Monday, February 18, 2013 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Archivists]

Game Recap for Show #6546, 2013-02-18

2013 Tournament of Champions quarterfinal game 4.

CONTESTANTS
Dan McShane, a bartender from West Islip, New York
Kristin Morgan, a strategic analyst for NASA from Huntsville, Alabama
Keith Whitener, a research chemist originally from Charlotte, North Carolina

OPENING REMARKS
Alex: Thank you, Johnny. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. And welcome. Last week, we got our Tournament of Champions off to a great start. Three winners are waiting in the wings to come back later this week to play in the semifinals, and, of course, one week from today, we have the first day of our two-match finals, in which the winner goes home with $250,000. So, Dan, Kristin, and Keith, a great deal at stake for you, as you know. But good luck. Let's go to work now in this quarterfinal match. Here are the categories. First off...

JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
NATIONALITIES? (5/5)
LITERARY TERMS (5/5)
BING'S TOP SEARCHES: 2012 (4/5)
AN "IMP"ISH CATEGORY (5/5)
MICRO (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
MANAGE (5/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Dan: 10 R (including 1 DD), 1 W
Keith: 10 R (including 1 rebound), 1 W
Kristin: 9 R, 1 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 1
Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $600



JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Dan found the Daily Double on the 10th clue. Keith had $1,200, Kristin had $1,400, and Dan was at $1,200. Dan made it a True Daily Double, wagering $1,200.

MICRO $1000: This field covers the control of bits of matter smaller than 1 /100th the thickness of a sheet of paper

SCORES AT THE FIRST BREAK
Keith: $2,800
Dan: $2,000
Kristin: $1,600

CONTESTANT INTERVIEWS



Alex: What happens to you when you become a Jeopardy! champion? Let's ask Dan McShane. He's a bartender who was also a baseball logger. But you no longer do that.

Dan: No. Well, I feel like I did what most 24-year-olds would do when they were given that much money, and I quit my job pretty much right away.

[Laughter]

Alex: Now, you've also become sort of a celebrity on Facebook through Twitter. Am I right?

Dan: For a time, at least. I was just getting asked out on dates by mostly high-school girls that had seen me on TV.

Alex: You were called a hottie.

Dan: I don't know about that.

[Laughter]




Alex: Kristin Morgan is from Huntsville, Alabama. How did winning on Jeopardy! affect your life?

Kristin: Uh, I was recognized in a zumba class. And, uh...

[Laughter]

Kristin: [Laughing] Other than that, it's been kind of--

Alex: Kind of quiet.

Kristin: It's been pretty quiet. Yeah.

Alex: Okay. Good for you.




Alex: Keith Whitener, originally from Charlotte, North Carolina. Your show--as I recall, you won seven of them, but I heard that the last one, the game in which you lost, was--

Keith: It was preempted by election coverage.

Alex: In your town.

Keith: Whatever the station was.

Alex: So your wife didn't get to see it.

Keith: She did not, and she does not want to, as a matter of fact. My wife, Rachel, is just very against seeing that game.

Alex: Okay. She's stressing the positive in your life. I like that.

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
BING'S TOP SEARCHES: 2012 $600: Get on the dance floor & spell out for us this most searched charitable organization
(Keith: What is ... UNICEF?)

SCORES AT THE END OF THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
Dan: $6,000
Kristin: $5,600
Keith: $4,200

[Archivists]

DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
NONFICTION (3/5)
THE TV CHARACTER'S JOB (5/5)
LET'S GO TO THE CIRCUS (4/5)
LANDMARKS (4/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
IN THE DICTIONARY (5/5)
1960s BLACK AMERICA (4/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Kristin: 10 R (including 1 DD), 2 W
Keith: 7 R (including 1 DD), 0 W
Dan: 8 R, 1 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 5
Double Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $9,200



FIRST DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Kristin snagged the next Daily Double on the 11th clue. Keith had $6,600, Kristin had $7,600, and Dan was at $8,400. Kristin wagered $2,500.

1960s BLACK AMERICA $1200: In March 1964 he broke with the Nation of Islam

SECOND DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
It was Keith who snatched up the last Daily Double of the game on the 18th clue. Keith had $7,800, Kristin had $10,900, and Dan was at $12,400. Keith wagered $5,000.

LANDMARKS $1600: Architect Guarino Guarini designed the Cappella Della Sacra Sindone to house this relic

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND
LANDMARKS $2000: This Viennese palace where Mozart played when he was 6 is home to an annual Mozart festival

1960s BLACK AMERICA $2000: (Alex reports from the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center.) In 1966, the new Metropolitan Opera House opened here at Lincoln Center with a world premiere featuring this African-American diva as Cleopatra
(Kristin: Who is Kathleen Battle?) (Dan: Who is Marian Anderson?)

LET'S GO TO THE CIRCUS $1600: This type of performer is a circus "wild man" with a gruesome act
(Kristin: What is a sword swallower?)

NONFICTION $2000: Classic by Studs Terkel in which "people talk about what they do all day & how they feel about what they do"

NONFICTION $1600: Her "Unbroken" was hailed by Time magazine as the best nonfiction book of 2010

SCORES ENTERING FINAL JEOPARDY!
Keith: $16,000
Kristin: $13,300
Dan: $12,400

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
WORLD CAPITALS

VENUSIAN MONOLOGUES/MARTIAN CHRONICLES
Four-fifths for first place. Stratton's Dilemma.
Keith: Wager $10,601 to cover Kristin.
Kristin: You ought to wager to cover Dan, but since you cannot win on a Triple Stumper if you do so, you ought to choose between wagering $0 or maximizing your winnings with a bet of all $13,300. You are in Stratton's Dilemma, calling for a wager of more than $11,500 (to shut out Dan) or less than $7,900 (risking the possibility of being passed from behind by Dan). Go with the smaller bet if you believe a Triple Stumper is more likely than a singleton miss by Keith.
Dan: You ought to try wagering between $901 and $7,000. This will top a $0 wager by Kristin while still beating Keith and Kristin on the Triple Stumper (should Keith wager to cover Kristin's doubled score and Kristin wager to cover your doubled score).

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
Alphabetically, Zagreb is the last world capital; this capital of a former Soviet republic is second to last

FINAL SCORES
Dan: $12,400 + $7,600 = $20,000 (What is Yerevan?) (2nd place)
Kristin: $13,300 + $4,200 = $17,500 (What is Yerevan?) (3rd place)
Keith: $16,000 + $10,601 = $26,601 (What is Yerevan?) (Automatic semifinalist)

Total Potential Lach Trash: $9,800

GAME DYNAMICS


CORYAT SCORES
Keith: $12,600, 17 R (including 1 DD), 1 W
Dan: $12,200, 18 R (including 1 DD), 2 W
Kristin: $12,000, 19 R (including 1 DD), 3 W
Combined Coryat: $36,800

BATTING AVERAGES
Kristin: 20/59 = .339
Dan: 19/59 = .322
Keith: 18/59 = .305
Team: 57/63 = .905

MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTING CLUES
LITERARY TERMS $600: A word meaning "ideal" derived from a 1516 work gets a new first syllable & becomes this adjective for an awful setting
(Kristin: What is dystopia?)
(Dan: What is dystopic?)

AN "IMP"ISH CATEGORY $1000: It's what the young medieval woman seen here is wearing

1960s BLACK AMERICA $400: Lucius Emerson wore a star as the Deep South's first black one of these in a century

LANDMARKS $800: Even from space, these ancient edifices are pretty wonderful

IN THE DICTIONARY $800: Five-letter word for the puzzle seen here, consisting of pictures & letters

CORRECT RESPONSES
nanotechnology
the YMCA
Malcolm X
the Shroud of Turin
Schoenbrunn Palace
Leontyne Price
a geek
Working
Laura Hillenbrand
Yerevan
dystopian
a wimple
a sheriff
the pyramids
a rebus

[jeff6286]

World Capitals
Alphabetically, Zagreb is the last world capital; this capital of a former Soviet republic is second to last.

Spoiler

What is Yerevan, Armenia?

Keith Whitener: $16,000+$10,601=$26,601...Automatic Semi-Finalist
Kristin Morgan: $13,300+$4,200=$17,500
Dan McShane: $12,400+$7,600=$20,000

[lisa0012]

Well that was very impressive. Outstanding showing by all three, near instaget FJ! (after a quick jump to Vilnius), and gutsy wagering. Stephanie, I can only imagine how much you were shaking in your stilettos after that one...

[falsifieddocuments]

I have to agree these boards are a lot easier than in past TOCs. I went 5/5 on Nationalities? in J! round and 4/5 on most others. (You've got to love the punctuation in that sentence.) I did quite a bit worse in the DJ! round, though.

On the up side, the easy-ish board let both contestants keep up with Keith, whom I think we all pegged as a favorite to win.

Man, Kristin is killing it, especially considering how her first few games went. It'll be interesting to see how she does in the semis.

That dystopian clue was tough to parse. I immediately thought dystopian was the right answer, but it didn't involve changing the first syllable of "ideal," so I went with "ordeal," even though that didn't make sense. Can someone post the exact wording?

Red Cross was overvalued at $1,000, to the point where I assumed it was neg bait.

I went with Vilnius for Final Jeopardy.

Man, these ads for the college tournament are so tempting. I wish I had applied last year and weren't graduating in May.

Tim Tebow wrote a book?!

[Bamaman]

Vilinius was my first thought, then remembered Wellington. World capitals aren't my strong suit, especially outside the major countries. Took a chance with Yalta just to have something.

[ComingUpMilhouse]

That dystopian clue was tough to parse. I immediately thought dystopian was the right answer, but it didn't involve changing the first syllable of "ideal," so I went with "ordeal," even though that didn't make sense. Can someone post the exact wording?

I haven't seen the exact wording yet, but wouldn't utopia to dystopia satisfy that?

[dhkendall]

That dystopian clue was tough to parse. I immediately thought dystopian was the right answer, but it didn't involve changing the first syllable of "ideal," so I went with "ordeal," even though that didn't make sense. Can someone post the exact wording?

I haven't seen the exact wording yet, but wouldn't utopia to dystopia satisfy that?

Nope, they were looking for the adjective, correct?

It was nice of them to narrow it down to a choice of 15 for Final - not necessary in a ToC, but, hey ...

I'm wondering if my answer of "lawyer" satisfies the clue in "TV Characters' Jobs where "attorney" was given (don't recall the dollar value, forgot to save it, and hopefully I got right who said what)

[ComingUpMilhouse]

That dystopian clue was tough to parse. I immediately thought dystopian was the right answer, but it didn't involve changing the first syllable of "ideal," so I went with "ordeal," even though that didn't make sense. Can someone post the exact wording?

I haven't seen the exact wording yet, but wouldn't utopia to dystopia satisfy that?

Nope, they were looking for the adjective, correct?

Ahh, then utopian to dystopian. I'm guessing falsifieddocuments misread the clue as saying that you had to change the first syllable of "ideal" but the writers wanted you to change the first syllable of a word that means ideal (so utopian would qualify), but if someone has the exact wording that might help clarify.

[Bamaman]

I'm wondering if my answer of "lawyer" satisfies the clue in "TV Characters' Jobs where "attorney" was given (don't recall the dollar value, forgot to save it, and hopefully I got right who said what)

I can't imagine why they wouldn't. I just said coach for another job clue because I wasn't sure who Hayden Fox's clue partner was, would have said football if given a BMS, so I'm counting it. I thought Mike Brady's job was way overvalued and I'm sure someone else on here felt the same way.

I also learned where another boardie got their screen name.

[TenPoundHammer]

Hit and miss J! round. I went 0/5 in Bing and Manage. Oddly, I got only $600 and $800 in both Literary and Micro.

Me on Bing for $600: "Dance floor + charitable? The hell?… Oh yeah, duh."

Me on Circus for $800: "Oh, what's that ring at the circus called… It really is a circus ring? I'll be darned."

Me on TV Character Jobs for $800: "Oh… um, are attorney and lawyer the same thing? I keep forgetting." (Trivia: On what show did Kelsey Grammer voice a lawyer/attorney/whatever you wanna call it?)

Clammed on the first three in 1960s Black America. I have no idea why Malcolm X was my first thought on the DD. Sheriff threw me because I couldn't see the star clearly in the picture, and segregation threw me since it was in more than just schools.

No guess on FJ! Never heard of that capital, nor do I see any reason to retain this particular one.

[econgator]

Good job by those three!

FJ for me was just a blank. I've never even heard of Yerevan. Vilnius came to me, but I know that's Lithuania.

[Austin Powers]

This guys were mostly great. I remember not being especially sold on Dan but he was fine today. Kristen and Keith grew on me as their runs continued, so I wasn't surprised to see them do well.

Real missed opportunity on YMCA though.

I said Hofburg, not Schonbrunn, and I'm still angry.

I pulled off Yerevan at the end as I got complacent with "Vlinuis."

[Bamaman]

Not sure if I saw the star, but he looked like a sheriff in that uniform and hat.

I said center ring for the circus clue....judges?

Two show off moments tonight.....Cornellius McGillicuddy and Malcolm Little.

[hanzz]

No guess on FJ! Never heard of that capital, nor do I see any reason to retain this particular one.

Huh? What's the point of doing any of this, then?

[skullturf]

This was a tough one! Particularly the Double Jeopardy board. Particularly the last two rows of the Double Jeopardy board. Among those 12 clues, I had 2 correct, 1 neg, and 9 clams.

My streak of correct FJ responses ends at 11. I wrote "Yalta" just to have something, not expecting it to be right, but figuring that it's at least in the right part of the world.

The only candidates I could think of were Riga, Tallinn, Kiev, and Baku. I'd like to think that I'm half-decent on world capitals, but I've never heard of Yerevan.

It just goes to show that capitals are something to really brush up on. As might be true of many of you, I'm pretty decent on (most of) Europe and the Americas, but shakier on Africa and, evidently, the Caucasus.

[econgator]

No guess on FJ! Never heard of that capital, nor do I see any reason to retain this particular one.

Huh? What's the point of doing any of this, then?

C'mon, Hans, this is TPH we're talking about here.

[Jaksiel]

Interesting wager by Keith. I'm not sure if I would have wagered anything in his shoes. Has there been any tournament were $16,600 isn't enough to lock up a wild card spot?

To the poster who mentioned he was familiar with Hayden Fox but not the other coach: Eric Taylor is from Friday Night Lights, which is a great show. You should watch it if possible (and it's fully available on Netflix Instant streaming.)

[xxaaaxx]

FJ should've been instaget (guess I need to hit Sporcle), but I first tried to remember all 15 SSRs (in the wrong order, of course), started feeling the time pressure, and finally concentrated on the letter Y..Y...Y...Yerevan. Easy!

[TenPoundHammer]

No guess on FJ! Never heard of that capital, nor do I see any reason to retain this particular one.

Huh? What's the point of doing any of this, then?

Because, really, is Yerevan ever gonna come up again?