Thursday, April 7, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Archivists]

Game Recap for Show #7274, 2016-04-07

CONTESTANTS
Courtney Corcoran, a stay-at-home mom from Alexandria, Virginia
Ken Sansone, an assistant attorney general from Bedford, New Hampshire
Jeff Crosby, a youth ministry consultant from Rochester, New York (whose 2-day cash winnings total $30,201)

OPENING REMARKS
Alex: Thank you, Johnny. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. We've been having a lot of fun this week on our program. Good champion in Jeff. And today we're delighted to welcome Courtney and Ken, the challengers. Let's go to work. Good luck. Here are the categories for you in this first round of play...

JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
GOOD WORKOUT SONGS (4/5)
CAIRO (5/5)
THE FINAL CHAPTER (4/5)
STABLE CHARACTERS (4/5)
"I.M." (4/5)
PAY (4/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Ken: 10 R (including 2 rebounds and 1 DD), 0 W
Jeff: 10 R, 2 W
Courtney: 5 R (including 1 rebound), 1 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 5
Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $4,800



SCORES AT THE FIRST BREAK
Ken: $3,800
Courtney: $1,000
Jeff: -$400

CONTESTANT INTERVIEWS



Alex: Courtney Corcoran is a stay-at-home mom who is also an Army vet.

Courtney: Yes, yes. In a previous life, I, uh, once served in the United States Army. Um, and an interesting fact is I am actually a third generation paratrooper. Three generations of my family were foolish enough to jump out of airplanes.

Alex: Airborne!

Courtney: Airborne. [Laughs]

Alex: All right, good for you.

Courtney: Thank you.

Alex: And thank you for your service, and for your family's as well.

Courtney: Thank you very much.




Alex: Ken Sansone, assistant attorney general in New Hampshire. And I like your wife...

Ken: Me, too.

Alex: ...because she gave you a terrific 40th birthday present.

Ken: Yes, my lovely wife Alice, who is here with me today, uh, surprised me with a trip to Rome, which is a place where I'd never been, but I'd studied a lot about, uh, in college. And it was, as you might imagine, a tremendous surprise and a tremendous time.

Alex: What was the most memorable moment you had in that special city?

Ken: I think, uh, walking into St. Peter's on Monday morning. There was hardly anybody there, and...

Alex: Oh, you were lucky...

Ken: Yes. Very lucky.

Alex: 'Cause normally there--there are a lot of people there.




Alex: All right, now we come to Jeff Crosby, who is our champion. And it says here, Jeff, that you qualified for the Prometheus Society. I don't know what that is.

Jeff: Qualified, decided not to join. It's a high IQ society. Mensa is, uh, top 2%, 1 in 50. Uh, Prometheus Society is the 99.997 percentile, 1 in 30,000.

[Applause]

Alex: Yeah. Yeah. I could've qualified...

[Laughter]

Jeff: I'm sure you could.

Alex: ...if I were smarter.

[Laughter]

JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Ken found the Daily Double on the 17th clue. Jeff was in the hole with -$400, Ken had $3,800, and Courtney was at $1,000. Ken wagered $2,500.

PAY $1000: 2-word term for any large sum; in 1360 it was literally 3 million gold crowns for John II

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
THE FINAL CHAPTER $1000: 1880: "Little Ilyusha's Funeral. The Speech at the Stone"

GOOD WORKOUT SONGS $1000: This country singer's "Days Go By" & "Who Wouldn't Wanna be Me?"

"I.M." $1000: .im is the internet domain for the British offshore dependency

PAY $800: A downpayment is usually required when purchasing something using this rhyming "plan"

STABLE CHARACTERS $1000: Trainer Wilhelm von Osten performed with this "clever" horse that seemed to display human intelligence

SCORES AT THE END OF THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
Ken: $7,700
Jeff: $3,400
Courtney: $1,600

[Archivists]

DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
HOW "SWEET" IT IS (4/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
EXPERIMENTS (3/5)
THE OLD WEST (4/5)
MOVIE TITLES IN OTHER COUNTRIES (5/5)
WORDS IN U.S. CAPITALS (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
I.M. PEI (5/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Ken: 13 R (including 1 rebound and 2 DDs), 3 W
Jeff: 10 R (including 1 rebound), 2 W
Courtney: 3 R, 1 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 4
Double Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $6,400



FIRST DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Ken snagged the next Daily Double on the 6th clue. Jeff had $2,200, Ken had $9,300, and Courtney was at $2,800. Ken wagered $5,000.

HOW "SWEET" IT IS $1600: Johnathan Swift wrote that honey & wax furnished "mankind with the two noblest of things, which are" these

SECOND DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
It was Ken who snatched up the last Daily Double of the game on the 21st clue. Jeff had $10,600, Ken had $15,500, and Courtney was at $3,200. Ken wagered $5,000.

WORDS IN U.S. CAPITALS $1600: A prohibition in New York's capital

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND
EXPERIMENTS $800: Gravitational waves from 2 black holes were found to be little waves describes as these in space-time, validating Einstein
(Jeff: What are folds?)
(Ken: What are warps?)

HOW "SWEET" IT IS $2000: This liberal arts women's college in Virginia was founded in 1901 & named for the plantation on which it was built
(Ken: What is sweetwater?)

EXPERIMENTS $1600: Testing thermal coatings was among the 82 experiments on this fittingly named 1973-74 U.S. spacecraft
(Courtney: What is the Enterprise?)

THE OLD WEST $2000: These two lovers are seen in a New York photography studio just prior to sailing for Buenos Aires in 1901

SCORES ENTERING FINAL JEOPARDY!
Ken: $22,900
Jeff: $14,600
Courtney: $4,000

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
BRTISH HISTORY

VENUSIAN MONOLOGUES/MARTIAN CHRONICLES
Crush for first place.
Ken: Wager $6,301 to cover Jeff, but no more than $14,899 so as not to fall behind Courtney's doubled score.
Jeff: You have the hope of surpassing Ken if you come up with the correct response. Bet at least $8,301 to force Ken to wager to win; but if you're intent on holding on to second place, wager no more than $6,599 to protect your second place position from being usurped by Courtney.
Courtney: Unfortunately, your score is less than the difference between the scores of the first and second place players, so unless they both blunder, you're competing for second place and have no hopes of first. Wager as much as you desire, but remember, you'll have better chances of advancing to second place if you have a larger sum left over on a Triple Stumper.

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
On January 1, 1801, George III relinquished this royal title claimed by English monarchs since the Hundred Years' War

FINAL SCORES
Courtney: $4,000 - $3,900 = $100 (What is King of England) (3rd place)
Jeff: $14,600 - $6,000 = $8,600 (What is Defender of the Faith?) (2nd place)
Ken: $22,900 - $7,000 = $15,900 (What is Duke of York?) (New champion: $15,900)

Total Potential Lach Trash: $11,200

GAME DYNAMICS


CORYAT SCORES
Jeff: $14,600, 20 R, 4 W
Ken: $14,600, 23 R (including 3 DDs), 3 W
Courtney: $4,000, 8 R, 2 W
Combined Coryat: $33,200

BATTING AVERAGES
Ken: 23/61 = .377
Jeff: 20/58 = .345
Courtney: 8/58 = .138
Team: 51/63 = .810

MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTING CLUES
THE FINAL CHAPTER $800: 1851: "The Chase--Third Day"
(Jeff: What is Les Misérables?)

"I.M." $800: This Filipina power broker reportedly said "Win or lose, we go shopping after the election"
(Jeff:Who is Marcos?)
(Alex: No. Courtney?)
(Courtney: Who is [*]?)
(Alex: Yes. I.M. I.M..)

CAIRO $400: It's the simple, to-the-point name of a much visited attraction, one of whose galleries is seen here
(Courtney: What is the Cairo Museum?)

THE OLD WEST $400: A presentation of "Custer's last stand" in this man's wild west shows used some Lakota who fought in the battle
(Jeff: Who is Wild Bill?)

I.M. PEI $1600: Boston is proud of its Pei-designed tower named for this revolutionary.

I.M. PEI $800: I.M. Pei designed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and it's safe to say he didn't make a mistake by this lake

WORDS IN U.S. CAPITALS $2000: A foreign currency in Wyoming's capital
(Ken: What is a lira?)

MOVIE TITLES IN OTHER COUNTRIES $1600: In Germany, this 1971 Gene Hackman film is "Focus Brooklyn"
(Alex: That's it, we have less than a minute now.)

CORRECT RESPONSES
a king's ransom
The Brothers Karamazov
Keith Urban
the Isle of Man
layaway plan
Clever Hans
sweetness & light
a ban (in Albany)
ripples
Sweet Briar College
Skylab
the Sundance Kid and Etta Place
King of France
Moby Dick
Imelda Marcos
the Egyptian Museum
Buffalo Bill
(John) Hancock
Lake Erie
a yen (in Cheyenne)
The French Connection

[theFJguy]

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
BRITISH HISTORY

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
On January 1, 1801 George III relinquished this royal title claimed by English monarchs since the Hundred Years’ War

Jeff Crosby: 14600-6000=8600
Ken Sansome: 22900-7000=15900 (new champ)
Courtney Corcoran: 4000-3900=100

Correct response:

Spoiler

King of France (Jeff - Defender of the Faith) (Ken - Duke of York) (Courtney - King of England)

Daily Doubles
Ken: 3800+2500
Ken: 9300+5000
Ken: 15500+5000

Coryats
Jeff: 14600
Ken: 14600
Courtney: 4000

Combined: 33,200

[Abraxas]

Congrats to Ken on his win. I had 46 correct responses including these triple stumpers: Isle of Man, layaway, ripples, Sweetbriar College, and Skylab. I also got FJ.

[econgator]

Good try, Jeff, but you certainly have nothing to be ashamed of. I was hoping you'd be the one to find the last DD.

Instaget FJ.

[Vowela]

I would have been really tempted to go for a true daily double on the state capital clue, realizing by that point that not only was it an easy category, but a predictable one (there being a limit to just what they could ask, really).

[Golf]

I would have been really tempted to go for a true daily double on the state capital clue, realizing by that point that not only was it an easy category, but a predictable one (there being a limit to just what they could ask, really).

Definitely, especially with the extra time allotted. Regardless of a TDD, he definitely underwagered here.

I saw what Jeff was trying to do with his FJ wager, win the game with a RW scenario assuming Ron makes the standard cover wager and also lock out third. But this sacrifices winning chances, it doesn't catch a zero wager even with a correct answer.

[BADuBois]

Congrats to Ken, for proudly representing our home state of New Hampshire!

I imagine he's a strong presence in court.

I goofed on FJ, overlooking the 100 Years War part of the clue and instantly assumed, "King of America."

[koozbane]

Alas, all good things must come to an end! Ken bested me on the buzzer, he found all three Daily Doubles, I made some silly mistakes, there was a butt-load of triple stumpers, and I had no clue on the final. Game over!

Ken and his family were great folks. I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with them afterward. I am SO VERY THANKFUL TO GOD to have had this opportunity and to be able to call myself a Jeopardy Champion! Thank you all for your support!

The buzzer is a cruel and fickle mistress. People that do REALLY well on Jeopardy talk of getting into a “rhythm” on the buzzer. Not only did I not find a rhythm, I felt like I was frantically flailing at it, changing timing, changing hand positions, trying to get in.

In watching the games, I was most interested in tracking how I did on the buzzer. Here are my stats for the three games—to the best of my memory:

69 times buzzed in successfully (This includes getting in with both right and wrong answers. No way of knowing if I beat the others on the buzzer or if I was the only one ringing in)
54 times tried to buzz in but got beat
44 times I didn’t buzz in

Very subjective question---What % of the time do you think someone has to be able to buzz in to be a top player? How much of Jeopardy do you think is what you know and how much is mastering the buzzer? It was really very challenging for me. May you all fare much better!

[nlw44]

I'm somewhat surprised this FJ was a TS, based as it was on pretty straightforward history about the underlying basis for the Hundred Years War - pretty classic J!-esque knowledge, I would have thought.

I don't know if it's true that Alex can see the FJ responses before the reveal, although I think someone here has said that is the case, but I think the way he prefaced the reveal with the bit about it being a tough FJ strongly suggested that he already knew no one had it right.

[goatman]

Not an instaget FJ but able to reason it out based on TOM >>> 100 years' war > that was England & France... Since Henry II married Eleanor of Aquitaine they claimed to be kings of France AND England, all those darned wars over property rights in Normandy > King of France was pretty well done after they shipped out of Calais. I expected someone to write; "King of America!" LOL!

Good run from our Boardie, sorry to see you go, congrats to the new champ on a strong win with decisive play!

[ElendilPickle]

Congratulations, Jeff, on a great run, and congratulations to Ken as well!

[sarisson]

Very subjective question---What % of the time do you think someone has to be able to buzz in to be a top player? How much of Jeopardy do you think is what you know and how much is mastering the buzzer? It was really very challenging for me. May you all fare much better!

Before the most recent TOC, someone found the "buzz percentage" and precision of all the competitors. They'd all won at least 3 games, and one won 13:
http://gameshowtheory.com/?cat=10
So with 123 buzz attempts in three games, and only five unrevealed clues, you had a buzz percentage of 70.3. I don't know if that counts DD's, so it could be slightly less than that. You'd have to look at your number of negs for precision. So you'd be right up there with omgwheelhouse, who won it all.
In contrast, my living room stats over those three games were 108 attempts, which included 6 negs. So my buzz % was 61.7 with a precision of 94.4%.

[koozbane]

Very subjective question---What % of the time do you think someone has to be able to buzz in to be a top player? How much of Jeopardy do you think is what you know and how much is mastering the buzzer? It was really very challenging for me. May you all fare much better!

Before the most recent TOC, someone found the "buzz percentage" and precision of all the competitors. They'd all won at least 3 games, and one won 13:
http://gameshowtheory.com/?cat=10
So with 123 buzz attempts in three games, and only five unrevealed clues, you had a buzz percentage of 70.3. I don't know if that counts DD's, so it could be slightly less than that. You'd have to look at your number of negs for precision. So you'd be right up there with omgwheelhouse, who won it all.
In contrast, my living room stats over those three games were 108 attempts, which included 6 negs. So my buzz % was 61.7 with a precision of 94.4%.

How are you figuring buzz percentage? I've been thinking of it as "I got in 56% of the time I attempted to buzz." That didn't seem so great to me.
Oh, and I missed 11 in the three games. So 11 of my 69 successful buzz-ins were misses. What's that do to my precision?

[alietr]

So, Kooz, why did you turn them down?

[koozbane]

So, Kooz, why did you turn them down?

Very simply, they charged dues. Paying money to hang around smart people didn't seem very smart. (I just checked their site again and the dues are way less than when I passed many years ago. Also, they no longer accept the test that I passed. So there ya go!)

And to quote Groucho, "I'd never join a club that would have me as a member."

[Cat Hammarskjold]

I was just curious if other boardies during FJ were thinking, "It can't be all of France, since they had their own kings until 1789. How about something like Duke of Aquitaine or Duke of Brittany?" You played well all three days, koozbane. It's sad to see you go.

[KathyWellsville]

34,000 coryat.

FJ was an instaget based on watching Branagh's Henry V at least 100 times. "But tell the Dauphin I will keep my state,

Be like a king, and show my sail of greatness

When I do rouse me in my throne of France,"


King of France..

[Bamaman]

I thought of the right response, but did not go with it and left it blank. Second time I've done that this week. TPH must be rubbing off on me.

Agree on going all in on the hidden capitals. As long as you know the capital, you are home free.

[grindcore]

Yikes, not only the easiest DD in history, but the most predictably easy one too.