View Full Version : A few questions about Jennings and Ultimate Tournament of Champions
andrewdt85
05-23-2005, 06:26 PM
Jennings comes back on Wednesday, which is exciting! I have a few questions though:
I know there's a board game called Can You Beat Ken Jennings with all his Jeopardy knowledge in it, correct? Is there a place where you can see a list of all the different categories and number of questions right per one Jennings answered correctly?
Once Jennings knew about the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, I would have thought that he would have left his job and studied harder this past year than ever before, but he didn't, did he? I know, he would've lost the job prob., but there's another 2 million at stake, he could have his wife get books from the library for him (b/c he's a celeb now), and I'm sure there's plenty of firms in Salt Lake looking for a genius to program stuff.
I'm not watching right now or tomorrow night. Do the final competitors look at all like they might even stand a chance against Jennings? :eek: ;)
If Jennings wins this, he will have SHATTERED the amount of winnings that anyone has ever gotten from a game show! How do you think game shows are gonna change post-Jennings? Obviously, I mean, bigger payouts! The idea of winning a million by living on some island for a month just doesn't hold the same zazzle it used to, does it? :D
carterba
05-23-2005, 06:34 PM
The final has started already. I'm watching Ken, Brad, and Jerome right now. Is it off by two days in your market?
andrewdt85
05-23-2005, 06:52 PM
No, I'm just ignorant of Jeopardy, and I thought it was on Wed. I wasn't going to watch anyways. Is it the only time he's playing?
andrewdt85
05-23-2005, 06:54 PM
The reason I thought he came back on Wed was b/c that's the last day and I thought they weren't wipping him out until then. :D
andrewdt85
05-23-2005, 07:12 PM
Okay, so can anyone answer my questions, plus: did he win tonight and by how much?
andrewdt85
05-23-2005, 07:13 PM
You have 30 minutes. Good luck.
(music plays)
;)
carterba
05-23-2005, 07:51 PM
He did not win tonight! Brad did, but it was a close game. Jerome started slow and Ken was leading by a decent margin at the start of Double Jeopardy, but Jerome perked up and Brad hit both Daily Doubles. They were very close before Final Jeopardy, and they all got it right without betting much. Brad won by $1400 maybe? Don't recall the final scores, but they were close.
It's a three-game match, highest total wins.
TheOnlySaneOne
05-23-2005, 08:38 PM
Ha. Ken came in third tonight, and I must say the pissed off look on his face was really quite entertaining.
Liberal
05-24-2005, 04:45 AM
I thought it was (and will be) a great match. I don't recall any pissed off look, though. I still think Brad is going to be hurt by his DD skittishness. Ken's going to bet the farm on a DD and sail out ahead. I noticed that Brad bets to lose as little as possible, while Ken bets to win as much as possible.
peedin
05-24-2005, 07:54 AM
But as Alex always says "the player in distant third often ends up being the winner." So don't discount Jerome, although last night he was having problems ringing in (does the buzzer lock out if you repeatedly press it?) and looked veryvery nervous. I of course was yelling at the screen when nobody got some of the "easier" questions. And why does Ken get a fake puzzled look and hesitate when he rings in? I was never a Ken fan and didn't watch his 70 plus appearances. Does he ring in even if he doesn't know the answer? Anyhoo, I hope Brad or Jerome wins. Although Frank will always be my true Jeopardy! hero.
Scarlett67
05-24-2005, 07:57 AM
I was never a Ken fan and didn't watch his 70 plus appearances. Does he ring in even if he doesn't know the answer?
Yes, that's one of his frequent strategies. He'll ring in because he's pretty sure he knows it (or can make an intelligent guess), then uses the "countdown" time for recall.
Brynda
05-24-2005, 08:18 AM
Ha. Ken came in third tonight, and I must say the pissed off look on his face was really quite entertaining.
I am pretty sure he came in second, not third. He looked annoyed at first, but then he was smiling.
middleman
05-24-2005, 08:24 AM
I wonder if the perceived look of annoyance was more embarassment or disappointment.
vibrotronica
05-24-2005, 10:02 AM
The Ultimate Tournament has seen some of the best Jeopardy! games of all time. I've enjoyed the hell out of it, and it's been the coming-out party for my DVR. No way would I have seen it without one, even though I have owned a VCR for a long time.
The bets on day one of the championship match were conservative, and smartly so IMHO. Nobody wants to fall too far behind this early in the match. It won't be until day three that we see the big bets when all three players have to go balls-out for the title. I predict that the scores will be just as close after game 2 as they were after game 1. I think the tournament produced good results--these players are very evenly matched.
Lib, I disagree that Brad will be hurt by his DD strategy. Ken was always quite conservative with his bets during his run, only going for big money when he was so far out ahead that it didn't matter. Ken's a streak hitter and a conservative bettor. In game one we saw that Brad and Jerome could both break Ken's streaks. The next two days are going to be very interesting indeed.
Liberal
05-24-2005, 10:56 AM
The next two days are going to be very interesting indeed.At the very least, we agree on that much! :)
andrewdt85
05-24-2005, 05:19 PM
I'm using my free bump to draw attention to my op questions
I know there's a board game called Can You Beat Ken Jennings with all his Jeopardy knowledge in it, correct? Is there a place where you can see a list of all the different categories and number of questions right per one Jennings answered correctly?
Once Jennings knew about the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, I would have thought that he would have left his job and studied harder this past year than ever before, but he didn't, did he?
If Jennings wins this, he will have SHATTERED the amount of winnings that anyone has ever gotten from a game show! How do you think game shows are gonna change post-Jennings? Obviously, I mean, bigger payouts! The idea of winning a million by living on some island for a month just doesn't hold the same zazzle it used to, does it?
Hooleehootoo
05-24-2005, 05:28 PM
I wonder if there is a rule for multi-day matches stating what happens if a player goes into Final Jeopardy with a negative amount of money. Is that subtracted from the next day's amount? (On the regular show, you are not allowed to compete in FJ if you don't have at least $1).
I would guess this has never happened, nor will it in the UTC.
Do you think Jeopardy! has changed the rules regarding long winning streaks? I think another long streak by a contestant would decrease ratings.
andrewdt85
05-24-2005, 05:41 PM
Do you think Jeopardy! has changed the rules regarding long winning streaks? I think another long streak by a contestant would decrease ratings.
Some people certainly think so- but I sure hope not! :) The more an environment like Jeopardy is open, the more chance that an incredible persona will emerge again into the spotlight! Thomas Carlyle would see the stage set for more great men... I don't believe in great men, though, so disregard that rhetoric.
Of course, Jeopardy is not meant to be a talent search; it wasn't intended for what Jennings did with it, but I'm still happy about it. Some people look at it as 'you've created a monster' by getting rid of limits on returns- but I figure so few people are capable of what he did that we needn't worry yet. :confused:
andrewdt85
05-24-2005, 05:43 PM
I would point to the story of Ian Lygo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Lygo) as an example of exactly what you speak of, though. Speaking of which, I'll ask another question:
Did Jennings ever mention Lygo in any of his interviews?
Just curious.
andrewdt85
05-24-2005, 05:45 PM
On that show, however, such a winning streak apparently was not as unusual, as you can read about the other two? guys who did well also. 100% ain't no Jeopardy, in other words! So that helps explain their actions. Either that, or England really is superior (in intelligence) to us. Darn. :dubious:
supervenusfreak
05-24-2005, 09:00 PM
Lib, I disagree that Brad will be hurt by his DD strategy. Ken was always quite conservative with his bets during his run, only going for big money when he was so far out ahead that it didn't matter. Ken's a streak hitter and a conservative bettor. In game one we saw that Brad and Jerome could both break Ken's streaks. The next two days are going to be very interesting indeed.
Just thought that I would follow this up with this local article (http://www.lancasteronline.com/pages/news/local/4/14561) concerning Brad's DD strategy for the first game. He wanted to play it a bit conservatively the first day. :)
andrewdt85
05-24-2005, 09:41 PM
So, what happened tonight? :confused:
Sheesh, my posts die faster than a cockerspaniel in north vietnam.
andrewdt85
05-24-2005, 09:44 PM
If Jennings wins this, he will have SHATTERED the amount of winnings that anyone has ever gotten from a game show! That's exaggerating- Kevin Olmstead won 2.18? million from Millionare, so he's only like doubling that- not even- if he wins. Still, that's quite significant.
supervenusfreak
05-24-2005, 10:47 PM
So, what happened tonight? :confused:
Sheesh, my posts die faster than a cockerspaniel in north vietnam.
Brad pulled further ahead. He was the only one to get the Final Jeopardy question ahead. Go Brad!
supervenusfreak
05-24-2005, 10:48 PM
Brad pulled further ahead. He was the only one to get the Final Jeopardy question ahead. Go Brad!
oops. Substitute correct for the second ahead...............
Marley23
05-25-2005, 02:08 AM
It'll take a monster performance for Ken to overtake Brad tomorrow.
andrewdt85
05-25-2005, 02:21 AM
Oh yeah of course that's gotta be what he's doing- playing it safe until night 3.
andrewdt85
05-25-2005, 08:38 PM
Who won tonight and by how much?
That's all I wanna know, google is a little difficult to use for this, cnn says nothing of course, and I'd rather find out this way.
supervenusfreak
05-25-2005, 08:41 PM
Who won tonight and by how much?
That's all I wanna know, google is a little difficult to use for this, cnn says nothing of course, and I'd rather find out this way.
Brad won. It was a runaway game.
andrewdt85
05-25-2005, 09:06 PM
Brad won. It was a runaway game.
:( :( :(
Tell me about Brad. Before the ultimate tournament, how many jeopardys did he win? How much money? How old is he? How much more did he win by?
Damn................................................................................................ .................................................................................................... .................................................................................................... .................................................................................................... ...................................................................................
andrewdt85
05-25-2005, 09:08 PM
Wow, how'd I do that? My computer shows that line stretching really far out of the box instead of looping around!
supervenusfreak
05-25-2005, 09:37 PM
Try this (http://www.jeopardy.com/howdies/thumbs/UTOC_4771_jiep7/bio_rutter_jiep7.php) for his pre-tournament stats. There are other links in this thread for other info.
supervenusfreak
05-25-2005, 09:41 PM
then there is this link (http://www.joegrossberg.com/archives/002098.html) for those who might be interested in dating him. Hmmmmmmmmm hot chicks huh. ;)
andrewdt85
05-25-2005, 10:03 PM
He's only 26 or 27, too. Sheesh.
It just goes to show you an important thing about life:
No matter how good you are at something, there is always someone better
So this guy is now the only person in history who has never lost on jeopardy then?
That's pretty cool.
Scarlett67
05-25-2005, 11:55 PM
So this guy is now the only person in history who has never lost on jeopardy then?
Well, I wouldn't say that . . . I've never lost on Jeopardy either. :D
Well you and him then ;)
...and come to think of it me too but that's it.
Marley23
05-26-2005, 01:19 AM
So this guy is now the only person in history who has never lost on jeopardy then?
Not unless they got every single five-time champ ever to compete in this tournament.
andrewdt85
05-26-2005, 01:25 AM
You say it was a run away victory. How much difference in scores?
Cyros
05-26-2005, 02:56 AM
You say it was a run away victory. How much difference in scores?He beat Jennings in all three individual games, and his final total of $62,000 easily eclipsed Jennings' $34,599.
I'm not really upset that KenJen didn't win, but I was incredibly pissed off that my Yahoo home page spoiled the outcome in a headline title hours before it was scheduled to air here. Fills me with grrrrr. :mad:
Not unless they got every single five-time champ ever to compete in this tournament.
Didn't they? it was a heck of a list of contestants?
Marley23
05-26-2005, 10:08 AM
Didn't they? it was a heck of a list of contestants?
Yes, it was. And I'm sure they had most of them, I'm just looking for loopholes that would allow anyone else to remain undefeated. I don't know some of the historical details, like when they institued the five-game limit. I think before that, at the end of the week you were done regardless of how many games you'd won. So there may be people whose runs stopped at 3-0, 4-0, etc. And of course some champions may have chosen not to participate in UToC or died.
vibrotronica
05-26-2005, 10:28 AM
Well, Brad won the Million Dollar Masters tourney and bested The Utah Buzz Saw in the Ultimate Tournament of Champions. I'll go out on a limb and say he's the greatest Jeopardy! player of all times.
And I was rooting for Frank!
Marley23
05-26-2005, 10:38 AM
I see Brad competed in the five-game-limit era (October 2000). Jeez, he cleaned up like that and he was only about 22? Man. You know, having seen that and 2/3 of the finals I think he has to be up there with the greatest. But I'm not sure any other achievement matches Ken winning 74 in a row. Winning two top-flight tournaments like that is remarkable, but 74 straight wins is nuts.
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