Calling All TOCers Class of 1988

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MarkBarrett
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Calling All TOCers Class of 1988

Post by MarkBarrett »

This field is sorted by money won in regular play.

Bruce Naegeli (5) $64,200 (finals 2nd)
Leah Greenwald (5) $58,802 (quarters)
Roy Holliday (5) $57,200 (semis)
Steven Popper (5) $55,600 (semis)
Bruce Seymour (4) $54,989 (quarters)
Sandra Gore (5) $53,507 (finals 3rd)
Michael Rankins (5) $52,098 (semis)
Barbara-Anne Eddy (5) $52,000 (quarters)
Stephen Lebowitz (4) $50,900 (quarters)
Mark Lowenthal (5) $49,901 (finals winners)
Kate Waits (4) $49,804 (semis)
Ron Trigueiro (4) $49,400 (quarters)
Richard Perez-Pena (5) $40,300 (semis)
Peggy Kennedy (S) $25,000 (semis)
Michael Block (T) 25,000 (quarters)

Gold chances for the 45: Leah Greenwald

Silver chances for the 45: Michael Rankins and Barbara Ann Eddy

Bronze chances for the 45: Sandra Gore and Kate Waits

Copper chances for the 45: Roy Holliday, Bruce Seymour and Mark Lowenthal

Tin chances for the 45: Stephen Lebowitz, Steven Popper, Ron Trigueiro, Richard Perez-Pena, Peggy Kennedy and Michael Block

Deceased: Bruce Naegeli

I think this group is one the most difficult to assess with a bunch of pluses and minuses in play. No matter what the powers decide the debate will be on.

Leah Greenwald gets Gold for her distinction of 9 for 9 correct on first 9 FJ clues faced. In 2005 she had a good showing in the UTOC to win her first match and make Jerome Vered get his FJ clue correct in her second round defeat. The negatives are one and done in both Super J! (four podium forgiveness should be considered for any like her) and the TOC.

In the TOC Michael Rankins won his QF game and led entering FJ in the semis. Michael was another 4-podium victim in Super J! In the UTOC Michael won his first game and was pounded in the second round against Grace Veach and Brian Weikle although he did end up in second after the FJ round. Joining Beverly Spurs and Leslie Frates, Michael competed in a special match televised locally called "Battle of the Bay Area Brains" which he won in 1998.

Barbara-Anne Eddy and Alex Trebek go way back long before he hosted J! when she appeared on The $128,000 Question. Almost 30 years later she still had game left for the UTOC.

John Kelly 7000 - 6900=100
Ryan Holznagel 16111 - 7887 = 8224
Barbara-Anne Eddy 11800 - 11800 = 0

In the TOC Barbara-Anne led her QF game 5800 to 5600 to 3000. She missed and finished with 399 to allow Roy Holliday to win and make the semis with 500. Barbara-Anne's credentials seemed good enough for an invite to Super J!, but it didn't happen.

Sandra Gore (the first woman finalist) led the finals after day one to finish in third after day two. She led her Super J! game entering FJ. In the UTOC Sandra was a distant second.

Kate Waits seems to be someone the powers like. She was a 4x champ and the lowest scoring of the four wildcards in the TOC. In the semis she entered and left the FJ round in third. Still, she was invited to Super J! where she finished in fourth. What did that get her? An invite to the M$M in 2002 where she finished in a distant third place. Being a likeable and memorable player can go a long way. She was not eligible for the UTOC. This time she could be solid Gold for all I know, but I'll give her the middle tier for chances.

Roy Holliday survived the QF round of the TOC with 500 remaining getting him the win and a memorable display of emotion. In the semis he was easily outplayed. In the 10th Anniversary he finished second in a lock loss. In the UTOC it was another second place finish.

Bruce Seymour was a head scratching addition to Super J! as a 4x champ and a one and done in the TOC. The powers knew something as he ended up winning the whole thing. Bruce was one of many names brought up for not being included in the M$M and some thought he should have had some kind of exemption for the UTOC. Perhaps this will be his time?

Mark Lowenthal was outplayed in parts of the TOC, but after four games he was the winner. In Super J! he led the four-player match, but missed his FJ clue. Fast forward to 2005 and in the UTOC Mark was not able to keep up with Erik Larsen and Michael Rooney.

Ron Trigueiro has not played since his TOC exit in the quarterfinals when he led entering FJ and missed the clue. He did win $125,000 on Millionaire in 2000.

I would be thrilled if Peggy Kennedy was still around and was able to send in a video response to the call of the TOC competitors. She may be beyond playing capability, but I would bet her tenacity is still there and it would be a good clip.

Michael Block was one of the Teen champs not in the UTOC. An update for him as well would be nice.
Last edited by MarkBarrett on Mon Jun 10, 2013 7:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
seaborgium
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Re: Calling All TOCers Class of 1988

Post by seaborgium »

Leah is 9/9 on FJ (5 regular + 1 ToC + 1 SJ! + 2 UToC).


In the what-if department, Leah was the #5 non-winner in the ToC QFs, having doubled up in FJ to $8,000; the #4 and last wild card was Kate Waits, who had doubled up to $10,400. But late in Leah's DJ, she dropped from $5,000 to $4,000 by adding "Beads" to the song title "Buttons and Bows." If she leaves that word out, she enters FJ with $6,000, and likely doubles up to $12,000 for at least a wild card, and possibly for the win.

There's a what-if for Ron in the same game. He led $9,500 to Mark Lowenthal's $6,400 going into FJ. He bet $2,500 and finished in third on the sole miss, but Mark only went up to $8,800. If Ron had bet less than $700, he would have won and Mark would have been the #5 non-winner.

Yet another what-if for Ron is in his fifth game. I don't remember the exact scores (I watched it once on YouTube), but Ron was in third place entering FJ, and the challenger in first place got to "first > second + third" territory on the last clue (IIRC). Ron had a sole get on FJ, but first place had bet to cover second minimally and thus didn't fall within Ron's reach. Had he won that game, he would have been a 5xer with over $50k and thus gotten a shot in the UToC.


Maybe Michael Block's circumstances have changed since 2005 and he's willing to go back on the show now.
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MarkBarrett
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Re: Calling All TOCers Class of 1988

Post by MarkBarrett »

seaborgium wrote:Leah is 9/9 on FJ (5 regular + 1 ToC + 1 SJ! + 2 UToC).


In the what-if department, Leah was the #5 non-winner in the ToC QFs, having doubled up in FJ to $8,000; the #4 and last wild card was Kate Waits, who had doubled up to $10,400. But late in Leah's DJ, she dropped from $5,000 to $4,000 by adding "Beads" to the song title "Buttons and Bows." If she leaves that word out, she enters FJ with $6,000, and likely doubles up to $12,000 for at least a wild card, and possibly for the win.

There's a what-if for Ron in the same game. He led $9,500 to Mark Lowenthal's $6,400 going into FJ. He bet $2,500 and finished in third on the sole miss, but Mark only went up to $8,800. If Ron had bet less than $700, he would have won and Mark would have been the #5 non-winner.

Yet another what-if for Ron is in his fifth game. I don't remember the exact scores (I watched it once on YouTube), but Ron was in third place entering FJ, and the challenger in first place got to "first > second + third" territory on the last clue (IIRC). Ron had a sole get on FJ, but first place had bet to cover second minimally and thus didn't fall within Ron's reach. Had he won that game, he would have been a 5xer with over $50k and thus gotten a shot in the UToC.


Maybe Michael Block's circumstances have changed since 2005 and he's willing to go back on the show now.
Fixed Leah's FJ tally to 9/9, thanks. No excuse since we even discussed it a few weeks ago with Larissa Kelly being the one that was 10/10 until Finals #2.
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StevenH
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Re: Calling All TOCers Class of 1988

Post by StevenH »

This is the hardest ToC class so far to pick the favorite to be invited to the next tournament. It's unfair, but I don't think that TPTB are going to give much weight to Leah's 9/9 on FJs, if they are even aware of it at all. Kate Waits might still have the best chance among this class's members.

One thing I noticed with the UToC was that many of TPTB's favorite contestants were in the first taping group (Leslie Frates, Michael Galvin, Bob Harris, Rachael Schwartz, Tom Cubbage, Babu Srinivasan). Michael Rankins was in that first taping group, too. I have to wonder if that means that he is likely to receive an invitation.
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Re: Calling All TOCers Class of 1988

Post by legendneverdies »

Apparently Bruce Seymour would have broken Chuck Forrest's five day record had he gotten his fifth day FJ! right. SOmeone mentioned it on the internet; his regular games aren't archived as yet.
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Re: Calling All TOCers Class of 1988

Post by MarkBarrett »

StevenH wrote:This is the hardest ToC class so far to pick the favorite to be invited to the next tournament. It's unfair, but I don't think that TPTB are going to give much weight to Leah's 9/9 on FJs, if they are even aware of it at all. Kate Waits might still have the best chance among this class's members.

One thing I noticed with the UToC was that many of TPTB's favorite contestants were in the first taping group (Leslie Frates, Michael Galvin, Bob Harris, Rachael Schwartz, Tom Cubbage, Babu Srinivasan). Michael Rankins was in that first taping group, too. I have to wonder if that means that he is likely to receive an invitation.
The 100% on the FJs may not be given much weight, but they will be aware of it. Leah's posting in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1363&p=70899 indicated she and other players do have the opportunity to make their case.

The powers will be looking for information from the players. It would seem the possible components are a form with questions answered like we saw for the UTOC. In 2013 adding a video component is not a big technological hurdle, so that could be part of updating the powers. J! has a Facebook page and the Sony online site. I would expect those to be utilized somehow. Viewers are used to putting in their two cents worth with all the talent/singing shows. Perhaps we will have a voice to pick some idols whose talent we want to see dancing with the stars like Brad and Ken who have the X factor already to be selected.
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Re: Calling All TOCers Class of 1988

Post by StevenH »

legendneverdies wrote:Apparently Bruce Seymour would have broken Chuck Forrest's five day record had he gotten his fifth day FJ! right. SOmeone mentioned it on the internet; his regular games aren't archived as yet.
Bruce also lost $2000 on a DJ round Daily Double in his quarterfinal ToC game. Going into FJ in that game Sandra Gore had $9300, Bruce had $7700, and Michael Block had $2900. The FJ clue was a triple stumper and Bruce finished with $6500, which was not good enough for a wild card spot. Bruce's performance in Super Jeopardy! was pretty dominant against some tough competition, so it would be cool to see how he could do against Rutter, Jennings, Craig, etc.
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Re: Calling All TOCers Class of 1988

Post by ahirbhairav »

Bruce Seymour was a 4-time champion only, which is why he was not able to qualify for the UToC...however this is a tournament where the players have to be from the ToC ONLY...not 4 or 5-time champions...so he gets to play if he wants to...correct?
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Re: Calling All TOCers Class of 1988

Post by bpmod »

ahirbhairav wrote:Bruce Seymour was a 4-time champion only, which is why he was not able to qualify for the UToC...however this is a tournament where the players have to be from the ToC ONLY...not 4 or 5-time champions...so he gets to play if he wants to...correct?
Not entirely correct. He gets to play if they want him to play.

Brian
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Re: Calling All TOCers Class of 1988

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bpmod wrote:
ahirbhairav wrote:Bruce Seymour was a 4-time champion only, which is why he was not able to qualify for the UToC...however this is a tournament where the players have to be from the ToC ONLY...not 4 or 5-time champions...so he gets to play if he wants to...correct?
Not entirely correct. He gets to play if they want him to play.

Brian
A starting field of 360 TOCers plus Ken - deceased = something in the 300s. With the final field rumored to be around 45 (15 from each decade) the numbers for Bruce Seymour are about 15 slots from 110+ players.
ahirbhairav

Re: Calling All TOCers Class of 1988

Post by ahirbhairav »

MarkBarrett wrote:
bpmod wrote:
ahirbhairav wrote:Bruce Seymour was a 4-time champion only, which is why he was not able to qualify for the UToC...however this is a tournament where the players have to be from the ToC ONLY...not 4 or 5-time champions...so he gets to play if he wants to...correct?
Not entirely correct. He gets to play if they want him to play.

Brian
A starting field of 360 TOCers plus Ken - deceased = something in the 300s. With the final field rumored to be around 45 (15 from each decade) the numbers for Bruce Seymour are about 15 slots from 110+ players.
Plus Ken is unfortunately right, since he said that he knew about the stuff before on his blog...I felt like crying the entire day...
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Re: Calling All TOCers Class of 1988

Post by dhkendall »

ahirbhairav wrote:I felt like crying the entire day...
Uhhh, you do realize it's just a gameshow???????

In the immortal words of Alex Trebek (in response to people who take this stuff *way* more seriously than they should for a gameshow), "get a life!"
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Re: Calling All TOCers Class of 1988

Post by jeff6286 »

dhkendall wrote:
ahirbhairav wrote:I felt like crying the entire day...
Uhhh, you do realize it's just a gameshow???????

In the immortal words of Alex Trebek (in response to people who take this stuff *way* more seriously than they should for a gameshow), "get a life!"
Please don't remind me about those harsh, harsh words from Alex. I already recall them way too often, and will probably think of them EVERY DAY FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!
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Re: Calling All TOCers Class of 1988

Post by TenPoundHammer »

You guys do a better mbclev than… mbclev.
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