Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

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Paucle
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Re: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Paucle »

jeff6286 wrote:I had forgotten about this until goforthetie brought it up, but for Northern Mariana Islands I'm pretty sure I heard "Marianas" in Monica's response.
Whereas in the Bible category, I thought I heard Alex announce one answer as "Revelations," but it may have just been the N pulling a segue way into "Zack."
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econgator
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Re: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by econgator »

jeff6286 wrote:I had forgotten about this until goforthetie brought it up, but for Northern Mariana Islands I'm pretty sure I heard "Marianas" in Monica's response. Is this just like Mariana Trench vs Marianas Trench, which we had recently and someone said either is acceptable? Are the Islands named for the same trench?
The trench is named for the islands, but yeah, I'd count either.
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Re: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by billy pilgrim »

Monica, HUZZAH! We'll be looking forward to you making some noise in the ToC.
She caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride.
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Re: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by billy pilgrim »

Paucle wrote:
jeff6286 wrote:I had forgotten about this until goforthetie brought it up, but for Northern Mariana Islands I'm pretty sure I heard "Marianas" in Monica's response.
Whereas in the Bible category, I thought I heard Alex announce one answer as "Revelations," but it may have just been the N pulling a segue way into "Zack."
I was looking for that too. I think it was 'revelationzack'
She caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride.
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Re: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by marpocky »

emtwo wrote:PS for clarification according to TPTB I am the youngest winner (barely 18 as of filming), but I think that's just a statistic. (Also Carrie from Harvard was 17, so I wasn't even the youngest in the tournament!)
Hey, not bad! Looking forward to seeing you in the ToC. Study up!
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Re: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by barandall800 »

dhkendall wrote:
goforthetie wrote:That was kind of painful. Among other things, I guess there is now ample evidence from the last 3 days that college kids these days don't know their Bible...
Need to get kids from BYU or Oral Roberts on J! ...
I'm definitely hoping they choose a certain kid from the former someday soon. :D
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Re: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by barandall800 »

I don't blame the three contestants today for having such trouble with the boards, and I struggled with a few categories I usually do well in (I had even a few negs in the Bible category, IIRC), but overall, I had a field day score-wise. This was a great tournament to watch, and even though today's game was a bit all over the place, Sarah, Zach, and Monica, thanks for a wonderfully played final. Monica, congrats on the win! :)

FJ...yeah, I was in the Azerbaijan camp. I didn't even go through many (if any) other options after that, embarrassingly enough. Never mind that it's nowhere near China... :oops:
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Re: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by seaborgium »

TenPoundHammer wrote:I took 2 years of German and never needed the word for lobster.
Well of course not; that's fancy-pants food!
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Sage on the Hudson
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Deuteronomy, deuterium -- same stuff?

Post by Sage on the Hudson »

TenPoundHammer wrote:I mean, who reads Deuteronomy anyway?
Probably the same people who read Exodus (though they likely get to it a little later).

econgator wrote:Now ... how did you all miss "sit-up" when there was just a clue mentioning them not 30 seconds before? :D
That's the point; it was just mentioned, and experience has told us that repeating topics within a single game are uncommon on the show.

dhkendall wrote:My other question for the judges' table: is "Odin" the same as "Wodin"? (Sci-Fi, $400)
Same god (in Wagner's Ring Trilogy it's Wotan).

cinemaniax7 wrote:Well, to paraphrase Superman, I hope this experience hasn't put any of you off Scripture. Statistically speaking, it's still the safest way to travel.
Not if you're perceived by the Scripture-philes as not being one of them...

MarkBarrett wrote:One Q for the judges: For the Debussy work what if someone played Frenlish and responded with, "What is The Mer?"
Even in French, articles shouldn't matter.
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Re: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by seaborgium »

jeff6286 wrote:
Paucle wrote:Was anyone else self-spoiled on FJ? When I saw Monica had it right and her wager, I knew she was the champ, as she had a score Zack couldn't attain. I calculated 2201 by her would lock out Zack. I think that was correct.)
Very impressed by all three players, that any left the stage alive after those nasty boards.

Good news bad news situation! Good is that there's going to be another OToC! The bad is that a computer screw-up plugged that tourney's final board into tonight's board.
I had $2401 as the minimum Monica needed to bet to lock out Zack, but otherwise I agree with you, it was a little anti-climactic that the game was decided as soon as her wager was revealed. I'm guessing this is the bet Monica referred to in her first post, saying that she tried to figure out the exact amount she should bet, but then at some point just said screw it and bet something in the ballpark. Her bet of $3,000 was more than she needed to lock out Zack, but as long as she stayed under $4,200 she would have still had enough left on a miss that Sarah couldn't catch her.

I wasn't sure how much Zack should bet. He couldn't just bet to cover Sarah, because he needed to bet more than that to cover the amount Monica would have if she made the MSB and missed. I figured he might as well bet it all, because on a miss he was likely going to finish 3rd anyway, so he might as well bet enough to ensure that he wins if he gets it right and Monica misses. Sarah's all-in was definitely the right play as well, so I thought all 3 players made solid wagers in the finals.
Decent wagers, but Sarah's and Zack's could have been better. I can't totally fault someone who bets it all from a crush second, but he guaranteed himself third place on a miss with it; leaving behind $1,801 would have kept open the possibility of second place by leaving him $1 above Sarah's day 1 score, giving him $25k more if she bets it all (which she did) and they both get FJ wrong. Between $4,000 and $7,000 would have given him a chance to win if correct while still maintaining a chance at second if wrong.

And Sarah couldn't clear the third place minimum or the score Monica would have had by negging on a Zack-covering wager, and since Zack had to wager more than his cumulative lead over her for a chance at victory, she would have done okay betting small. An "attempt to win" bet and neg by Zack leaves him at $12,800 max, and Sarah was cumulatively at $14,400, so less than $1,600 would have been best. Also, if Zack had short-sightedly wagered just to cover Sarah, he would have fallen to $14,599. So $200 to $1,600 would have kept Sarah's bases covered. But since Zack made a "guaranteed third if wrong" wager and got FJ wrong, Sarah was taking the $50k no matter what.

I've updated my final day wagering suggestions thread, by the way: http://www.jboard.tv/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=274
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billy pilgrim
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Re: Deuteronomy, deuterium -- same stuff?

Post by billy pilgrim »

Sage on the Hudson wrote:
That's the point; it was just mentioned, and experience has told us that repeating topics within a single game are uncommon on the show.
Repeating are uncommon? Very un-sage. You mean repeating BE uncommon.
She caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride.
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Re: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by StevenH »

MarkBarrett wrote:Monica won $100K and a TOC spot. Wildcard, 3rd entering FJ in the semis and 2nd entering FJ for both games of the Finals is a tough path to accomplish that feat. It will be interesting to see if the Teachers Tournament can produce another unpredictable scenario over the 10 games. My wish is only to improve on 50% FJ success.
Monica was 4/4 on FJs in the tournament. The only person I remember off the top of my head accomplishing that feat in a tournament is Greg Peterson in the 2007-B Teen Tournament, but he finished in second.

Over the last decade or so it seems like the college champions who were most dominant in their tournaments had the worst luck in ToCs, while the ones who weren't so dominant ended up doing the best. I think that the only exception is Cliff Galiher, who dominated his college tournament and then finished 3rd in his ToC. Pam Mueller's path to victory in her college tournament was similar to Monica's, so there might be good things in store for Monica's future J! appearances.
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Re: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by alietr »

goforthetie wrote:I don't get why everyone thinks this board was extra tough, though. Here are some of the $2K clues: Two-Face (spotted "two"), spoils system (I assume they'd also accept patronage system), Resurrection (spotted "raising the dead"), and urban bliGHT. And the other two (Northern Marianas and Deuteronomy) aren't exactly ungettable, either.
Now that you mention it, it was more a case of the clues being mis-valued. Like the $400 clue in Ends in GHT about the Lao-Tzu quote was much tougher than the $800 clue about drought. There were a lot of those on the board. And all of the $2000s were either gotten or readily gettable. Just strange placements.
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Re: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by John Boy »

DWS wrote:Ugh, what a lousy game to watch. I think it may have been possible to win just with Lach Trash.

Oh well, congrats to Monica on winning the tournament!
I myself picked up enough in Lach Trash ($8200) to lead two of these contestants. With my get on FJ I passed Zack. If this had been a stand-alone game instead of part of a 2-day final, I would have won from the imaginary fourth podium. I've often said that should never happen in a well-played game. It has never happened to me before in any tournament game. I agree this was not J! at its highest level.

Many congrats to the champ nonetheless. No matter what else, she gets her name on the trophy, she gets the hundred large, and she gets to play again in the ToC. She could be North Texas's most famous alum since Dr. Phil.
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Re: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by John Boy »

TenPoundHammer wrote:I took 2 years of German and never needed the word for lobster. Nor whatever $600 was. The problem I have with German is that I can never remember which article goes with which noun, since unlike Spanish, the last letter in the word doesn't give you a hint.

I took FOUR years of Spanish and never needed the word for, say, "Bacon" either. Or "otter", or "basement" or "fishnets" or "doughnut".
I thought any time you learn a new language, the first two handy phrases you must learn are "where is the bathroom?" and "please serve me a lobster." Maybe that's just me.
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Re: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by John Boy »

alietr wrote:Boy, that was a punishing round. Ended as a war of attrition. Congratulations, Monica, for that stellar victory. And Sarah and Zack, you both were most excellent as well. Today's boards were going to take down almost anyone. Very fun tournament to watch.
A lot of people seem to think these were hard boards. It wasn't that hard for me overall, but that's because several categories (fitness, German, Bible, classical music) were pretty much wheelhouse categories for me. Much of the stuff in teen and college tournaments is geared to that age group, and consequently leaves me scratching my head.

Even with a couple of stupid misses I racked up a Coryat of $28,800, almost average. I've had much worse games in this tournament.
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Re: Deuteronomy, deuterium -- same stuff?

Post by Suze »

Sage on the Hudson wrote:
econgator wrote:Now ... how did you all miss "sit-up" when there was just a clue mentioning them not 30 seconds before? :D
That's the point; it was just mentioned, and experience has told us that repeating topics within a single game are uncommon on the show.
That's why I figured it couldn't be one of the three answers, since they had just mentioned it. That was a bit odd.
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Re: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by TenPoundHammer »

John Boy wrote:I thought any time you learn a new language, the first two handy phrases you must learn are "where is the bathroom?" and "please serve me a lobster." Maybe that's just me.
The first phrase I learned in Spanish was "Tu madre es una vaca." (Kidding.) I did notice that when they let me take Spanish I in 6th grade, all of my classmates were suddenly looking up Spanish profanity.

By the way, I learned several Spanish words this past year by reading the Spanish strips on Garfield.com. I've noticed they tend to use the Spain dialect, though. I've also noticed that their translators are generally excellent at their job (except for one instance where they translated a "'Sup?" — i.e. "what's up?" — as "Do you want to have dinner?", and another where they failed to catch on to the fact that the whole joke revolved around the last line of dialogue being upside-down).

I have some 1980s Spanish Garfield books that are just dreadfully translated. I think my favorite is "I ate a Milk Dud and kissed a cat" becoming "I hate spoiled milk and kissing cats."
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Re: Deuteronomy, deuterium -- same stuff?

Post by seaborgium »

billy pilgrim wrote:
Sage on the Hudson wrote:
That's the point; it was just mentioned, and experience has told us that repeating topics within a single game are uncommon on the show.
Repeating are uncommon? Very un-sage. You mean repeating BE uncommon.
Maybe "repeating" was a participle instead of a gerund, as in "topics that repeat..."
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Re: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by earendel »

TenPoundHammer wrote:4/5 in Bible, saying Exodus upon seeing Moses in the clue. Nasty negbait there. I mean, who reads Deuteronomy anyway?
I do, for one.
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