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Some folks who follow the show may know that Ken Jennings is now up to 25 consecutive victories on Jeopardy! I've only seen one or two of his shows, but he's been pretty remarkable. Not simply that he's winning, but because he seems to be destroying everyone he goes up against. That's awesome.
I don't actually know him, though I've known of Ken. Back when I was in College, I played competetive Quizbowl. Ken was on the BYU team, and I don't think I ever played him at Nationals. (If I did my teams would have smashed his) Haggai and Jesse, OTOH, did play against him when they were at Cal and Stanford respectively.
These days, he's apparently been writing questions for NAQT - which certainly would be great preparation for the show. Between years of practicing on buzzer systems, and years playing and writing questions, quizbowl folks have an inordinate advantage when it comes to playing trivia shows. Trivia questions that might be hard for most people are often recognizable "Greatest Hits". Particularly as we have a pretty well gathered knowledge base on how to play the game.
Which is not to say that being a great quizbowl player necessarily translates to doing well on the gameshows, or that Quizbowl experience is a prerequisite for Gameshow success. Most of the winners don't come from the "Who's Who of College Quiz Bowl". The subject distributions, question structure, and degree of difficulty vary wildly, as do the rules of the games. In college, I was a top player on teams that finished in the top 3 nationally for five straight years. But there were better players than I, who have had less success on the outside. And Ken was by no means a god on the quizbowl circuit. It's somewhat surprising that Olmstead, Jennings and I are the big $$$ winners rather than folks like Tom Waters, Jim Dendy or Andrew Yaphe. (The "Pantheon of Quizbowl.")
But again, the TV game and the "college circuit" were different beasts. What I've seen of Ken has been very impressive, as winning on Jeopardy!, and consistently, is a pretty difficult feat. Most of my friends who've gotten on (and I have several) have either gotten smoked or have choked like dogs.
And it's neat to see him do well. Makes me feel a bit prouder about being a Quizbowl dork. Now I just have to work on keeping that Maryland Quizbowl arrogance in check. And get on the show, because I think I could still kick his ass, and he might just know it. Snerk.
I don't actually know him, though I've known of Ken. Back when I was in College, I played competetive Quizbowl. Ken was on the BYU team, and I don't think I ever played him at Nationals. (If I did my teams would have smashed his) Haggai and Jesse, OTOH, did play against him when they were at Cal and Stanford respectively.
These days, he's apparently been writing questions for NAQT - which certainly would be great preparation for the show. Between years of practicing on buzzer systems, and years playing and writing questions, quizbowl folks have an inordinate advantage when it comes to playing trivia shows. Trivia questions that might be hard for most people are often recognizable "Greatest Hits". Particularly as we have a pretty well gathered knowledge base on how to play the game.
Which is not to say that being a great quizbowl player necessarily translates to doing well on the gameshows, or that Quizbowl experience is a prerequisite for Gameshow success. Most of the winners don't come from the "Who's Who of College Quiz Bowl". The subject distributions, question structure, and degree of difficulty vary wildly, as do the rules of the games. In college, I was a top player on teams that finished in the top 3 nationally for five straight years. But there were better players than I, who have had less success on the outside. And Ken was by no means a god on the quizbowl circuit. It's somewhat surprising that Olmstead, Jennings and I are the big $$$ winners rather than folks like Tom Waters, Jim Dendy or Andrew Yaphe. (The "Pantheon of Quizbowl.")
But again, the TV game and the "college circuit" were different beasts. What I've seen of Ken has been very impressive, as winning on Jeopardy!, and consistently, is a pretty difficult feat. Most of my friends who've gotten on (and I have several) have either gotten smoked or have choked like dogs.
And it's neat to see him do well. Makes me feel a bit prouder about being a Quizbowl dork. Now I just have to work on keeping that Maryland Quizbowl arrogance in check. And get on the show, because I think I could still kick his ass, and he might just know it. Snerk.
no subject
Heh - not that I have anything particularly noteworthy to say. But I figure some time or another, I'll end up drifting away from discussing BtVS here in the online fandom. And before that happens, I thought I should spare a moment to send you some kudos. From what I've seen on the boards, you're a heckuva smart guy, and you express some really thought-provoking opinions on BtVS and AtS. There may be areas where we view things from different perspectives, but regardless, I've got a lot of respect for you and your posts. So I figured I ought to send you some praise, before I someday drift away from the wacky world of BtVS discussion...
Anyhoo - that was my random, drive-by message of the day. On a sidenote - today's issue of my local paper featured a story on this Ken Jennings guy, which is part of the reason your post caught my eye =)
- Lil Miss Muffet
no subject
And while we disagree, I do certainly respect your argumentation. Certainly, I think you brought a pretty valid perspective on and understanding of the Dawn character that myself and a lot of other folks might have otherwise missed out on. I certainly wish you the best as the inevitable drift away from fandom occurs - I'm sure you will be putting your insights to fine use in other venues...