He's Baaaaack She's Baaaaack

There are people who get excited about 'Jeopardy' shows. I've read that Phil Donahue and his wife Marlo Thomas sit down every night and make sure they watch 'Jeopardy.' I'm sure there are others just as devoted to watching the show. After all, it's been on the air since 1964, when LBJ was president. Now LBJ is a question/answer.

The show of course gets a major viewership boost when there is someone who starts to win often. Very often, as James Holzhauer did earlier this year, when he ran his streak to 36 games and won over $2.4 million—a perfect measurement of success for someone who is a professional sports gambler.

Jim was tripped up by a librarian, Emma Boettcher, who instantly became Buster Douglas beating Mike Tyson in Tokyo. Talk of the town. New York Times bio piece. The giant killer.

And just like Buster Douglas she disappeared, winning only the next two nights, and tripping up over a Woody Guthrie question/answer.

But the producers at Jeopardy are inventive, and they concocted a 'Tournament of Champions' to bring big winners back on the show to further polish their bankrolls and bragging rights. If this were horse racing, it would be last week's Breeders' Cup. Right now, we are in the quarter-finals of the 'Tournament of Champions,' top winners from this year.

If this were a horse race ,the condition would be written to only allow entrants who have been winners in calendar year 2019. And of course, Emma and Jim fit that bill. And others.

Last night was the third quarter-final round and pitted Jim Holzhauer against Alan Dunn, a computer developer, and Lindsey Schultz, a physician/analyst/researcher. It was the 1973 Belmont Stakes all over again. Jim/Secretariat glided to victory.

As James was pretty much running the board, I kept thinking of the recently watched straight pool match between Luther Lassiter and Cisero Murphy, in which Luther ran 85 balls to beat Cisero for the 1966 World Title.

I wrote of the match when I wrote a recent posting about the last episode of 'The Deuce.' All pool players play for position, to try and get the cue ball right where they want it for the next shot; to make the next shot a routine shot, not a difficult one. That goes for the Nine Ball ball-bangers and the nearly extinct straight pool players.

And when you watch a high caliber straight pool match, you watch the masters generally produce high double digit runs before they miss. Just like James cutting his way through the 'Jeopardy' board. When a straight pool player is on a run, their opponent can only sit and watch. And two nights ago, Jim basically turned his opponents into spectators.

What makes 'Jeopardy' so enjoyable is the quality of the question/answers. And the twists. Jim's round contained a category where the answer had to be used to turn the initials of the name into Roman numerals, and the translated into normal numbers. Thus, an answer that might be Calvin Coolidge to "jazz-age president" became the initials CC, then the number 100, since two C's means 100 in Roman numbering. No wonder their empire folded. No one could count. There are very few softball question/answers on 'Jeopardy.'

I didn't watch, but Emma won her quarter-final match, setting up a possible rematch between Emma and Jim.

Jim was his usual calm, squinting self, getting control of the board with the most effortless buzzer technique; a good pool player with a good stroke. Lindsey Schultz knew many of the answers, but was a fish flopping on the deck because she was strangling the buzzer. Jim was an automatic weapon.

So, who will be in the 'Jeopardy' smack-down? Keep tuning in. I will.

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