Friday, November 11, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Archivists]

Game Recap for Show #6245, 2011-11-11

2011 Tournament of Champions semifinal game 3.

CONTESTANTS
Roger Craig, a computer scientist from Newark, Delaware
Mark Runsvold, a student and waiter from Moscow, Idaho
Joon Pahk, a college physics teacher from Somerville, Massachusetts

OPENING REMARKS
Alex: Thanks, Johnny. You notice the first two introductions? Roger had his eyebrows going up and down, and Mark had his eyelids fluttering, and Joon, very cool. We have two finalists waiting in the wings for one of these three gentlemen. Who will it be--Roger, Mark, or Joon? Let's start finding out. Good luck. Here comes the Jeopardy! Round... and here come the categories. First off...

JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
THE QUOTABLE CHURCHILL (4/5)
ON THE MOVIE SOUNDTRACK (4/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
GAELIC PRIDE (5/5)
WHAT'S THAT ON YOUR HEAD? (4/5)
REAL LANDS (5/5)
FICTIONAL LANDS (4/5) (Alex: And we want you to name the author who created those fictional lands.)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Roger: 13 R (including 1 DD), 5 W
Mark: 7 R (including 1 rebound), 0 W
Joon: 6 R (including 2 rebounds), 3 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 4
Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $3,000



JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Roger found the Daily Double on the 12th clue. Joon was in the hole with -$200, Mark had $400, and Roger was at $1,800. Roger made it a True Daily Double, wagering $1,800.

ON THE MOVIE SOUNDTRACK $800: This 1984 film included Salieri's 1788 "Axur, Re d'Ormus"

SCORES AT THE FIRST BREAK
Roger: $3,200
Joon: $800
Mark: $400

CONTESTANT INTERVIEWS



Alex: What happens when you become a Jeopardy! champion? Well, Roger Craig received a letter from someone... rather unique?

Roger: Yes, that's right. Um, I received a letter from general George Casey in the Pentagon, who happens to be the highest-ranking army officer, the Chief of Staff, and he sent me this letter because I had, uh, named his rank on the show, and he was watching and happened to write me a nice letter.

Alex: Okay. Good for you.




Alex: Now, Mark Runsvold, uh, you had to sign an autograph for a very unique Jeopardy! viewer.

Mark: A 5-year-old.

Alex: Aha.

Mark: It was a--

Alex: A general also?

Mark: Well, a future general.

Alex: Future general?

Mark: Future general and Jeopardy! contestant.

Alex: Uh-huh. What--

Mark: Her name was Sophie, and she was the daughter of a patron at the restaurant I work at. It made me feel good.

Alex: All right.




Alex: Joon Pahk, you wound up winning seven times in our regular competitions, and you got into Jeopardy! quite by accident, right? You took the test because...

Joon: Well, I was on Facebook one day, and a couple of my friends had posted status messages like, "Hey, is anyone else doing the, uh, Jeopardy! online test tonight?" And I said, "No, but I c--I could. I have nothing else going on." So I tried it. And that was--that was actually just, uh, this past January. And then I got a call, I got an audition, I got on the show, I won a bunch of times, and here I am.

Alex: And, uh... you won $199,000. Good for you. That worked out, too.

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
FICTIONAL LANDS $600: Shangri-La
(Joon: Who is Coleridge?)
(Roger: Who is Milton?)

THE QUOTABLE CHURCHILL $1000: "This is one of those cases in which the imagination is baffled by" these

ON THE MOVIE SOUNDTRACK $600: This Jeff Bridges sequel featured tracks called "The Grid" & "The Son of Flynn"
(Roger: What is... Tron?)
(Alex: More?)
(Roger: Uhh...)
[Sighs, time expires]
(Roger: 2.0.)
(Joon: What is Return to Tron?)

WHAT'S THAT ON YOUR HEAD? $800: The name of this headdress & the word "tulip" are derived from the same word

SCORES AT THE END OF THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
Roger: $5,000
Joon: $3,400
Mark: $2,200

[Archivists]

DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
ETHICS (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
FOOD SCIENCE (4/5)
TERMS OF ART (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
SILENT-LETTERED WORDS (4/5)
RUSSIA THEN & NOW (5/5)
PUTTING CELEBRITIES ON THE MAP (5/5) (Alex: By adding just one letter, we'll be [*]. Let me give you an example of what might be a response in that category. "Who is Miley Cyprus?"--not Miley Cyrus.)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Mark: 12 R (including 1 rebound), 1 W
Joon: 8 R, 1 W
Roger: 8 R (including 1 rebound and 2 DDs), 1 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 2
Double Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $3,600



FIRST DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Roger snagged the next Daily Double on the 20th clue. Joon had $10,200, Mark had $9,400, and Roger was at $7,400. Roger made it a True Daily Double, wagering $7,400.

TERMS OF ART $1600: Mind your this 16th c. Italian art movement that gave us long-necked Madonnas

SECOND DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
It was Roger who snatched up the last Daily Double of the game on the 23rd clue. Joon had $11,400, Mark had $9,400, and Roger was at $16,800. Roger wagered $10,000.

ETHICS $1600: Monistic theories reduce the search for good to one thing, like pleasure in the case of this theory

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND
SILENT-LETTERED WORDS $2000: S:
This 7-letter word that means "fitting" or "opportunely"

FOOD SCIENCE $1600: Careful when eating bagels with these seeds on them--you could test positive for heroin!
(Roger: What are [time's-up signal sounds] [*]?)
(Alex: Oh, sorry, Roger, you took too much time. So that's incorrect--your response is correct, but we can't give you a correct response.)

SCORES ENTERING FINAL JEOPARDY!
Roger: $27,600 (lock game)
Mark: $13,400
Joon: $11,800

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
BUSINESS

VENUSIAN MONOLOGUES/MARTIAN CHRONICLES
Lock for first place; three-quarters for second place.
Roger: Wager between $0 (venusian) and $799 (martian), and enjoy your victory.
Mark: Wager $10,201 to cover Joon.
Joon: Risk between $1,601 and $8,600, covering Mark's $0 bet.

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
A 2005 sale of 14,159,265 shares prompted the headline "Google offers shares, seeks global piece of" this

FINAL SCORES
Joon: $11,800 - $138 = $11,662 (What is Apple pie?) (2nd place: $10,000)
Mark: $13,400 - $12,345 = $1,055 (What is Toronto search?) (3rd place: $10,000)
Roger: $27,600 - $0 = $27,600 (What is Yahoo???) (Finalist)
(Alex: To succeed on this Final, you have to think back to your math classes in high school.)
...
(Alex: I said you had to think back to math... [*] is 3.14159265, and that has to do with the number of shares.)
...
(Alex: Enjoy the weekend, because you come back on Monday to play against these two guys...)
(Tom: Tom Nissley, Seattle, Washington.)
(Buddy: Buddy Wright, Fort Worth, Texas.)
(Alex: It's gonna be a great final for one quarter of $1 million.)

Total Potential Lach Trash: $6,600

GAME DYNAMICS


CORYAT SCORES
Mark: $13,400, 19 R, 1 W
Roger: $12,400, 21 R (including 3 DDs), 6 W
Joon: $11,800, 14 R, 4 W
Combined Coryat: $37,600

BATTING AVERAGES
Roger: 21/61 = .344
Mark: 19/58 = .328
Joon: 14/58 = .241
Team: 54/63 = .857

MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTING CLUES
ON THE MOVIE SOUNDTRACK $1000: Rick Garcia sang "Welcome Amigo" & Los Lobos the theme song for this 2011 animated film
(Roger: What is Rio?)

REAL LANDS $600: The river sharing the name of this landlocked land in central South America forms a seasonal swamp, the Pantanal
(Roger: What... is...?)
(Joon: What is Uruguay?)

REAL LANDS $800: A fluffy toy dog is named for this historical region along Poland's Baltic coast
(Roger: What is... Dalmatian?)

REAL LANDS $1000: This country off Africa's coast is made up of the Barlavento island group & the Sotavento island group

GAELIC PRIDE $600: In Gaelic this historic catastrophe is known as "An Gorta Mor" (The Great Hunger)
(Roger: What is the Irish Famine... [*]?)

PUTTING CELEBRITIES ON THE MAP $400: Putting a letter before the first name of a "Grease" actress fills the seats in La Paz
(Roger: What is Olivia Newton-John becomes Bolivia?)
(Alex: Yes, but--say it first--you don't have to say "it becomes.")

TERMS OF ART $2000: (Jimmy of the Clue Crew explains a painting shown on a monitor.) In art composition, to make the painting more interesting, divide it & put the focus along the lines to follow this fractional rule

ETHICS $2000: The idea that the good can be objectively found is part of this -ism, also referring to obsessively high standards
(Joon: What is idealism?)

ETHICS $800: A book called "Ethical" this dietary practice covers Pythagoras, Shelley & Gandhi
(Mark: What is Fasting?)

CORRECT RESPONSES
Amadeus
James Hilton
the facts
Tron: Legacy
turban
Mannerism
hedonism
apropos
poppy seeds
pi
Rango
Paraguay
Pomerania
Cape Verde
the Irish Potato Famine
Bolivia Newton-John
the rule of thirds
perfectionism
Vegetarianism

[Samer]

Just saw the episode.

It was . . . interesting.

Of course, I knew that somebody I knew was guaranteed to win.

[KenJenningsFan74]

Wow. I can't say that I'm very surprised by Roger Craig's win, but the way he did it was positively Pawsonian. Having the boldness to go for that True Daily Double, and then to put another $10,000 at risk so late in the game, made for what have to be the two most memorable moments of the tournament to this point. I can't predict for anyone but Roger Craig to emerge from the finals as champion, even though Tom Nissley and Buddy Wright have proven themselves to be excellent competitors.

No matter what, Joon Pahk's Jeopardy! legacy is safely intact. Mark Runsvold's awesome achievements are undeniable as well, and I hope that we get to see him back on the show someday.

[dhkendall]

Agreed it was a good game, which I thoroughly enjoyed watching and lived up to all its hype, but I will have to say that Roger won a lot because of luck, specifically the luck of hitting the 3 DDs and betting big on all of them. Keep in mind he was third when he got his second DD and got several negs. I'd be more interested to see how the Coryats come out. (I also still stick with my original prediction, well before the TOC aired, that Roger will be the winner.)

For FJ, I'm wondering, since it was a triple stumper and it was based on an actual quote, is the correct answer "pi" or "pie"? I had the former, but was very nervous about it, Alex's comments didn't completely calm me either.

[goforthetie]

I wonder if they would have credited Joon's FJ response had he left off the first word. I guess they'd have to, no? I actually thought of pi (and pie) as joke answers but never bothered to look back at the number to catch the TOM, and moved on to vacillating about when Facebook IPO'd (6 years ago is way too early, which is an amazing thought in an of itself) and other Google acquisition targets. At least I'm in good company. All three players showed why they're there and any of them could have won it if the DD's had fallen slightly differently. Only Mark earns super bonus points for his FJ non-answer, though. Bravo!

[goforthetie]

Agreed it was a good game, which I thoroughly enjoyed watching and lived up to all its hype, but I will have to say that Roger won a lot because of luck, specifically the luck of hitting the 3 DDs and betting big on all of them. Keep in mind he was third when he got his second DD and got several negs. I'd be more interested to see how the Coryats come out. (I also still stick with my original prediction, well before the TOC aired, that Roger will be the winner.)

For FJ, I'm wondering, since it was a triple stumper and it was based on an actual quote, is the correct answer "pi" or "pie"? I had the former, but was very nervous about it, Alex's comments didn't completely calm me either.

http://www.marketingvox.com/google_offe ... pi-019682/

[jeff6286]

Business
A 2005 sale of 14,159,265 shares prompted the headline "Google offers shares, seeks global piece of" this.

Spoiler

What is pie? Joon said Apple pie. Mark said Toronto search. Roger said Yahoo.

Roger Craig: $27,600-$0=$27,600
Mark Runsvold: $13,400-$12,345=$1,055
Joon Pahk: $11,800-$138=$11,662

[shubhaghosh]

Agreed it was a good game, which I thoroughly enjoyed watching and lived up to all its hype, but I will have to say that Roger won a lot because of luck, specifically the luck of hitting the 3 DDs and betting big on all of them. Keep in mind he was third when he got his second DD and got several negs. I'd be more interested to see how the Coryats come out. (I also still stick with my original prediction, well before the TOC aired, that Roger will be the winner.)

For FJ, I'm wondering, since it was a triple stumper and it was based on an actual quote, is the correct answer "pi" or "pie"? I had the former, but was very nervous about it, Alex's comments didn't completely calm me either.

http://www.marketingvox.com/google_offe ... pi-019682/

I got a phone call I wanted to take during FJ. So is that the answer "What is pi?" That strikes me as lame. I remember the IPO, but the FJ clue seems kind of weak for a TOC. In any case, good game all around. The finals should be pretty exciting. I could see it going to any of the champs. Each has proven to be a formidable player, great at playing off whatever good luck has come their way and at demonstrating skill in the game. Retro good luck to all.

[DWS]

I was rooting for Roger, but boy was I cringing at his negs during the J round. However, he redeemed himself with the TDD and 10K DD in the DJ round to get the lock win. I assume that part of his thinking was "go big or go home."

I was stumped by FJ.

... and moved on to vacillating about when Facebook IPO'd (6 years ago is way too early, which is an amazing thought in an of itself)

Facebook has not had an IPO (yet).

[UniquePerspective]

Well there we go.

Pre-final, and ignoring daily doubles(Don't know how wagering would ahve been in a non lock), it actually seemed like Mark might have cruised to a victory here, which I'm actually not sure I like the way it turned out because it awarded a couple very aggressive moves rather than the best all around knowledge base in the game, and it's not been like Roger either when he had very clearly shown both. I'm a bit worried about him in the final too, because he seemed very nervous today, and those negs look like they took up a lot of time, and I wonder if it might happen again.

I'm amused by the fact that I got Tron: Legacy and none of these guys did. I might hold it against them if we ever go to a bar and I'm really drunk one day.

Sorry to see Joon and Mark go, this clearly showed that all three of you belonged.

[dhkendall]

I was rooting for Roger, but boy was I cringing at his negs during the J round. However, he redeemed himself with the TDD and 10K DD in the DJ round to get the lock win. I assume that part of his thinking was "go big or go home."

Yes, I agree that's what his thinking was, and I greatly admired him for having the "I'm here to win" attitude. But the fact taht Joon and Matt had incredibly impressive scores without getting a single DD are also great. Which is why I would love to see the Coryat breakdown, see how well Roger would have done without those big moves ...

I was stumped by FJ.

It was around the time I was trying "pie" in words that could conceivably finish the quote that I noticed the "14159265" part of the quote and put two and 1.14159 together.

[cinemaniax7]

Aaaaggggghhhhh! The Nashville affiliate mistakenly re-ran Thursday night's episode!

[dhkendall]

BTW, I will go on record as saying I'm glad Google chose that particular geeky number to go with for their IPO, and not another geeky number that is more suited to them, ten duotrigintillion dollars, or

Spoiler

$10,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000, better known as 1 googol dollars

[NoWhammies10]

All I can say is that Roger should be glad that Daily Doubles exist. This match was a LOT closer without them.

JOON: $11,800
MARK: $13,400
ROGER: $12,400 (incl. 2 correct Daily Doubles, 1 incorrect)

Interesting to note, Joon's correct responses in the Jeopardy! round are in a pyramid pattern (4x$600, 3/5x$800, 2/4/6x$1000). There is also just $1,600 separating 1st from 3rd in the Coryats.

[alamble]

Bless you, Mark, for so cheekily taking a swipe at Watson.

[StevenH]

Congrats to Roger on advancing to the Finals, and congrats to Joon and Mark for their amazing performances in the tournament!

Roger's preparedness was a big factor that won this game for him. It surprised me to see that he was the only person who was Daily Double hunting. He made the big wagers and it paid off for him. I really thought that Roger was a goner when he fell behind in the middle of the DJ round. Without a crush or a lock the person in first place going into FJ would have only had a very slim chance of winning this game, so Roger's big DD wagers were a must.

I have to tip my hat to Mark. He really stepped up his game when he needed to. He came up short but he deserves a lot of credit for the way that he played. Joon put up a good fight, but after his quarterfinal game I didn't have any doubt about how well he would play.

I was shocked when Joon went back to the art category when there was one DD left on the board and the one that had already been found was in the art category. I can't help but wonder if Joon knew the correct response to the hedonism DD.

I thought that this board was very well-written but I felt like the difficulty was all over the place. About half the categories felt regular show level while the other half felt semifinal ToC level. It was a big improvement over last night's board but still not as good as the one in Tom Nissley's semifinal game.

I had no clue on FJ. I couldn't get a feel as to what kind of thing they were looking for in the correct response. I guessed Facebook just to have something.

This was a great game but the 2004 semifinal ToC game between Tom Walsh, Chris Miller, and Anne Boyd remains my favorite game of J! that I have ever watched.

Best of luck to Roger in the Finals! I am looking for you to break the Chuck Forrest curse

[Suze]

Roger's always maximized the DDs, no surprise he did it again in today's game. I had a heart attack when he bet so much near the end, though I get why he did it.

Congrats to Roger on a gutsy game. Well played by Joon and Mark.

Not a fan of some of the questions again today, though the boards weren't as crap as yesterday.

My family all kind of went,"....pie?" when the FJ question appeared, but didn't think that could be right. Go figure.

[dirck_hals]

Well there we go.

Pre-final, and ignoring daily doubles(Don't know how wagering would ahve been in a non lock), it actually seemed like Mark might have cruised to a victory here, which I'm actually not sure I like the way it turned out because it awarded a couple very aggressive moves rather than the best all around knowledge base in the game, and it's not been like Roger either when he had very clearly shown both. I'm a bit worried about him in the final too, because he seemed very nervous today, and those negs look like they took up a lot of time, and I wonder if it might happen again.

I think you shouldn't be allowed to steal in baseball. It makes for a far too interesting game.

[jeff6286]

I thought Joon made a major strategic error, as after Roger got the first DD in the art category, he went to Ethics for $1200. Joon got that one, and if he had continued down to Ethics for $1,600, he would have had the final Daily Double. Instead, Joon went back to Art, and Roger picked up the final DD on the next clue. If Joon was able to come up with the same correct response of "What is hedonism?" that Roger did, then we probably would have had a very interesting set of wagers in FJ, as all 3 players would probably have been in contention. [Edit: StevenH made the same point as I was typing this. I didn't steal it from him, I swear. ]

Speaking of errors, why did Alex deny Mark and Joon the opportunity to rebound when Roger was too late with "What are poppy seeds?"? Is there a precedent for this in cases where someone gives a correct answer after their time runs out, or did Alex goof there? I thought he should have just said "Sorry, you ran out of time" and let the other two players repeat his late answer if they wished. If Mark had been able to pick up that $1600 clue, and everything else played out the same, he would have at least had a chance going into FJ.

Speaking of too much time, Roger took so long to decide on his final DD wager, that it seemed like Alex was about to tell him his time was up. If that happened, would his wager be 5$? Once again, is there any precedent for this? Has anyone ever taken so long to decide on a DD wager that Alex told them time was up? I'm guessing he didn't appreciate Roger's "Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, no" response to his request for a second true Daily Double, because I'm pretty sure I've seen players take that long before without being told to hurry up.

This was certainly a strange game in many different ways, and I am wondering how well-prepared Roger will be for the finals, as he seemed to just be a little off throughout the show. There would probably be a lunch break between the taping of this show and Monday's, correct? Hopefully some wonderful commissary food will calm his nerves a little, although fans of Buddy and Tom may feel otherwise, considering he still won this game in a lock despite not appearing to be fully together on tonight's show.

Congrats to Mark and Joon for phenomenal runs on the show, and great performances tonight. At least the triple stumper FJ should ease some of the pain, as they won't have to think about how different things could have been if they could have changed just one response late in the game, such as Joon's idealism instead of perfectionism, or Mark's fasting instead of vegetarianism.

At least Joon was able to get the "Ira[n] Gershwin" clue. He may have had to retire from crosswords if that one had somehow slipped by him.