StevenH: Congrats to Dave! Way to represent the A-T-L!!!! I'll be rooting for you in the semis!
Thanks so much! I'm delighted to have advanced in the tournament, particularly against such tough competition. I can honestly say there's not one person in the field I didn't want to win the whole thing. Now, mind you, there's one person in particular I'm rooting for.
StevenH: Dave almost got into trouble with negging, too, but I am glad that he was able to recover
Yes I did, and that's the thing I really tried to focus on with my training for the Tournament. Nevertheless I missed five in this game. One was a DD, one was "globalization," but the other three were just me being a little too guess happy.
Everybody I've ever met: microwave
Yeah, yeah. I tried to get everyone at my viewing party to cover their ears before that one. No dice.
MarkBarrett: Nice get by Dave with Sullivan for the WWII brothers.
Thanks! I grew up in Sullivan County, and so I think that's one reason their name has stuck with me over the years.
Johnblue: "Your Highness" is one flick I've never heard of. Is it animated?
Nope; it's a 2011 stoner flick. Different meaning of "highness" altogether.
Golf: you answer FJ's correctly in your sleep
If only. I'm a little better than 50%, both as a contestant and in training on old FJs from the Archive. I'm 2/5 in the quarterfinals, blanking out and not being able to pull the name of Ramses in time, guessing Guggenheim instead of MOMA, and being clueless on Yerevan. I'd much rather neutralize Final Jeopardy, either by locking the game or ending up right behind the leader, much like Ashok did to me.
Golf: But shouldn't the players realize at some point during the game that the clues are not of typical ToC quality, rather more like regular games and therefore scores across the board will be higher?
I think that's something that's easier to judge at home than it is on stage. The first time it crossed my mind that these boards might be easier than I expected was one particular clue in the very last game of the Tournament (no spoiler: everybody stuck around for the finale).
falsifieddocuments: did the producers let you watch all the semifinal games, or did they make a policy change after the teen tournament?
Yes, all the players were in the audience during the semifinals.