Tuesday, February 7, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Archivists]

Game Recap for Show #6307, 2012-02-07

2012 College Championship quarterfinal game 5.

CONTESTANTS
Monica Thieu, a sophomore at the University of North Texas from Dallas, Texas
Matt Olson, a sophomore at Stanford University from Berkeley, California
Zach McDonnell, a freshman at the College of William and Mary from Harrisonburg, Virginia

OPENING REMARKS
Alex:
Thank you, Johnny.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
This is the second most important decision day in each year's College Championship.
We already have four semifinalists waiting in the wings.
Today the winner of this game will qualify automatically as a semifinalist, and then we will announce the names of the non-finalist high scorers, those four wildcard people who get to play again.
So, Zach, Matt, and Monica, be at your best.
Good luck.
Here we go--the Jeopardy! Round.
And here are the categories you're going to want to succeed in...

JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
AALL AABOUT AARON (5/5) (Notice all the As)
COLLEGE RHYME TIME (5/5)
THE I.T. FACTOR (5/5)
GEOGRAPHIC MEANINGS (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
THE WOMEN'S SPORTS (5/5)
GRAD GIFT IDEAS (5/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Matt: 16 R (including 1 rebound and 1 DD), 1 W
Zach: 8 R (including 1 rebound), 1 W
Monica: 6 R, 0 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 0
Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $0



JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Matt found the Daily Double on the 10th clue. Zach had $600, Matt had $3,200, and Monica was at $1,000. Matt wagered $1,600.

GEOGRAPHIC MEANINGS $1000: A country in the Balkans:
"Black Mountain"

SCORES AT THE FIRST BREAK
Matt: $6,200
Monica: $2,600
Zach: $200

CONTESTANT INTERVIEWS



Alex:
There's a song from an old Broadway musical called "I had a dream".
Well, Monica Thieu also had a dream.
And what was it?

Monica:
Well, it's coming true right now, because my dream was to meet you.

Alex:
And it says on my card of information that you've made four attempts to meet me.

Monica:
All right, well, in middle school, I fancied myself a bit of a geography buff, and I tried to get to the National Geography Bee, because, as you should know...

[laughs]

you host that as well.

Alex:
Mm-hmm.

Monica:
So I fell short twice.
And then I tried out for the Teen Tournament, and I wasn't able to make the auditions for that.
But I'm here now, so...

Alex:
Well, I'm glad you're here.




Alex:
Matt Olson is a sophomore at Stanford University.
Very bright.
You have to be very bright to get into Stanford.
Now last summer, you did something that was very exciting, I think.

Matt:
I did, yeah.
I went, um, to the Alps with a Stanford professor and some classmates and we tracked Hannibal, um, on his path into Italy.

Alex:
Hannibal supposedly crossed the Alps with elephants.

Matt:
Correct, and--

Alex:
He didn't have too many by the time he made it over.

[Laughs]

Matt:
They mostly didn't make it.

Alex:
Is it possible?

Matt:
And, yeah, in actually, 1960, I think, a-a team took an elephant over and proved that it was possible, but we didn't see any...

Alex:
Oh.

Matt:
I'm afraid.

Alex:
I wouldn't think so.




Alex:
Zach McDonnell is freshman at College of William & Mary.
He's from Virginia.
Went to see the 20--no, "The 40-year-old Virgin", right?

Zach:
Yeah.

Alex:
With--and who did you take to see that?

Zach:
With my grandma.

[Laughter]

Alex:
Okay.
And how did she react?

Zach:
Well, I was actually at her house, and I thought she was asleep.
And then she came in, and I warned her,
"No, no, no, grandma, this is not a movie for you."
And she said,
"No, it's fine."
And so we watched it together.
And, you know, she actually liked it.
Uh...

Alex:
Good for grandma.

Zach:
Yeah, the only part she objected to was when she--when, uh, Steve Carell was riding his bike down the street, and she went,
"Oh, he's not wearing a helmet!"

[Laughter]

Alex:
Grandmothers.

[Contestants laugh]

SCORES AT THE END OF THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
Matt: $10,000
Zach: $4,200
Monica: $3,800

[Archivists]

DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
A NOVEL DESCRIPTION (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
MATHEMATICS (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
DOG POUNDS (1/5)
PRESIDENTS & FIRST LADIES (4/5)
ANATOMICAL WORDS & PHRASES (4/5)
ACTOR/ (5/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Matt: 14 R (including 2 DDs), 1 W
Zach: 4 R, 1 W
Monica: 6 R, 3 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 6
Double Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $8,000



FIRST DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Matt snagged the next Daily Double on the 2nd clue. Zach had $4,200, Matt had $10,800, and Monica was at $3,800. Matt wagered $7,000.

MATHEMATICS $1200: On the left is the decimal equivalent of three fifths. On the right is the decimal equivalent of this fraction.

SECOND DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
It was Matt who snatched up the last Daily Double of the game on the 16th clue. Zach had $5,400, Matt had $26,200, and Monica was at $4,600. Matt wagered $4,000.

A NOVEL DESCRIPTION $2000: Workin' on the transcontinental railroad; Galt-ernate reality; from the Rand non-corporation
(Alex: Yes, Ayn Rand's book, you got it.)

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND
DOG POUNDS $400: 13-14 pounds: the Cairn this, developed to hunt vermin in cairns, or rock piles

DOG POUNDS $800: 75-120 pounds: this Japanese working breed that shares its name with a Japanese prefecture
(Monica: What is a Saluki?)

ANATOMICAL WORDS & PHRASES $1200: Cannellini is an Italian white type of this legume
(Monica: What is asparagus?)

PRESIDENTS & FIRST LADIES $2000: Born Elizabeth Wallace, she was 97 when she died in 1982, the longest-living first lady

DOG POUNDS $1600: 55-80 pounds: the English this, not usually red-brown like the breed from a nearby island
(Monica: What is a mastiff.)
(Alex: The English [*], not the same color as the Irish [*].)

DOG POUNDS $2000: 30-55 pounds: the Australian this, aka the Queensland heeler for its habit of nipping at heels while herding
(Matt: What is a sheepdog?)
(Zach: What is a shepherd?)

SCORES ENTERING FINAL JEOPARDY!
Matt: $32,600 (lock game)
Monica: $7,800
Zach: $5,800

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
MEDICAL DISCOVERIES

VENUSIAN MONOLOGUES/MARTIAN CHRONICLES
Lock for first place; two-thirds for second place.
Matt: Wager between $0 (venusian) and $16,999 (martian), and enjoy your victory.
Monica: Wager $3,801 to cover Zach.
Zach: Risk between $0 and $1,800, and you just may move up into second place.

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
Nicolas Paulescu isolated a substance he called pancrein, now known as this

FINAL SCORES
Zach: $5,800 + $5,800 = $11,600 (What is insulin?) (3rd place: $5,000 if eliminated)
Monica: $7,800 + $7,799 = $15,599 (What is insulin?) (2nd place: $5,000 if eliminated)
Matt: $32,600 + $7,400 = $40,000 (What is insulin?) (Automatic semifinalist)

Total Potential Lach Trash: $8,000

GAME DYNAMICS


CORYAT SCORES
Matt: $24,200, 30 R (including 3 DDs), 2 W
Monica: $7,800, 12 R, 3 W
Zach: $5,800, 12 R, 2 W
Combined Coryat: $37,800

BATTING AVERAGES
Matt: 31/61 = .508
Zach: 13/58 = .224
Monica: 13/58 = .224
Team: 57/63 = .905

MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTING CLUES
GEOGRAPHIC MEANINGS $200: A Caribbean island:
"Rich Port"
(Matt: What is Costa Rica?)

THE I.T. FACTOR $400: Baud, an old unit of signaling speed, is now measured as bps, short for this
(Zach: What is beats per second?)
...
(Alex: [*], or bits per second.)

THE I.T. FACTOR $1000: Seen here is an example of this 2-letter type of code that can be read by a smartphone

AALL AABOUT AARON $800: His screenplay for The Social Network got us to care deeply for intellectual property law

ANATOMICAL WORDS & PHRASES $800: The TSA specifically bans this item from carry on luggage
(Alex: [immediately after reading clue, chuckling] I wonder why!)

ANATOMICAL WORDS & PHRASES $2000: There are 2 body parts in the name of this steak from between the short loin & the chuck
(Alex: [*], yes, a favorite steak of mine)

CORRECT RESPONSES
Montenegro
two-thirds
Atlas Shrugged
terrier
Akita
kidney bean
Bess Truman
setter
cattle dog
insulin
Puerto Rico
bytes per second
a QR code
(Aaron) Sorkin
brass knuckles
a ribeye

[jeff6286]

Medical Discoveries
Nicolas Paulescu isolated a substance he called pancrein, now known as this.

Spoiler

What is insulin?

Matt Olson (Stanford): $32,600+$7,400=$40,000
Monica Thieu (North Texas): $7,800+$7,799=$15,599
Zach McDonnell (William & Mary): $5,800+$5,800=$11,600

[thejeopardyfan]

I love it when, on the last day of the quarterfinals, one of that day's contestants gets a wild-card spot! I can't believe "terrier" was a triple-stumper, and I am no animal-lover. Slam-dunked the final.

[coastermanokc]

I have a bone to pick about a clue from today's show. The clue is the one where the answer was "Gallaudet net." People in Deaf culture hate the term "hearing impared." They prefer to call themselves Deaf. If someone can still hear but has a hard time doing so the prefered term in Deaf culture is "hard of hearing." Quoting from the Gallaudet website "Gallaudet University is the world leader in liberal education and career development for deaf and hard of hearing students." Nowhere in the discription is the term "hearing impared."

[lisa0012]

Stats maniacs, what's the record for a single-day win in the College Tourney? That was impressive.
Another breeze of a FJ!

[econgator]

Nowhere in the discription is the term "hearing impared."

Such is the stupidity of political correctness.

[TenPoundHammer]

5 in each round.

No, that's not a typo. FIVE.

The boards just seemed impenetrable today. None of the clues were making sense, and TOMs seemed completely absent. The Geographical Meanings in particular seemed impenetrable. Are these name meanings supposed to be well known? Or the slogan of Visa, if I've never used a credit card in my life?

On IT for $400, I waffled between bits and bytes and clammed since I wasn't sure which they wanted. Turns out either worked.

I was completely lost on the Dog category. Nothing seemed to hint at Terrier on $400.

FJ! wasn't an instaget, but about 20 seconds in I thought of Wilford Brimley and his diabeetus testing supplies, and insulin came to me at that point.

[xxaaaxx]

Did Zach cost himself a WC with that late round neg? I don't remember the clue value. That J! round was a breeze, even moreso than usual, though I can't believe I forgot what sport Hope Solo played

FJ was borderline insulting. So...yeah, magazine. Good going J! writers!

I'm penciling in Matt as my favorite to win this thing. Fantastic performance.

[econgator]

Did Zach cost himself a WC with that late round neg? I don't remember the clue value.

It was a 2K clue and he absolutely did. I have no idea why he felt the need to ring in on that clue. I'm sure Jaime thanks him very much, though.

[Bamaman]

Zach has to be kicking himself for taking a stab on that last clue.

I'm sure TPH enjoyed the clue about his favorite book.

Gutsy play by Matt on the Math DD. He already had a good sized lead and plenty of money. Yes, its math, but the first clue wasn't really a problem to solve (the cube).

Today is Dickens' 200th birthday, should have worked him into the book category or had a whole category just for him.

Bummed Hank didn't make the Aaron category.

Instaget FJ.

[Roadgeek Adam]

Pencil Matt and Weston as my favorites for the finals....if they don't face each other already.

FJ! wasn't an instaget, but about 20 seconds in I thought of Wilford Brimley and his diabeetus testing supplies, and insulin came to me at that point.

Dude, you watch the Price is Right...its bound to be a given after about 15 years.

[TenPoundHammer]

Dude, you watch the Price is Right...its bound to be a given after about 15 years.

Diabeetusbeetusbeetusbeetusbeetus....

[jeff6286]

I guess a good rule for life, along the lines of "Never go in against a Sicilian..." would be "Never start DJ by picking a Math category when you're going against someone from Stanford." Not that any of the clues in the category were especially difficult, but clearly Matt had the edge on the buzzer for most of the match, so even if all 3 knew the math clues, he was most likely to get in first.

I had the same thought as others as soon as the FJ clue was revealed, that Zach likely cost himself a berth in the semi-finals with his final clue guess of Australian Shepherd for Australian Cattle Dog. I also agree that this FJ was a joke. At the risk of offending anyone who may not have come up with it, surely this will be in the 90-95% range in the weekly poll, won't it? It seems like there could have been some way of writing a clue about Paulescu with the intended response being "What is insulin" without the total giveaway that was including the word "Pancrein" in the clue.

I was $1 away from predicting the exact FJ wagers of all 3 players.

Did anyone else catch the line "Llsten up, Dumas!" in the clue about The Count of Monte Cristo? I'm not sure if that is incredibly witty, a terrible pun, or perhaps both.

According to the Archive, this is the third time the show has had a clue about brass knuckles, though I suspect it was the first time the item was pictured. That darn TSA just doesn't let us have any fun.

[TenPoundHammer]

Did anyone else catch the line "Llsten up, Dumas!" in the clue about The Count of Monte Cristo? I'm not sure if that is incredibly witty, a terrible pun, or perhaps both.

Let's all go... down to Dumas Walker... we'll get a slaw burger, fries and a bottle of Ski... bring it on out to my baby and me.

[jeff6286]

The boards just seemed impenetrable today. None of the clues were making sense, and TOMs seemed completely absent. The Geographical Meanings in particular seemed impenetrable. Are these name meanings supposed to be well known? Or the slogan of Visa, if I've never used a credit card in my life?

I missed some of those clues, but most of them seemed pretty obvious after the correct response was given. You mostly just had to recognize what some of the parts of the names meant in a variety of languages, although most of them were pretty close to the English terms for the same words. Montenegro=Black mountain...black=negro, mont=mountain. Puerto Rico=rich port...Puerto=port, Rico=rich. Bloemfontain=fountain of flowers...fontain=fountain, bloem=bloom=flowers. Tripoli=3 towns...Tri=3, polis=town or city (Metropolis, Annapolis, Minneapolis, Indianapolis...) Australia as "southern land" may have been the toughest, as I don't know many others words that make it obvious that austral means southern.

[TenPoundHammer]

Puerto Rico was the only one I knew, since I'm fluent in Spanish. Montenegro was obvious after the fact, but the "tri" in Tripoli never jumped out to me as "triple" because the tri- prefix is usually pronounced "try", not "trih". Also had never heard of Bloemfontain before.

[Bamaman]

This is what came to mind on the Count of Monte Cristo clue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGiiy09mCtU

[Paucle]

Also had never heard of Bloemfontain before.

It's one of South Africa's 3 capital cities. How can you never have heard of it?

[bpmod]

This is what came to mind on the Count of Monte Cristo clue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGiiy09mCtU

Funny, I hadn't remembered that scene. But... Funny.

Brian