Friday, November 11, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[shubhaghosh]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know how they taped this TOC? Usually they tape a week worth of shows in one day. But this TOC is split over three weeks. I am guessing they were taped over two days, five shows each day, but then broadcast 3-5-2 over the three weeks.

Just trying to gauge how much of a break players had between games.

[mam418]

Darn. I was rooting hard for Joon. (Been a big fan since his first game aired - and a fellow new england-er to boot.) I am very proud of myself for getting FJ - sadly, it was the only one I got this week!

Good game by Roger - gutsy wagers on the DDs made the difference. (I thought hedonism was overvalued in the $1600 box... anyone else?). Without those daily doubles... it really would have come down to FJ and their wagers.

And is it Monday yet? I've become obsessed with the ToC...

[goforthetie]

... and moved on to vacillating about when Facebook IPO'd (6 years ago is way too early, which is an amazing thought in an of itself)

Facebook has not had an IPO (yet).

Exactly.

[laubla999]

Well, count me in with those that said "pie", so I guess I was wrong ;-(

Not a good week for me...

[Budphrey]

HOLY.

[Budphrey]

COW.



Got to hand it to Roger -- when his ground game's struggling, he's willing to whip out the ol' hook-and-lateral and follow it up with a Statue of Liberty. As a Boise State alum I can appreciate that.

That was a tremendously entertaining game and a display of great competitiveness and determination by all three players. But Roger got the breaks he was looking for and made the most of them.

I will have to admit that when he took a long time deciding on the last DD wager, I was briefly reminded of a past competitor admitting on the message board that he was looking to run out a little time late in the game when he was ahead. However, Roger's $10K wager totally erased that suspicion. (And the group used up all the clues anyway.)

This will be a tremendous final match. Keep your socks pulled up, gang.

[jeff6286]

Is there even any way to ever find out if they would have accepted "Pie" as well as "Pi"? It seems like they should have, since spelling doesn't count for FJ, and the general rule has always been that if the word as written could be pronounced the same way as the correct response, then it is acceptable, right? Well Pi and Pie are clearly two different words with very different meanings, but they are pronounced identically, and even if it is obvious that someone answering Pie would not be misspelling Pi, shouldn't they receive credit for it anyway?

[debramc]

Is there even any way to ever find out if they would have accepted "Pie" as well as "Pi"? It seems like they should have, since spelling doesn't count for FJ, and the general rule has always been that if the word as written could be pronounced the same way as the correct response, then it is acceptable, right? Well Pi and Pie are clearly two different words with very different meanings, but they are pronounced identically, and even if it is obvious that someone answering Pie would not be misspelling Pi, shouldn't they receive credit for it anyway?

Seems to me if they weren't prepared to accept "pie" they shouldn't have used the clue at all, especially in a TOC. But I don't think there's ever a way to get a definitive answer to "what if?" on one like this.

[Budphrey]

Is there even any way to ever find out if they would have accepted "Pie" as well as "Pi"? It seems like they should have, since spelling doesn't count for FJ, and the general rule has always been that if the word as written could be pronounced the same way as the correct response, then it is acceptable, right?

My reasoning runs the same as yours. The writers/judges would have had the option of informing the competitors in advance that spelling would count for this particular clue, but to my mind that would give away too much information. So in the absence of such a warning, to be fair they would have had to accept "What is pie?"

[Samer]

Darn. I was rooting hard for Joon. (Been a big fan since his first game aired - and a fellow new england-er to boot.) I am very proud of myself for getting FJ - sadly, it was the only one I got this week!

On the FJ!—I knew where it was going, but I wasn't quite sure what the answer was supposed to be (I missed the # clue); I figured it out from the headline it had something to do with "pi."

As for the result—I was rooting for both Mark and Roger.

Finally, on the J! round—anyone else find it odd that it seemed that a wrong answer from Roger caused Joon's buzzer to ring in immediately?

In any case, congrats to Roger and retroactive good luck in the finals.

[AlphaDummy]

Okay...I got "pie", with the "e", figuring that a piece of the "pi" made no sense whatsoever within the verbal (non-numerical) context of the headline. Unfortunately, I would have included the definite article..."what is the pie?" Personally, I think my answer would have been rejected. Any lenient judges out there who would have given a guy a break?

[boson]

Congrats to Roger on the win! Great gutsy use of the daily doubles. Congratulations also to Mark and Joon for your great Jeopardy runs - I was rooting for all three of you, and wish could have NHL-style 7 game playoffs for the TOC.

Someone else posted the Coryat scores. I have Roger with 21 right, 6 wrong; Joon with 14 r, 4w; Mark with 17 r, 1w.

I really thought the negs were going to finish off both Roger and Joon, but instead it was the daily doubles that decided the match. After the complaints about yesterday's board, I thought this one was fine. Despite 10 negs from the contestants, I didn't see a category that had lots of neg-bait. It looked like Roger was far more nervous for this game than for any of the others we've seen him play - maybe the negs to start, or just knowing the quality of the opposition?

I liked the final: a little numerical/word play question for them to figure out. I'm a little surprised they missed it, but increased difficulty under the lights can explain a lot.

Oh, one question for the philosophical judges: I said "epicurianism" instead of "hedonism". Is it good? Wikipedia says epicurianism is a form of hedonism, but that's the limit of my pleasure-seeking philosophy knowledge.

[Bamaman]

It sparked a huge debate on the old board, but they accepted a phonetic match in FJ once before, even though the meanings of the words were different.

http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?g ... ny+b+goode

So it would seem they'd have to accept pie, which is what I wrote down.

[goforthetie]

I really thought the negs were going to finish off both Roger and Joon, but instead it was the daily doubles that decided the match. After the complaints about yesterday's board, I thought this one was fine. Despite 10 negs from the contestants, I didn't see a category that had lots of neg-bait. It looked like Roger was far more nervous for this game than for any of the others we've seen him play - maybe the negs to start, or just knowing the quality of the opposition?

There were a lot of questions on which Roger rang in and then had to think for a second or two. I suspect he deliberately chose a strategy of ringing in first and thinking later because of his competition, which probably accounted for at least a few of the negs. Maybe he can confirm.

There ought to be an option on the FJ poll for "I had 'pie' on Friday'.

[dhkendall]

Is there even any way to ever find out if they would have accepted "Pie" as well as "Pi"? It seems like they should have, since spelling doesn't count for FJ, and the general rule has always been that if the word as written could be pronounced the same way as the correct response, then it is acceptable, right? Well Pi and Pie are clearly two different words with very different meanings, but they are pronounced identically, and even if it is obvious that someone answering Pie would not be misspelling Pi, shouldn't they receive credit for it anyway?

Seems to me if they weren't prepared to accept "pie" they shouldn't have used the clue at all, especially in a TOC. But I don't think there's ever a way to get a definitive answer to "what if?" on one like this.

My reasoning runs the same as yours. The writers/judges would have had the option of informing the competitors in advance that spelling would count for this particular clue, but to my mind that would give away too much information. So in the absence of such a warning, to be fair they would have had to accept "What is pie?"

So it would seem they'd have to accept pie, which is what I wrote down.

Under normal circumstances, it would have been, but this was a direct quote, as pointed out by goforthetie:

http://www.marketingvox.com/google_offe ... pi-019682/

For direct quotes, they're always strict that it has to match the quote, therefore " what is pi" is the only correct answer (even "what is ?" would have been wrong, I think) Sorry, folks, but I'm certain that "what is pie" would not have been accepted. If you spoke your FJ response at home instead of writing it down, even if you spoke "what is pie" because you believed that was the answer, I'll exercise my leniency there, but not for a written response of "what is pie", even if it is phonetically the same.

[jpahk]

i'm a little surprised so many people are discussing FJ, given that none of the three of us put much thought into it at all. i spent most of the 30 seconds trying to come up with something funny. i think i succeeded, but i felt outdone by mark. the wagering, too, was totally irrelevant; i tried to pick a meaningless random number, and mark's wager is the kind of code an idiot would have on his luggage.

in the post-game chat alex said they would have accepted "what is pie?", so mark that as a win if you had it.

there's a long story about poppy seeds. maybe if i have enough energy later tonight i'll spill it.

[dhkendall]

I will have to admit that when he took a long time deciding on the last DD wager, I was briefly reminded of a past competitor admitting on the message board that he was looking to run out a little time late in the game when he was ahead. However, Roger's $10K wager totally erased that suspicion. (And the group used up all the clues anyway.)

I believe all the clues have to be used up in TOCs, at least at the QF level (to even the field) and probably at the SF level too. As a boardie (I think it was --Pete, what happened to him?) has said numerous times, in his crusade to get all the clues used up in every game, "why can't they use the same tricks they use in the tournaments, where they have to use all the clues, in the regular games?"

[dhkendall]

in the post-game chat alex said they would have accepted "what is pie?", so mark that as a win if you had it.

OK, consider my previous post null and void, I'd say that's an authoritative ruling on the matter! (Although, if they're homophones, how do you know he said "what is pie?" )

there's a long story about poppy seeds. maybe if i have enough energy later tonight i'll spill it.

Joon, you've been a boardie long enough to know that the behind the scenes stories is the reason we come here! (Well, me, anyways.) Spill!

[darkgreenblue]

Seems to me if they weren't prepared to accept "pie" they shouldn't have used the clue at all, especially in a TOC...

I agree with you 100%.

Shame about the DDs and the runaway result... If all three were in contention for FJ, the very surprising TS could have led to an interesting endgame. Joon would be kicking himself -- a thinly disguised Pi was staring him in the face!

Congrats to all three of these super competitors.

[cheezguyty]

I believe all the clues have to be used up in TOCs, at least at the QF level (to even the field) and probably at the SF level too.

It's definitely not a requirement in the semifinals. The most recent example would be the 2007 ToC, where only one of the SFs had both boards cleared.