Thursday, June 21, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

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Re: Thursday, June 21, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by alietr »

Well done, Margaret! And sorry to see such a nice run end, David. Let the 120 day clock start running. We'll be seeing more of you, though ...

Let's see ... Petra? Kaaba? Hagia Sophia? Dome of the Rock? OK, we'll go with the Kaaba. What? Taj Mahal!?!? Oh, crud. Didn't even wander over that direction.
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Re: Thursday, June 21, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by dhkendall »

alietr wrote:Let's see ... Petra? Kaaba? Hagia Sophia? Dome of the Rock? OK, we'll go with the Kaaba. What? Taj Mahal!?!? Oh, crud. Didn't even wander over that direction.
I considered the same choices as Andy (great minds and all ... ) save Petra (pretty sure it predated the Muslim influence in the area, and didn't have precious stones), settled on Hagia Sophia (as I figured the other two were much older than the 1650s). Was surprised it was such a big get on the boards, as I don't associate the Taj Mahal (or India, as much) with Islam. [TPH]Never would have gotten it if you spotted me "aj Mahal"[/TPH]
Zee2 wrote:I didn't want to nit about that Peter the Rabbit also, but the Spanish had "the" rabbit, so they could have accepted that. All those foreign words and phrases are very interesting in themselves, but they usually get so botched.
Well, they wanted the titles in English, and the English title lacks a "the" (which is also my response to the boardies that say "they allowed Smokey the Bear!", which, at least, is a lot more commonly used than Peter the Rabbit. Don't make me compare Google hits.)
Zee2 wrote: There was something the other day that was a Latin phrase and Alex pronounced it as if it were Italian. Oh, well.
OK then, *you* show me what a Latin accent sounds like ...
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Re: Thursday, June 21, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by thenextofken »

Let's all say this together: Wagering is important. Margaret may have run into a couple of buzz saws on the buzzer, but she made exactly the wager she should have. But congrats to Dave on a great run, and look forward to seeing you in the TOC.

Thought of Taj Mahal, but it was the WAG of WAGs.

Embarrassing misses: "Pegasus" for "Black Beauty," and "Junebug" for "Mayfly." Should've noted they said "fly" in the clue.
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Re: Thursday, June 21, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by ElendilPickle »

alietr wrote:Well done, Margaret! And sorry to see such a nice run end, David. Let the 120 day clock start running. We'll be seeing more of you, though ...

Let's see ... Petra? Kaaba? Hagia Sophia? Dome of the Rock? OK, we'll go with the Kaaba. What? Taj Mahal!?!? Oh, crud. Didn't even wander over that direction.
Congratulations, Margaret! Sorry to see you go, David - I enjoyed your games.

I came up with Taj Mahal right after the music ended. :-(
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Re: Thursday, June 21, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by econgator »

dhkendall wrote:I considered the same choices as Andy (great minds and all ... ) save Petra (pretty sure it predated the Muslim influence in the area, and didn't have precious stones), settled on Hagia Sophia (as I figured the other two were much older than the 1650s).
The Hagia Sophia is about 1100 years older than 1650, though. ;)
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Re: Thursday, June 21, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Bob78164 »

This game is a draw for the Intermediate Form of Shore's Conjecture. The second-place player bet "big." --Bob
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Re: Thursday, June 21, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by jeff6286 »

dhkendall wrote:
alietr wrote:Let's see ... Petra? Kaaba? Hagia Sophia? Dome of the Rock? OK, we'll go with the Kaaba. What? Taj Mahal!?!? Oh, crud. Didn't even wander over that direction.
I considered the same choices as Andy (great minds and all ... ) save Petra (pretty sure it predated the Muslim influence in the area, and didn't have precious stones), settled on Hagia Sophia (as I figured the other two were much older than the 1650s). Was surprised it was such a big get on the boards, as I don't associate the Taj Mahal (or India, as much) with Islam. [TPH]Never would have gotten it if you spotted me "aj Mahal"[/TPH]
I was definitely lucky to not know enough to come up with an incorrect response for this FJ. None of the ones mentioned by alietr were even on my radar screen. My first thought was the Taj Mahal, and my second thought was...nothing. I knew the Taj Mahal was in India, and questioned whether there would be Arabic writings that far east, so after writing it down I spent the last 20-25 seconds trying to think of any possible alternate answer, but came up empty, fortunately. I knew Hagia Sophia was built way earlier because of the FJ in the College Tournament in February. So Taj Mahal it was, and it turned out to be correct.

After Alex's silly little speech pointing out that Margaret still had a chance, my reaction was "No she doesn't! Didn't you see David's perfect wager from second place last Thursday? That was the only game he has trailed in, and the only FJ that he has missed in his 5 games, but he knew exactly how to wager from second place to win on the triple stumper, so I'm afraid Margaret has no chance in this one." How wrong I was and how prescient Alex turned out to be.

Plenty has been said about the two guys' wagers, but I didn't even like Margaret's wager when I saw it. She bet to top Lukas if he made the MSB and missed, but I was thinking she might as well have bet it all, giving herself an extra $4K if she happens to win, because what are the odds that Lukas is going to bet more than the MSB? What's that? Oh, I guess the odds were pretty good. I never even considered the possibility that she might wind up the winner with $3,999, so kudos to Margaret for not betting any more than you had to and walking away the winner.

Congratulations also to David on a tremendous run, and good luck to you in the Tournament of Champions, whenever it may be.
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Re: Thursday, June 21, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Johnblue »

I'm humiliated to admit that I went with Alhambra even though I've been there & I knew it was several hundred years older. I thought that maybe it was considered completed after the Church regained it.

As for the game, I too disliked the first round but I really liked DJ. Insane betting strategies by all.
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Re: Thursday, June 21, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Snaxx »

Congrats Margaret! As always it's better to be lucky...

Also did not come up with Taj Mahal and anything I came up with I knew was a lot older. I see I was not the only one who negged with Junebug for Mayfly (oops moment).
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Re: Thursday, June 21, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Johnblue »

I should express my gratitude that no illiterate morons read the clues tonight. Small miracle.
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Re: Thursday, June 21, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by bpmod »

Johnblue wrote:I should express my gratitude that no illiterate morons read the clues tonight. Small miracle.
Illiterate morons?

I despise most of those (outside of Alex and the Clue Crew) who read clues, but I don't think I'd refer to (almost) any of them as illiterate morons.

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Re: Thursday, June 21, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by mswanson »

Where to even start with this game?? Clearly, DJ was not a great round for me. I lost whatever buzzer mojo I'd been able to muster earlier in the game (to this day, I truly could not tell you if I was getting in too early or too late; never really felt like I got a feel for it), and there weren't any categories that I felt mega confident about. When Lukas got the final DD, I looked up at the board, saw my $10,000+ deficit and HELICOPTERS(!!1!1!!), I was just like, "Well... this sucks." We went into the commercial break before FJ, and I just remember standing there after locking in my (nearly hopeless) bet, looking at the scores and feeling bummed—this was not the way I had wanted my one game to go, and ugh, my family in the audience must be so disappointed, and oh, now it's over forever and I was such a sorry 3rd! I just felt sad. Then out of nowhere, I had this moment of thinking, "You know what? Fuck it. I'm going to win this thing! I BELIEVE I CAN FLY!" and I actually turned to David and Lukas and said, "Watch out, guys, I'm going to come from behind!" Which, of course, was sort of a ridiculous thing to believe, and I think they both looked back at me with a "Well, isn't that cute?" kind of smile. Then before the clue came up, Alex said his whole, "she could still win it" thing (how weird that he would say that!), and I was all, "Alex, you beautiful genius. OF COURSE I WILL."

Then FJ. Right. I completely blanked on the Taj Mahal. My mind was nowhere near there. During the end credits stand around segment, we all were saying how the "Arabic calligraphy" part threw us off (and then Alex put on his best Indian accent and said, "Well, you know therrre arrre Mus-lims in In-dia, too!" with a little Hindi-esque head shake. Picture that for a moment.), and all I could think about was Moors. I took so long to write down an answer because I was also considering the Hagia Sophia—somehow, the 1650 part just wasn't registering in my brain at all, though I'm not sure how much that would've helped. Despite all the architectural history classes I've taken in college and grad school, somehow the Taj has just never quite been on my radar… Shameful! But anyway, I was trying to decide between wrong and wronger, hence I ended up with "Alhamb|". Not the best feeling when that music ended and my pen stopped writing!

Wagering was the thing I was most concerned about in the weeks after getting The Call. Math-under-pressure has never been a strong suit of mine, so I spent a lot of time with piles of scratch paper and the J!Archive wagering calculator, trying to remember all of the rules and wager along with games on Youtube. Still, going into FJ with about a third of David's score and Lukas even farther out ahead, it wasn't looking good. The only way I should have been able to win with my bet was if Lukas bet to cover David going all in AND David bet too much AND they both got it wrong AND I got it right.

So my sad little "Alhamb|" came up, and that blew; but then David shocked everyone with his big bet, and I think my ears started to perk up a little. But I still should not have been able to win! Lukas had Hagia Sophia and for a second, I was like "Aw, man" (not that it would've mattered if we'd both gotten it right, obviously. But you know, MY PRIDE.), and then that wager! WHAT. It was that great moment that I had (very cheesily) been forcing myself to visualize in the all the weeks prior, of the camera pulling back over to me as the winner. My rather unsportsmanlike fist pump toward the guys at the end was, I think, me saying something like, "See! I told you!" Because I literally had just told them!!! (Also, all day long, I had been making similarly air-punchy threats toward my Amherst rival David as he kept on winning. Because I am way intimidating!)

I ran into Lukas in the hotel lobby on my way out to dinner that night, and all he said to me was, "I bet too much." Which... yeah. Yeah, you did. But he and David both played a great game, and OMG DAVID YOU'RE GOING TO TOC AND THAT IS THE COOLEST THING EVER. I was mostly just happy to get to play another game, because really, once you're there, I think everyone just wants a chance to keep playing!

So, not the prettiest win in the world, but it made for a dramatic finish, no??
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Re: Thursday, June 21, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Paucle »

bpmod wrote:
Johnblue wrote:I should express my gratitude that no illiterate morons read the clues tonight.
Illiterate morons?
Brian
I think it was a joke. For after all, how can anyone who's illiterate read anything?

Ad in newspaper: Illiterate? Write now for Free help!
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Re: Thursday, June 21, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Swift'sSecondCourse »

First, congrats Margaret! Even if you are an Eph, I hope you do well. Second, OK everyone, here was my thinking. I had already achieved every goal I had set. I had won at least one game, I had won over 100K, and I was pretty sure I was going to the TOC. Since the taping was happening in the middle of the school year, I was in danger of missing a significant amount of class from continued wins. So, I decided to go big or go home. But, I didn't want to wind up with 0 if I lost, so I bet so that even if I go the answer wrong I would still have "the answer". Yes, I'm a "Hitchhiker's" fan.
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Re: Thursday, June 21, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by CyrusChan »

COngrats to Margaret for pulling out a victory on today's episode and I hope you can start a run of your own.

As for David, his performance at age 26 is very impressive and I feel I have a long way to go at 24 if I want to be a successful Jeopardy contestant in the future(assuming I pass the pre-lim rounds sometime).

On a random note , I drew a total blank on FJ and would hate to know how Lukas felt. Poor fella should have been rational with his wager...
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Re: Thursday, June 21, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by jeff6286 »

Swift'sSecondCourse wrote:First, congrats Margaret! Even if you are an Eph, I hope you do well. Second, OK everyone, here was my thinking. I had already achieved every goal I had set. I had won at least one game, I had won over 100K, and I was pretty sure I was going to the TOC. Since the taping was happening in the middle of the school year, I was in danger of missing a significant amount of class from continued wins. So, I decided to go big or go home. But, I didn't want to wind up with 0 if I lost, so I bet so that even if I go the answer wrong I would still have "the answer". Yes, I'm a "Hitchhiker's" fan.
Yikes David, I hope that revelation doesn't earn you a bunch of enemies around here. Am I understanding you correctly that you knew that you could bet a smaller amount on FJ and still win if Lukas missed? But you decided rather than possibly win with ~$12K, you would instead prefer to either win with $35K or walk away with $2K/$1K for second or third? I can understand not wanting to miss too much of law school, but even with the knowledge that you'll be returning for the TOC, Jeopardy! is still essentially a once in a lifetime experience. I can't imagine ever deciding that I've played enough Jeopardy! and it's time to go home now. Then again, I'll probably never be faced with a decision like that, as even if I am fortunate enough to get on the show, there's probably not quite a snowball's chance in hell that I'll ever be in a position to win my 6th game, barring either a whole lot of studying or an even greater amount of luck. So who cares what I think? :mrgreen:

Now maybe you just assumed that you would get FJ correct, since you had gotten the last 4 that you faced, and the "go big or go home" idea was just a sliver in the back of your mind? I could buy that reasoning.
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Re: Thursday, June 21, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by Bamaman »

I don't have that much of a problem with his bet since he'd already won five games. I might do it myself in a category less scary than UNESCO Heritage sites.

I also only thought of the Taj Mahal because I don't know enough to come up with something else.
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Re: Thursday, June 21, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by MarkBarrett »

With the Heat taking so long to wrap up the championship everything was delayed on KGO. The news guys were not done until 10 and Kimmel of course had to air next. At 10:30 WOF was scheduled for that slot. I had no confidence that Wheel in reruns and J! as new with a 5x champ would make a difference. However, Margaret shortly appeared on the screen. Yes! Way to go, KGO.

The Spanish books were 4/5 for me only failing to translate Potter in time. The Brown, Seuss, Sendak and Carle works were no problem since I get paid to read those over and over again.

After 10:30 is too late to yell at night, but I was tempted on the Foreigner and ensign stumpers. Wasn't it only a couple of months ago we had discussions here about knowing Sir Walter Raleigh, QEI, and matching him with courtier. If David got that DD and Lukas stuck with 6000 on his DD then we could have had 21400 for each guy entering FJ. They each bet the wad and miss and Margaret wins without double bad wagering. Oh well, a win is a win.

I cannot place it, but it was recently that I came across the Taj Mahal and Arabic. Can anyone help? The possibilities are of course J! itself, Facebook trivia games, Ken Jennings and his Tuesday Trivia, Millionaire....

Whatever the source I first thought complex = Kremlin. Arabic took care of that. I put a "K" on my paper for Kaaba and before I could get to the "a" I realized the year made no sense and that the year was the Taj Mahal. Recalling the Arabic fact had me thinking I had a sole solve vs. the contestants who would likely be working other angles.

It's not until next season, but during the KGO postHeat show the sports guy was giddy to announce what I consider annoying news. On Thursday, Oct. 18th the 49ers game that will air on the NFL Network will also air on KGO for local viewers that don't have that cable channel. On Thursday, Dec. 6th it will be the Raiders turn for the same deal. I can hope for another 10 o'clock airing, but with national ABC having three hours of regular prime time scheduling, KGO will have too much to cover I fear. A double shift is out with college football ruling Saturday. Throw in election Tuesday in November and that's a third night where J! won't be on at 7.

David: Thank you for being candid with your large wager explanation. I understand.
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The judges definitely needed to make a lepus of faith

Post by Sage on the Hudson »

dhkendall wrote:Well, they wanted the titles in English, and the English title lacks a "the" (which is also my response to the boardies that say "they allowed Smokey the Bear!", which, at least, is a lot more commonly used than Peter the Rabbit. Don't make me compare Google hits.)
Whenever Jeopardy! runs a clue whose correct response is "What's the Hunchback of Notre Dame" (which is probably several times a year), anyone familiar with Victor Hugo's novel surely wonders whether the judges will accept Notre Dame de Paris, Hugo's original title in French (Hugo supposedly hated the English title). Assuming that both would be acceptable, the inclusion of an extra article, Peter the Rabbit, would conform to many languages that demand an article before "Rabbit," with it appearing in any number of foreign editions of Potter's work. On the basis of that, the judges should have allowed it.

bpmod wrote:
Johnblue wrote:I despise most of those (outside of Alex and the Clue Crew) who read clues, but I don't think I'd refer to (almost) any of them as illiterate morons.
They can be illiterate, or they can be morons, but they can never be illiterate morons.
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Re: Thursday, June 21, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Post by miggydub »

Ahh, this was a good one!

Alex was like Kreskin! "All good things must come to an end." at the top of the show. (I was like WTH are you putting the voodoo mojo on David??)

And calling Margaret as a factor at the end...

Having visited Alhambra 2X, I went with that initially. Then I remembered Q Isabella booted the Moors from the Iberian peninsula completely in 1492, so none of those folks would be around in 1650 to put the finishing touches on that bad boy.
It was then that the Taj Mahal seemed the obvious choice.

The ending twist was priceless. Margarets reaction was kind of puzzling. Was that a toungue-in-cheek nanny nanny boo boo? Then it looked as if she took an aggressive swipe at Lukas as if to say, "Take that you SOBs!" Lukas didn't look happy...
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