JEOPARDY REDUX

 
Ted Stratton was on Jeopardy 20 years ago. On January 21, 2005, to be exact. That afternoon I went to Hillcrest cemetery to tell my parents about the impending evening show. Snow covered all the flat-level headstones at Hillcrest. I found “Siegal” but not “Stratton.” However, I think I made successful contact with my parents.

But how about connecting with the president of the United States? What if George W. Bush declares war on some country today and the Jeopardy show doesn’t air tonight?

I emailed everybody about the show. I played tennis. But I couldn’t concentrate on no tennis game!

I knew, in advance, the outcome of Ted’s Jeopardy game; I had been to California for the taping three months before. But I wasn’t allowed to tell anybody the result. The day of the airing (and cemetery visit), a friend said, “Bert, you wouldn’t be throwing a party tonight if Teddy hadn’t won.” Maybe. I didn’t answer her. I planned to host a viewing get-together. I worried some more about W. and war.

Ted faced a Boston book editor and “a graduate student originally from Johnson City, Tennessee,” which is Jeopardy-talk for “This guy from Tennessee is now living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, running a lab at MIT.”

Ted was formidable, don’t ever forget that. For instance, he cleaned up in the category of “Our Lady,” about Catholic shrines, like Our Lady of Czestochowa (Poland) and Our Lady of Gethsemani (Kentucky). Ted — a recent Brandeis graduate — knew his Catholic shrines.

(There’s a play-by-play of all recent Jeopardy games on J! Archive, a site run by Robert Knecht Schmidt, a Clevelander and former Jeopardy contestant.)

Going into Final Jeopardy, Ted was in second place, the Boston editor and defending champ was in third, and the Tennessee grad student was in first. The Final Jeopardy category was “Fictional Children.” The question was “This boy, introduced in a 1902 book, flew away from his mother when he was 7 years old.”

Merv Griffin made a fortune on the Jeopardy think music, which he wrote. And he owned the show, too, which he sold it to Sony.

I felt like I was watching my kid line up a 50-yard field goal at the Ohio State-Michigan game with a second left on the clock. I was helpless to affect the result. That’s the craziest part about being a parent — all the collateral, out-of-your-control joy and pain. (And it never ends until you end.)

The Boston editor answered, “Peter Pan.”

Correct. She went up to $10,900.

Ted said, “Peter Pan.” He went up to $13,399.

The Tennessee student said, “The Little Prince.” He went down to $7,900.

Alex Trebek announced: “The new champion, Ted Stratton, a reporter from Cleveland Heights, Ohio.”

share