Tuesday, March 24, 2009 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

[Archivists]

Game Recap for Show #5657, 2009-03-24

2009 Tournament of Champions final game 2.
From Las Vegas.

CONTESTANTS
Dan Pawson, a legislative aide from Boston, Massachusetts (subtotal of $22,301)
Aaron Schroeder, a grad student from San Diego, California (subtotal of $9,600)
Larissa Kelly, a grad student from El Cerrito, California (subtotal of $24,400)

OPENING REMARKS
Alex: Thank you, Johnny. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to our show. You folks are lucky. You're joining us for the deciding game in this year's Tournament of Champions, and in this year, we are featuring three extremely talented young people--Dan, Aaron and Larissa. You look at the scores in front of these players now--those totals will be added to today's earnings to determine our quarter-million-dollar champion. All right, let's go to work in the Jeopardy! Round. Here are the categories...

JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
A LITTLE LIT (5/5)
VEGAS FILMS (5/5)
AT THE BUFFET (4/5)
FLOORING (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
REBELLIONS: SHAYS' & WHISKEY (4/5)
POETIC WORDS (5/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Larissa: 16 R (including 2 rebounds), 0 W
Aaron: 6 R, 1 W
Dan: 6 R (including 1 DD), 2 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 2
Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $1,800



JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Dan found the Daily Double on the 3rd clue. Larissa had $200, Aaron was scoreless, and Dan was at $400. Dan wagered $1,000.

FLOORING $600: This durable material almost synonymous with mid-20th c. flooring was patented in 1863

SCORES AT THE FIRST BREAK
Larissa: $4,600
Dan: $3,200
Aaron: $1,400

CONTESTANT INTERVIEWS



Alex: Welcome back. We're gonna talk about money. $250,000, should you win this tournament, would that have a serious impact on your life?

Dan: Oh, I-I think so. We'd, uh, we've got a little house fund right now. I think we could pump that up considerably.

Alex: Okay, good.




Alex: Now, Aaron, what about you? A quarter-million dollars. Student loans to pay off, uh, any studies you'd like to pursue, any traveling you would like to, uh, do?

Aaron: Well, the student loans were the first paycheck--

Alex: Yeah?

Aaron: --so, um, now that those are out of the way, I'm definitely gonna go probably skiing at mammoth at least, and then, um, who knows?

Alex: Now that--now that's not a really expensive holiday.

Aaron: You can make it expensive.

Alex: Uh-oh. Uh-oh. I've been away from youth too long.




Alex: Larissa, what about you? Yeah, now you're specializing in Mexican history. Have you traveled to Mexico? This would--winning a quarter-million dollars would enable you to spend a great deal of time south of the border and pursue any kind of studies you want, right?

Larissa: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I spent most of last year in Mexico City, and I-I would love to go back.

Alex: Okay, good.

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
REBELLIONS: SHAYS' & WHISKEY $1000: Thousands of Whiskey Rebels marched to "The Point" in this Penn. city, but were persuaded not to burn the town
(Dan: What is Philadelphia?)

AT THE BUFFET $800: I can't stay away from these appetizers: bacon wrapped around a water chestnut & a piece of liver

SCORES AT THE END OF THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
Larissa: $8,600
Aaron: $3,800
Dan: $2,000

[Archivists]

DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
TOUGH CAPITAL CITIES (5/5)
THINK YOU KNOW BASEBALL? (5/5)
CHAMPIONS OF TOURNAMENTS (5/5)
MEET THE BEADLES (5/5)
ADJECTIVES TO USE IN VEGAS (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
A VISIT TO BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY (4/5, including 1 correct Daily Double) (Kelly: Research at the frontiers of science, from the inside of your brain to outer space.)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Dan: 13 R (including 2 rebounds), 0 W
Larissa: 10 R (including 2 DDs), 1 W
Aaron: 6 R, 2 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 1
Double Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $2,000



FIRST DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Larissa snagged the next Daily Double on the 18th clue. Larissa had $10,200, Aaron had $9,000, and Dan was at $14,800. Larissa wagered $5,000.

ADJECTIVES TO USE IN VEGAS $2000: From the Latin for "great-souled", it will describe your immense generosity after you win big bucks

SECOND DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
It was Larissa who snatched up the last Daily Double of the game on the 19th clue. Larissa had $15,200, Aaron had $9,000, and Dan was at $14,800. Larissa wagered $3,000.

A VISIT TO BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY $1200: (Kelly of the Clue Crew reports from the clean room at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Long Island, NY.) The etcher used in the Center for Functional Nanomaterials' clean room uses this highly ionized state of matter to work on tiny circuits

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND
A VISIT TO BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY $2000: (Sarah of the Clue Crew reports from inside a supercomputer room at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Long Island, NY) NY Blue is an 18-rack supercomputer at Brookhaven that processes in terms of this speed--one trillion floating operations per second
(Aaron: What is a petaflop?)

SCORES ENTERING FINAL JEOPARDY!
Larissa: $21,800
Dan: $19,200
Aaron: $7,400

PREFINAL REMARKS
(After the Double Jeopardy! Round, Sarah Whitcomb of the Jeopardy! Clue Crew delivers a Footnote about Brookhaven Lab.) Brookhaven Lab is a renowned center for basic and applied scientific research. The world's best scientists tackle some of the most challenging questions of our time from the birth of the universe to future human space travel.

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
BRITISH ROYALTY

VENUSIAN MONOLOGUES/MARTIAN CHRONICLES
Four-fifths for first place. Shore's Conjecture.
Larissa: Wager $16,601 to cover Dan. If you feel like using Shoretegy, try wagering $1,801.
Dan: Try wagering $4,399, which is as much as you can put up against Larissa without being usurped by a doubled score on the part of Aaron.
Aaron: There's no way you can cover a rational wager by Dan, but if Dan decides for some reason to wager everything, you can eke out a win on a Triple Stumper if you wager no more than $2,200.

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
Born in 1683, the second British king of this name was the last one not born in the British Isles

FINAL SCORES
Aaron: $7,400 + $7,400 = $14,800 = $24,400 cumulative (What is George) (2nd runner-up: $50,000)
Dan: $19,200 + $7,000 = $26,200 = $48,501 cumulative (What is George?) (Tournament champion: $250,000)
Larissa: $21,800 - $15,000 = $6,800 = $31,200 cumulative (What is Philip?) (1st runner-up: $100,000)

Total Potential Lach Trash: $3,800

GAME DYNAMICS


CORYAT SCORES
Dan: $18,800, 19 R (including 1 DD), 2 W
Larissa: $17,000, 26 R (including 2 DDs), 1 W
Aaron: $7,400, 12 R, 3 W
Combined Coryat: $43,200

BATTING AVERAGES
Larissa: 26/60 = .433
Dan: 20/59 = .339
Aaron: 13/58 = .224
Team: 59/63 = .937

MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTING CLUES
VEGAS FILMS $200: In "Casino" he played Ace Rothstein, the mobster who ran The Tangiers
(Aaron: Who is Pacino?)

AT THE BUFFET $600: There's an outstanding
pasta salad made with these stuffed rings seen here

POETIC WORDS $600: In "To Celia", this possessive case of thou precedes the word "eyes"
(Alex: "Drink to me only with [*] eyes.")

POETIC WORDS $1000: A poem by Robert Burns taught us that "gang aft" this means "often go wrong"
(Dan: What is awry?)

TOUGH CAPITAL CITIES $1600: In western Africa:
Yamoussoukro
(Larissa: What is Nigeria?)

CHAMPIONS OF TOURNAMENTS $1200: In 2007 Nigel Richards took home $15,000 as the letter-perfect world champ of this Hasbro game
(Aaron: What is Boggle?)

A VISIT TO BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY $400: (Kelly of the Clue Crew reports from outside Brookhaven National Laboratory, Long Island, New York.) Work done at Brookhaven, which is run by this Cabinet department, has produced six Nobel Prizes, including one for work on solar neutrinos

A VISIT TO BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY $1600: (Sarah of the Clue Crew reports from a particle accelerator at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Long Island, NY.) Cooled magnets at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider facilitate this super phenomenon; current shows no resistance, & gold ions travel at nearly light speed

A VISIT TO BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY $800: (Kelly of the Clue Crew reports from a lab at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Long Island, NY.) Conditions milliseconds after this event are replicated on a microscopic scale by creating a superhot fireball in this 3-D camera

CORRECT RESPONSES
linoleum
Pittsburgh
rumaki
magnanimous
plasma
a teraflop
George
(Robert) De Niro
tortellini
thine
agley
Cote d'Ivoire (The Ivory Coast)
Scrabble
Energy
superconductivity
the Big Bang

[howierules86]

Congratulations to Dan Pawson on the title of the 2009 TOC, and in case anyone missed this great moment, here are the FJ! wagers (with the Day 1 scores added in parentheses):

Aaron: $7,400 + $7,400 = $14,800 (+ $9,600 = $24,400)
Dan: $19,200 + $7,000 = $26,200 (+ $22,301 = $48,501)
Larissa: $21,800 - $15,000 = $6,800 (+ $24,400 = $31,200)

Seriously, an incorrect FJ! by Larissa was what decided this year's TOC win (she had to regret that miss). Very close game up until that point.

Also, just the fact that Larissa actually made it to the finals was a dream come true to me, and even if she missed that one little FJ!, I still think Larissa's nice to look at.

[sunshine3331]

I'm so bummed, I really wanted Larissa to win.

[zdude27]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

[rl3ao]

Wow. I did not expect her to miss that FJ! Congrats Dan.

EDIT: And I get a feeling that Dan was very happy to see that baseball category in DJ!

[take off every clue]

Of all the times to miss an FJ!....

I'm left shaking my head. What a battle, what a finish, great fun watching the game.

What was that squealing from when Larissa's wager was revealed?

[Mambo Queen]

For those that don't know, I tied Dan Pawson in his 2nd regular Jeopardy appearance (and would have tied him in his third, if I'd just bet it all, as he magnaminously gave me that opening). Needless to say, I am thrilled that he pulled out the win. It feels pretty damn sweet to say that I was co-champs for a day with the ultimate Tournament of Champions victor. Besides that, Dan is an all-around decent dude and more than deserving of this. But I do think he's part robot...and if I'm honest, I think he turned into part robot between our two tapings (we were flown back about 4 weeks later to defend our co-title). He definitely got more...stronger? metallic? between those two appearances, and by all evidence, got stronger still for this tournament. To think, when I sat in the audience watching him play his first game, I actually was glad he was the one I would be facing, because Patricia Crane at that point was the giant-killer of Cora Peck, and I had been sitting in the audience waiting to play with Annie Joseph and she was firing off answers right and left.

[dhkendall]

Originally Posted by dhkendall

I can see it now, final game of the ToC, an exciting back-and-forth game of action like game 1. We come to Final Jeopardy ...

Alex: "And our Final Jeopardy category is [category reveal] 'Things Larissa Doesn't Know'. Clue after this commercial break!"

OK, Mark, you can use my time machine now, I'm done with it, just wanted to use it to give a taste of what would happen today. (No, I wasn't at the taping or anything, that's just ... spooky! )

I like how the squeal of delight came from the audience (Alegra911?) when Larissa's (answer? wager?) came up! Whoever did that can obviously do in-head math better than I can!

Congrats to Dan, Larissa, *and* Aaron! In today's show, each of you won more money than I'll ever hope to see at once, even if I do get on the show.

[econgator]

Originally Posted by take off every clue

What was that squealing from when Larissa's wager was revealed?

I'm going to go with ... Andrea.

First off, way to go Dan! That was the epic struggle it was billed to be. I'm guessing that when the clue was revealed, you must've thought, "What? A gimme to decide this?". When Larissa's response was revealed, my jaw dropped. I am shocked that she missed it.

Nice near-run on the baseball category (or did you run it? I forgot who got the $400 clue).

What I really need to know, though, is how do you not get a BMS on Cromwell?

[code65536]

That was a sad ending; it looked like Larissa took it pretty hard.

[Rafferty Barnes]

Wow. I was screaming at my TV when Larissa's response came up. What a time to have a brain fart. The FJ clue did specify it was an English king, am I correct?

Congratulations to Dan on becoming a Champion of Champions. That was certainly an exciting tournament.

[econgator]

Originally Posted by Rafferty Barnes

Wow. I was screaming at my TV when Larissa's response came up. What a time to have a brain fart. The FJ clue did specify it was an English king, am I correct?

Yes. The category was BRITISH ROYALTY.

[heelsrule1988]

Wow... I don't know where to begin. I guess I'll start off by saying how this TOC was everything I expected it to be, right down to the very end. I figured it would be a showdown between Larissa and Dan in the final, and that is indeed how it played out. An absolutely incredible tournament.

Larissa... I think the most crushing thing to see was not you falling just short of the title, but the way you were hanging your head during the credits. It was very clear that you were devastated to lose after playing amazingly well throughout the entire tournament. I think we all wanted to give you a hug after seeing that. But you're still one heck of a player, and we'll certainly never forget you. I only hope you get the chance to play Jeopardy again someday... please stick around these boards, because you're certainly loved here!

Dan... congratulations on an impressive victory. You certainly earned this one. Since you're a board favorite, it's certainly some consolation to me and other Larissa fans that you won. Enjoy the $250,000 and bragging rights for a lifetime!

And Aaron, if by some chance you happen to read this... congratulations on a fine effort, as well. I think you were a factor in this a bit more than people thought you would be. While it mostly turned out to be the two-player battle we thought it would be, you certainly had your say in how things played out.

[lkkelly]

Philip. Philip? Philip?!?! For goodness' sake, there’s never even been a British king named Philip! If you were going to make a wild guess, why not a name like Edward or James, or, oh, I don't know, George?

Yeah, it wasn't really a shining moment. The main problem, I think, was how I approached the question. Instead of trying to figure out what country a foreign-born king might have come from, which could have led to the Hanoverian monarchs, or thinking more generally about kings who reigned during the eighteenth century, which might at least have triggered thoughts of George III, I fixated on the 1683 date and spent too much time trying to remember and sort out the names of rulers from that general time period. It was the difference between viewing the question as an exercise in trivia recall, and seeing it as a test of logical reasoning.

As time was running out, I still didn't have anything written down and started trying to get at the answer another way. Weren’t a bunch of colonial wars named after rulers? There was Queen Anne's War, and, and…King Philip's War? It didn't feel right, but the music was hitting its last notes and the screen was still blank, so I put down the name. A few seconds later, as Alex commented on the question, I had two depressing realizations: (1) My answer was wrong and (2) my answer was really wrong, since King Philip was the name by which seventeenth-century American colonists referred to the Wampanoag leader Metacomet. (Yes, I’ve read Mary Rowlandson’s narrative of captivity during King Philip’s War. I’ve taken classes with archaeologists studying sites from the conflict. My dad taught American history, and my husband studies Britain in the 1600s. I’ve seen The Madness of King George. None of that helped.) It might have been nerves, tiredness, thick-skulledness or just good old-fashioned choking, but for whatever reason I simply didn't have what it took to come up with the right answer at that time. Dan did, and he richly deserved to win the tournament.

Playing with Dan and Aaron was a blast – they're both incredibly nice guys, and terrific players to boot. I really enjoyed getting a chance to meet them, and to hang out a little during the two days of taping. Both of them were very focused on doing as well as possible, but still managed to be funny, relaxed and charming despite the inherent stressfulness of the situation.

The preceding comments, in fact, could apply to any of the people in this tournament. Every single person there was smart, interesting, friendly, and frighteningly knowledgeable. It was a pleasure to meet everyone, and to get to play against such great competition.

So despite the fact that I'll be cringing anytime someone says the name "George," for oh, maybe the next five years, all in all the tournament was a great experience, and I feel very fortunate to have been able to participate. And, you know, looking at the big picture in all of this, it’s hard to regret an outcome which enables two lovely people with a lovely baby to pay off law school loans, and continue to use their training to work in the public interest. (Andrea, when you get the call to be on the show, which should happen approximately five minutes from now, I expect you to school Dan and everyone else on how this Jeopardy game should really be played. ) Thanks to everyone for all the kind comments and constructive feedback, and hope that the tournament was in some small part as enjoyable to watch as it was to play.

[cdinucci]

Larissa,

It happens to us all. You are a wicked good player, end of story. Congratulations on placing, and congratulations to Dan on the win! It was a VERY exciting final (though can I still be a little irritated that Alex called it "the best final we've ever had"?).

Your now-former reigning champion,

Celeste

[code65536]

I'd hate to be an H&R Block employee named George.

Well, Larissa, congratulations on an excellent run. It was sad to see you go out with that FJ, but that DJ round was one of the most fast-paced and exciting in recent memory, and it was a spectacle to see you fight through that.

And much thanks to Dan and Aaron too: I don't think I've seen a ToC final quite like this year's in a long time; my heart was literally beating faster as I watched you three duke it out on TV.

[econgator]

Originally Posted by lkkelly

and hope that the tournament was in some small part as enjoyable to watch as it was to play.

How about some really large part? For me, this was the most fun I've had watching a ToC.

[demonstah]

Wow. As soon as I saw the clue, I thought it was over. Congratulations, Dan! I'm sure you're partying quite hard - wish I could be there.

Larissa, despite the loss, you certainly proved yourself as one of the best to play the game. Against two buzzer demons, you couldn't quite pull it out. Sorry, but there couldn't be two winners.

Aaron, I loved your gameplay, and I would not have been disappointed to see you win. But it wasn't in the cards.

Good luck to all of you in your future endeavors!

[Schliemann]

gratz to dan. cheers to both larissa and aaron. this was a great game.