Jeopardy! 2022-23

Cafe Society
462

For me…

Because he was one of those “winning is the only thing” jerks that probably didn’t actually have friends, he just had acquaintances he could beat. The late Neil Bonnett told a story about how he and Dale were going to ride quads down to the lake fishing. So they naturally decided to race. Dale couldn’t just outdrive him, no, he had to run Neil right off the road. The fact that Neil thought this was a good story, for me, tells the kind of “friendship” they had.

Dale really was a talented driver, but he was a dirty driver that got away with crap no one else could. He’d run people into the wall and NASCAR would be all “I didn’t see nuttin’!” And he did that for his entire career.

NASCAR loved the whole “intimidator” shit, the “black and silver” bad boy colors. And he truly was the intimidator, because not only could he retaliate if you did the same thing to him he did to you, but NASCAR would fine you and not him.

He once punted Terry Labonte on the last stretch of the last lap and damaged his car so much it was undrivable, but Terry managed to slide across the finish line first. This wasn’t “rubbin’ is racin’”. this was “I’m gonna run you right into the wall and fuck the rules and fuck good sportsmanship”.

He may have got along with Jeffie, but his “feud” with Ernie Irvin was real.

The fact is, ol’ Ironhead is part of the reason NASCAR is the way it is today. All about “bad boys” and “in your face”, and “'tude”. And bumping people around and fights is just how it’s done, (Don’t come back and say “NASCAR was never a gentleman’s sport”. No, it wasn’t. But it kept the meathead shit behind the scenes. Go find an old race where Ned Jarrett and Benny Parsons are announcing, and DW was driving (and you couldn’t hear his idiot motor mouth) to compare to one now where it’s like you’re watching WWE. Ugh. “Boogity-boogity”, indeed.)

And at least Jeff had the…something…to make his trophy wife his first wife.

I really wanted Dale to get his comuppance for all his bad boy crap. Just not all at once, like he did.

JAQ: regular NASCAR watcher since I got ESPN in 1982, until the CoT crap and the changing of the points system.

463

In today’s game, the result was a foregone conclusion with several clues remaining, and one player, Anne, had $0. Whenever that happens, I always hope that the others will not ring in and let her have a crack at them so she can finish with a positive score. It would suck to finally get on the show and not be around to play Final Jeopardy.

Did anyone ever get fined for their on-track behavior? I’ve never been a huge NASCAR fan, but I’ve watched a few races on TV. There’s lots of “tut tut”-ting from the announcers, but does anyone ever actually get sanctioned for knocking another driver out of the race? NASCAR seems to enforce good sportsmanship about as well as professional wrestling.

464

At least they used to be fined. Dale Jr was, and Even Dale Sr, at least once, as I was just shocked to learn. :slight_smile:

465

Yeah, especially when the leader has a runaway. Neither of the other two have anything to lose (well, the leader loses the opportunity to take home a few hundred bucks more.)

It struck me last night than in a situation like last night’s, with the leader having a lock game, and the 3rd place player not being around for FJ, combined with the rule that 2nd and 3rd place don’t get their actual total but just a flat $2000/$1000, there’s no reason for the 2nd place player to play FJ either. Sure, they get to spend 60 seconds more on national TV, and maybe feel good about themselves and look good if they get it right, but there’s zero financial reward.

466

There’s no financial stake in Final Jeopardy, but if I was on the show in those circumstances I’d still want to play it; use the pen, hear the music, and avoid the ignominy of finishing in the red.

I hope I’d be alert enough to the scores to notice the situation, and to give the third place player a chance to get back in the black. I’d be tempted to ask the other player to back off give third-place a chance to ring in first. Would that be frowned on by the producers, or come across as patronizing?

467

I suspect after the Quiz Show Scandals of the 1950s the producers have to take a pretty hard line against contestants appearing to collude to affect the game.

468

I think I have previously recounted here my experience backstage while waiting to go on the show. One of the other contestants mentioned, off-handedly, that if he ever got to be a five-time champ (this was back when that was the limit), in his last game he would try to tie with the second-place player, so that that person would be able to go on to another game.

(Back then, if there was a tie, both players would return as co-champs, unless, of course, one had won five games. Now they have a tie-breaker so only one continues as champion.)

I liked the generosity of that idea, which had never occurred to me, but unfortunately, neither he nor I had the opportunity to put it into practice. IIRC, none of the staff heard the remark. Just mentioning it probably wouldn’t have established collusion, as long as the other player was savvy enough to say nothing and just play along, instead of saying, “Yeah, let’s do that!”

469

Well, it looks like we have another “James Brown” player. (Please,Please,Please). Damn, this dude is annoying.

470

I’m always impressed when someone posts that they guessed the “answer” to FJ from just the Category. Today (1/24) I did that for the first time. I’m so proud.

The Category was Foreign Born Authors.

I immediately told Mrs Maven
that it probably was Nabokov. I also said that the next most likely Response was Joseph Conrad.

I’m not going to quote The Clue, but I thought that it was pretty easy.

471

I knew which book it was, and the character’s name, but no way could I remember the author.

472

I was in the same boat, but was able to sing myself to the right answer.

Just like the
Old man in
That book by

473

<Sting enters the chat.

474

For “Pop Culture Goes to Mars” I guessed one of the clues would be for Veronica Mars, and it was

With the aid of a Kickstarter campaign, Kristen Bell was back on the case as this character in a 2014 feature

Brian
(backed the campaign, have a PDF of the script)

475

I guessed correctly, though I had a little bit of doubt because I wasn’t sure whether Lolita was published in the 1950s or 1960s.

When pondering FJs like this one it really stands out to me how many Jeopardy clues are “guess what we’re thinking” rather than “know this factoid cold.” I mean, nobody knew that a New York Times reviewer had written the exact words in the clue some time in the 1950s. This wasn’t a clue that boils down to “who was the 23rd president of the United States?” or “what Shakespeare play is this quote from?” It’s just “name the author of a famous book published in the 1950s in which the narrator was lecherous.”

476

Yes, but without citing the NYT review, there probably wouldn’t be a single correct response, which is a sine qua non for a Jeopardy! clue.

477

I didn’t get this one. For some reason I thought Peyton Place. I thought what was the correct answer was written many decades before; I didn’t know it was the 50s.

478

I probably should have known what book it was, but as for the author, if I ever knew I had long forgotten his name. It didn’t ring a bell at all for me, even after hearing it.

Many of these questions are “you either know it or you don’t,” and no amount of pondering is going to help.

479

My guess before seeing the clue was Ayn Rand.

And after seeing the clue "In the 1950s the New York Times said this author “is writing about all lust” & his lecherous narrator “is all of us” I was convinced I was correct.

480

I do not agree with this. I think they strive to make FJ figure-out-able for most Jeopardy-type folks.

Not that every FJ is like this, but I have noticed, usually after getting one wrong, that yeah, I should have figured that one out.

mmm

481

…his?