Wednesday, April 2, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[seaborgium]

The day this week's episodes taped, I had a team at O'Brien's that included myself, Jeanie, Colby, Stephanie, and her husband. The max team size (to be eligible for the prizes) is six, and so we had room for one more. I stopped checking for messages from Stephanie regarding filling that last space, and filled out our ranks with Mark May, stalwart of the quiz and its voice on Twitter. Stephanie, as it turned out, had messaged me about including Russ on our team, and I didn't find out until they showed up. I had to apologetically turn Russ away, and now I feel less bad about it because he won!

We're 12/13 for BotD games being won by a ToC winner. This means that at least two of the QF matches are guaranteed to be stacked with three ToC champs (such a matchup has never happened before).

I was thinking Larissa would go for $6,000 on the last DD she hit. I can't say that would have made a difference, since Russ well could have bet more in turn on his. But maybe she would have gotten under the wire if she had rounded up from $3,600 to $4,000...

FJ was a no-go for me. I was stuck on Genghis Khan and was sure the year was too late, but I couldn't think of any marauding Asian leaders in the appropriate time frame. Then Alex said Europe and I realized I'd been going about it all wrong (but without the clue still in front of me, couldn't get to Ivan). That drops me below 50%, the day after my record for preliminary round FJs went to 6/12.

[DHicton]

I thought Larissa's getting "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" on the clue about the ailanthus was outstandingly impressive.

[Onairb]

This thread is starting to sound like Television Without Pity.

Obnoxious? Or non-existent within 30 days?

[JeopRDFan]

Fun, fast-moving game with a lot of sass, and I crashed and burned on FJ. Once again, the answer was there if you did the math... because my gut guess of Genghis Khan was wrong, wrong, wrong.

To quote the great Shatner: "Khaaaaaaan!"

Ha, ha! Good one. I also picked Ghengis Khan to have something, but was pretty sure I was off a few hundred years.

My heart... it breaks.

Larissa gets shot down by a royalty FJ clue for the second straight game. So crushing. But it was great to see one of my favorite players of all time again.

Oh well... now it's on to tomorrow, when I get to see the guy that is responsible for me watching this show for almost a decade. Can't wait!

Same. She is one of my favorite players as well and her original run really hooked me on the show.

[seaborgium]

Then shame on Maggie for not picking Runsvold. If she needs an eye candy pick, I'll take Runsvold's 4 wins over Kavanaugh's 8 anyway.

And Mark won more in his 4 than Tom did in his 8!

[JeopRDFan]

I thought Larissa's getting "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" on the clue about the ailanthus was outstandingly impressive.

I thought so as well, you could almost hear the wheels turning. One of my favorite movies of the 40's, but I don't recall the species of the tree being named, perhap it was in the novel.

[yclept]

Of all of the people in the tournament, the one person I didn't want to see lose in the preliminaries was Larissa. After the KJ run to glory, I stopped watching the show for a while except for the UTOC. Decided to tune in one night, and it was Larissa's first game. I was so impressed that my wife & I started DVRing Jeopardy nightly and we haven't missed a show since. The way she lost in her TOC and how heartbreaking it was made me root for her even more last night. It would have been easier if she clearly wasn't the best player during the match. Potential QF oppponents are probably a bit relieved she won't be there. Nothing against Russ, really - he did well to put himself in position. But damn, I was hoping Larissa would go to that $800 clue when she had a chance.

Not at all surprised by her FJ wager...there are certain people in this tourney who you just expect to always bet on themselves, and we know Larissa is one of those people.

[Bamaman]

I was glad Russ won.

However, I agree his DD bet wasn't very good. He is out no matter what if he is wrong. He can't catch up even if he doubles up, but as was pointed out he ran the risk of getting crushed if Larissa grabs the last $400 on the board. I disagree that the only logical DD bets are everything or $5, but this was a time to go big. Leave a few bucks behind for FJ face time, but that's about it.

I think he meant it as a joke, but the comment about Alex's suit was very tasteless. I didn't see his original run, so I can't really comment on his worthiness of making the field over Joon or Terry, whom I did see.

If they wanted another white dude, how did Stefan not make the cut? He was a five timer, a TOC finalist and seemed to have a pretty high Q rating. Could his presence here have worked against him?

[earendel]

Got Ivan the Terrible from 453 years ago and I thought Tartarstan was in Russia.

That was my reasoning as well - I flirted with Peter the Great but then realized he was from the 1700s.

[StevenH]

Yes, for all we know Tom was in all along and it was Keith Whitener that moved up to make the field. We won't know how many points Keith scored for his "I love you, Rachel" FJ! response in his semifinal game. Since Stephanie was a lock with her 7 wins the powers may have felt Keith should be there too since he also won 7 and a tad more loot.

I was thinking that Keith was only picked because he was the first runner up in the most recent ToC, kind of like how Brad Rutter was probably only picked for the Million Dollar Masters tournament because he was the reigning ToC winner. I have been wondering who would have been out of the field if Madden had played. My guess would be Keith, and then possibly someone like Cora Peck, Kara Spak, Erin McLean, Lisa Klink, or Liz Murphy would have gotten Maria Wenglinsky's spot to keep the 2006 field at 3 representatives. It's hard to say, though.

[StevenH]

I thought Larissa's getting "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" on the clue about the ailanthus was outstandingly impressive.

Yes, that was an amazing pull. The best that I could come up with was To the Lighthouse.

[alietr]

Mark, why do you think Tom was chosen? I can understand someone with iffy credentials being chosen because of demographics, but Tom? David Madden would've been pretty much an automatic choice if he were eligible, so I presume contestant #14 was his replacement. This seemed the perfect opportunity to put in a Terry Linwood or a Joon Pahk or a Liz Murphy. Instead they replaced Madden either--presumably--with Kavanaugh or Whitener, two white males, one of whom had a long run like Madden and one of whom plays aggressively like Madden. Just seems strange to me.

The quality of the opponents he beat. Duh.

[slam]

I've been pretty sure about the eventual outcome of this game ever since this happened a couple of weeks ago...

Congratulations Russ. Good luck in the quarterfinals.

This seems like a brand new, never thought of before corollary to Slam's Rule. Perhaps we should call it Spam's Rule.

Interesting insight. Presumably that post was after the taping of last night's game?

[Vermonter]

More to the point--they made Tom Nissley beg for votes and picked Tom as an automatic qualifier?

Yeah, if they were going to pick a white guy, I would have thought they'd pick Nissley over Whitener or Kavanaugh.

My understanding is they wanted to fill the "Keith W" demographic. Unfortunately, they didn't pick me.

[slam]

I was glad Russ won.

However, I agree his DD bet wasn't very good. He is out no matter what if he is wrong. He can't catch up even if he doubles up, but as was pointed out he ran the risk of getting crushed if Larissa grabs the last $400 on the board. I disagree that the only logical DD bets are everything or $5, but this was a time to go big. Leave a few bucks behind for FJ face time, but that's about it.

I think he meant it as a joke, but the comment about Alex's suit was very tasteless. I didn't see his original run, so I can't really comment on his worthiness of making the field over Joon or Terry, whom I did see.

If they wanted another white dude, how did Stefan not make the cut? He was a five timer, a TOC finalist and seemed to have a pretty high Q rating. Could his presence here have worked against him?

Stefan lost out because he cut his hair. Samson effect.

[Vermonter]

[tinfoil hat]

i'm convinced the "453" in the clue was a red herring to lead you to the Ottoman Empire, since it began in 1453. That must have been why I, like Larissa, said Suleiman.

[/tinfoil hat]

[georgespelvin]

I've been pretty sure about the eventual outcome of this game ever since this happened a couple of weeks ago...

Congratulations Russ. Good luck in the quarterfinals.

This seems like a brand new, never thought of before corollary to Slam's Rule. Perhaps we should call it Spam's Rule.

Interesting insight. Presumably that post was after the taping of last night's game?

Yep. Russ posted this a week and a half ago, two months after the taping.

[Vanya]

Got Ivan the Terrible from 453 years ago and I thought Tartarstan was in Russia. It's too bad Larissa lost. I wasn't at all surprised by Russ's bet, though.

Tatarstan. Tartar is a sauce.

I don't get the outrage over Tom's interview (or Justin Trudeau's comment, either). At worst it was just not funny. And I guess it's ok to hate on someone generally unliked, but y'all get upset over the hate on Chu. I'm more outraged by all the "white guy" comments here. Is there a racial quota? Racism itt.

[John Boy]

Got Ivan the Terrible from 453 years ago and I thought Tartarstan was in Russia. It's too bad Larissa lost. I wasn't at all surprised by Russ's bet, though.

Pretty much my logic too, although I was certain Tatarstan was in at least the former USSR if not present day Russia, and Ivan was the only Czar I knew from around that period.

My logic too, although I came up with Peter the Great, who came along not after.

At least in terms of getting the right time period I was much closer than the guesses of those three contestants. Never thought of Ivan.

Seemed like an awfully, awfully difficult FJ, much to the chagrin of Larissa and her fans.

[John Boy]

I definitely thought Russ might wager $0 in Final.

I figured he would go for a bet of $600 or less, for exactly the reason that played out. The leader makes the $1 lockout wager and misses. He wins whether or not he's right. The one piece of strategy that a bazillion regular contestants can't seem to grasp. Good for him.