Tuesday, November 1, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[thejeopardyfan]

What is the standard move for 2nd place in that situation?

I'm not sure what you are asking here...?

[laubla999]

I would have made Alex do a do-over on his pronunciation of Mr. Fergie. Du-Ha-Mel doesn't cut it.

to my French ear, he said it mostly correctly

[thejeopardyfan]

I would have made Alex do a do-over on his pronunciation of Mr. Fergie. Du-Ha-Mel doesn't cut it.

to my French ear, he said it mostly correctly

I didn't catch the mispronunciation til I replayed the clue while I was blogging, but then I too noticed it was wrong.
I came up with the Final immediately but questioned it until I couldn't change my answer anymore.

[goforthetie]

Yeah, I didn't see thje point of wagering 4K on that last DD. It did nothing for him.

I wouldn't wager to lose the lead on the last clue of the Double Jeopardy round!

I would.

Let's analyze the consequences of a $15300 bet. 50% of the time (say) you get a lock win, and the other 50% of the time you still win if you hit FJ (which, for the sake of argument, we'll say is also 50%). So overall, you have a 75% chance of winning in this scenario.

If you bet a negligible amount, then you're not in a crush scenario. If you get FJ wrong, then with reasonable wagering from 2nd place you will lose. So you have a 50% chance of winning the game by getting FJ right, and then an additional small chance of winning the game by missing FJ but having 2nd place mis-wager. Let's say 60% overall. So this is clearly inferior, and that does not even account for the fact that you win more cash in the previous scenario.

Let's analyze the $1700 wager. If you miss on the DD, you still lead going into FJ but not in a crush. Thus you have the 60% chance described above. If you hit on the DD, you have exactly 50% more than 2nd place. Bet $8500 on FJ. If you get FJ you win 100% of the time. If you miss FJ, you still have a chance to win if 2nd place misses FJ, or if 2nd place hits FJ but wagers $0; I'd estimate this happens 60% of the time (even if 2nd place is a savvy wagerer, I suspect most of the time they go all in rather than going with $0). So if you hit the DD, you win about 80% of the time (average of 60% and 100%). Thus, overall, your chances are 70%. Given that a lot of this is estimation, I'd rank this as comparable to the first strategy outlined above, as far as winning percentages go. However, you still win less cash under this scenario.

[dhkendall]

Alex gave the players an extra hint with the part about going back. I didn't need the help, but to me he was all but saying 1800s at least and not the 20th century. No way was 1940s equaling Alex's remarks.

With me, his "going back" comments meant that we were going back in our lives to when we read children's literature; it was a modest assumption on Alex's part to think that they were children quite a while ago, especially the way the 80s TV category was jumped on.

Speaking of which (and yes, I'm pretty proud of this segue), I was very glad to see the category too, as someone who grew up with 80s TV and remembering it fondly. Ran that category - I even got more in that than I did in St. Elsewhere (negged the last two), and that's a geography cat, pure and simple.

Extending my segue powers to an unbelievable second one in the same post: Did anyone else think Evan said "St. John" for the Newfoundland and Labrador capital one? I'm guessing that there was probably a faint "'s" there that the judges caught, perhaps on review, because it's a mistake even some Canadians make mixing up the names of the largest city in New Brunswick with the largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, due to their similar names in the same part of the country.

[opusthepenguin]

Extending my segue powers to an unbelievable second one in the same post: Did anyone else think Evan said "St. John" for the Newfoundland and Labrador capital one? I'm guessing that there was probably a faint "'s" there that the judges caught, perhaps on review, because it's a mistake even some Canadians make mixing up the names of the largest city in New Brunswick with the largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, due to their similar names in the same part of the country.

No, he definitely said St. John's. I was listening closely to see if he would. I think Alex was too because there was a beat before he accepted the response.

[alamble]

I would have made Alex do a do-over on his pronunciation of Mr. Fergie. Du-Ha-Mel doesn't cut it.

to my French ear, he said it mostly correctly

Mr. Duhamel puts the emphasis on the final syllable.

[jpahk]

Ah, the eve of the ToC. It's like the night before the Oscars when we rank and file anticipate watching the superstars on the red carpet. Joon, who are you wearing?

uh, good question. i think the shirt is tommy hilfiger. no idea about the tie, although it's definitely my favorite. and there's no photographic evidence that i was wearing pants at all.

[cshort]

and there's no photographic evidence that i was wearing pants at all.

It's true, you know. We beeegged him.

[joepozz]

I knew someone would bite on Swiss Family Robinson. If I had played the clue in a lock situation with little wagered then my response would have been Raiders vs. Jets.

Those of us who are of a certain age know what you mean. Every time I hear "Heidi" I think of that infamous game.

[Suze]

Most instant of instagets. Swiss + mountain = Heidi, every time. Swiss Family Robinson is just...Swiss. No mountains. More water.
Seemed like really easy boards Tuesday but I'm not complaining. An easy one is like a breather right before watching the ToC.

[oddsox]

Extending my segue powers to an unbelievable second one in the same post: Did anyone else think Evan said "St. John" for the Newfoundland and Labrador capital one? I'm guessing that there was probably a faint "'s" there that the judges caught, perhaps on review, because it's a mistake even some Canadians make mixing up the names of the largest city in New Brunswick with the largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, due to their similar names in the same part of the country.

I thought it was "St. John" when I watched, and I was irritated that my answer appeared to be wrong since I had recently went over Canadian province capitals/largest cities... I was happy that I was right after all!

[Volante]

Ahh, good ol Charles II of Spain...can't forget him, his family tree more closely resembles bamboo than a tree.
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Carlos_segundo80.png )

[mam418]

Quasi-hometown winner tonight (well, last night, by now.) She was/is from Middletown, CT. I grew up in Portland (across the river), but went to high school in Middletown. Therefore, I had to root for her. Felt bad for the guy in the middle - he got steamrolled.

[jgpeterson]

and there's no photographic evidence that i was wearing pants at all.

It's true, you know. We beeegged him.

Hey Chris,

Little footnote - at my audition in April right about the time of your airings, I won a door prize (Nintendo Wii version of Jeopardy!) for knowing you were a pub trivia editor. Maybe that door prize literally got me in the door. Congrats on making it to the ToC - IMO, you were in one of two groups of death.

Jay

[laubla999]

I would have made Alex do a do-over on his pronunciation of Mr. Fergie. Du-Ha-Mel doesn't cut it.

to my French ear, he said it mostly correctly

Mr. Duhamel puts the emphasis on the final syllable.

I found a site that gave the American pronunciation. If Mr Trebek had said it like that, I would not have recognized the name ;-(

Language drifting!

[Suze]

and there's no photographic evidence that i was wearing pants at all.

It's true, you know. We beeegged him.

Hey Chris,

Little footnote - at my audition in April right about the time of your airings, I won a door prize (Nintendo Wii version of Jeopardy!) for knowing you were a pub trivia editor. Maybe that door prize literally got me in the door. Congrats on making it to the ToC - IMO, you were in one of two groups of death.

Jay

Hey I won the same door prize at my April audition in NYC, for being able to name one of the players from the last year who'd won more than five games. (I went with Nissley.) Maybe that's the key to getting the Call.
(And I agree that Chris in one hell of a group for his QF.)

[jpahk]

i, too, won the door prize at my audition, for knowing the only female superchamp. the odd thing is that at the time, i was far from a jeopardy fan—i had not watched an episode in over a decade. only reason i knew it was because i know

Spoiler

larissa

from quizbowl.

[legendneverdies]

And for the second day in a row, an incorrect FJ! response contains one of the words in the clue(Swiss for Swiss Family Robinson and on MOnday 10/31 Abolition for Abolitionists)

[iowabelle]

I went between Heidi and Pippi Longstocking and settled on the correct one.

So, what does Friday have to do with clam chowder?

Might be that in the Catholic faith, Friday is lean day, ie no meat. So you eat fish.
I guess clam qualify?

That puzzled me for a minute. I knew Friday = Catholic. And then I figured "New England clam chowder."

I knew Pippi L. was Swedish. My gut (don't know why since I never read it, only saw movies) was Heidi, since she was Swiss. It never occurred to me to think "Swiss Family Robinson"--I heard that and thought "cr**" and was surprised to be right.