It seems to always take a combination of skills to do well. I get stage fright and don't have particularly great reaction time, so while I could usually say the question faster than Alex could call on the guy who buzzed in first, I knew perfectly well I wouldn't do nearly as well under pressure. I felt for years I could beat most of the Jeopardy! daily champions under the right circumstances. But when Ken Jennings came along it was obvious. No, I could never beat the guy. He was just way too good at too many aspects of the game.

A cousin of mine and a guy I knew in grad school made it onto national TV on quiz shows, but, not surprisingly, neither was close to the kind of success you had.