Thursday, November 17, 2016 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Archivists]

Game Recap for Show #7404, 2016-11-17

2016 Teen Tournament semifinal game 2.
From DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.

CONTESTANTS
Alec Fischthal, a junior from North Woodmere, New York
Emily LaMonica, a senior from Sayreville, New Jersey
Connor Pierce, a freshman from Dallas, Texas

OPENING REMARKS
Alex: Thanks, Johnny. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I wanna start by telling you all that when I go back home to Los Angeles at the end of the week, I'm really going to miss this place because of people like you. Now if you watched yesterday's program, you know what a great competition it was. If today's game is as good, then we're all in for a special treat. So, Alec, Emily, and Connor, good luck. Here we go. Categories now in play are as follows...

JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
NEVER PRESIDENT (5/5)
ANNUAL EVENTS (4/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
EXTREME GEOGRAPHY (5/5)
MOVIE VILLAINS (5/5)
TEXTING (5/5)
IT'S "LIT" (5/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Alec: 16 R (including 3 rebounds and 1 DD), 0 W
Emily: 10 R, 1 W
Connor: 4 R, 2 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 1
Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $800



SCORES AT THE FIRST BREAK
Alec: $5,400
Emily: $800
Connor: -$200

CONTESTANT INTERVIEWS



Alex: Alec Fischthal is a junior from North Woodmere in New York State. You are into a kind of racing that is not necessarily all that popular here in the United States.

Alec: That's right, Alex. Um, I am a avid fan of Formula One. It's really popular in, uh, England and Europe. Um, and I was fortunate enough--I went to a race in Indianapolis a couple years ago, and I actually met Lewis Hamilton, who is my favorite driver. Shout-out to Lewis. Hope you win this season. But it's a great sport. It's different than NASCAR.

Alex: It's amazing, amazing.




Alex: Emily Lamonica is a senior from New Jersey. Now not too long ago, I received a lovely gift from a friend. It was a ukulele. And I would like to learn to play the ukulele, but I don't want to go to a teacher. You have a ukulele, and you learned in a different way.

Emily: I learned how to play the ukulele solely from YouTube tutorials and my 14-year-old brother, Andrew.

Alex: Oh, wait a minute. I don't have a 14-year-old brother.

Emily: [Laughs] You--you can take mine.

[Laughter]

Alex: How long did it take you to learn?

Emily: Um, it took only about a couple of weeks for the basic chords. I'm still not very good, but I love practicing. I love jamming out with my friends. It's a lot of fun.

Alex: Now you realize, of course, that a few moments ago, millions of people heard you try to give away your brother.

Emily: [Laughs] I know.

[Laughter]

Emily: I love him, though.

Alex: Okay.

Emily: I love you with all my heart, Andrew. [Laughs]

Alex: Okay, Andrew. She's trying to make up to you now.




Alex: Connor Pierce is a freshman. He's one of the youngest in our tournament this year. We're into baseball season now, and you have an ambition that relates to that popular American sport.

Connor: That's right. Yeah, by the time I graduate from high school, my goal is to go to every Major League Baseball stadium across the country.

Alex: Okay.

JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Alec found the Daily Double on the 20th clue. Connor was in the hole with -$200, Emily had $2,200, and Alec was at $6,400. Alec wagered $2,000.

ANNUAL EVENTS $1000: The date of this annual event honors a June 14, 1777 resolution of the Continental Congress

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
ANNUAL EVENTS $800: In many places in the South, this festive season opens on Twelfth Night & climaxes with Mardi Gras

SCORES AT THE END OF THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
Alec: $11,200
Emily: $5,200
Connor: $1,000

[Archivists]

DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
THE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM (4/5) (Alex: To honor the National Park Services' centennial year, we have a whole category devoted to...)
10-LETTER WORDS (4/5)
BODY TALK (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
THE ANCIENT WORLD (5/5)
"T" UP SOME ENTERTAINMENT (5/5)
IT'S AMERICAN LIT (3/5, including 1 missed Daily Double)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Alec: 10 R, 2 W
Emily: 10 R (including 1 rebound and 1 DD), 4 W (including 1 DD)
Connor: 6 R (including 1 rebound), 1 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 3
Double Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $4,400



FIRST DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Emily snagged the next Daily Double on the 4th clue. Connor had $1,000, Emily had $6,400, and Alec was at $10,800. Emily wagered $3,000.

IT'S AMERICAN LIT $1200: Ernest Hemingway took the title of this novel set during the Spanish Civil War from a line by John Donne
(Emily: What is The Sun Also Rises?)

SECOND DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
It was Emily who snatched up the last Daily Double of the game on the 28th clue. Connor had $4,600, Emily had $8,600, and Alec was at $17,200. Emily made it a True Daily Double, wagering $8,600.

BODY TALK $1600: This nerve carries impulses from the retina to the brain

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND
IT'S AMERICAN LIT $1600: In this novel's final letter, Celie thanks God "for bringing my sister Nettie and our children home"
(Emily: What is The Color Purple?)

THE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM $800: Special observances are held annually at this battlefield on Memorial Day & November 19

10-LETTER WORDS $2000: Like the tails of certain monkeys, a giraffe's tongue is said to be this, adapted for seizing & grasping
(Emily: What is opposable?)
(Connor: What is elongated?)
(Alec: What is tactile?)

SCORES ENTERING FINAL JEOPARDY!
Alec: $19,200
Emily: $17,200
Connor: $5,000

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
FAMOUS BUILDINGS

VENUSIAN MONOLOGUES/MARTIAN CHRONICLES
Four-fifths for first place. Shore's Conjecture.
Alec: Wager $15,201 to cover Emily. If you feel like using Shoretegy, try wagering $5,201.
Emily: Your score is within 4/5ths of Alec's, so wager between $4,001 (venusian) and $7,199 (martian), beating Alec's maximum safe bet of the difference between your scores while still covering against a doubled score on Connor's part.
Connor: There's no way you can cover a rational wager by Emily, but if Emily decides for some reason to wager everything, you can eke out a win on a Triple Stumper if you wager no more than $1,000.

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
Completed in 1943, this "city within a city" has outer walls over 900 feet long

FINAL SCORES
Connor: $5,000 - $3,000 = $2,000 (What is Emperor's Palace?) (2nd place)
Emily: $17,200 - $17,200 = $0 (What is the Forbidden City?) (3rd place)
Alec: $19,200 - $15,201 = $3,999 (What Vatican City) (Finalist)
(Alex: [after music ends] In your visits around our nation's capital, you would've come close to this place.)

Total Potential Lach Trash: $5,200

GAME DYNAMICS


CORYAT SCORES
Alec: $18,200, 26 R (including 1 DD), 2 W
Emily: $13,200, 20 R (including 1 DD), 5 W (including 1 DD)
Connor: $5,000, 10 R, 3 W
Combined Coryat: $36,400

BATTING AVERAGES
Alec: 26/59 = .441
Emily: 20/60 = .333
Connor: 10/58 = .172
Team: 56/63 = .889

MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTING CLUES
ANNUAL EVENTS $600: If you're fasting on the 10th day of Tishri, you're observing this Jewish holiday
(Connor: What is Passover?)

MOVIE VILLAINS $200: He observers, "Obi-Wan has taught you well. You have controlled your fear. Now...release your anger"
(Connor: Who is Palpatine?)

NEVER PRESIDENT $800: She was a popular 20th century first lady, & in a different era, might have eventually run for the job

NEVER PRESIDENT $1000: Henry Clay, who ran for president 5 times unsuccessfully, was a longtime senator from this state
(Emily: What is Ohio?)

TEXTING $1000: While working for Microsoft, Dean Hachamovitch invented this texting feature that suggests words for you
(Emily: What is autocomplete?)
(Connor: What is predictive type?)
[Both originally ruled incorrect; ruled correct at the start of Double Jeopardy!]

IT'S "LIT" $400: You've probably used this in a lab or science class

IT'S AMERICAN LIT $800: In an Arthur Miller play, Biff & Happy are the sons of this unhappy salesman
(Alec: What is Death of a Salesman?)

THE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM $2000: The monument seen here that commemorates Perry's victory rises 352 feet above this lake
(Emily: What is Lake Michigan?)

BODY TALK $2000: (Kelly of the Clue Crew shows a skeleton diagram on the monitor.) You can see from its shape why a Latin word meaning "pipe" or "flute" gave us the name for this long front bone of the shin

CORRECT RESPONSES
Flag Day
Carnival
For Whom the Bell Tolls
the optic nerve
The Color Purple
Gettysburg
prehensile
the Pentagon
Yom Kippur
Darth Vader
Eleanor Roosevelt
Kentucky
autocorrect
litmus paper
Willy Loman
Lake Erie
the tibia

[theFJguy]

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
FAMOUS BUILDINGS

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
Completed in 1943, this "city within a city" has outer walls over 900 feet long

Connor Pierce: 5000-3000=2000
Emily LaMonica: 17200-17200=0
Alec Fischthal: 19200-15201=3999 (Finalist)

Correct response:

Spoiler

Pentagon (Connor – emperor’s palace) (Emily – Forbidden City) (Alex – Vatican City)

Daily Doubles
Alec: 6400+2000
Emily: 6400-3000
Emily: 8600+8600

Coryats
Connor: 5000
Emily: 13200
Alec: 18200

Combined: 36,400

[IronNeck]

Have to note I'm slightly disappointed that Emily and Alec, in my opinion the two strongest players in the quarterfinals, are in the same semifinal. Would have loved to see them have a chance of battling one another over two days in a final.

Oh well, at least it should make for a good game.

[cf1140]

*****BAD Wager alert*****

[xxaaaxx]

I spent that entire commercial break staring at the screen with my arms folded, waiting for the reversal, kinda insulted that they ruled them (by which I mean me ) incorrect in the first place. Good game at the end, though I'm surprised optic nerve was a DD, even in a Teen tourney.

Instaget FJ. I don't like criticizing the kids for wagering, but...yikes. I hate to criticize their answers, but...meh.

"no harm no foul"
*drink*

"they have to guard against each other"
*drink*
Dammit Trebek...

[Elijah Baley]

For a tourney where a lot of the kids have been making fairly savvy FJ wagers, that was a very rough moment for Connor and Emily. It just goes to show the importance of wagering strategy.

And I'm shocked that all three of these very bright contestants missed what seemed like a gimme FJ. (The Vatican was the first thing that popped into my head but then I made the connection with 1943 - I'm guessing Emily completely missed seeing the date).

[MarkBarrett]

TEXTING $1000: While working for Microsoft, Dean Hachamovitch invented this texting feature that suggests words for you

Emily: AutoComplete
Connor: predictive type
Alec: CLAM

Yes, it was very easy to predict a score reversal after the break on the clue that Alex was looking for AutoCorrect.

Connor's frustrations on clues he could not get in on first was pretty funny.

Well, someone had to win and while the scores indicated only Emily and Alec had a chance going into the FJ! round the wagering opened the door for Connor to win as well.

No overseas distractions for me on the clue as I knew this was one to keep domestic for the solve.

[IronNeck]

*****BAD Wager alert*****

Heh, I was watching the game early (shout-outs and thanks to opus on that account) and was like

"Huh, where are the bad wagers? I don't mind Alec's $2k bet in the SJ round; with such a big lead, and it being a tournament situation, (winners only advance to the finals and don't get the actual money amount they recorded) it's probably a bet very close to optimal. Emily's $3k wager was okay, too. And of course her all-in DD bet at the end was the only correct choice."

But then I got to FJ. Yeah. Alec's bet was the only one that made any sense.

Anyways, got LT of Carnival, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Color Purple, Gettysburg, and prehensile.

FJ was quite difficult, in my opinion. I had no clue, and I would call it harder than the average adult Jeopardy FJ. Another very fun game.

[IronNeck]

"no harm no foul"
*drink*

Yeah, I laughed at that one, too. After 32 years of the show, Alex still hasn't figured out that all 3 players negging on a clue favors the one in the lead.

[TenPoundHammer]

I was more than a little squicked out to come home and find one of my cats sprawled out dead on the floor in front of the couch. I think that was enough to rattle me.

WLT Al Gore at $200?

Events for $200 was a coinflip on Veterans/Memorial IMO.

Didn't know what SMS stood for.

NHO "rail splitter".

I precalled the reversals on the autocomplete clue. Poorly written clue.

Mount Rushmore is a "shrine"?!? That threw me well into clam territory.

NHO a team called the Thunder.

0/5 in Literature. I know so little literature, but never have time to read.

Also 0/5 on Ancient World. Didn't recognize anything except July/August, and I personally find history boring for the most part. I can't find a way to make it interesting to me at all.

No guess on FJ!

[Robert K S]

Alec was right to be as elated as he was at Emily's wagering screw-up. Delivered as by divine providence from the jaws of defeat after that optic nerve Daily Double. Hardly deserved, after he blew his lock on a dumb third-buzzer guess.

[bpmod]

I don't know if the ZergCam has ever seen a reaction like that.

Brian

[opusthepenguin]

Aaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!! Emily! Ouch.

Count me in for predicting the reversal on that poorly thought out autocorrect clue. Have we ever had one before where TWO contestants got negged and then credited?

[Bamaman]

I think Connor just wrote down a nice round number for his FJ wager. He was in a tough spot since if Emily doesn't bet big, he is locked out. But there is no incentive to play for second because he gets $10,000 no matter what. But I'd have told him to cap his bet at $1,000 and just hope for the best.

This was a rather difficult FJ. While I'm sure they have all heard of the Pentagon, it probably isn't a place they hear about much or know a lot about. Connor likely wasn't even born when it was attacked on 9/11.

I got it right but wasn't 100% certain until Alex said it was in the DC area.

I don't think autocorrect is what was described in the clue. Autocorrect fixes my typos. When I text, suggested words pop up for the next word based on what I have already written.

[Category 13]

Uggggh. Another semi-final, another suicide wager. Anything from 3199 to 7199 and she would have been golden.
She almost blew it on the optic nerve DD anyway, with a total brain freeze.
Bad for Conner to have wagered anything at all, as a final tally of $10,000 wouldn't have helped him as much as staying pat at $5,000.

[OSXpert]

I missed this FJ because I forgot the category and started thinking about walled areas in cities instead of buildings. Whoops!

Questionable wagering, sure, but the end result of that was a pretty dramatic game that was fun to watch. Some people skip teen week because they think the questions are too easy, but the pure emotions on display are well worth it.

[bpmod]

I don't think autocorrect is what was described in the clue. Autocorrect fixes my typos. When I text, suggested words pop up for the next word based on what I have already written.

Word for word what I was going to say.

Brian

[Elijah Baley]

I think Connor just wrote down a nice round number for his FJ wager. He was in a tough spot since if Emily doesn't bet big, he is locked out. But there is no incentive to play for second because he gets $10,000 no matter what. But I'd have told him to cap his bet at $1,000 and just hope for the best.

This was a rather difficult FJ. While I'm sure they have all heard of the Pentagon, it probably isn't a place they hear about much or know a lot about. Connor likely wasn't even born when it was attacked on 9/11.

I got it right but wasn't 100% certain until Alex said it was in the DC area.

I don't think autocorrect is what was described in the clue. Autocorrect fixes my typos. When I text, suggested words pop up for the next word based on what I have already written.

They've been touring around DC, so I'd be surprised if they hadn't gone by The Pentagon and it's immensity in terms of office space is pretty much one of its biggest claims to fame - no pun intended.

The fact that all three of them missed it makes me wonder if maybe they didn't go by there (and shame on the organizers if they did skip Arlington), but DC (and environs) really isn't that big of a place and Arlington also has the National Cemetery and Iwo Jima Memorial, so it just seems a little odd.

[opusthepenguin]

The fact that all three of them missed it makes me wonder if maybe they didn't go by there (and shame on the organizers if they did skip Arlington),

Meh. For any visit under two weeks, I'd take another two hours in one of the Smithsonian museums over driving by the Pentagon.