Tuesday, November 15, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[billy pilgrim]

Alex didn't mention Tom getting $100K and Buddy getting $50K at the end of the show.

The prizes were all shown on the lecterns aat the end.

[alamble]

Like Mark B's son, I picked up the Lach trash of Underwood and Fisher (the prettiest male and female former residents of Ottawa, jussssst slightly edging me out)

C'mon, Carrie never really lived in Ottawa. How do you think Fisher got traded to the Preds in the first place? I thought that was a particularly difficult choice for Sports Spouses, though Hilary Duff's hubby might have been even more difficult. They could have gone really old school and thrown out Carol Alt.

[georgespelvin]

An anticlimactic game in some ways. But it had its moments. I wondered if Roger might get negged for saying "Usual Suspects" rather than "The Usual Suspects," the full name of the movie and the full quote from the movie. Articles, shmarticles. At that point, I was hoping for any boost to Tom and Buddy. Congratulations to all. Everyone paid brilliantly and one stunningly. Congrats especially to Buddy. It is cool to know I was there to see you when you just got started, and I can live vicariously by saying I lost to a ToC finalist. You were awesome the last two games and throughout.

I thought Poe for he FJ. Coleridge seemed a possibility, me thinking of the poor dead albatross. But the rhythm of he quoted verse sounded like Poe. Would not have guessed Wilde despite the famous line.

Did not know all those common words had 17 letters. U-n-c-o-n-s-t-i-t-u-t-i-o-n-a-l?

Congratulations to Roger on a dominating and gutsy win. However, as many of you know, under my previous pseudonym here, I have consistently railed about how Jeopardy is forgiving with dropping articles in titles. Considering that Jeopardy was seeking the completion of a quote, I think that Roger should have been negged for "ususal suspects" instead of "the usual suspects" (which I guess was accepted because they mentioned the other film with that title in the clue and the dropping the article rule would be applicable there). Less egregiously, I was surprised that just "Louis" was accepted instead of "Renault" even though Louis is mentioned in the quote referenced. I mean, after all, this is a $1,000 clue in the ToC Final and a few years ago Rex Kramer was asked "Which Breckenridge". I'm less disturbed with accepting "Rick's" instead of "Rick Blaine" since "Rick's" is part of the name of the cafe. Of course, because I was rooting for Roger all the way, my nits remind me of when John Adams at the end of the musical "1776!" quibbles with Thomas Jefferson about inalienable vs. unalienable.

I also went with Poe for FJ because of the word "die", the 19th Century category and it sounded to me to be in a similar style to "The Raven". I guess that Jeopardy wanted to make sure that this tournament had a Wilde ending.

OK, I think that I had better go back into hiding now. . .

[MarkBarrett]

Coleridge was my stab in the dark for the FJ clue to have something on the paper. 19th Century Poetry had me smelling trouble as I had a nagging instinct it was 1700s for the Mariner. Wilde was one with no shot at guessing.

A DD in 17-Letter Words in the finals is something I would never do as that is more likely to cause a backward score movement than a forward one. The score situation made sense for Buddy to bet it all, but I expected a neg to follow.

Naturally Buddy had no problem on the next DD when he only had 600 at risk. No matter as the overall financial picture was not going to change.

Roger went 1/4 on the FJ clues he saw and was beat in the Coryat department 2/4 times. Who cares and who will remember is the way I see it. He was a Platinum player.

For the rest of the field I would say it ended up being:

Gold: Joon, Tom N., Buddy, Mark
Silver: Jay, Erin, Justin, Kara, Brian
Bronze: Tom K., Christopher, Charles, Paul, John

Back to regular play tomorrow. May 2013 for the next TOC seems about right and so far away.

[opusthepenguin]

As for me, I was as clueless as you and went with Coleridge. Not familiar with the referenced work.

Coleridge wasn't a bad guess. The quoted lines follow the same metrical scheme as Rime of the Ancient Mariner. But they don't follow the same rhyme scheme.

For me, I just couldn't get away from the sing-songiness of the lines. There was no metrical nuance. This was not a first rate poet (in my judgment), so I ruled out anyone on the order of Coleridge and Shelley. I guessed Longfellow. My second guess would have been Kipling. The correct answer didn't surprise me; but I doubt I'd have hit on it, even with another 10 guesses.

[debramc]

First, congratulations to Roger for the win, and to Tom and Buddy for putting up a good fight and staying positive and humorous throughout.
Second, I just have to join in saying, oh Buddy, I totally felt your pain on the last Daily Double. As soon as I saw the date in the first line of the clue, I screamed a little. Hey, at least you kept it away from the others! And way to keep on going afterwards and not let it disrupt your flow.

[Bamaman]

As for me, I was as clueless as you and went with Coleridge. Not familiar with the referenced work.

Coleridge wasn't a bad guess. The quoted lines follow the same metrical scheme as Rime of the Ancient Mariner. But they don't follow the same rhyme scheme.

For me, I just couldn't get away from the sing-songiness of the lines. There was no metrical nuance. This was not a first rate poet (in my judgment), so I ruled out anyone on the order of Coleridge and Shelley. I guessed Longfellow. My second guess would have been Kipling. The correct answer didn't surprise me; but I doubt I'd have hit on it, even with another 10 guesses.

I've never read the Mariner, so I wouldn't know the writing style. The death theme in the quote is what led me to it. My first thought was actually Poe, but it didn't seem like him for some reason. I but coleridge just to have someone, but felt it wasn't him since there was a FJ about him not too long ago.

[DBear]

For the first time ever, I went 0/5 in a sports category. I knew Ham, but couldn't pull it out.

That wasn't a sports category, that was a WGAS marriage category.

Guessed Poe for FJ, sounded like something he'd say. Coleridge was my second guess, no way I would've gotten Oscar Wilde out of that.

Picked up the Amana Colonies trash, having been there once.

[Turd Ferguson]

I thought that was a particularly difficult choice for Sports Spouses, though Hilary Duff's hubby might have been even more difficult. They could have gone really old school and thrown out Carol Alt.

Old school? It amuses me that Hilary Duff is married to a guy who is probably retired now (I can't imagine a Billionaire - yes, billionaire, Hilary knows how to pick 'em! - riding the buses in the minors to get back into the NHL) while Carol Alt's man is still an active player.

Anyways, there's nothing I can say about Roger's performance (or that of everyone else in the tournament) that hasn't already been said better by others. Congrats to all, but especially to Roger! I do hope we see you on the J! stage again sometime soon.

[JoshuaRQI]

This was a great finals! Thank you to the competitors.

Incidentally, does anyone know the final cumulative coryats? This was extremely competitive.

[KenJenningsFan74]

Congratulations to our new champion of champions! After a dominating performance like this against two superb challengers who were both playing very well and on impressive hot streaks of their own, I'm inclined to say that Roger Craig is arguably the greatest Jeopardy! champion since David Madden in 2005. He may even be the greatest since Ken Jennings in 2004, though I want to think about that more before I decide one way or the other. I would certainly include Roger Craig among the all-time ten greatest Tournament of Champions victors since Alex Trebek took over as Jeopardy! host, a list that would also include Chuck Forrest, Bob Verini, Bob Blake, Leszek Pawlowicz, Tom Nosek, Michael Dupee, Dan Melia, Brad Rutter and Dan Pawson. There have been so many great Tournament of Champions winners that narrowing it down to a list of the ten best is very difficult, but that is how my list would look.

No Fran Spangenberg, eh?

I categorize Frank Spangenberg as a "pre-Ken" player, even though he has played some Jeopardy! since 2004. If Frank Spangenberg and Roger Craig were to play each other right now I might pick Roger Craig to win, but for everything that they've both accomplished on the show over the course of their careers, I do rate Frank Spangenberg higher.

Oh, unless you were referring to the Ten Year Anniversary Tournament that Frank Spangenberg won as putting him in the discussion with the all-time greatest Tournament of Champions winners. I wasn't counting the special tournaments as making a player eligible for the list, only regular ToC winners. Otherwise, I certainly would have included Frank Spangenberg.

[shubhaghosh]

Old school? It amuses me that Hilary Duff is married to a guy who is probably retired now (I can't imagine a Billionaire - yes, billionaire, Hilary knows how to pick 'em! - riding the buses in the minors to get back into the NHL) while Carol Alt's man is still an active player.

And the Kardashian marriage is no more.

[legendneverdies]

Coleridge was my stab in the dark for the FJ clue to have something on the paper. 19th Century Poetry had me smelling trouble as I had a nagging instinct it was 1700s for the Mariner. Wilde was one with no shot at guessing.

It was written in 1797-98. Guess what was the subject of this poster's FJ! in the game he won early in season 22 Not surprising he'd think of Coleridge.

[periwinkle]

Great game -- many congrats to Roger!! and congrats to Tom and Buddy for their strong play and keeping it very exciting.

I went with Kipling for the FJ, and the kiddo guessed Poe (I'll tell him he's in good company).

[earendel]

Great game -- many congrats to Roger!! and congrats to Tom and Buddy for their strong play and keeping it very exciting.

I went with Kipling for the FJ, and the kiddo guessed Poe (I'll tell him he's in good company).

I also thought it was Kipling. Never thought of Wilde as a poet.

[TomKBaltimoreBoy]

Old school? It amuses me that Hilary Duff is married to a guy who is probably retired now (I can't imagine a Billionaire - yes, billionaire, Hilary knows how to pick 'em! - riding the buses in the minors to get back into the NHL) while Carol Alt's man is still an active player.

And the Kardashian marriage is no more.

The Kardashian clue got the biggest laugh of the night at the viewing party in New York, that's for sure.

I got Wilde -- due entirely to being in a long run of Ah, Wilderness! several years ago. O'Neill's young protagonist quotes that stretch of Reading Gaol quite fervently. But most of the room was saying, "Coleridge."

[Volante]

I am shocked shocked by that result!

Your winnings, sir...

I had Byron for the answer. I have the faintest suspicion Wilde crossed my mind fleetingly, but I had pretty much locked myself into the early 1800s. "Not Browning, not Keats, not Shelley, not Coleridge, not Wordsworth (who I think is too early anyway), no way it's Tennyson...well Byron's left and that's all I got.

[TriviaBug]

Congratulations, Roger! You ticked all the boxes to become a Jeopardy! great. You obviously have the brains and whatever you made in the recent past should give you enough cushion to explore other interests. I hope this is the start of bigger things.

I posted some of this in the old boards but will repeat: Three years ago, I played on Roger's team on a Quiz Bowl and he really impressed me with his all-round knowledge. That evening I wrote to him asking him to try out for the show. He replied that he already did and scored 49/50 on the test and being a young white male is probably not helping him get to the taping. I hoped that it will change and the world will see a new record breaker like Ken Jennings (I was referring to the 74-game streak but it happened in another way). It all came together yesterday.

Buddy, congratulations for all that you have done. It is not easy to make it to the ToC (some of us know how difficult it is to win one game!) and you will have the words ToC Finalist etched on your list of achievements.

Tom, one of my regrets is that I could not meet you during the taping when I missed you by a day. The general knowledge you have demonstrated is not something that comes from cramming for a few weeks. It was good to see you play the maximum possible games in the ToC. Good luck with your book and am sincerely flattered that you found my site useful.

[John Boy]

As for me, I was as clueless as you and went with Coleridge. Not familiar with the referenced work.

Me too. I've heard of "Reading Gaol" but everything I know about it I learned last night.

Didn't really have a good guess and also thought of Rime of the Ancient Mariner for want of a better idea. Was that the Coleridge you had in mind?

[John Boy]

For the first time ever, I went 0/5 in a sports category. I knew Ham, but couldn't pull it out.

I don't know if I even consider this a sports category. "Who married whom?" is (IMHO) more of a celeb category.