Thursday, December 1, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[MarkBarrett]

ETA: Hugo beat me to the "Happ" portion of my post while I was composing.

and I beat him to it.

7:29 - There it is. Well done. I read through the posts (as soon as the game ends at 7:28ish) before posting, but I don't check on what has come in while I work. I backed up to see the 7:30 and later posts, but just missed going in reverse enough to see yours.

[econgator]

Any thoughts on Gillian's Sinclair Lewis/Upton Sinclair mishap? Did she realize she was wrong, and correct herself independently, or did she only correct herself based on negative sounds from Alex? If the former, should she have received the points? I didn't quite catch the sequence of events.

And that's two shows in a row of tough Canadian content--triple stumper on Gordie Howe yesterday, and neg on Canada Day today.

That seemed to me to be just her realizing her mistake after she was ruled incorrect.

[HugoZ]

The January for horses having their birthday was my favorite TS of the game. Easy 2K for those who know the sport.

Not a huge horse fan, but I know that fact.

I'm a horse owner, and I learned something new.

ETA: Hugo beat me to the "Happ" portion of my post while I was composing.

and I beat him to it.

Credit where credit is due.

[dhkendall]

Being a rugby fan, it was nice to see a clue about the haka. The New Zealand national team, the All Blacks, perform one before every match. I love seeing how the opposing team reacts to it and think it one of the coolest traditions in sports.

Not a rugby fan, but have seen hakas and, like anyone with any sense, am enthralled by them. As soon as I saw the video, I thought "oh, the answer will be 'haka!'" Alex: "... performing the haka ... " Me: "OK, the answer will be 'Maori' then." Alex: "... a traditional dance of the Maori ... " Me: "Well, for Pete's sake, it's gotta be 'New Zealand' then!"

Knew FJ cold, but shocked that the middle player was ruled incorrect (he had the correct title, was it that they found "worry" incomprehensible?)

One of my greatest J! fears is that Alex/judges won't be able to read my FJ answer should I ever appear on the show. My handwriting is so terrible I once had a teacher ask me in all seriousness if I had some disability that prevented from writing legibly.

Same. I'm hoping that my FJ(s) will be an instaget, as I will probably take the time to make sure my writing is neat, making me write slower than normal.

Another FJ I would never have gotten.

Because I didn't know the song was considered "a capella".

In my mind, if there are musical instruments, it's not.

Just demonstrates my ignorance, I guess

After having it pop into my mind, I initially dismissed it because I thought it had instruments too. Then I played a clip in my mind, and realized that it wasn't instruments, but was just McFerrin. Mind blown as I settled on my FJ answer.

I heard "Iggy Stardust," but I will admit that it wasn't very clear.

This game was...it had a lot of negs.

I initially clammed, heard her clearly say "Iggy Stardust", realized quickly who she mispronounced, and figured it had to be it, what with the reversal and all, and was all set to get on rebound.

I think I had "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by the time I got to "1980s" in the clue.

That was the biggest thing holding me back, as I figured it wasn't a 1980s song, but early 1990s (was thinking early 80s when I read the clue for some reason.) Looks like it was 1988, so "late 80s" was right.

I have always wondered why the contestant doesn't volunteer what he or she wrote when Alex says he can't read it, but I realized today that evidently the contestant is not supposed to say anything; it has to be legible to Alex, or Logan could surely have volunteered his answer instead of just standing mute. Am I wrong? Whether there were letters missing which would have disqualified the reply is irrelevant to my question, although perhaps it isn't. If the contestant answers it out loud, but there are significant letters missing in the written reply, it would be ruled incorrect anyway.

And I am not sure what Gillian said and could not tell when I re-ran my tape. Too many negs in this one game.

Like others I've heard contestants offer to decipher their handwriting to help, but I've never seen it done after the correct answer was revealed. While it wasn't revealed yet at that point, Alex did go into the reveal by saying "but don't worry (wink, wink) if you don't get it!", which was as good as giving it away. I was thinking that it may seem that the contestant would have given his answer based on what Alex said (his extra hint after time was up) rather than what was written, and was told (probably in an edit) not to say anything.

I was actually expecting quite a few one-time-posters to come in complaining that he totally had the right answer written down and should be invited back, bla bla bla, forgetting of course that it doesn't matter if he had it right or wrong, with Jan's lock. (I wonder, if Logan's winning the game was solely determined by if he got Final right or not, if things might have played out differently for the reveal. In both cases cited in this thread of illegible FJ answers in music categories (today's and Hugo Z's example), it wouldn't have made a difference.)

And that's two shows in a row of tough Canadian content--triple stumper on Gordie Howe yesterday, and neg on Canada Day today.

Tough Canadian content?? I laugh in your general direction! Gordie Howe, maybe, but the day when Canada Day is should be well-known to those of Jeopardy calibre, those who would get the right answer to, for example, a question that asks "Its first issue in 1845 included "A Smoke Filter for Locomotives" & the "Cause of Sound and Thunder"", but thinks that the capital of Manitoba is "Alberta" (and the clue winds up being a TS) (granted, that was a College game, but remains my favourite miss of easy Canadian facts). A far greater percentage of the Canadian clues on the show would be "easy" for a Canadian, than the percentage of American clues on the show that would be "easy" for an American. My theory is it's the producers' way to make Alex feel smug.

[vellore]

I knew I should have used my smug Canadian sarcasm font.

[dhkendall]

I knew I should have used my smug Canadian sarcasm font.

And I knew that I should have looked at your location (but the fact that my wife and I were laughing about the very thing while watching the broadcast had my rant fresh in my mind). For some reason I always thought you were American. Yuou neued tou suprinukle youur wourds wuith moure "u"s.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I have always wondered why the contestant doesn't volunteer what he or she wrote when Alex says he can't read it, but I realized today that evidently the contestant is not supposed to say anything; it has to be legible to Alex, or Logan could surely have volunteered his answer instead of just standing mute. Am I wrong?

I've heard the contestants speak their response many times. I don't think it matters whether or not Alex can read it, only the judges/person(s) who sees the screens.

Someone who was at the taping can verify, but I suspect the judges might have called a "stop tape" after the think music to debate if Logan was right or not; or they may have just negged it knowing the outcome wouldn't change either way.

FJ was a near-instaget (was working through other possibilities to see if I was wrong), knowing DWBH was a #1 song, and that McFerrin did the entire song on his own (making the instrument sounds himself is kind of his trademark).

[ayeembored]

*sigh* FJ was a facepalm for me. I had nothing, nothing, and finally scribbled in, less legibly than our stalwart contestant, "Kiss Him Goodbye." I looked it up, and it only hit #12 in 1987. I knew I was wrong, but couldn't think of DWBH. I hit pause before the reveal, turned to my wife, and said, "I know that I'm wrong, and I know that I'll feel stupid." Correct on both counts.

[mam418]

The January for horses having their birthday was my favorite TS of the game. Easy 2K for those who know the sport.

Not a huge horse fan, but I know that fact.

I'm a horse owner, and I learned something new.

Only holds for Thoroughbreds, though. It makes the age restricted races more fair. (ie, you don't have a horse that is 2 years, 364 days racing against much younger 2 year olds, etc.)

Huge horse racing fan here - that'd be one of my dream categories.

[John Boy]

I definitely heard "Iggy". And I think they negged him on FJ because he didn't finish writing "worry". I could clearly tell what the rest of it was. Thankfully, it didn't matter at all. But there sure were a lot of people shooting themselves in the foot tonight, unfortunately.

When I saw his FJ answer, I said to my wife, "That's what I said...Don't worry, be happy."

I can't fathom why they disallowed it.

[John Boy]

The January for horses having their birthday was my favorite TS of the game. Easy 2K for those who know the sport. Harder if you don't. If a player didn't even realize the names were famous horses, then no chance.

I knew that fact too. If only I had realized the two names they gave were names of thoroughbred race horses, I might have been on to something.

[vellore]

I appreciate the humour, not to mention the local colour. On FJ, the acapella hint suggested "Only You" (Flying Pickets version), but I'm fairly certain that wasn't a #1, and "only you" isn't much of a saying.

[mrbungle]

Power of Pentatonic Scale - Demonstration by Bobby McFerrin

[thenextofken]

I said "Congo line," not Conga, and negged myself for it. Judges?

[mam418]

Power of Pentatonic Scale - Demonstration by Bobby McFerrin

That is about the coolest thing ever. Love it!

[alietr]

When I saw his FJ answer, I said to my wife, "That's what I said...Don't worry, be happy."
I can't fathom why they disallowed it.

Somebody able to post the screen capture?

[Volante]

When I saw his FJ answer, I said to my wife, "That's what I said...Don't worry, be happy."
I can't fathom why they disallowed it.

Somebody able to post the screen capture?

I can't, not for another week...still five more eps before i can lock my current disc.

[alietr]

And while I'm thinking about it (even though no one's posted the FJ wagers), what possible sense did Gillian's wager make?

[mitchparov]

Being a rugby fan, it was nice to see a clue about the haka. The New Zealand national team, the All Blacks, perform one before every match. I love seeing how the opposing team reacts to it and think it one of the coolest traditions in sports.

Unfortunately missing the Irish response where they came across and more or less into the midst of the haka. Still, pretty good compilation of responses.

[billiej]

FJ for me was "blah blah 1980's blah a capella blah blah" Instaget. Was tickled to pick up Lach trash on "January 1" (Love those horse racing questions ) and "Joan Benoit".