Tuesday, November 3, 2015 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Archivists]

Game Recap for Show #7162, 2015-11-03

CONTESTANTS
Lisa Price, a recent college graduate from Columbus, Ohio
Ryan Mewett, a Naval officer originally from Plano, Texas
Marcus Lewis, a tutor from Brooklyn, New York (whose 1-day cash winnings total $14,399)

OPENING REMARKS
Alex: Thank you, Johnny. Hi, everyone. As you regular fans of Jeopardy! know, there are three elements that lead to success on our program. One is knowledge. The other is speed on that signaling device, and the third element is savvy wagering on Daily Doubles and certainly in Final Jeopardy! that helped Marcus become champion on yesterday's program. Will it help Lisa and Ryan today? We'll start finding out right now. Good luck, players. Here we go. Here are the categories that await you...

JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
THE CIVIL WAR (4/5)
COUNTRY BORDERS (5/5)
D.C. TV (4/5)
MARY, MARY (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
QUITE CONTRARY (3/5)
WHAT DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW? (2/3)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Marcus: 8 R, 0 W
Ryan: 11 R (including 1 DD), 5 W
Lisa: 4 R (including 2 rebounds), 0 W

Clues revealed: 28
Triple Stumpers: 5
Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $4,600



SCORES AT THE FIRST BREAK
Marcus: $3,000
Ryan: $1,000
Lisa: $800

CONTESTANT INTERVIEWS



Alex: Lisa Price is not wearing them today, but she makes it a definite point when she is wearing socks, to not have them match.

Lisa: No, at this point, it's become kind of superstitious, like something bad will happen if I do wear matching socks, so...

Alex: How did this get started? I get a feeling that you wound up doing this because of the same problems that I have. My washing machine eats socks.

Lisa: Yeah.

Alex: So I have singles of different socks.

Lisa:Yeah, when I was younger, when I was a teenager, I had lots of socks with, like, designs on them, you know, like little animals and things, and you lose one...

Alex: Mm-hmm.

Lisa: So--but I would try to be really clever and, like, link them together, you know, like, maybe the theme of today's socks is farm animals, and I got cows on one feet and chickens on the other, or, you know, different argyle patterns, so...

Alex: Yeah.

Lisa: But no socks today.

Alex: It's nice being weird, isn't it?

Lisa: I try. [Chuckles]




Alex: Ryan Mewett, naval officer from Plano, Texas. Executive officer on a nuclear submarine. Which one?

Ryan: I am. USS Columbus, based in Pearl Harbor.

Alex: Pearl Harbor. Where do you guys go on patrol these days?

Ryan: Typically to the western Pacific, but I just got back from a deployment recently in which we went to the Caribbean, so that was a new one for me.

Alex: That's not bad. You get time ashore on, uh...

Ryan: Uh, we got a little time in Guantanamo Bay, which is...

[Laughter]

Ryan: About how it sounds.

Alex: Yeah, that's a fun place to get time ashore, right.




Alex: Marcus Lewis is a tutor, ladies and gentlemen. He is our champion on Jeopardy! and he has a fear about appearing on this program, and it has to do with this part of the show?

Marcus: Yes, my fear is that I end up on, like, a viral video of, like, boringest or worst Jeopardy! interview ever, 'cause I feel like when things go viral on Jeopardy! it's not to show someone who looks really good. It's always to make fun of them.

Alex: Aha.

Marcus: So, yes. And now, see, I'm failing at this one, so it probably worked. [Laughs]

[Laughter]

Alex: It'll be out there by, oh, in about an hour and a half, I think.

JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Ryan found the Daily Double on the 19th clue. Marcus had $3,000, Ryan had $1,800, and Lisa was at $1,600. Ryan made it a True Daily Double, wagering $1,800.

MARY, MARY $1000: One of the first sci-fi writers; her novels include 1826's "The Last Man", about a world destroyed by plague

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
D.C. TV $1000: 4 Republican senators live together in this Amazon series created by Garry Trudeau

THE CIVIL WAR $1000: In November 1861 this Union man became general in chief of all armies; by March 1862, he lost the gig
(Ryan: Who is Scott?)

QUITE CONTRARY $600: Activist Hu Jia is not popular with China's brass & is considered one of these, from the Latin for "to sit apart"

QUITE CONTRARY $1000: 13-letter word for an English Protestant not in the Church of England, or one who eschews customs or fads
(Ryan: What is anti-establishment?)

WHAT DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW? $1000: Big Daddy, Tokyo Long White, Walla Walla Sweet
(Ryan: What are carrots?)

SCORES AT THE END OF THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
Marcus: $3,800
Ryan: $3,000
Lisa: $2,400

[Archivists]

DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
ADVENTURE & EXPLORATION (4/4)
MUSICAL QUOTES (5/5)
CEREMONIES (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
ONOMATOPOEIA (2/4)
SHORT STORIES (2/5, including 1 missed Daily Double)
SHOW "TIME" (5/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Marcus: 11 R (including 1 rebound), 2 W (including 1 DD)
Ryan: 9 R (including 1 rebound and 1 DD), 1 W
Lisa: 3 R, 2 W

Clues revealed: 28
Triple Stumpers: 4
Double Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $5,200



FIRST DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Marcus snagged the next Daily Double on the 6th clue. Marcus had $8,600, Ryan had $3,000, and Lisa was at $3,600. Marcus wagered $3,000.

SHORT STORIES $1200: This title critter nearly drowns at the beginning of his tale but ends up taking down Nag, a nasty cobra
(Marcus: Who is Baloo?)

SECOND DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
It was Ryan who snatched up the last Daily Double of the game on the 17th clue. Marcus had $8,800, Ryan had $9,000, and Lisa was at $3,600. Ryan made it a True Daily Double, wagering $9,000.

CEREMONIES $1600: For almost 1,000 years, this official has presided over the coronation of a British sovereign

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND
SHORT STORIES $400: This jumping Twain creature ends up putting on a lot of weight-- he goes about "five pound!" & that ain't right

ONOMATOPOEIA $800: This double-talk word can be heard medically in the heart

SHORT STORIES $2000: This creepy W.W. Jacobs object had "a spell on it so that three separate men could each have three wishes from it"

ONOMATOPOEIA $2000: Now it can mean a brief setback as well as a brief spasm

SCORES ENTERING FINAL JEOPARDY!
Ryan: $19,200
Marcus: $14,400
Lisa: $2,000

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
20th CENTURY BUSINESSMEN

VENUSIAN MONOLOGUES/MARTIAN CHRONICLES
Three-quarters (exactly) for first place. Shore's Conjecture.
Ryan: Wager $9,600. If Marcus bets to tie your $0 bet with a wager of $4,800, Marcus would fall to $9,600 on a miss, and would beat you out by a dollar if you were to bet to cover and were also stumped. If you're a fan of shoretegic wagering, you might risk $5,601.
Marcus: Your best bet is $4,800.
Lisa: Too bad for you, you've got less money than the difference between Ryan's and Marcus's scores, so unless they both blunder, you're competing for second place and have no hopes of first. You can wager as much as you feel like, but since you'll have better chances of advancing to second place if you have a larger sum left over on a Triple Stumper, a wager of $0 is a perfectly acceptable bet.

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
In 1915 he dropped bomb-shaped cardboard leaflets on Seattle to promote military aviation

FINAL SCORES
Lisa: $2,000 + $1,998 = $3,998 (Who is Boeing?) (3rd place)
Marcus: $14,400 + $14,400 = $28,800 (Who is Doug Boeing?) (2nd place)
Ryan: $19,200 + $9,601 = $28,801 (Who is Boeing?) (New champion: $28,801)
(Alex: And the man's company is still involved in aviation in Seattle.)

Total Potential Lach Trash: $9,800

GAME DYNAMICS


CORYAT SCORES
Marcus: $17,400, 19 R, 2 W (including 1 DD)
Ryan: $11,000, 20 R (including 2 DDs), 6 W
Lisa: $2,000, 7 R, 2 W
Combined Coryat: $30,400

BATTING AVERAGES
Ryan: 21/60 = .350
Marcus: 20/59 = .339
Lisa: 8/58 = .138
Team: 49/63 = .778

MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTING CLUES
D.C. TV $600: Agent 86 & Agent 99 worked for the Washington-based intelligence agency CONTROL on this spy sitcom
(Ryan: What is The Man From U.N.C.L.E.?)

THE CIVIL WAR $800: A favorite of Lee, this general actually favored preservation of the Union, but went with Virginia after secession

COUNTRY BORDERS $800: On its west, Guatemala; on its northwest, Mexico
(Ryan: What is Honduras?)

QUITE CONTRARY $800: This long word is found before "opposed" to refer to contrary opinions, or the two geometric points seen here
(Alex: You got it, with less than a minute to go now.)

WHAT DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW? $600: Amaize, Golden Bantam, Illini Xtra Sweet
[End-of-round signal sounds]

CEREMONIES $2000: Healing ceremonies in some Native American tribes include drinking a tea made of this mescaline-containing cactus
(Ryan: What is mezcal?)
(Lisa: What is a saguaro?)

ADVENTURE & EXPLORATION $1200: In 1694 Joliet explored in this "dogged" region of northeast Canada between Hudson Bay & the Atlantic
(Lisa: What is Newfoundland?)
(Marcus: What is Newfoundland & Labrador?)

ADVENTURE & EXPLORATION $1600: "Deepsea Challenge 3D" puts this director in front of the camera, documenting his descent to 7 miles under the Pacific
(Alex: You are right, with less than a minute now.)

ADVENTURE & EXPLORATION $2000: Sputnik 2 carried the first living thing to go into orbit, a dog named this
[End-of-round signal sounds]

CORRECT RESPONSES
Mary Shelley
Alpha House
George McClellan
a dissident
non-conformist
onions
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
the archbishop of Canterbury
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
a murmur
the monkey's paw
hiccup
William Boeing
Get Smart
Stonewall Jackson
Belize
diametrically
corns
peyote
Labrador
James Cameron
Laika

[theFJguy]

20th Century Businessmen

In 1915, he dropped bomb-shaped cardboard leaflets on Seattle to promote military aviation.

Spoiler

Who is Boeing?

Lisa Price: $2,000+$1,998=$3,998

Marcus Lewis: $14,400+$14,400=$28,800

Ryan Mewett: $19,200+$9,601=now a 1-day champion with $28,801

[econgator]

Of course, I'm rooting for the Navy guy.

Seattle = Boeing. Done.

[Abraxas]

Congrats to Ryan on his win. I had 35 correct responses including three triple stumpers: George McLellan, dissident, and The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. I also got the missed DD of Rikki Tikki Tavi. Instaget FJ.

[econgator]

George McLellan

McClellan.

[hbomb1947]

So Alex opens the show by doubling down on his canard from the end of last night's episode, stating that "savvy wagering . . . helped Marcus become champion" last night.

Marcus, of course, did not make a savvy wager on tonight's FJ, but it ended up not mattering with the triple-get (which was also an instaget for me) - and a big part of the credit for the new champion's lead going into FJ was his ballsy DD wager. After all the ridiculous $1,000 DD wagers we've seen recently, it was really nice to be treated to the spectacle of a $9,000 all-in wager.

During the commercial break I'd written down names of famous 20th century businessmen like Rockefeller, Getty, Hughes, and Ford; and the correct response ended up being a guy who I had never realized was an actual person. However, spotted "aviation" and "Seattle" it was pretty easy to get to Boeing, and to figure that it must have been an eponymous company. Fun fact: William Edward Boeing's birth name was Wilhelm Böing (his father was a German immigrant), but the aviation entrepreneur Anglicized his name prior to enrolling at Yale.

LT with McClellan, dissident, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," "murmur" (I wasn't going to miss that one after my own heart murmur led to my surgery in September); and "the Monkey's Paw."

So we had a clue about an Amazon TV series. This reminded me of a comment someone recently made on these boards about how TV has become too fragmented these days and it seems impossible to keep up with all the shows on all the different platforms. We've come a long way from J!'s inaugural season in 1984 when it was just the Big 3 broadcast networks producing original series.

[9021amyers]

Hey, everybody! It's a well-played game of Jeopardy!

Loved Ryan's going for the true DD, after so many horrible wagering scenarios we've seen lately. Marcus was better on the board than he was: he needed to go big when he had the chance to stretch his lead, and it paid off. I'm sure he was incredibly relieved when the final clue was revealed; no way he was going to miss that one.

[Category 13]

So Alex opens the show by doubling down on his canard from the end of last night's episode, stating that "savvy wagering . . . helped Marcus become champion" last night.
Marcus, of course, did not make a savvy wager on tonight's FJ, but it ended up not mattering with the triple-get

Yep. I was expecting a $4800 wager but it turns out that Marcus didn't possess the wagering savvy Alex gave him credit for.
It would have been cool if Ryan had opted for the tie-breaker.

[The Talking Mime]

That's night #2 in a row that I've missed an obvious FJ. I said Howard Hughes, even though Boeing was the first name that crossed my mind. My week is not off to a good start.

So Alex opens the show by doubling down on his canard from the end of last night's episode, stating that "savvy wagering . . . helped Marcus become champion" last night.

Yeah, I'm now fully convinced that he has no idea how betting strategy works.

[hbomb1947]

So Alex opens the show by doubling down on his canard from the end of last night's episode, stating that "savvy wagering . . . helped Marcus become champion" last night.
Marcus, of course, did not make a savvy wager on tonight's FJ, but it ended up not mattering with the triple-get

Yep. I was expecting a $4800 wager but it turns out that Marcus didn't possess the wagering savvy Alex gave him credit for.
It would have been cool if Ryan had opted for the tie-breaker.

It's a shame that the unnecessarily implemented rule change has disincentivized wagering for a tie, which prior to the ban on tie games would have been the optimal play for both Ryan and Marcus in light of today's pre-FJ scores. Now, all that such wagering would get them on a double-stumper is essentially a coin-flip (i.e., the tie-breaker question), and one of them would still be going home. If I were Ryan, I absolutely would have bet to cover in that situation. And if I'm Marcus, I want to win outright on a double-stumper, meaning that to guard against the possibility of Ryan wagering $9600, I would wager no more than $4,799. Yes, you give up the possibility of winning if Ryan makes a zero-dollar wager, but it's a rare bird that would make a zero dollar wager from the lead in regular play.

ETA: The j-archive's wagering calculator hasn't been updated to acknowledge the downside of a post-FJ tie.

[TenPoundHammer]

I was 0/30 in J!, no lie.

"Get Smart" was the only title I recognized in DC TV, but my mind kept saying "Spy Hard" and blocking me from the right title.

NHO "hostile witness" or "One Day at a Time".

Lach Trash: Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, hiccup.

No guess on FJ! Didn't know that Boeing = Seattle, that Boeing = real person, or that Boeing = 1910s, so I had all three paths to this blocked off.

[SBurrus]

I had my weakest performance in quite some time on this episode; the material was difficult and I missed more questions than I have in a while. I did get the Final Jeopardy correct but would have finished in a distant third on this episode had I actually been playing against Marcus and Ryan.

Kudos to Ryan for making a true DD in DJ...but the question he got was an easy one. I mean, can you name another woman named Mary who was perhaps a science fiction/horror author from the early 1800s??

[danspartan]

Some days (like yesterday and today) I want to turn Alex out to pasture. Savvy my fanny.

(he generally still does a great job, some things )

[BRD-98]

Ended up going with Boeing. I have never actually heard of him as a person, but figured that such a company name would be named after a person, after all, and since Boeing is based in Seattle, it only made sense.

Airports and aviation have been big boons to me recently. I swept the related category on the October 29 game with all correct.

I was 0/30 in J!, no lie.

I wasn't too far ahead of you, buddy.

[Woof]

Wow, I thought that these were remarkably easy boards. Go digger. Apart from going 2/5 in the TV category, the only other miss I recall is the Monkey's Paw. It was no surprise that FJ was a triple get. Seattle + aviation?

[Bob78164]

This game is a loss for the Weak Form of Shore's Conjecture. The second-place player bet "big." --Bob

[MitchO]

I like the new champ, and think his gutsy DD was appropriate, but he was guessing at regular clues way too much. It may cost him.

I'd like to note that I was able to answer two clues in a row, thanks to South Park ("Deepsea Challenge 3D" = James Cameron) and the Simpsons ("Monkey's Paw").

[MarkBarrett]

I was 0/30 in J!, no lie.

Yes, lie. The J! round only had 28 clues.

***************
I'm not sure if Marcus was attempting to ring in on the Mary Lou Retton clue or not as the jump from the clue to the players was a touch late as Ryan's light went on. I can be sure that Marcus did not get the Rikki-Tikki-Tavi DD with the name only appearing in close to 20 clues before tonight. The potential extra $6000 could have gained Marcus win #2.

Instead Ryan converted his 2 DDs into +10800 to set up the victory on a triple hit FJ! clue.

Off the category I thought perhaps the name would be in the automobile or sports ownership area. Seattle = Boeing took next to no time although I spent think time less than 100% sure, so I considered some famous aviators. If the clue had simply asked for the first name of Boeing I would not have known William. I checked the archive and it looks like William has never been in a clue and only given when Alex provided it.

This week I have survived geography and business area FJ! clues. If Shakespeare comes up tomorrow and I get it then I'm buying some kind of supermegapower ticket.

So, it's possible that Ryan wins tomorrow and Thursday with huge amounts and loses on Friday to make the TOC knocking out Michael Bilow?

[BigDaddyMatty]

Coryat: $35,400
41 R/0 W
DD: 3/3
FJ: Instaget
LT: dissident, onions, Rikki-Tiki-Tavi (DD), The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, hiccup

Good game for me overall, but I'm mad at myself for not having the guts to squeeze my ballpoint pen on Laika.

When Alex began his pre-game spiel about the three elements to J! success, I thought for sure he'd mention that the third one, that had particularly benefited Marcus, was luck. Nope.

I never knew that Boeing is an eponymous company, although in retrospect I don't know how it could not have been. Of course, Seattle + aviation made it easy. Boeing's Wikipedia photo looks like a caricature from a period piece: