Greatest of all tiime

This week, the first three matches to determine the “Greatest Jeopardy Player of All Time” have aired. Each match consists of two games, and the player with the highest total score for those two games is deemed the winner of that match. The three contestants will continue playing until one of them wins three matches. That winner will receive a cash prize of $1,000,000, with $250,00 to be awarded to each of the other two contestants.

The three players are familiar names to all Jeopardy fans: Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter, and James Holzhauer. These first three matches were aired on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings. Ken Jennings won the first and third, with James Holzhauer won the second. The games will continue next week.

Here is the Jeopardy! TV schedule for the entire tournament:

Episode	Date	Time (TV channel)
Match 1	Tuesday, Jan. 7	8-9 p.m. ET (ABC)
Match 2	Wednesday, Jan. 8	8-9 p.m. ET (ABC)
Match 3	Thursday, Jan. 9	8-9 p.m. ET (ABC)
Match 4	Tuesday, Jan. 14	8-9 p.m. ET (ABC)
Match 5 (if necessary)	Wednesday, Jan. 15	8-9 p.m. ET (ABC)
Match 6 (if necessary)	Thursday, Jan. 16	8-9 p.m. ET (ABC)
Match 7 (if necessary)	Friday Jan. 17	8-9 p.m. ET (ABC)

A nice recap, including brief biographies of the three contestants, can be found on-line on, of all places, the web page for Sporting News:

Jeopardy Greatest of All Time

Not to say that Barry and I are especially talented Jeopardy players, but these games were Jeopardy on steroids in three ways. The first is that the “answers” corresponded to questions that were, in general, significantly more obscure than the usual Jeopardy games. The second is that there were virtually no incorrect responses among these three legendary players, so the games moved incredibly quickly. And, finally, the third is that the potential impact of finding the “Daily Doubles” (one in the first round and two in “double” Jeopardy) is even greater than usual. Having that occur relatively late in the game can make a critical difference. In the first game, James, a “professional sports gambler,” did not find any of them, but in the second game, when he did, he was able to do what he did so well during his initial tenure: wager huge amounts. Having said that, all three players have displayed impressive good humor and fellowship.

For me, this could not be coming at a better time, one in which I think we could all use a break from the litany of distressing and often frightening news and celebrate some of the wonderful intelligence and good humor which we humans can share. Maybe we can leave this tournament with a resolve to make the world the better place which it surely can be.

Love,

Rebecca