Friday, March 16, 2007 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

[Archivists]

Game Recap for Show #5190, 2007-03-16

First ever three-way tie game

CONTESTANTS
Anders Martinson, a quality assurance engineer from Union City, California
Jamey Kirby, a humanities teacher originally from Live Oak, Florida
Scott Weiss, a computer science professor from Walkersville, Maryland (whose 2-day cash winnings total $45,001)

JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
IRELAND (4/5, including 1 correct Daily Double) (Alex: You're going to love it.)
"LEP"RECHAUN (5/5)
SHAM ROCKS (5/5)
GREEN BEERS (5/5) (Alex: These aren't really green beers, these are beers that come in green bottles.)
ST. PATRICK'S DAY (2/5)
PARADES (4/5) (Alex: There are going to be a lot of them tomorrow.)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Jamey: 13 R (including 1 DD), 1 W
Anders: 7 R (including 1 rebound), 1 W
Scott: 5 R, 3 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 5
Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $3,400



JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Jamey found the Daily Double on the 8th clue. Scott had $200, Jamey had $400, and Anders was at $2,400. Jamey wagered $1,000.

IRELAND $1000: Pull out the stopper! This southern Irish city is the country's second largest
(Alex: Sounds like My Fair Lady.)

SCORES AT THE FIRST BREAK
Anders: $3,600
Jamey: $1,800
Scott: $0

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
IRELAND $200: Lourdes got a visitation from this person only; a shrine at Knock, Ireland got Joseph & John the Evangelist, too
(Jamey: Who is Jesus?)
(Scott: Who is St. Patrick?)
...
(Alex: All by herself at Lourdes, and with the others in Ireland.)

ST. PATRICK'S DAY $400: Born on this island near Ireland, Patrick was kidnapped by pirates & sold into Irish slavery at the age of 16

ST. PATRICK'S DAY $800: Patrick is said to have founded more than 300 churches & administered this sacrament to 120,000 people
(Scott: What is communion?)
(Anders: What is Eucharist?)
...
(Alex: He baptized more than 120,000 people, it is said.)

ST. PATRICK'S DAY $1000: Around 450 A.D. Patrick wrote "The" this book about his spiritual development; it was "good for the soul"

PARADES $1000: A Temperance Union Parade is used for cover by escaping bank robbers in this Peckinpah classic

SCORES AT THE END OF THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
Jamey: $7,200
Anders: $4,000
Scott: $400

[Archivists]

DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
AT THE MARK TWAIN HOUSE (5/5) (Alex: Great place to visit.)
JEOPARDY! IN POP CULTURE (5/5)
IT HAPPENED IN '07 (5/5)
ALPHABETICALLY LAST (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
THE ANCIENTS (3/5, including 1 missed Daily Double)
FIGHTIN' WORDS (4/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Scott: 15 R (including 3 rebounds and 1 DD), 3 W (including 1 DD)
Anders: 6 R (including 1 rebound), 2 W
Jamey: 6 R, 4 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 2
Double Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $2,800



FIRST DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Scott snagged the next Daily Double on the 13th clue. Scott had $8,800, Jamey had $10,000, and Anders was at $5,200. Scott wagered $2,000.

THE ANCIENTS $1200: He's the Greek shown here practicing his craft in a work by Raphael
(Scott: Who's John the Baptist?)
(Alex: No, who is[*]?[*]. You notice him working on some geometric figures at the bottom.)

SECOND DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
It was Scott who snatched up the last Daily Double of the game on the 23rd clue. Scott had $12,400, Jamey had $6,400, and Anders was at $4,400. Scott wagered $1,000.

ALPHABETICALLY LAST $1200: ...of our 43 U.S. presidents by first name

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND
THE ANCIENTS $2000: Like his boy, the wealthy father of the future Emperor Augustus was named Gaius this
(Jamey: What is Graccus?)
(Anders; What is Caesar?)
(Alex: What is Gaius[*]?)

FIGHTIN' WORDS $800: This French term dates to the practice of knights assuming special names for battle
(Anders; What is En Garde?)
(Scott: What is nom de plume?)

SCORES ENTERING FINAL JEOPARDY!
Scott: $13,400
Jamey: $8,000
Anders: $8,000

PREFINAL REMARKS
(Alex Trebek delivers a footnote from the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut) Mark Twain found his telephone irritating and often dashed off notes to the phone company complaining he heard artillery noises in the background.

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
WOMEN OF THE 1930s

VENUSIAN MONOLOGUES/MARTIAN CHRONICLES
Crush for first place; prisoner's dilemma between the two 2nd place contestants.
Scott: Wager $2,601 to cover Jamey and Anders.
Jamey: Your prisoner's dilemma is made less onerous by the fact that you cannot catch up to Scott by wagering $0. You have but one choice: risk all $8,000.
Anders: Just like Jamey, you must wager everything.

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
1 of the men who shot her realized when he saw her body that she'd often waited on him at a cafe in Dallas

FINAL SCORES
Anders: $8,000 + $8,000 = $16,000 (Who is Bonnie Parker?) (New co-champion: $16,000)
Jamey: $8,000 + $8,000 = $16,000 (Who is Bonnie Parker) (New co-champion: $16,000)
Scott: $13,400 + $2,600 = $16,000 (Who is Bonnie Parker?) (3-day co-champion: $61,001)
(Alex: [revealing Anders' response] She and Clyde Barrow shot in 1934[revealing Scott's respnse] Aha! 2600! 16000! The first time ever, a 3-way tie! Enjoy the weekend--you'll all be back with us on Monday. No new players next week. Come see us then. So long. What a deal!)

Total Potential Lach Trash: $6,200

THE BETTOR'S COURT
Scott/Squonk, you are hereby sentenced to a lifetime of Jeopardy fame/notoriety, and fined $1. Additionally, you must face two seasoned veterans on Monday, rather than two "fresh fish".

GAME DYNAMICS


CORYAT SCORES
Scott: $15,600, 20 R (including 1 DD), 6 W (including 1 DD)
Jamey: $8,000, 19 R (including 1 DD), 5 W
Anders: $8,000, 13 R, 3 W
Combined Coryat: $31,600

BATTING AVERAGES
Scott: 21/60 = .350
Jamey: 20/59 = .339
Anders: 14/58 = .241
Team: 55/63 = .873

MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTING CLUES
IRELAND $800: (Cheryl of the Clue Crew reports from Dublin, Ireland.) "Ulysses" captures the sight, sound, and even products of Dublin; this man, who represents Ulysses, wonders, "What is home without Plumtree's Potted Meat?"

GREEN BEERS $1000: Tonight let it be this beer of Munich that's properly spelled with 2 umlauts
(Scott: What is Michelob?)

JEOPARDY! IN POP CULTURE $1600: "Jeopardy!" appears in the Kiefer Sutherland movie sharing part of its name with a game show--this city, "N.M."
(Jamey: What is Truth And Consequences?)
(Alex:[*]--that's the show.)

AT THE MARK TWAIN HOUSE $400: (Alex Trebek delivers the clue from the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut) Twain owned one of the first telephones installed in a private home, but he once wished that all of us may eventually be gathered together in heaven, except for this man
(Alex:[*]. Yes. Didn't have very good experiences with the telephone.)

AT THE MARK TWAIN HOUSE $1200: (Alex Trebek delivers the clue from the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut) Appropriately, Mark Twain resided here in Hartford while he worked on this 1889 novel about a Hartford man who travels back in time to medieval England

AT THE MARK TWAIN HOUSE $2000: (Alex Trebek delivers the clue from the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut) The style Mark Twain's home here in Hartford exemplifies this ornate age, also the title of a book Twain wrote with his neighbor Charles Dudley Warner
(Jamey: What is Age of Innocense)

ALPHABETICALLY LAST $800: ...of U.S. National Parks (& please don't get "Y"s with us)
(Jamey: What is Yosemmittee?)
(Alex:[*]. That's why we said "Don't get 'Y's with us.)

ALPHABETICALLY LAST $2000: ...of the 7 nations of Central America
(Scott: What is Nicaragua?)

CORRECT RESPONSES
Cork
the Virgin Mary
Great Britain
baptism
The Confession
The Wild Bunch
Euclid
Zachary Taylor
Octavius
nom de guerre
Bonnie Parker
(Leopold) Bloom
Löhenbräu
Truth Or Consequences
(Alexander Graham) Bell
A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court
The Gilded Age
Zion
Panama

[ej!fan]

Well congrats to all 3! Especially, to Scott for his magnanimous wager. By not betting that extra $1 it was like he gave the other 2 a $16,000 gift. SWEET.

[janet.reed@goawaytravel.c]

I meant to tivo and forgot - have been seeing the promos and very curious.

[therealdbear]

I hoped this would be from a scenario where the triple tie would arise from strategic betting, where the champ had exactly twice the amount of the challengers. Instead he made a tying bet for no reason at all that I can fathom.

[nursedawn]

Originally Posted by therealdbear

I hoped this would be from a scenario where the triple tie would arise from strategic betting, where the champ had exactly twice the amount of the challengers. Instead he made a tying bet for no reason at all that I can fathom.

Fathomable reasons: Uncommon generosity and a play that goes down in history.

[heelsrule1988]

You know, this would have been a lot better if Jeopardy hadn't told us history was going to be made. Once Final Jeopardy came around, you knew it was going to happen. Although it wasn't exactly an NBC-like move (they've spoiled Deal or No Deal so much for me in the past that I now make it a point to avoid commercials for the show), it still ruined the excitement of seeing a three-way tie. Either way, it's still pretty interesting. I guess this time, congratulations go to everyone!

A nice $9,200 for me tonight. The all-Irish Jeopardy round wasn't to my liking (and I'm part-Irish, interestingly enough), but I did well in the Double Jeopardy round.

By the way, I recorded the historic moment. Here's the link; give it time to process.

[Kevin Marshall]

It's only generous in a short-sighted sense--think of the people who were invited for the next taping and won't get on, who will get bumped back to a subsequent taping, who will in turn bump other people off, and so on.

He may go down in history, but to me this smacks of Brett Favre taking a dive to give Michael Strahan the sack record. There were no legitimate tactical reasons for the wager. Well, there is one legitimate reason, namely that the leader thought his two opponents were such horrid players that he'd want to face them again. And in theory, there's the possibility of encouraging them to wager similarly should they get the chance, but then that starts to smell fishy.

[OntarioQuizzer]

Or, there was a young audience member that asked Alex "Has there ever been a three-way tie?" in the break prior to Final Jeopardy!, planting a seed...

[Kevin Marshall]

Originally Posted by OntarioQuizzer

Or, there was a young audience member that asked Alex "Has there ever been a three-way tie?" in the break prior to Final Jeopardy!, planting a seed...

So that's why Scott glanced over at the audience?

[AustinPowers]

Originally Posted by nursedawn

Fathomable reasons: Uncommon generosity and a play that goes down in history.

Really? By depriving two potential contestants the chance to beat him? This reminds me of the Dave Madden "well maybe I'll let the police officer tie me since I know already I can beat him" argument.

[heelsrule1988]

Originally Posted by Kevin Marshall

So that's why Scott glanced over at the audience?

No... when he did that, it was to tell his opponents "you're welcome" because of his generous wager.

[Aerion]

Originally Posted by heelsrule1988

By the way, I recorded the historic moment. Here's the link; give it time to process.

Could you send me your original recorded version (i.e. some non-Youtube format)? I'd like to save it somewhere more durable than Youtube. Also, my computer sometimes gets into fights with Youtube and the two won't speak to each other for days on end.

If you want, I'll even mirror it off a computer here. (After all, what use is having huge amounts of bandwidth if you don't use it for good?)

E-mail me about details? (aerion at gmail)

[Rex Kramer]

Congratulations to all three winners, for winning and for making history.

Squonk, my wife asked me to ask you why you bet for the tie -- was it simple generosity, or did you have a strategic thought in mind? Or did you just want to make history -- that was my suggestion, but my wife asserted that she knows better than I how people think up there on the podium, and no one would actually consider that reason.

I did come up with a strategic justification, but it fell apart under closer scrutiny, so I can imagine that under the lights you might have thought up something similar, and proceeded from there. But I can also imagine you simply wanting to share the success.

And did the producers have a little talk with you afterwards?

Rex

[WhitePhantom]

Originally Posted by Kevin Marshall

He may go down in history, but to me this smacks of Brett Favre taking a dive to give Michael Strahan the sack record. There were no legitimate tactical reasons for the wager. Well, there is one legitimate reason, namely that the leader thought his two opponents were such horrid players that he'd want to face them again. And in theory, there's the possibility of encouraging them to wager similarly should they get the chance, but then that starts to smell fishy.

I agree. "Being generous" to your oppenents always struck me as bad sportsmanship. It's called "competition" for a reason.

[therealdbear]

Originally Posted by nursedawn

Fathomable reasons: Uncommon generosity and a play that goes down in history.

perhaps, but there are some conspiracy theorists over at the WWTBAM board who ask what is to prevent collusion between players when they are in the "green room" together? Since theoretically, they could keep tying and win money forever.

[MattOttinger]

Originally Posted by Kevin Marshall

Well, there is one legitimate reason, namely that the leader thought his two opponents were such horrid players that he'd want to face them again. And in theory, there's the possibility of encouraging them to wager similarly should they get the chance, but then that starts to smell fishy.

See, I think those two are just fine reasons to play for a tie. Rather than facing an unknown, you're facing a player (or in this case players) that you "beat" the first time. And you've done a solid, so if the tables are turned in the next game, the same thing might be offered to you.

I realize there are perfectly valid arguments against those points as well, but what surprises me is the hostility that a "granted tie" seems to trigger in some folks, or the attitude that it's just a crazy, insane, hopelessly stupid thing to do. It's a strategic choice, with a built in set of pros and cons.

A minor point, but since it happened on a Friday show, it has the least emotional impact on the small pool of carryover players. They knew they were going to have to wait until the next tape date anyway, now they just know they're not going to be on Monday's show. If it happened on a Thursday show, and four people were waiting to fill the last two slots only to find that NONE of them would, then I think their disappointment would be greater.

[Psycho_Lib_Ruth]

...uh, goofy. I dont think that much thinking went on his part in terms of deep Machiavellian motivations. He just seems like one of those really smart, goofy kind of people and figured why not?

[lincoln7]

I have no problem with betting to allow a tie and can think of several reasons for doing so.

What is interesting is that Scott had crush games on Thursday and Friday, and bet to win by a dollar on Thursday, and to allow a tie today. This makes me guess he changed his strategy because his opponents were tied. He'll probably tell us before long.

For me, the big advantage of betting for the tie is this: Let's say on Monday's game (or Tuesday's, even) Scott enters FJ with $14,400, second place has $10,000, and third has $3,000. Don't you think second place is betting it all, and Scott is winning any Triple Stumper?

Of course, if you're trying to establish a reputation for being someone who allows ties, you might want to do it every game.

[OntarioQuizzer]

Originally Posted by OntarioQuizzer

Or, there was a young audience member that asked Alex "Has there ever been a three-way tie?" in the break prior to Final Jeopardy!, planting a seed...

Okay, I'm going to post this again.

I was informed of this occurence shortly after the taping. What I posted above was what I was informed as to the circumstances of the tie game.

Feel free to believe me or not; I'm going with what I was told by somebody in the audience thay day.