Wednesday, March 21, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Archivists]

Game Recap for Show #6338, 2012-03-21

CONTESTANTS
Greg Bentley, a law clerk from Pikeville, Kentucky
Cathy Guiles, a copy editor originally from Baltimore, Maryland
Melanie Spratford, a caterer from Chicago, Illinois (whose 1-day cash winnings total $19,201)

OPENING REMARKS
Alex: Thank you, Johnny. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Cathy and Greg. Cathy, you are so happy to be here. You were smiling so beautifully when Johnny introduced you. Greg, however, you had that serious look on your face, like, "I'm not sure I want to be here," but you're here, and both of you are here as challengers to Melanie, an excellent champion. Good luck to all three of you. Let's go to work. Here are the categories for this first round today...

JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
FLIGHT (3/5)
A BLANK EXPRESSION (5/5)
HOME ICE (4/5) (Alex: We want you to name the NHL team or the city that has home ice.)
SIR WALTER SCOTT (3/5)
NATURAL SELECTION (4/5)
GOD DID IT! (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Cathy: 11 R (including 2 rebounds), 0 W
Greg: 11 R (including 1 DD), 3 W
Melanie: 2 R, 0 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 6
Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $3,800



JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Greg found the Daily Double on the 15th clue. Melanie had no money, Cathy had $3,000, and Greg was at $800. Greg wagered $1,000.

GOD DID IT! $1000: In Exodus 3, God promised to smite this land "with all my wonders"; in Exodus 7, he did

SCORES AT THE FIRST BREAK
Cathy: $3,000
Greg: $1,800
Melanie: $0

CONTESTANT INTERVIEWS



Alex: How do you get to be a contestant on "Jeopardy!"? Well, you have to take a test. Our challengers did. Greg Bentley, a law clerk from Kentucky, and his audition for our program caused him some complications.

Greg: Well, I had to miss, uh, being a race announcer at my church's vacation Bible school. [Chuckles]

Alex: What does a race announcer do?

Greg: Oh, uh, let me explain. Uh, vacation--at vacation Bible school, our theme was race-oriented, so I had the headphones and everything and did a puppet skit... a--with a turtle named Speedy.

[Laughter]

Alex: Of course. [Chuckles] Right. Okay.




Alex: Cathy Guiles.

Cathy: Yes.

Alex: You tried out a couple of times.

Cathy: Oh, once, yeah. Mm-hmm.

Alex: Well, you tried out for the college tournament...

Cathy: Right.

Alex: And you didn't make it...

Cathy: Right.

Alex: But you made a promise--

Cathy: Right, uh--

Alex: --to your fellow schoolmates.

Cathy: [Chuckles] Right. Well, when I tried out for the college tournament, I wrote about it for the college paper, and then when--the year I graduated, 2003, we were writing our staff farewells for the newspaper, and I wrote, "Don't worry, Calvin"--Calvin College--"I promise you'll see me on 'Jeopardy!' someday", and here I am.

Alex: Good for you. You're a good prognosticator.




Alex: Melanie Spratford is a caterer from Chicago, Illinois. And I understand you have had to cater in some strange locations.

Melanie: We'll cater anywhere, but the most unusual place I've ever worked on an event was on a runway at O'Hare Airport.

Alex: For what?

Melanie: Um, it was a fundraiser for, uh, a local charity, but, um...

Alex: Hopefully during the summer months.

Melanie: The runway--the runway hadn't opened yet, so there was no planes.

Alex: During the summer?

Melanie: Uh, it was in summer, yes.

Alex: Oh, good. All right.

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
FLIGHT $600: The Red Baron commanded a unit called the "flying" this, for its brightly colored planes

FLIGHT $1000: (Kelly of the Clue Crew sits in a Qantas flight simulator in Sydney, Australia.) The four forces that act on a plane in flight include lift, gravity, & drag; by pushing these levers forward, we're increasing this fourth force that counteracts drag

HOME ICE $800: Scotiabank Saddledome
(Greg: Who are the Montreal Canadiens?)

NATURAL SELECTION $400: Endangered Species Chocolate makes a bar flavored with these colorful antioxidant-rich berries of the genus Vaccinium

SIR WALTER SCOTT $400: This noble outlaw helps King Richard I rescue the title knight in Scott's "Ivanhoe"

SIR WALTER SCOTT $600: In 1813 Sir Walter wrote a letter complimenting this American on his "History of New York"

SCORES AT THE END OF THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
Cathy: $6,000
Greg: $4,600
Melanie: $1,800

[Archivists]

DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
THIS PLACE IS DUELSVILLE (2/5)
BALLET (3/5, including 1 missed Daily Double)
PLAYING FOR CHANGE (5/5)
HEY HEY HEY, IT'S PHAT ALBERT! (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
DOUBLE "L" (2/5)
PUBLISHER, PAIR-ISH (3/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Cathy: 8 R, 1 W
Melanie: 6 R, 0 W
Greg: 6 R (including 1 DD), 1 W (including 1 DD)

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 9
Double Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $14,800



FIRST DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Greg snagged the next Daily Double on the 26th clue. Melanie had $6,200, Cathy had $11,600, and Greg was at $7,400. Greg wagered $5,000.

HEY HEY HEY, IT'S PHAT ALBERT! $1600: This man used his $33,000 in Nobel Prize money to expand the hospital he built & to establish a leper colony

SECOND DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
It was Greg who snatched up the last Daily Double of the game on the 27th clue. Melanie had $6,200, Cathy had $11,600, and Greg was at $12,400. Greg wagered $400.

BALLET $1200: A young prince is saved by a magic feather in this 1910 Stravinsky ballet
(Alex: Greg?)
(Greg: I don't know.)

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND
DOUBLE "L" $1200: It's another name for a tadpole

DOUBLE "L" $1600: It's the lumberjack term for when politicians vote for each other's bills

DOUBLE "L" $2000: Prince Charles is the duke of it
(Cathy: What is Wellington?)

THIS PLACE IS DUELSVILLE $1200: Pushkin fought his fatal duel in this city, just 34 years after it was founded
[ERRATUM: [*] was founded in 1703 and Pushkin died in 1837, a span of 134 years.]

THIS PLACE IS DUELSVILLE $1600: In 2008 Bobby Fischer died in this island city, site of his 1972 chess duel with Boris Spassky

THIS PLACE IS DUELSVILLE $2000: The book "War of the Rats" tells of a sniper duel during the winter 1942-43 battle for this Russian city

PUBLISHER, PAIR-ISH $1200: A Random House imprint combines this small fowl with Dell

PUBLISHER, PAIR-ISH $2000: Young readers enjoy books from Grosset & him

BALLET $2000: In 1944 this conductor composed the music for "Fancy Free", Jerome Robbins' first ballet

SCORES ENTERING FINAL JEOPARDY!
Greg: $13,600
Cathy: $13,600
Melanie: $6,200

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
FAMOUS NAMES

VENUSIAN MONOLOGUES/MARTIAN CHRONICLES
Prisoner's dilemma.
Greg: Do you trust Cathy? Then bet $0.
Cathy: Don't trust Greg? Then bet $13,600 and hope for an easy Final Jeopardy! clue.
Melanie: If Greg and Cathy both wager all $13,600 and give incorrect responses, you'll wind up the winner so long as you don't bet more than $6,199. Since your score is less than half either of theirs (meaning you can't overtake them by wagering money) and your win is predicated on both of them getting Final wrong (meaning that, chances are, you won't get it right either), a wager of $0 seems wisest.

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
At his death in January 2010, he was called "the Garbo of letters, famous for not wanting to be famous"

FINAL SCORES
Melanie: $6,200 - $0 = $6,200 (Who is Mailer?) (2nd place: $2,000)
Cathy: $13,600 + $1,000 = $14,600 (Who is Salinger?) (New champion: $14,600)
Greg: $13,600 - $13,600 = $0 (Who was Warhol?) (3rd place: $1,000)

Total Potential Lach Trash: $18,600

GAME DYNAMICS


CORYAT SCORES
Cathy: $13,600, 19 R, 1 W
Greg: $10,600, 17 R (including 2 DDs), 4 W (including 1 DD)
Melanie: $6,200, 8 R, 0 W
Combined Coryat: $30,400

BATTING AVERAGES
Cathy: 20/58 = .345
Greg: 17/61 = .279
Melanie: 8/58 = .138
Team: 45/63 = .714

MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTING CLUES
HOME ICE $600: Joe Louis Arena
(Greg: Who are the St. Louis Blues?)

GOD DID IT! $400: In Genesis 9, God blessed this man & his sons & told them to be fruitful & multiply
(Greg: Who is Abraham?)

DOUBLE "L" $800: The name of these flowers seen here fits them perfectly

CORRECT RESPONSES
Egypt
the Flying Circus
thrust
the Calgary Flames
blueberries
Robin Hood
Washington Irving
(Albert) Schweitzer
The Firebird
a polliwog
logrolling
Cornwall
Saint Petersburg
Reykjavik
Stalingrad
Bantam Books
Dunlap
Leonard Bernstein
J.D. Salinger
the Detroit Red Wings
Noah
bluebells

[jeff6286]

Famous Names
At his death in January 2010, he was called "The Garbo of letters, famous for not wanting to be famous".

Spoiler

Who is J.D. Salinger? Melanie said Norman Mailer; Greg said Andy Warhol.

Cathy Guiles: $13,600+$1,000=$14,600...now a 1-day champion with $14,600
Greg Bentley: $13,600-$13,600=$0
Melanie Spratford: $6,200-$0=$6,200

[JFanForever]

Wow. Shocking ending. Greg's response had my scratching my head. He died 23 years earlier.

Instaget FJ. I didn't know it but I was nearly 100% sure remembering Salinger died in January 2010. So that was the only thing I thought of. I need to be more intense. Only 12 right today. I just usually relax and don't stress over it and think as hard as I usually do. I need to pick up the slack.

[econgator]

I'll just keep my mouth shut about FJ wagers. Seriously ... wow. Actually, Melanie's $0 is fine. The other two, not so much.

[amorris525]

The Mellon Arena clue was wrong.

The Penguins play in the Consol Energy Center now.

I got FJ after Alex gave his "hint" before the reveal, but couldn't think of anything during the music.

[xxaaaxx]

1000!??! WHHYYYYYYYYYYY!!!! *takes deep breath*

I knew neither o-
!^@#(@#(^%^@!AARRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!

OK, better now.

I knew neither of them would bet 0. It's the smart play, but there's just no way they'd trust each other.

Instaget FJ. Not wanting to be famous? Sounds like a recluse to me.

How many one day champs in a row is this? 6? 7? Sorry to see you go Melanie, today just wasn't your day.

ETA: I'm sure the Canadians out there got a good chuckle out of that Calgary Flames TS. I didn't get it either; 'Scotia' had me thinking of the wrong province, and I don't really follow hockey that closely anyway.

[DWS]

Not a very exciting game to watch. Picked up some Lach Trash (Calgary Flames and a bottom-row clue in DJ that I can't remember now). I got FJ after about 5 seconds of thinking. I knew the author kept to himself and had died recently.

[Austin Powers]

Not sure what to make of the $1000 bet except that, again, bad bettors like round numbers.

[Austin Powers]

Noticed the Penguins error; in fact they had NCAA regionals there last weekend. Of course the category didn't specify current homes, but Consol Energy Center won't be gotten by 97% of viewers. Someone can connect Mellon to Pittsburgh.

Saddledome is as much Olympic trivia as anything.

[JFanForever]

I swept the NHL category even with the new arena.

The $1,000 wager shouldn't matter. She still won.

[alamble]

Wow. Shocking ending. Greg's response had my scratching my head. He died 23 years earlier.

Also, not really a man of letters.

[econgator]

The $1,000 wager shouldn't matter. She still won.

She won in spite of the $1000, not because of it.

[TenPoundHammer]

Patchy game for me.

Clammed on Thrust, Conquered, Robin Hood, Pseudonym, dogs, shoes (wasn't sure if sandals would be OK), Sousa, Monaco and Little Brown.

Botched "fight or flight" as fright or flight — but I'm a total wuss, so the latter makes more sense to me — blueberry (said goji), Bear Essentials for Bear Naked, and Swan Lake for Firebird.

Lach Trashed Pollywog, Logrolling (total WAG) and Grosset & Dunlap.

Precalled Red Wings/Joe Louis on Home Ice, so naturally that was the only one I got.

Not even a guess on FJ!, putting me at 0 for 13.

[bpmod]

After going 4/4 in the hockey category, I was quite amazed with myself. But then the rink-named-for-a-Canadian-company in the bottom row threw me completely. I knew it wasn't Montreal or Toronto (and Calgary had already been done)...

So, I never expected Boston.

And the wager. I guess if you win, it's not a bad wager.

Brian

[StevenH]

This was a hard board. The contestants didn't have great performances and did leave a few clues on the board that they shouldn't have but I still can't fault them.

I blanked on FJ. I thought of Thomas Pynchon and Kurt Vonnegut but I knew that Pynchon was still alive and Vonnegut died a few years before 2010. I guessed Pynchon just to have something. Missing this one definitely hurts.

[alietr]

Proving for the fourth time in a row that if you are a JBoardie, you become a Jeopardy! champion. Congrats, Cathy, and sorry to see you leave so soon, Melanie. Going to have to start charging a commission, or at least I have a few names for JBoarder of the Month coming up ...

Lock-tie. One of the most interesting endgames, and nobody went with the surefire $0 bet. Tsk. But a win's a win (I feel like deja vu all over again).

Never heard of "logrolling", and I'm very politically aware. I predicted they were going to go back and neg Greg for "Simon and Schuster" when he clearly said "Schushter". Even ran it back to make sure. Those were some pretty tough boards. Lots of (deserved) stand'n'stares.

[Paucle]

In that fill in the blank category, WTF was up with giving the contestants the "ed" suffix on that first one? "I CAME, I SAW, I ______-ED"
And since Greg said "conquered," isn't that technically wrong? That's more letters than they were looking for.

BTW, wonder if Greg ringing in on that last clue stole lots of money from Cathy? Not sure what to think based upon her prisoner's dilemma wager.

[econgator]

Never heard of "logrolling", and I'm very politically aware.

Ditto.

Seems they could have come up with a better clue for it. Something having to do with actual log rolling, say.

[xxaaaxx]

Never heard of "logrolling", and I'm very politically aware.

So am I, but I have heard the word before. I had no idea what it meant before tonight though, and I only got it because of the 'lumberjack' TOM.