Wednesday, June 6, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[TenPoundHammer]

File "presidents in order" under "things that WILL NOT STICK IN MY MIND". I could read the damn list of them for 72 hours straight and still draw a complete blank if you asked me who was president before Lincoln.

[zakharov]

File "presidents in order" under "things that WILL NOT STICK IN MY MIND". I could read the damn list of them for 72 hours straight and still draw a complete blank if you asked me who was president before Lincoln.

A presidents who was as awful as puke, James PukeBuchanan

Aren't silly mnemonics wonderful?

[Paucle]

Isn't it nice to know we can retire the "Worst Category Ever?" category now that Sounds Like a Noble Gas failed so wretchedly?
only one I got was Raytheon. Might've gotten first one if I saw where it was going.

Easy 5/5 on baseball abbreviations.

Trash all over the place today, lost count. Panther, copperheads, etc.
I carefully counted 6 for FJ. I love those kind. The three in 1841 was the key. Incumbent, WHH, Tyler (on his death) not re-elected, Polk not running again, then Taylor, then he dies for Fillmore.

[pinkfreud]

When I saw a category called SOUNDS LIKE A NOBLE GAS, MAN I was certain there would be a clue about Tommy Chong's eldest daughter.

[CAPS LOCK]

Dumb dumb dumb miss on my part on FJ. I started with Harrison and never thought of Van Buren still being president when 1841 began.

Even long before my taping date was scheduled, one of my primary preparation thoughts (and advice for people considering trying out) was "definitely memorize all US Presidents and the years they served!".

Luckily I was still in the audience for this game and not able to embarrass myself as I deserved. I guessed the obviously-wrong-in-retrospect "4".

[MDCSWildcats86]

My third grade self, who could name all the presidents in order along with their names, is ashamed of me for blowing that FJ.

I'm a huge baseball nerd, and I was irrationally hoping for stuff like WHIP, VORP, WARP3, and WHOOPS. Yes, these are all real stats.

How about LIPS (late inning pressure situations)? Heard of that one?

[kristinsausville]

I was surprised that they BMS'd Archduke Ferdinand, then was doubly surprised that she named the wrong one.

Doesn't that pretty much explain why they did require it? I had no issue with the BMS.

It was inconsistent. "Ferdinand" was accepted as a response without a BMS in the TOC, and on a Daily Double to boot -- http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=3751

Got Van Buren but missed Fillmore. Thought he was 1851. I've had all the presidents in order memorized since I was eight so that's kind of embarrassing.

[jeff6286]

The Presidency
Between January 1, 1841 & December 31, 1850 the U.S. had this many Presidents, the most in a 10-year Period.

Spoiler: show

What is six? (Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore) Claudia and Regina said five; Ernest said four.

Ernest Nino-Murcia: $13,600-$2,001=$11,599
Regina MacDowell: $7,800-$7,800=$0
Claudia Gray: $5,000-$5,000=$0

[mennoknight]

Pretty sure I read Dostoyevsky's Notes From Underground, without the The. Not that The The was in my class or anything, but that would've been pretty cool.

[soxfan99]

The baseball category was up there with the easiest categories I've ever seen. I was hoping the $1000 clue would have been a little more difficult, with WHIP or something, but it stayed at the level where a casual fan would still get it. (I actually wanted VORP, but knew it wouldn't be coming.)

Glad Ernest won. Liked his big smile after every correct response.

[MarkBarrett]

Regina was a player that had me trying to decide whether to root for her or wish for something like a 7800-7800=0. Great she knows baseball, but the double switch had me shaking my head. The 1000 wager on the first DD was strike 2. Knowing Travolta from the old TV movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble was fouling back a pitch, but not even taking a guess on the DD in Fats was grab some pine.

The players knew Dexter, but not Parenthood. Yeah, that was a contrast in Family Values there and I like the mix. I'm thankful to NBC for finding a way to keep the Krause/Graham show in the schedule next season.

Jane Addams made me a chicken when I couldn't guess her without Hull in the wording. Raytheon was easier to collect.

I found a way to doubly screw up the FJ clue. My approach was to write the guys, but I did it as:

Harrison
Tyler
3 ( in thinking of the trio Bob Harris liked to lump together)

So not only did I skip Van Buren, but in taking the shortcut I of course left off Polk and included Pierce. My instincts told me to add a number in case I forgot to include someone, but at home I let Tecumseh get me.

********
Since circumstances dictated the start of story going public here I will add the (better be) final chapter. I had the surgery to remove my gall bladder today and all went well with a 7-hour hospital stay. I'm home feeling pretty good and earlier I was able to eat and go for a walk. The FJ poll will be posted at the usual time on Saturday for those taking part in the new guessing game Andy created.

Finally I can now click on Bamaman's spoiler box from the Monday thread about Claudia's Facebook post.

[Volante]

Can't find Claudia's Facebook page, anyone knows what happens?

I, for one, am glad these jokes can finally leave the glue factory... Poor horse...

23 / 25 out of the first five cats in J!. Ended with 24... I thought they were going to...you know...sound more like the element than occasionally add a syllable... (Helios was my only get.)

DJ! was pretty messy, but I was surprised fill in the other letter was giving so much trouble. I was rockin that one!

As for final, I started with Harrison and went to Pierce. 6! Time runs out...WAIT ACK VAN BUREN!! ... ...wait, why did Trebek end with 'Fillmore?' Oooooh, Pierce didn't start until 1853! VINDICATION!!

[Onairb]

Surprised they didn't accept just "Ferdinand."
And cat-'o-nine-tailS should be pluralized.

EDIT: BMSed?

EDIT: I did what Claudia did (same answer too)

It's the same reason why they wouldn't have accepted just 'Juan' or just 'Carlos' when the king of Spain was the correct response a bit later...or why either 'John' or 'Paul' are not acceptable for 'Pope who reigned during the '80s and '90s'.

[Onairb]

I found a way to doubly screw up the FJ clue. My approach was to write the guys, but I did it as:

Harrison
Tyler
3 ( in thinking of the trio Bob Harris liked to lump together)

So not only did I skip Van Buren, but in taking the shortcut I of course left off Polk and included Pierce. My instincts told me to add a number in case I forgot to include someone, but at home I let Tecumseh get me.
.

Asking 'Who was President on Jan. 1 of a year following an election' reminded me of that 'Name the President on the date of Super Bowl III' clue; the date suggests they're looking for the 'lame-duck' who preceded a new President. Ignoring the date in tonight's clue, and focusing on 'who got sworn in that year', tripped up a lot of people with both clues.
Oh, and if there was a neon gas with a name that rhymed with, or just sounded similar to the phrase 'That lame category inhaled donkey appendage', I'd mention it here.

[Onairb]

The baseball category was up there with the easiest categories I've ever seen. I was hoping the $1000 clue would have been a little more difficult, with WHIP or something, but it stayed at the level where a casual fan would still get it. (I actually wanted VORP, but knew it wouldn't be coming.)

Glad Ernest won. Liked his big smile after every correct response.

I'm just glad all three contestants were cool with a baseball category, and not all 'EEEEWWW! Ask about the Carolingians instead!'

[TenPoundHammer]

The baseball category was up there with the easiest categories I've ever seen. I was hoping the $1000 clue would have been a little more difficult, with WHIP or something, but it stayed at the level where a casual fan would still get it.

Then I must not even be "casual fan" because I clammed on error (somehow gotten it twisted around thinking that E was a strikeout instead of K), said "designated pitcher" on $600 and was totally lost on the bottom two. (What were those last two again?)

[Agggron]

Heh, I'm even worse than you, TPH...only got the $200. Had heard of RBI, but none of the other three... > : O

[Vanya]

Pretty sure I read Dostoyevsky's Notes From Underground, without the The. Not that The The was in my class or anything, but that would've been pretty cool.

It can be translated either way, since Russian has no indefinite article (a, an or the). Jeopardy is lenient with leading articles anyway.

[harrumph]

For FJ I too fell into the Harrison trap (forgetting to include Van Buren) even though I parsed out the Superbowl/presidents FJ correctly. FJs don't stick to me!

********
Since circumstances dictated the start of story going public here I will add the (better be) final chapter. I had the surgery to remove my gall bladder today and all went well with a 7-hour hospital stay. I'm home feeling pretty good and earlier I was able to eat and go for a walk. The FJ poll will be posted at the usual time on Saturday for those taking part in the new guessing game Andy created.

Best wishes to you.

[seaborgium]

I'm the dork who considers presidents a wheelhouse, started at Van Buren, and stopped at Taylor. I think I thought, "He died in office, but he isn't part of the pattern that led to the whole Tippecanoe curse idea, so he was still president in 1850." And I know Taylor died in 1850, so I must have just distracted myself from the December in the clue with the whole "Aggh, gotta remember and count the presidents" thing. One of my more frustrating misses.

edit: I immediately recognize 1841 as W.H. Harrison's inauguration year. I could (should) have forgone naming presidents and said, "Two guys who died, their successors, the one between, and the one before. Six."