Wednesday, October 18, 2017 Game Recap and Discussion [SPOILERS]

[twelvefootboy]

Bad Wager Alert!!

Are posts like this truly necessary?

I will emulate Mike Pence in sycophancy and agree with our esteemed mod on this . This is a great board and group with many strong opinions and it is entertaining to lurk and follow some of the discussions - I almost always learn something.

PanthersFan1 has acknowledged it was playful, not hateful. Enough said, welcome to a great board. But, it's kind of like a fart joke or a guy dressing in drag or senior citizen cussing in a movie. Good for one laugh and then it's just banal (thanks tph). There is no limit on smelt or herring jokes here, however .

I self-destructed on FJ, I knew the smallpox/cowpox story right off the bat but tried to connect the invention of the vaccine to 1980's and decided it must somehow be IVF. I improperly placed the commercial vaccine development to the 1950's, confusing it with the polio vaccine timing.

[Volante]

I got FJ before the music started but it would have been tough to puzzle out if you didn't know the story behind it. Even worse. "eradication of smallpox" is a lot to scribble down if you figure it out late in the allotted time.

I imagine as long as you got the spirit of FJ right, they'd accept it. "What is smallpox gone?" would probably be given the nod.

At the risk of getting run off this board, I'd NHO The Electric Company.

I only know of it through Family Guy references (which is how I got 'Hey you guys!')

[mxc_takeshi]

36 right.

Places (4), Apple (3), Oxford (4), Chuck Berry (4), Book (4), Hyphen/Letter (4)
Instrument (1) X (3), Holy Roman Empire (4), Statues (3), Waterworks (1), The Electric Company (1)

Lach Trash: Little Richard, electors; Daily Doubles: Eight Men Out, Simon Bolivar

The only thing I could think of was smallpox eradication, but I waited until the end to say it because I wasn't really sure about it.

[badgerfellow]

I knew the Electric Company response was supposed to be "Hey You Guys!!", but all I could think of was the scene in the Goonies.

[Wheatley]

Ouch, I don't mean to rub it in anymore, but Manny's downfall is a very teachable moment of how not to wager. Was he there to witness Austin's $69,000 get, and maybe that drove him to try it too? I was born too late to see TEC firsthand but thanks to Youtube I can get the full experience.

Lach Trash: Bolivar, Silent E, Hey you guys!

[Category 13]

I think Little Richard was more suited for the bottom row than Johnnie B. Good. For that matter, I'd have placed the 'duck walk' at a lesser degree of recollection than his signature song.

[hbomb1947]

Ouch, I don't mean to rub it in anymore, but Manny's downfall is a very teachable moment of how not to wager. Was he there to witness Austin's $69,000 get, and maybe that drove him to try it too?

That episode of Austin's was taped in April.

[chmmr]

Got as far as "eradication of that one disease.. you know, the only one that's been eradicated." Couldn't think of the name of the disease.

[a1srvng]

Did anyone notice that Chelsea more or less indicated in her halftime interview that Africans have "natural rhythm"? Funny.

[TenPoundHammer]

NHO empire or pinata apples. That whole category felt upside down.

Also NHO Hugh Grant that I recall.

"Well, it's not going to be St. Louis. Chuck Berry could've been born in any possible Missouri city.

Embarrassingly, I got only 2 in Instruments. "Apollo's lyre" was yet another NHOI in the top box.

There are chains at the feet of the Statue of Liberty?! I clammed since 111 feet seemed small for her.

I saw no way to "Be more specific" on "E". That was a tough clue.

Lach Trash: merry-go-round, Chuck Jones.

No guess on FJ!

[Kenny]

Guessed cloning for FJ, but after reading this thread smallpox should've been an instaget based on archival history. Wow, those FJ wagers were bizarre.

[TheyCallMeMrKid]

There is no way Manny could have felt HISTORIC CONNECTIONS was some kind of wheelhouse. He went for a GBOGH (go big or go home) and will do the latter. Ouch for him and a nice gift for Joanna. That is not the standard way to make a sole solve of the FJ! clue pay off.

I sometimes wonder if there is any pre-game discussion of wagering strategy amongst the contestants (not necessarily specifics, even just general philosophy) that would influence how they assume the other players are going to wager in FJ.

First level thinking says that Manny should bet for the lock and not allow any possibility of Chelsea getting in on a sole solve ($201-$599), Joanna should bet big in order to have a chance on a Manny miss ($9200 to cover a $201 miss, >$9400 to also cover a Manny $0 wager), and Chelsea should assume she’s playing for 2nd, hoping for a Joanna miss ($401 minimum, but if she assumes Joanna bets big, she could go up to $8799).

If Manny had some reason to think that Chelsea would bet big and thinks that triple get and triple miss are the most likely scenarios, his bet makes a little more sense, and he could’ve even gone up to $18598. I have to think there was a little “I’d like to have a big payday to make up for the small one” thinking going on there too.

Joanna’s bet is the one that makes less sense to me. I feel like I would need to bet to lock out Chelsea and beat any miss by Manny, so I’m probably in for $9401 there.

[BigDaddyMatty]

Coryat: $42,400
51 R/0 W
DD: 2/3
FJ:
LT: Eight Men Out (DD), Little Richard, merry-go-rounds, electors, spillways, silent "E"

Well, that's one way to blow five figures in a few seconds.

That Statues DD was weird. Venezuela seemed to lead to Bolivar, but why would there be a statue of him in Central Park? I'm glad I'm not the only one who hadn't heard of it.

Anyone else get the spillway clue from the video/article that has been making the rounds on Facebook?

[mcsheffrey]

Got as far as "eradication of that one disease.. you know, the only one that's been eradicated." Couldn't think of the name of the disease.

Well I had the other half of it and couldn't get the eradication part. I knew about Jenner and cowpox but could not figure out what "breakthrough" might have happened in 1980. I really think it's an inaccurate descriptor. A breakthrough, especially in science, generally refers to a discovery that enables rapid progress. In this case, the breakthrough was Jenner's realization that infecting the body with an illness can provide protection against similar illnesses. The final eradication of the disease was simply the end result. Using "achievement" or "accomplishment" would have been much more accurate.

[John Boy]

Bad Wager Alert!!

Are posts like this truly necessary?

Yes.

Even on a show famous for bad wagers, tonight's were legendary bad. Manny must not know what a crush game is. He had one and gave it away. The best thing you can say about that wager is that it prevented Joanna's legendary bad wager from losing the game for her. Ugh.

[Wheatley]

Ouch, I don't mean to rub it in anymore, but Manny's downfall is a very teachable moment of how not to wager. Was he there to witness Austin's $69,000 get, and maybe that drove him to try it too?

That episode of Austin's was taped in April.

Yeah but wouldn’t this episode been taped just a few days after Austin’s epic win was taped, and Manny could have heard about it from green room chatting?

[KellyLasiter]

Ouch, I don't mean to rub it in anymore, but Manny's downfall is a very teachable moment of how not to wager. Was he there to witness Austin's $69,000 get, and maybe that drove him to try it too?

That episode of Austin's was taped in April.

Yeah but wouldn’t this episode been taped just a few days after Austin’s epic win was taped, and Manny heard about it from green room chatting?

Nah, this would have been after the break in taping, so recorded a couple months later. It might not have been fresh in Maggie's mind by that point. I believe the giveaway for the taping break is Austin's haircut, and the huge wager was pre-haircut.

[seaborgium]

Even on a show famous for bad wagers, tonight's were legendary bad. Manny must not know what a crush game is. He had one and gave it away. The best thing you can say about that wager is that it prevented Joanna's legendary bad wager from losing the game for her. Ugh.

I like to look at it the other way: Joanna's wager made sure Manny would be punished for his! If she had wagered properly, Manny could say, "Oh well, I wouldn't have won anyway, and what's $1,000 when I've already won three games?"

I think it's more interesting to see first place lose by wagering too much than second place lose by wagering too little, so I'm glad to see the former prevent the latter.

[AFRET CMS]

At the risk of getting run off this board, I'd NHO The Electric Company.

Heard of it, never watched it -- my kids were either too young or too old for it; they were "Square One Television," "Mathnet," and "Ghostwriter" fans.

I did remember a little bit of controversy arising from the clue which included a reference to Tom Lehrer. Lehrer's music in the '60s was primarily Dr. Demento novelty songs ("Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhuMLpdnOjY], "The Masochism Tango" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TytGOeiW0aE]) and a lot of pretty pointed political satire which led to a gig on "That Was the Week that Was."

There was quite a bit of foofooraw when it became known that the songwriter for TW3 was announced as joining The Electric Company team.

[davey]

At the risk of getting run off this board, I'd NHO The Electric Company.

Heard of it, never watched it -- my kids were either too young or too old for it; they were "Square One Television," "Mathnet," and "Ghostwriter" fans.

I did remember a little bit of controversy arising from the clue which included a reference to Tom Lehrer. Lehrer's music in the '60s was primarily Dr. Demento novelty songs ("Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhuMLpdnOjY], "The Masochism Tango" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TytGOeiW0aE]) and a lot of pretty pointed political satire which led to a gig on "That Was the Week that Was."

There was quite a bit of foofooraw when it became known that the songwriter for TW3 was announced as joining The Electric Company team.

Imagine the foofaraw if people had known the outside work of another member of The Electric Company team...