Friday, October 9, 2015 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[electricia]

Since Elicia took the plunge and is posting, I guess I will, too. I'm the aforementioned Emily. If I remember correctly, I laughed myself at Alex's comment because it wasn't exactly my finest hour. Mostly I remember just feeling sad and rueful. I'm from a really small town. People were so genuinely happy and excited by me being on the show; it was truly touching. It was hard not to feel like I had just disappointed them. I really wanted to make my town and my county proud.

Anyway, I'll take the Laraine Newman comment as a compliment, however you meant it. She is a talented and funny lady.

Hi Emily! So glad to see you here, my sister in getting buzz-sawed.

[electricia]

How did Matt, and the whole world, for that matter, not know post-and-lintel? 1000 clue, really? His sixth grade history teacher is not too happy.

You know who wasn't too happy about not getting that? ME, an "Interior Architectural Design Student", according to my intro. It was one of those things that was on the tip of my tongue and I just couldn't pull it out in time. Mostly because I had just been talking about post and beam construction, and I knew beam wasn't the answer, but I couldn't pull lintel out quick enough. *facepalm*

Just as embarrassing - answering Andrew Jackson because I totally neglected to notice they said the 11th president. I know the presidents cold, AND I'm from Tennessee. *double facepalm*

Other regrets: I totally knew Whizzer White, but I just kept thinking "Buzzer something? It's alliterative... Buzz? Buzzy?" And because I am an Alabama football fan, I knew the Ohio State question ALL TOO FRICKIN' WELL, but in that moment I completely forgot the category and was thinking of NFL. I kept thinking "Wait, the Patriots didn't have a new coach this year, wtf?"

Not that any of this would have made a lick of difference.

[electricia]

Matt is not that smart. This game is rigged.

...Mom?

[TheSunWillComeOut]

To make any judgment of how the game might go for Matt in the J! round and especially the first segment is ridiculous. Matt clearly has some weakness in the sports history area although he's not completely out to sea as Four Horsemen proved. He should be studying the sports Pavlov we have here.

I'm terrible at football categories and even I picked up a lot of that - not just Aikman, but also Four Horsemen, "Whizzer" White, etc., which I remember from my J! Archive mining. Jeopardy!'s writers have a few sports answers they looooove to reuse, and even if you're not "a sports person," it's worth taking a spin through the Archive and logging the Qs that have the benefit of being both sportsy and quirky trivia stuff, because they're memorable AND can help save your tuchus with a high-value get in an otherwise dead-zone category. Sports Nicknames are particularly good for this.

I think most people realized Emily's poor performance had as much to do with Matt as anything. He's so good he forces his opponents into making mistakes.

Thiiiiiis. Emily and Elicia, I can't imagine the stress of sitting in the studio audience all day, watching Matt do THAT for four episodes straight, and all the while knowing you're next in line. No matter how prepared you are, that's gotta take a toll. Talk about War Novels, you guys should write one to add to the list. Welcome to the board! Hope you stick around.

[electricia]

#ILLUMINATI

Nothing to do with this post, but I just wanted to say I really enjoyed watching your games, you were so much fun! Not to mention my intense jealousy of your Rush drumsticks. I was like "This chick combined Rush and Jeopardy, she is my hero."

[opusthepenguin]

Since Elicia took the plunge and is posting, I guess I will, too. I'm the aforementioned Emily. If I remember correctly, I laughed myself at Alex's comment because it wasn't exactly my finest hour. Mostly I remember just feeling sad and rueful. I'm from a really small town. People were so genuinely happy and excited by me being on the show; it was truly touching. It was hard not to feel like I had just disappointed them. I really wanted to make my town and my county proud.

My wife and I were rueful with you when a couple of your responses didn't pay off. It was easy to empathize with the frustration. Your townspeople sound like they'll be quite sympathetic and will have enough sense to still be proud of you. Even if they don't watch regularly, I'd say it's pretty clear what your situation was. This wasn't about you losing but about Matt just running away with the game and you trying very hard to stop him. You and Elicia both played a good game in tough tough circumstances.

P.S. My crack about Tourette's and the ingrown toenail was just an in-group reference to a recent armchair diagnosis of another player. I hope it's clear I wasn't at all serious. Not that you shouldn't get that toe checked out....

[electricia]

Hi Emily! So glad to see you here, my sister in getting buzz-sawed.

P.S. If you ever feel like trekking out this way again for a little less stressful L.A. experience, we have a lovely guest room that you're welcome to at any time!

[electricia]

I don't go to games, but from what I understand, the stadium has changed a lot in the last ten years or so. The area was hit hard by the tornado. I spent time on the coast post-Katrina and I avoided seeing the Tuscaloosa damage because I had enough of looking at natural disasters.

We lived in Knoxville for a few years after we got married. Being a Bama fan there was interesting, to say the least. I got to see the Peyton Manning years first hand. But we're back in my home state now living the life of empty nesters.

Yeah, seeing the stadium on TV is always just kind of crazy, I can't believe how things have changed. I was in the Million Dollar Band, so I got to spend a lot of time there back in the day. I think Manning's last or second-to-last year was my first year at Bama, but being from TN (although not a Vols fan) I definitely knew who he was.

Seeing the tornado damage was tough. It was a couple of years removed from it, but there were still very obvious scars, and in many ways that place is "home" for me. I've been through plenty of tornadoes in my time, as I'm sure you have too, but luckily nothing quite like that.

I was so excited to see a college football category, but sadly it didn't pan out so well for me. Never heard of the Four Horsemen, couldn't think of Whizzer White in time (and I had just learned his name a few days prior to taping), and omg, Ohio State. Ohio Frickin' State!!! My husband said he was in the audience silently screaming to me "You know this! You know this!" But somehow I forgot the category and was thinking of NFL and was super confused because the Patriots didn't have a new coach. And when they revealed the answer, I thought "Great, of course it's Ohio State, screwing a Bama fan whenever possible!"

[brick]

Matt is not that smart. This game is rigged.

...Mom?

You win the internet today.

[patkav]

Matt is not that smart. This game is rigged.

...Mom?

Hilarious.

Welcome to you and Emily. Nothing you can do in the face of a steamroller. I hope you can both put that side and enjoy the fact YOU GOT TO PLAY JEOPARDY!

[harrumph]

And when they revealed the answer, I thought "Great, of course it's Ohio State, screwing a Bama fan whenever possible!"

I predict that at some point the show will put up a clue with a "pope" TOM that leads to Urban Meyer.

[TheSunWillComeOut]

#ILLUMINATI

Nothing to do with this post, but I just wanted to say I really enjoyed watching your games, you were so much fun! Not to mention my intense jealousy of your Rush drumsticks. I was like "This chick combined Rush and Jeopardy, she is my hero."

D'awwwwww! Thanks, Elicia! PLEASE stick around, we always need more Rush fans here. I'm just sad that my drumsticks didn't, as I had hoped, set off a trend of contestants requesting additional tokens of favour from bands to bring on the show, turning it into a sort of ongoing joust to champion various rock stars in the name of KNOWLEDGE, which would be amazing. But we shall see as time goes by.

Matt is not that smart. This game is rigged.

...Mom?

You win the internet today.

This.

[electricia]

Thiiiiiis. Emily and Elicia, I can't imagine the stress of sitting in the studio audience all day, watching Matt do THAT for four episodes straight, and all the while knowing you're next in line. No matter how prepared you are, that's gotta take a toll. Talk about War Novels, you guys should write one to add to the list. Welcome to the board! Hope you stick around.

To be honest, for me it was a little bit liberating. I mean, yes, it sucked watching and knowing that's what I would be facing (even though I wasn't actually certain since I was an alternate, I didn't know for sure until right before my game). But in some ways it relieved me of some nervousness. I knew the chances were that I was going to get creamed. But if I did, it would be by this juggernaut. If by some miracle I beat him, well that would have been amazing, but somehow knowing my pretty inevitable fate allowed me to relax some and maybe have a little more fun than I might have if I'd been really focused on winning instead of just playing. It allowed me to not put the kind of pressure on myself that I otherwise would have, and probably helped me have fewer regrets than I might have had otherwise. So it was both awful and liberating. Really a very weird feeling.

I also feel like hanging out in the audience all day with my fellow band of buggered - Emily, Sameer, Erik, and The Other Matt (who was not so buggered after all) and rooting SO HARD for him to lose was kind of fun. We kept each other laughing and tried to keep it light, because what else can you do when you're all facing the same doom? (At lunch, I was kind of tempted to yell "Tonight we dine IN HELL!!!" Somehow I refrained.) Don't get me wrong, I would trade crazy self-pressure and potential regrets for the opportunity to play against pretty much anyone besides him! But yeah, for me anyway, facing him was a mixed bag of emotions.

[electricia]

I predict that at some point the show will put up a clue with a "pope" TOM that leads to Urban Meyer.

Actually, in my audition mock game, they had a College Football Coaches category that had exactly that!

[stevo4212]

Whizzer White is an interesting clue. Do you know what White was famous for, as a jurist? He was one of the only justices to write in dissent on the Clinton, and Chadha cases. He wanted to uphold the line-item veto, and the legislative veto. I think those are two devices that would have greatly improved government. Because of the court's obnoxiously rigid view of government, we are stuck with congress inflating bills with all kinds of garbage, and the president just has to sign it wholesale. No effective check on executive action either.

[TheSunWillComeOut]

Thiiiiiis. Emily and Elicia, I can't imagine the stress of sitting in the studio audience all day, watching Matt do THAT for four episodes straight, and all the while knowing you're next in line. No matter how prepared you are, that's gotta take a toll. Talk about War Novels, you guys should write one to add to the list. Welcome to the board! Hope you stick around.

To be honest, for me it was a little bit liberating. I mean, yes, it sucked watching and knowing that's what I would be facing (even though I wasn't actually certain since I was an alternate, I didn't know for sure until right before my game). But in some ways it relieved me of some nervousness. I knew the chances were that I was going to get creamed. But if I did, it would be by this juggernaut. If by some miracle I beat him, well that would have been amazing, but somehow knowing my pretty inevitable fate allowed me to relax some and maybe have a little more fun than I might have if I'd been really focused on winning instead of just playing. It allowed me to not put the kind of pressure on myself that I otherwise would have, and probably helped me have fewer regrets than I might have had otherwise. So it was both awful and liberating. Really a very weird feeling.

I also feel like hanging out in the audience all day with my fellow band of buggered - Emily, Sameer, Erik, and The Other Matt (who was not so buggered after all) and rooting SO HARD for him to lose was kind of fun. We kept each other laughing and tried to keep it light, because what else can you do when you're all facing the same doom? (At lunch, I was kind of tempted to yell "Tonight we dine IN HELL!!!" Somehow I refrained.) Don't get me wrong, I would trade crazy self-pressure and potential regrets for the opportunity to play against pretty much anyone besides him! But yeah, for me anyway, facing him was a mixed bag of emotions.

"Band of Buggered" is a glorious turn of phrase. I only wish it hadn't been spawned from actual trench humor. I totally get it - I hoped before ever setting foot on that stage that my conquering opponent, whomever he or she might be, would make it to the TOC, just so I could say, "See? It took competition like THAT to take me down." (And he did.) Years from now, you'll be able to say to other Jeopardy! veterans, "I faced Matt Jackson," and they'll say, "OHHHHH," and you'll have a medal of honor because of that alone.

[electricia]

"Band of Buggered" is a glorious turn of phrase. I only wish it hadn't been spawned from actual trench humor.

Sadly I can't take credit for it. Spike says it in an episode of Buffy.

[TheSunWillComeOut]

"Band of Buggered" is a glorious turn of phrase. I only wish it hadn't been spawned from actual trench humor.

Sadly I can't take credit for it. Spike says it in an episode of Buffy.

Sigh. My Buffy ignorance strikes again. I should really remedy that at some point.

[Lampy]

"Band of Buggered" is a glorious turn of phrase. I only wish it hadn't been spawned from actual trench humor.

Sadly I can't take credit for it. Spike says it in an episode of Buffy.

Sigh. My Buffy ignorance strikes again. I should really remedy that at some point.

++++++++++++

[ElendilPickle]

Matt is not that smart. This game is rigged.

...Mom?

:::applauding:::

Elicia and Emily, welcome to JBoard! I hope you both stick around.