Hey folks.
Didn't realize the wagering mistake until tonight. Before tonight, I could have sworn that Betsy had something like $7,600. I don't remember thinking about third place at all, just went straight to 'up by more than half 2nd's score = make the shutout bet.' silly mistake, but sometimes you don't think everything through when you're under pressure. fortunately it didn't make a difference in the result.
I hated that FJ category from the get-go, as Census stuff isn't the trivia I gravitate towards. (something like last night's FJ would have been great.) I was off on the wrong track after the question emphasized % growth which led me to think 'smaller state like New Mexico.' If I had thought of Nevada.... I probably would've gone with Utah, as 'bordering each other' leads me to visualize states that are smack up against each other, not bordering on a small portion like AZ and NV. Utah is #3 in % growth last I checked, by the way. I will be interested to see the get rate in the week's FJ poll. you guys are making me think it'll be around 50%.
And I was definitely guilty of doing the blah blah blah SANTA FE blah blah blah question-reading on Norman. I know where the university of Oklahoma is... d'oh! I think the headline for this episode could be 'Land Of Entrapment: Contestant Trips Twice On New Mexico' or something to that effect.
I still feel that 'The Time-Travelers Daughter' would be a great sequel name. My instincts led me to throw away $2k on it though. I was trying to stay away from the wheelhouse Classical Music until I'd built up some ammo in the other categories, but after that mistake, I was going straight to my money category. only question was whether I would bet big or bet it all on the DD... and I couldn't face the idea of going back to $0 in my first game, so $5k it was.
If I had been able to beat Amy on 'trireme' or 'Sami' that would have gone a long way towards a lock, but my brain was too slow on the draw in both cases even though I was pretty close to coming up with them when Amy buzzed in. she did a great job of not getting rattled and obviously knew her population better than I did on the crucial final question. I was frustrated about getting a tough FJ for a while after the game, but I'm glad I was able to get some good categories and play a good game for the most part.
I briefly got to meet Preston in the hotel after taping, and enjoyed getting to meet him and hearing his similar story to mine. I also take inspiration from Raguvheer's story of losing his first game (which I read on his excellent website,
http://www.triviabug.com/); I'm not near the player that he was, and he also lost in his first game! sometimes, the breaks don't go your way, but that's the nature of the beast of Jeopardy, is it not?
Daniel
as you say, that would have been a very disappointing loss and I'm glad it didn't become a factor.
