# The Jeopardy thread \[was James Holzhauer\]\[contains spoilers\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** reality-or-game-show\ **Created:** [April 17, 2019, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696 "2019-04-17T21:53:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 146
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2021, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2904 "2021-10-05T11:08:38Z")
It’s obviously a matter of definition, and I think that most people would agree that when we talk about _the_ record we mean first place. But in any competition, every place, from first to last, is _a_ record, i.e., a data point that has been recorded. And when, as in the examples I gave, someone displaces the previous holder of, say, the second-place record, they have set a new record, or “broken the [previous] record.” Depending on the circumstances, it may not be an important or prestigious record, but it is a record. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2021, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2905 "2021-10-05T11:39:26Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > I could tell as soon as they introduced the contestants that today wasn’t the day. Old people and fat women are never any good. We need another young man, or thin young woman. Moderating: please don’t bring misogyny and agism into a thread about Jeopardy. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2021, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2906 "2021-10-05T12:31:02Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > The clue gave the players’ initials, and responding with the last name should have been ruled incomplete. I tend to agree, but they have accepted only last names in categories about initials before. They’re not bending the rules just for Matt, it seems to be a general policy. I agree that while last names are generally enough, it should be an exception when you are explicitly asked to identify someone by their initials. Jeopardy apparently doesn’t feel that way, however. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2021, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2907 "2021-10-05T12:41:57Z")
Y’all really just watch Jeopardy for the competition? So runaways are boring? I watch it for the clues, to test my knowledge. The competition is secondary. I record it, and I always fast forward through the contestants’ background and anecdotes. The people aren’t interesting to me, but a winning streak gets my attention. Matt’s terseness is weird, but it doesn’t turn me off. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2021, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2908 "2021-10-05T12:48:36Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > Y’all really just watch Jeopardy for the competition? So runaways are boring? I watch it for the clues, to test my knowledge. The competition is secondary. Same. The competitors are secondary to me, since more than once, I’ve found them completely annoying. And mostly, I’m just listening anyway, because I knit or crochet in front of the TV, and eyes on Jeopardy isn’t a constant requirement. Semi-related - I was listening the a local radio station yesterday, and the DJ was talking about the current Jeopardy champ, pronouncing his name _ah-mo-DEE-oh_ - obviously discussing something he didn’t know first-hand. Just had to shake my head, before yelling in my car. Luckily, I was driving alone at the time… ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2021, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2909 "2021-10-05T13:36:07Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > Y’all really just watch Jeopardy for the competition? So runaways are boring? I watch it for the clues, to test my knowledge. The competition is secondary. > I record it, and I always fast forward through the contestants’ background and anecdotes. The people aren’t interesting to me, but a winning streak gets my attention. Matt’s terseness is weird, but it doesn’t turn me off. Exactly. I watch Jeopardy to test _my_ knowledge and see how many _I_ get right. I don’t care one bit who the winner of the show is. I skip through all the interview segments and only watch the actual questions. Turning off the show when Matt gets a DD seems _so_ incredibly bizarre and anathema to the actual purpose of the show. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2021, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2910 "2021-10-05T16:28:26Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I watch Jeopardy to test _my_ knowledge and see how many _I_ get right. I don’t care one bit who the winner of the show is. I do both. I like to test my knowledge, but I’m also interested in who wins the game and what strategy has been employed. If it’s a current champion who’s on a major run, like Matt or James, I’ll watch to see if she/he wins and by what margin. Watching a person who’s knowledgeable in a wide variety of subjects is interesting, to say the least. ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2021, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2911 "2021-10-05T16:37:39Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > I do both. I like to test my knowledge, but I’m also interested in who wins the game and what strategy has been employed. If it’s a current champion who’s on a major run, like Matt or James, I’ll watch to see if she/he wins and by what margin. Yes, if **the** actual purpose of the show were for us viewers at home to test our knowledge, there would be no reason for the show to have contestants or cash winnings. Just have a host stand there and read clues for half an hour. Hating Matt and hoping he loses is fun right now. When he loses, I’ll continue enjoying the show for all the other reasons I enjoy it. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2021, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2912 "2021-10-05T16:57:19Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > Y’all really just watch Jeopardy for the competition? So runaways are boring? I watch it for the clues, to test my knowledge. The competition is secondary. That’s pretty much it for me too. And with a contestant like Matt, they tend to get through more clues in a game. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2021, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2913 "2021-10-05T16:59:50Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > Hating Matt and hoping he loses is fun right now. For me, it’s liking Matt a lot and hoping he beats Ken Jennings’ record. And I watch BOTH for the clues and the personalities. I tend to root for the old people and the fat. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2021, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2914 "2021-10-05T17:03:04Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I tend to root for the old people and the fat. That’s good to know if I ever make it onto the show. ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2021, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2915 "2021-10-06T01:52:42Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I tend to root for the old people and the fat. I don’t blame you. I think it’s kind of nice when a retiree goes on a streak of a few games. But I myself, “only” in my mid-forties, have noticed that not only is my mental reaction time slower than it used to be, it’s slower in a specific way that affects playing along at home with Jeopardy. So often, the correct response is on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t think of it in the allotted amount of time, whereas 10 years ago, this situation was much more rare. Matt seems like he’s in the 99.9th percentile of mental quickness, so I very much doubt a person whose reaction time isn’t what it used to be is going to beat him. On the other hand, as many of us have said, his loss is likely to come down to luck. The lady who unseated Ken Jennings was nothing special as a contestant, nor was the lady a week or two ago who could have beaten Matt if only she had seen _Who Framed Roger Rabbit?_ So, it may wind up being an unlikely-seeming candidate. Tonight’s show was a shame. Matt didn’t start off strong, the other two managed to keep two of the three Daily Doubles away from him, and he still turned it into a runaway. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2021, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2916 "2021-10-06T13:16:28Z")
I’m a day or two behind on watching this, but whenever it was, I was disappointed in Matt for not knowing “What’s…Doberman Pinscher”. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2021, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2917 "2021-10-06T16:11:43Z")
My local station is showing the Ken Jennings as host episodes. Yesterday they had the guy who, not knowing the Final Jeopardy! answer, wrote “H&R Block” just to see Ken’s reaction; that was fun to watch again. I’m not having fun watching Matt. I don’t dislike him, but the show is losing my interest, except for waiting to see how Matt loses (eventually). I am impressed by his broad knowledge. Has he ever said how he picked up so much information. James had a good tip: he had read a set of encyclopedia’s written for kids - just enough details to learn without getting bogged down. ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2021, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2918 "2021-10-06T17:11:26Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > Has he ever said how he picked up so much information. He has said that he spends a lot of his spare time just aimlessly browsing Wikipedia. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2021, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2919 "2021-10-06T17:27:37Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > he spends a lot of his spare time just aimlessly browsing Wikipedia. So do I, but I still don’t know squat about Greek mythology, 17th-century literature, or opera. ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2021, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2920 "2021-10-06T17:33:06Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > So do I, but I still don’t know squat about Greek mythology, 17th-century literature, or opera. Well, you’re not reading the right Wikipedia pages! 😆 I’m sure once he decided to try out for the show, he started studying. I’ve heard Jeopardy contestants, in preparation, will read these books like _An Incomplete Education_ and _Dictionary of Cultural Literacy_ and other similar “brief history of Western Civ” type books. I’ve noticed Matt does, more than the average contestant, have a tendency to mispronounce foreign names and words, which is an indicator that a person picked them up through cursory, superficial reading and doesn’t necessarily actually know much about the subject. ---
**Author:** ![Jay\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Jay\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay_Z)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2021, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2921 "2021-10-06T17:55:16Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > It must really suck to be one of the other contestants; they’re like cannon fodder at this point. I would just laugh by how badly I’d be losing. By losing to Matt, at least they have a good story at the next high school or family reunion. Have any of the other contestants been interviewed as to what it’s like to play against Matt (or James for that matter). Can’t say that I would. I have talked to people that have been on Jeopardy! I would not want to here about them being on if it was a day where they could barely buzz in because some 25 time champion was blowing through the board. If I was on the show, I’d rather finish in the negative. I’d want a fair chance to play. Would never want to be against a genius with no chance. In today’s culture, this will never change, because look at all of the activity you get when someone is on a long streak. I can’t blame the producers. For the sake of the gameplay and me watching, I would re-introduce the cap on appearances on the regular show. Have more tournaments, whatever, to make up for it. But once I’ve seen someone win the regular show 20 times in a row, I really don’t need to see them win 20 or 40 more additional times. I enjoy the gameplay and I am not at all starstruck, so losing to someone like this would have zero value. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2021, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2922 "2021-10-06T19:32:21Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > James had a good tip: he had read a set of encyclopedia’s written for kids - just enough details to learn without getting bogged down. When I was a kid, I read an entire set of the _World Book Encyclopedia_ (my mom sold them for a while). But retaining all that information is something I never learned how to do. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2021, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/2923 "2021-10-06T20:53:32Z")
Today’s DJ was really obscure. I vaguely remembered the French had a Revolutionary calendar. Expecting anyone to know the names of the months is pretty extreme. DJ stumped all three contestants. None of the 3 could identify Long Island as a peninsula? Really? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696.md?page=145) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696.md?page=147)