what I did.

[psgola]

Late in Double Jeopardy, I was expecting Jim and Chris to go for the higher dollar values to catch up but instead stayed with the feel good movies category and smaller amount.

Best category for me was Mad Max Palindrome 4/5. Lach Trash: John Mayer, Kodak, Renner, Solos

FJ, I had no clue.

[opusthepenguin]

I liked John's stalling technique; my girlfriend was pissed off by it.

While we're on the subject, when are you going to ask her to marry you?

[MarkBarrett]

John went into his prevent defense a little early in my opionion. Yes, he can drag out clue selections and try to run out the clock, but he was doing it when it was not even necessary. Jim did not give me the impression that he was going to break the lock even if all 30 clues played.

There seemed to be an edit on the Isis clue, so I'm guessing something was said about John making Osiris a goddess?

John needs to work on his famous Mr. Ts as Tilden and Talleyrand are good ones to know for high values. I was happy to see him take a DD wager up to 3000 and I don't blame him all all for only doing 1000 in Social Science Books. The best move was jumping the 1200 in that category to find that last DD.

The FJ! clue was a good one to have an instaget with so much to write. Any wrong guesses besides Heidi, having nothing or dismissing the correct response to leave nothing? Getting the right author with Verne and doing 20,000... instead would sting.

[cosmos]

John reminds me of the KC Royals. Take the lead in the first six innings and prevent the opposition from scoring in the last three.

[Johnblue]

I liked John's stalling technique; my girlfriend was pissed off by it.

I predict if he goes on any kind of a run, he will draw the wrath of irritated viewers in the same manner Arthur Chu fell into disfavor.

Oh he's not that awful! I have to admit I didn't notice the stalling but I was cleaning up a bit while the show was on. I'm sure it'll irritate me no end tomorrow. 3rd FJ in a row that I've missed. I thought Around the World in 80 Days but I didn't think I'd be correct.

[Spaceman Spiff]

FJ was an instaget.

I wonder how many folks got it right either from this, or from its Filmation descendant?

[OSXpert]

I liked John's stalling technique; my girlfriend was pissed off by it.

While we're on the subject, when are you going to ask her to marry you?

Uncomfortably enough, my name IS John, but..... I.... am going to pick...... lets see.....

[dhkendall]

3/5 in Music. I know nothing about Good Charlotte or John Mayer other than that they exist. Also, that's at least the fourth clue they've had on Daft Punk. Blech.

For those who have just started theorizing that TPH is really Alex Trebek (based on a couple of hilarious posts in yesterday's thread), I think this is your smoking gun. Welcome to the board, Alex.

I liked John's stalling technique; my girlfriend was pissed off by it.

I predict if he goes on any kind of a run, he will draw the wrath of irritated viewers in the same manner Arthur Chu fell into disfavor.

"Fell into"??? I get the impression that people either loved or hated Arthur from the first moment they saw him, and never changed their mind.

[This Is Kirk!]

3/5 in Music. I know nothing about Good Charlotte or John Mayer other than that they exist. Also, that's at least the fourth clue they've had on Daft Punk. Blech.

For those who have just started theorizing that TPH is really Alex Trebek (based on a couple of hilarious posts in yesterday's thread), I think this is your smoking gun. Welcome to the board, Alex.

Not sure about that. I agree with TPH's sentiment and I'm a little bit younger than Alex!

And stalling is bush league.

[fowlerism]

Stalling is poor sportsmanship; or, perhaps more accurately, stalling is gamesmanship. Legal, but disrespectful.

A much more preferable way to prevent your opponents for catching up is to select top-row clues in the waning moments of the game.

[Onairb]

FJ was an instaget.

I wonder how many folks got it right either from this, or from its Filmation descendant?

It was the Filmation cartoon that did it for me...plus 'Our guide, Lars, and his duck, Gertrude.'

[yclept]

John reminds me of old-school college basketball, where some teams had the strategy to just hold the ball before the invention of the shot clock. Perfectly legal, perfectly sound strategy....but painful to watch on TV when, as a viewer, you want to see action. In the end, the two worlds don't match up: His goal is to win using any tactic he feels is best. Our goal is to watch a fast-paced trivia contest where clues are called and read very quickly.

Here is the issue I have with him, though: He seems to be a smart champion who is quick on the buzzer. There is really no need for this tactic. His best strategy with a big lead is to find the DDs (which he did), then shift to the lower $ amounts on the board.

Personally, the bouncing doesn't bother me at all - the interesting thing is that those who bounce around all over the place seem to be quite quick at selecting categories.

I already forget her name - but give me players like he girl last week who zipped through all the clues on the board...it is simply more entertaining to watch.

[dpj626]

Why am I not entitled to be annoyed by something that's a fine tactic, such as stalling or the Forrest bounce? (For the record, I'm less annoyed by the Forrest bounce than by stalling. Stalling tends to reduce the number of clues seen, which is automatically a strike against it from a viewer's perspective.)

Bingo.

Early in the rounds he is reasonably efficient in his clue selecting. Often just calling the dollar amount (thumbs up).
Three clues left and it's...... Let's________________go__________withhhhhh____________(insert category)______________for_______$1200.

Annoying "Lets.... Do.... <category> for.... $1200, Alex." Annoying Groucho raising of his eyebrows during intro and after Final Jeopardy! I think he got distracted bouncing all over the board looking for DDs. But he is a decent player.

[mennoknight]

Stalling is what I would call a "dick move." Yeah, you can do it. Yeah there's no rule against it. But - you're being kind of a dick.

[Woppy T]

What schools have graduation in August?

[John Boy]

FJ was an instaget.

I wonder how many folks got it right either from this, or from its Filmation descendant?

Well, many thanks for this trip down memory lane.

When I saw this clue I thought it might very well be another TS that I would snag because (being of a certain age) I actually saw this movie in first release. Remembered Pat Boone, the volcano, the dimetrodon, much more. Thought I mis-remembered James Mason, so was glad to see him because it means my memory is better than my wife thinks.

I was quite shocked to see two people get this right.

[Spaceman Spiff]

When I saw this clue I thought it might very well be another TS that I would snag because (being of a certain age) I actually saw this movie in first release. Remembered Pat Boone, the volcano, the dimetrodon, much more. Thought I mis-remembered James Mason, so was glad to see him because it means my memory is better than my wife thinks.

I was quite shocked to see two people get this right.

Something else that stuck in my head, after the fact: Mrs. Spiff and I went to Europe recently via Icelandair (very nice experience, BTW), where all the flights connect through Reykjavik. One of the neat things the airline does is that you can extend your "layover" for up to a week and it still count as one booking/ticket so you can do sightseeing in Iceland. Unfortunately, I didn't know this when I booked it or we would have stayed one night just to say we were there and see a few sites. But one thing they advertised on the plane was this tour, straight out of Jules Verne:

http://www.insidethevolcano.com/

Looks cool, but I don't think Mrs. Spiff would have opted for it. And I can't say I would have handled it well, either!

[opusthepenguin]

John reminds me of old-school college basketball, where some teams had the strategy to just hold the ball before the invention of the shot clock.

That's a long time to hold the ball!

(P.S. Next time, say "until" instead of "before". It's a better setup that way.)

[opusthepenguin]

Here is the issue I have with him, though: He seems to be a smart champion who is quick on the buzzer. There is really no need for this tactic. His best strategy with a big lead is to find the DDs (which he did), then shift to the lower $ amounts on the board.

But then someone rings in on one of those low dollar amount clues and picks a $2000 clue next.

Put me down as someone who doesn't mind this tactic when it's clearly being employed strategically. I get a little bugged that we don't see all the clues. But that's balanced by the drama, watching to see if the gambit pays off. Unless there's a category I particularly like still on the board. In that case, step it up, slappy!