Monday, February 17, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Archivists]

Game Recap for Show #6776, 2014-02-17

2014 College Championship semifinal game 1.

CONTESTANTS
Whitney Thompson, a junior at the University of Oklahoma from Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tucker Pope, a junior from Texas A&M University from Lubbock, Texas
Laurie Beckoff, a sophomore from the University of Chicago from Hollis Hills, New York

OPENING REMARKS
Alex: Thanks, Johnny. Thank you, everyone. And welcome aboard for the first game of our semifinals. An interesting distribution of talent has made it into the semifinals. We have three seniors, three juniors, and three sophomores. Let's see how it works out. Whitney, Tucker, and Laurie, good luck in this game today. This is sudden death, as you know. Only the winner will advance, and here are the categories in the first round of play...

JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
COLLEGE TOWNS (4/5)
THE OLD TESTAMENT (2/5, including 1 missed Daily Double)
NON-NAUGHTY WORDS (4/5)
STUDENT HEALTH CENTER (5/5)
OLYMPIC GOLD (3/5)
"U.S.", EH (4/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Whitney: 9 R, 1 W (including 1 DD)
Laurie: 6 R, 0 W
Tucker: 7 R, 2 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 7
Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $5,000



JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Whitney found the Daily Double on the 14th clue. Laurie had $1,800, Tucker had $1,600, and Whitney was at $2,400. Whitney wagered $600.

THE OLD TESTAMENT $800: This third book of the Old Testament is named for the tribe from which the priests of Israel were descended
(Whitney: What is Deuteronomy?)

SCORES AT THE FIRST BREAK
Whitney: $1,800
Laurie: $1,800
Tucker: $1,600

CONTESTANT INTERVIEWS



Alex: I think this young lady, Whitney Thompson, has a great sense of humor. She's from Oklahoma, and she likes to make fashion statements when she's on campus.

Whitney: Oh, yes, I do. Um, I purchased a deerstalker at the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London when I was there a couple summers ago, and I think it's just a really cool hat. I like wearing it around, and several people on campus just know me as the deerstalker girl, so...

Alex: What was the initial reaction when you started wearing the deerstalker cap?

Whitney: Actually, I did not get teased. Just a lot of people thought it was a really cool hat, and I concur, clearly.

Alex: Good for you. [Chuckles] All right.




Alex: Tucker Pope is from Lubbock, Texas. He takes style tips from a former U.S. president. Tell us.

Tucker: Uh, yes. Well, uh, George H.W. Bush's library is on the campus of Texas A&M, and, uh, in recent years, he's been confined to using a wheelchair, and ever since, he's taken to wearing a very, very bright-colored, brightly patterned socks, and I saw that and took to it and so I've started a collection of my own.

Alex: And what was the reaction of your schoolmates when they noticed wild-colored socks on you?

Tucker: They always thought they were cool, and every week when I had to dress up in nice clothes, they always wanted to see what socks I was wearing.

Alex: All right. Good. Two fashion stories here.




Alex: Now we come to Laurie Beckhoff, who is a sophomore at the University of Chicago, and she wrote a college essay about something else that, uh, is noticeable, and that is being a redhead. Is that a positive or a negative?

Laurie: I think it's a positive, and in my essay, I talked about how it's often portrayed as a negative, and I looked at various historical and literary figures with red hair to explore my own personality.

Alex: Name a few of those historic, uh, redheads.

Laurie: Vincent van Gogh, Elizabeth I.

Alex: Mm-hmm. They did all right.

Laurie: I think so.

Alex: Yeah. Okay. Good for you.

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
COLLEGE TOWNS $800: A shortened version of the name of trapper Etienne Provost is on a college town in this Western state

THE OLD TESTAMENT $600: This son of Jacob goes to prison when a woman falsely accuses him; you can see what really happened
(Alex: Innocent.)

THE OLD TESTAMENT $1000: Esther 4:3 reports that "there was great mourning among the Jews... and many lay in sackcloth and" these

NON-NAUGHTY WORDS $400: Oh, this! Rising 770 feet on the Feather River, Oroville is the highest one in the United States
(Tucker: What is a waterfall?)

OLYMPIC GOLD $800: Men's figure skating,
2010

OLYMPIC GOLD $1000: Men's 100-meter dash,
1984, 1988;
men's long jump,
1984, 1988, 1992, 1996
(Tucker: Who is Johnson?)

"U.S.", EH $400: The 2012 film in this franchise has Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme & an army of genetically enhanced warriors

SCORES AT THE END OF THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
Whitney: $4,200
Laurie: $3,200
Tucker: $2,800

[Archivists]

DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
THOMAS, WRITE? (3/5)
WEATHER VERBS (4/5)
INTERNATIONAL CINEMA SHOWCASE (4/5, including 1 missed Daily Double)
TALK NERDY TO ME (4/5)
KIWI FAUNA (4/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY (3/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Tucker: 10 R (including 1 rebound and 1 DD), 0 W
Laurie: 7 R, 2 W (including 1 DD)
Whitney: 5 R, 1 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 7
Double Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $8,400



FIRST DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Laurie snagged the next Daily Double on the 6th clue. Laurie had $4,400, Tucker had $3,600, and Whitney was at $4,200. Laurie wagered $1,600.

INTERNATIONAL CINEMA SHOWCASE $1600: "City of God" is about 2 boys growing up in a violent favela in this South American country
(Laurie: What is... Chile?)

SECOND DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
It was Tucker who snatched up the last Daily Double of the game on the 25th clue. Laurie had $9,200, Tucker had $10,400, and Whitney was at $8,600. Tucker wagered $1,200.

KIWI FAUNA $2000: Found in New Zealand's waters, the blue bottle jellyfish is also known as this due to its resemblance to a battleship

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND
THOMAS, WRITE? $400: The success of "Far From the Madding Crowd" enabled him to give up architecture for writing
(Laurie: Who is Thomas Pyncheon?)

THOMAS, WRITE? $800: Climb up "The Magic Mountain", a novel by this German

TALK NERDY TO ME $2000: "Your world. Your imagination" is a tagline for this build-it-yourself online game
(Alex: Tucker, you knew that.)

WEATHER VERBS $1200: To sing lead for a rock band

KIWI FAUNA $1600: The yellow-eyed penguin doesn't form these breeding groups like other penguins but builds solo nests

AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY $800: (Jimmy of the Clue Crew presents the clue from Valley Forge Nat'l Historical Park in Pennsylvania.) Honored with a monument, the 500 black soldiers at Valley Forge included the U.S. military's first African-American unit of free men, the regiment known as the First of this Ocean State

AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY $1600: In 1976 Clarence Norris, the last member of these "Boys", was pardoned in Alabama for a 1931 rape conviction

SCORES ENTERING FINAL JEOPARDY!
Tucker: $12,000
Whitney: $10,600
Laurie: $10,400

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
19th CENTURY NAMES

VENUSIAN MONOLOGUES/MARTIAN CHRONICLES
Four-fifths for first place. Stratton's Dilemma.
Tucker: Wager $9,201 to cover Whitney.
Whitney: You ought to wager to cover Laurie, 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 $10,600. You are in Stratton's Dilemma, calling for a wager of more than $10,200 (to shut out Laurie) or less than $7,800 (risking the possibility of being passed from behind by Laurie). Go with the smaller bet if you believe a Triple Stumper is more likely than a singleton miss by Tucker.
Laurie: You ought to try wagering between $201 and $7,600. This will top a $0 wager by Whitney while still beating Tucker and Whitney on the Triple Stumper (should Tucker wager to cover Whitney's doubled score and Whitney wager to cover your doubled score).

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
In preparation for a work he published in 1828 that was over 20 years in the making, he learned 26 languages

FINAL SCORES
Laurie: $10,400 + $9,400 = $19,800 (Who was Webster?) (2nd place)
Whitney: $10,600 - $10,207 = $393 (Who is Webst Roget?) (3rd place)
Tucker: $12,000 + $9,201 = $21,201 (Who is Webster?) (Finalist)

Total Potential Lach Trash: $13,400

GAME DYNAMICS


CORYAT SCORES
Tucker: $12,800, 17 R (including 1 DD), 2 W
Laurie: $12,000, 13 R, 2 W (including 1 DD)
Whitney: $11,200, 14 R, 2 W (including 1 DD)
Combined Coryat: $36,000

BATTING AVERAGES
Tucker: 18/59 = .305
Laurie: 14/59 = .237
Whitney: 14/59 = .237
Team: 46/63 = .730

MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTING CLUES
STUDENT HEALTH CENTER $1000: Have you had a menactra vaccine? it helps protect against this illness that also begins with M-E-N
[Alex interpolates "the letters" before "M-E-N" when reading the clue.]

KIWI FAUNA $400: New Zealand has 2 species of this flying mammal, the only land mammal native to the country
(Whitney: What's a flying squirrel?)

CORRECT RESPONSES
Leviticus
Utah
Joseph
ashes
a dam
Evan Lysachek
Carl Lewis
Universal Soldier
Brazil
a (Portugese) man o' war
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Mann
Second Life
front
colonies
Rhode Island
the Scottsboro Boys
Noah Webster
meningitis
bat

[jeff6286]

19th Century Names
In preparation for a work he published in 1828 that was over 20 years in the making, he learned 26 languages.

Spoiler

Who is Noah Webster? Whitney was writing Webster, then crossed it out and said Roget.

Tucker Pope: $12,000+$9,201=$21,201...Finalist
Whitney Thompson: $10,600-$10,207=$393
Laurie Beckoff: $10,400+$9,400=$19,800

[Bamaman]

I hope niether of them were thinking of that 19th century name, Daniel Webster.

[jpr281]

I've never heard of USB as an acronym for a universal service bus.

[econgator]

I've never heard of USB as an acronym for a universal service bus.

Nor I. Not sure where they got that one from.

[TenPoundHammer]

3/5 in Old Testament. Samson and Joseph were my misses.

0/5 in College Towns, got only $600 in Student Health. Wouldn't have gotten "flu shot" if you'd given me a month. Clammed on "migraine" and "meningitis", and derped on "salmonella" because "fishy" had me stuck on "pisc-" words and getting nowhere.

Also wasn't getting "Dam", probably because I've never heard an "oh" before it, and NHO "Fracking". Stupidly said "bull" instead of "crop" on the whip.

"Universal Soldier" seemed tough at $400.

====

So that's what USB and IP stand for.

Judges: I said submarine when they wanted U-boat. "We'll take that", BMS, or neg?

Were the first two in Thomas Write? really that hard? I had no idea, but I got Pynchon because I saw the name in Uncle John's Bathroom Reader once.

Ran Weather.

I swear, that's like the eighth time I've seen someone guess "flying squirrel" for "flying mammal". How hard is flying mammal = bat?

3/5 in the Kiwi Faunua. I missed colony entirely and clammed on "Man-o-war".

Saw no way to get Rhode Island in African American for $800.

====

Who would need to learn a lot of languages? Someone who works with words. And their origins? Webster?

[lisa0012]

Gig 'em Tucker!

Thought Webster immediately, then wondered if anything else might require the use of multiple languages. Nothing sounded better so I stuck with it.

[econgator]

Judges: I said submarine when they wanted U-boat. "We'll take that", BMS, or neg?

Taken outright.

Saw no way to get Rhode Island in African American for $800.

Take a guess what Rhode Island's nickname is (hint: it's a state ... on the ocean ...).

[esrever]

I've never heard of USB as an acronym for a universal service bus.

I have heard "service" used in place of "serial."

Excellent game by all three players; I just wish Whitney had continued writing "Webster" instead of crossing it out.

Picked up Lach trash on "ashes", "dam", and "colonies"

Got FJ.

[econgator]

I have heard "service" used in place of "serial."

Where? I can't find a single slightly-reputable source on google.

I just wish Whitney had continued writing "Webster" instead of crossing it out.

Why? She still would have lost.

[Leander]

Oddly, the first idea that came to me was the guy who edited the Oxford English Dictionary, but then I thought "nah, too obscure"', but that stuck me on the wrong side of the Atlantic and Webster never occurred to me.

[TenPoundHammer]

Take a guess what Rhode Island's nickname is (hint: it's a state ... on the ocean ...).

This is where capitalization helps. I assumed "ocean state" in a general sense, i.e., "a state that's on the ocean", not "Ocean State" as in "the state nicknamed Ocean State".

[El Jefe]

I've never heard of USB as an acronym for a universal service bus.

Nor I. Not sure where they got that one from.

Me neither, but Let Me Google That For You:

http://www.techopedia.com/definition/3016/usb-modem
http://www.galdosinc.com/archives/1304
http://www.lockergnome.com/it/2005/09/0 ... rvice-bus/

Jeffrey

[skullturf]

Clues during which I learned something:

I had no idea that Provo, Utah, was named for a French person named "Provost". I've even seen the name "Provost" before, but I guess I always assumed Provo, Utah, was named for something in the Old Testament, like "Moab" or "Orem" are.

I got 4/5 in writers named Thomas. My miss was the guy who wrote The Silence of the Lambs, whose name I can never remember. I was thinking "Thomas Richards or something", but wouldn't have rung in with that.

Frankly, I say you don't deserve to be famous if your name is "Thomas Harris"! (Actually, in the past, I've missed "Shaun White" on Jeopardy!, since his name is a bit too ordinary-sounding, but this time I got it.)

For FJ: I could see this being a frustrating one for many people. Names that popped into my head included Noah Webster, Samuel Johnson, Roget, and Bartlett (of Bartlett's quotations, whoever exactly he was).

I actually wrote down "Bartlett" first, but crossed it out and put "Noah Webster". I had competing tendencies swimming around in my head, and I ended up going the right way, but on a different day, I might not have.

At first, I thought that somebody compiling a book of quotations might need to be familiar with different languages. But I have no idea who Bartlett was or when he lived, and I figured there was an excellent chance it was later than 1828. I also don't know when Roget lived, but a thesaurus is more about looking within one language. Dictionary compilers need to know etymology and stuff, even if their dictionary is about the English language. I thought Samuel Johnson might have been earlier than 1828, and I thought Noah Webster was probably right around then. Plus, Jeopardy! likes Americana, and somehow Noah Webster just seemed "likely" for the college tournament. To be honest, though, this clue was a bit of a roll of the dice for me, and I'm happy I went the right way.

[econgator]

I've never heard of USB as an acronym for a universal service bus.

Nor I. Not sure where they got that one from.

Me neither, but Let Me Google That For You:

http://www.techopedia.com/definition/3016/usb-modem
http://www.galdosinc.com/archives/1304
http://www.lockergnome.com/it/2005/09/0 ... rvice-bus/

Jeffrey

As I said above, I Googled it for myself already. Absolutely none of those fit the clue.

[skullturf]

I've now gone and looked it up, and it turns out that:

Samuel Johnson's dictionary was first published in 1755 after nine years of work
Roget's Thesaurus was created in 1805 and released to the public in 1852
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations was first issued in 1855

So I was correct to go from "1828" to "Noah Webster", but none of the others are ridiculously far from 1828, so I think they're all plausible guesses, especially if you only have 30 seconds.

[NoName84]

First thought was Roget, switched to Webster with about ten seconds to spare.

[dnbguy]

Picked up Lach Trash on Joseph and dam.

The most recent Universal Soldier movie was released in 2012, and made less than $1 million dollars worldwide gross. Seemed awfully hard for a $400 clue.

[doihavetoreally]

I thought some of Thomas writers shouldn't be TSs.

Sad to see Carl Lewis a TSA too.