Friday, January 27, 2017 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Category 13]

Upon revealing the 60's Pop Songs category, Alex tells them "you're too young to remember". So naturally they all avoid it until there are no other clues left.
Next best category was Before They Were President. More easy money, so that one waits until next to last.

A little less ahhhhhhing and a little more clue selection. All three were guilty of this but Lisa was the most prominent. It made it hard for me to root for her.
Her FJ wager was telling that she doesn't grasp the strategy so I predict this will be her downfall.

[mfc248]

I'm curious how often AT speaks too soon and completely invalidates a clue (NSA != NASA). I don't recall it happening in recent memory. (Of course, I can't remember what I had for dinner two nights ago FWIW).

Exciting game. I loved the raw, genuine emotion from Lisa, first on the DD get and then on FJ.

The most recent example I can remember occurred on February 17, 2015, at SINGERS ON POSTAGE STAMPS $1600. On the ring-in Alex said, "Sele-Stephanie", giving part of the correct response as he called on the contestant. I recall Stephanie giving the correct response with some resignation, knowing the clue would be tossed and she'd lose the $1600 (which cost her a lock) at the next break point.

[Elijah Baley]

Wow, that FJ was definitely YEKIOYD. I've never heard of Bloemfontein, nor the Free State of South Africa, of which it is the capital.

It's a world capital. Even more, it's the only country on the planet that has three national capitals. Zero reason for any aspiring Jeopardy contestant not to know Bloemfontein. Now, whether or not one can connect the dots in order to answer this clue is a different matter.

I'm sorry but that is a bit of an overstatement. If I'm going to try to remember close to 200 world capitals, maybe I'll remember the judicial capital of South Africa. But maybe not when I'm also trying to remember 19th ventures Vice Presidents, etc.

[JayK33]

Muscovite = Russia? Dafuq?

Moscow!

The third wipeout day in a row for me. Guessed Cape Town as well for FJ.

I don't think I got a single FJ right this week. I hope I won't be alone when checking that box on the poll.

[Elijah Baley]

Wow, that FJ was definitely YEKIOYD. I've never heard of Bloemfontein, nor the Free State of South Africa, of which it is the capital.

It's a world capital. Even more, it's the only country on the planet that has three national capitals. Zero reason for any aspiring Jeopardy contestant not to know Bloemfontein. Now, whether or not one can connect the dots in order to answer this clue is a different matter.

I'm sorry but that is a bit of an overstatement. If I'm going to try to remember close to 200 world capitals, maybe I'll remember the judicial capital of South Africa. But maybe not when I'm also trying to remember 19th ventures Vice Presidents, etc.

[trainman]

I'm curious how often AT speaks too soon and completely invalidates a clue (NSA != NASA). I don't recall it happening in recent memory. (Of course, I can't remember what I had for dinner two nights ago FWIW).

I know this from being in the audience for tapings: sometimes they edit it out, including having Alex re-record what he said (so you don't hear him giving the answer away) and having the other two contestants just stand and stare.

[Maven]

Upon revealing the 60's Pop Songs category, Alex tells them "you're too young to remember". So naturally they all avoid it until there are no other clues left.

That drove me slightly batty (although not anymore than I already am ) too. I couldn't help but say to myself "Well, I guess I'd shock ya Alex." after Alex said the 'too young to remember' jazz. And I certainly would have...ran the 60's Pop Songs category as I should. My wheelhouse/'Cliff Clavin' board would most definitely be a 60's/70's centric one, with surprising Alex with my knowledge of things before my time (born in '83) being quite the nifty little bonus.

[TenPoundHammer]

Muscovite = Russia? Dafuq?

Moscow!

Still only kinda sorta vaguely almost sounds like it, at best.

[AFRET CMS]

Muscovite = Russia? Dafuq?

Moscow!

Still only kinda sorta vaguely almost sounds like it, at best.

A "Muscovite" is a resident of Moscow the same way a Denverite is a resident of Denver .... or a Glaswegian is a resident of Glasgow .... or a Bajan is a resident of Barbados. Sometimes the term for a resident doesn't seem to have a lot of relationship to the locale in which they reside.

[IronNeck]

All 3 players got DDs, and each made critical mistakes that well would could have haunted them for months, if not years afterwards.

Firstly, Christy got a DD in the SJ round. While she had a decent lead, at that point it's irrelevant. You're just trying to get as high a score as possible. And for that purpose, she should have bet everything. That extra $1800 could have been very handy. She wouldn't have had to guess on the last few questions of the DJ round, either, which would have improved her final score even more.

Then, Paul got the first DD of the DJ round and bet just $1500 instead of all $5800. Again, given that it was still early and there was plenty of opportunity to come back, plus his strong level of knowledge, why not bet it all?

Lisa betting $6000 with $8200 was the most egregious. If she gets it wrong, her chances of winning are very close to 0%, same as if she bet everything. Meanwhile, there is a big difference between $14,200 and $16,400, as the game proved. That extra $2200 sure would have come in handy considering she was behind $1100 going into FJ.

For FJ, I was agonizing between Bloemfontein and Cape Town. I chose correctly.

LT: Philippines, NASA, coarse, sextent

[Bamaman]

Next best category was Before They Were President. More easy money, so that one waits until next to last.

If there is a cushy category I would want to leave it for last in case there is a DD in it so you'll have more money to bet. This is especially beneficial if you get an inkling the other two don't know anything about the topic. (Granted, that isn't always an easy call).

[dinghammer]

AT mentioned having grown up in Germany (in her interview) might've given her an advantage. Not sure how that would be relevant, unless South Africa has some connection with Germany that I'm not adware of.

He probably thought the similarities between the German and Dutch languages would help (the words for 'flower' can be similar in both). I doubt it mattered, though -- if you know Bloemfontein exists, it's pretty easy to figure out what it means just from knowing English.

Meanwhile, I'd joked about the contestants being forced to spell Bloemfontein correctly while fast-forwarding through the break, so I think I get to count this as a pre-call and insta-get.

[This Is Kirk!]

Muscovite = Russia? Dafuq?

Moscow!

Still only kinda sorta vaguely almost sounds like it, at best.

Muscovite only sounds vaguely like Moscow? OK then.

[Lefty]

It does not seem to be in the archive, but Bloemfontein was the FJ answer in one of the early Trebek seasons. The clue was something like "Of South Africa's three national capitals, it's the only one in the geographic middle". If memory serves, the players did not do very well with it.

ETA--on further reflection, maybe someone did get it. I have a vague memory of seeing the name written. It did strike me as quite tough.

[MarkBarrett]

It does not seem to be in the archive, but Bloemfontein was the FJ answer in one of the early Trebek seasons. The clue was something like "Of South Africa's three national capitals, it's the only one in the geographic middle". If memory serves, the players did not do very well with it.

ETA--on further reflection, maybe someone did get it. I have a vague memory of seeing the name written. It did strike me as quite tough.

I found it using "the resource": http://www.j-archive.com/collectedfinals.php

1490 1995‑04‑11 WORLD CITIES IT'S THE CAPITAL OF SOUTH AFRICA LOCATED IN THE GEOGRAPHIC CENTER OF THE COUNTRY WHAT IS BLOEMFONTEIN?

I don't have a scoresheet for that game to know how the players did with it.

[dhkendall]

Flowers and water? That sounds like Bloemfontein to me.

OK, this must be Bizarro Opposite World, where TPH gets a geography Final quickly where I not only didn't get it, the answer never occurred to me and, when thinking of South Africa's three capital cities came up with Cape Town, Pretoria, and Witwaterstrand. (Settled on Cape Town since I was thinking "cornucopias, horn of plenty, Cape Horn, bingo!" (Yes I get Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope mixed up much more than I'd like to admit.))

Muscovite = Russia? Dafuq?

Moscow!

Still only kinda sorta vaguely almost sounds like it, at best.

OK, the universe is back in regular order now.

Considering it has four of Moscow's six letters (three of them in a row) - and one of the missing two letters can be silent in some pronunciations? All right then.

[seaborgium]

I know South Africa has three capitals but could not remember the right one. I wrote down Johannesburg just to have something.

You didn't say it, so I can't tell if you think it, but just in case you do: Johannesburg is not one of the capitals. (If you knew that, my apologies for not giving you the benefit of the doubt.)

[TenPoundHammer]

Muscovite = Russia? Dafuq?

Moscow!

Still only kinda sorta vaguely almost sounds like it, at best.

OK, the universe is back in regular order now.

Considering it has four of Moscow's six letters (three of them in a row) - and one of the missing two letters can be silent in some pronunciations? All right then.

Trough and crouch have 4 out of 6 letters in common. Doesn't mean they're in any way related.

[floridagator]

Lisa had lazy pronunciation, and I think that's why AT misheard her answer of NSA for NASA. He was primed for a lazy pronunciation.

Didja hear the whole audience collectively shudder at the whole thing?

[theamazingchong]

I didn't realize at first that the clue meant South Africa and not southern Africa, so I was thinking about countries around the Great Rift Valley. Took another look at the clue, considered Cape Town because it's on the coast, and then Bloemfontein ~= "bloom fountain" hit me and that was that.

The FJ get balanced out an otherwise game on my part. Negged on bratwurst (kielbasa) and sextant (astrolabe). Should've gotten the Magi DD but forgot the category and went with "visitation of the Magi."