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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
