Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions

[OntarioQuizzer]

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Feb 8 2005, 07:44 AM\']Are there any players from the first Trebek season in the tourney?

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Paul Boymel, Mike Day, and John Genova.

[Matt Ottinger]

Jeopardy took some criticism for playing favorites in selecting their Million Dollar Masters participants, and it looks like they scrupulously avoided doing that this time around.  You can make a pretty good argument that simply dividing the doubled-values-era scores by two isn't a valid comparison between them and earlier scores, but it is simple and fair.

They clearly didn't pick $48,800 out of a hat, they must have worked their way down the list until they had filled their field, and that's where the cutoff ended up.  I'd hate to be a five-day champ who just missed the cut, but it I was a five-day champ who just missed the cut AND I saw some four-day champs who got invited ahead of me, I'd probably make some noise.  I'm sure Jeopardy is covering itself with disclaimers about this being an "invitational" tournament, as they did with the M$M, but it wouldn't do them any good to have some disgruntled 5X'ers complaining to the press if they really want to bill this as an "Ultimate" tournament.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Feb 8 2005, 05:44 AM\']TofC winner Jerry Frankel passed away at least a dozen years ago, so he naturally won't be there

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Gawd. Let's hope not, anyhow. I'd pity the poor sod who had to stand next to him.

"Someone prop Jerry up...he's starting to slide again..."

EDIT: Dammit, Howard beat me to the joke.

[OntarioQuizzer]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Feb 8 2005, 11:21 AM\']I'd hate to be a five-day champ who just missed the cut, but it I was a five-day champ who just missed the cut AND I saw some four-day champs who got invited ahead of me, I'd probably make some noise.

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Matt,

The beautiful thing about this field is that there is none of that. They took all of their TOC, Teen, and College Tournament winners, and then worked their way down by wins and money won.

It looks like it worked pretty well, and I'm looking forward to watching it.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'OntarioQuizzer\' date=\'Feb 8 2005, 03:37 PM\']The beautiful thing about this field is that there is none of that. They took all of their TOC, Teen, and College Tournament winners, and then worked their way down by wins and money won.

It looks like it worked pretty well, and I'm looking forward to watching it.[/quote]
Absolutely, me too.  I even have some rooting interests, since I've gotten to know a handful of the competitors personally.

At the Jeopardy board, it's being said that some of the TofC winners in their given years happened to be four-game winners initially, but since winning your TofC was one of the criteria for selection, that makes them eligible.   So really, the only excluded person who has a decent case would be Bruce Seymour.  "Official" Jeopardy records tend to ignore the Super Jeopardy tournament, so maybe he was left out for that reason.  It's also possible that he either didn't want to participate or wasn't able to.

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'OntarioQuizzer\' date=\'Feb 8 2005, 02:37 PM\']


The beautiful thing about this field is that there is none of that. They took all of their TOC, Teen, and College Tournament winners, and then worked their way down by wins and money won.

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Granted, the youngest of these would be in their 60s, but it seems like the Seniors Tourney champs were not invited or chose not to participate. What about Ulf Larsen(?) who won the International tournament in Stockholm in May 1997?

[PYLdude]

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Feb 8 2005, 08:28 PM\']Granted, the youngest of these would be in their 60s, but it seems like the Seniors Tourney champs were not invited or chose not to participate. What about Ulf Larsen(?) who won the International tournament in Stockholm in May 1997?

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Or they may be dead, Zach. Just a thought.

[starcade]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Feb 7 2005, 09:02 PM\']I like how one spot has been reserved for "2005 Teen Tournament Champion", which of course THEY already know, but we won't know until tomorrow.  What a roller coaster ride for that young person, to play in one tournament and immediately get swept into the Biggest Tournament Ever.

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With no wildcards, they probably scheduled this person later in the first round, which will take 2 months or so.

(I think it's a mistake, meself.  To put this Teen Champ up against the best of all time is just a little overkill.)

[starcade]

And, to answer my earlier inquiry:

Eddie Timanus is in the field.

Looking forward to see him kick some tail.

[OntarioQuizzer]

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Feb 8 2005, 07:28 PM\']Granted, the youngest of these would be in their 60s, but it seems like the Seniors Tourney champs were not invited or chose not to participate. What about Ulf Larsen(?) who won the International tournament in Stockholm in May 1997?

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Well, I'm guessing that seeing as they've only invited TOC, Teen, and College tournament winners, that they did not invite Seniors, International, or the Super Jeopardy winner.

The other two International winners qualified on their own merits.

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Feb 8 2005, 03:00 PM\'][quote name=\'OntarioQuizzer\' date=\'Feb 8 2005, 03:37 PM\']The beautiful thing about this field is that there is none of that. They took all of their TOC, Teen, and College Tournament winners, and then worked their way down by wins and money won.
It looks like it worked pretty well, and I'm looking forward to watching it.[/quote]
Absolutely, me too.

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It won't be a 7:30pm tradition for me during the fifteen weeks, but thanks to the Jeopardy! web site's heads-up on the contestants' identities and what days they'll be appearing, I'll probably check out the players who hold interest for me. Bob Harris, of course. Chuck and Frank certainly. V-Woman from the 2001 College Championship. And many others. I do, however, don't think Ken should get any money unless he wins. It really doesn't seem fair to be able to do the monkey dance for the first fourteen and a half weeks and be guaranteed $250K just for showing up. If he places second or third, the $$$ should go to a charity of his choosing.
By the way, will the "ultimate winner" of this Tournament Of Tournaments be declared the "national champion" as Rob Griffin was on The Joker's Wild?

[GS Warehouse]

It's almost time.  The Quest for Ken starts tomorrow, so I will ask this to all interested parties:

Are you looking forward to it?

A) H*** Yeah!  I'm going to add the whole thing to my collection!
B) I'll watch whever I can.
C) I'm holding out for the finals in May.  Go Ken!
D) Funny you should mention that.  My sock drawer needs sorting.

[MikeK]

[quote name=\'GS Warehouse\' date=\'Feb 8 2005, 11:06 PM\']It's almost time.  The Quest for Ken starts tomorrow, so I will ask this to all interested parties:

Are you looking forward to it?

A) H*** Yeah!  I'm going to add the whole thing to my collection!
B) I'll watch whever I can.
C) I'm holding out for the finals in May.  Go Ken!
D) Funny you should mention that.  My sock drawer needs sorting.[/quote]
I apparently fall under E) will watch/TiVo it nightly but will keep very few episodes.

My first must-see matchup involves Bob Harris next Tuesday.

Just curious, but why the negative feedback about this tournament?  Is it because they're bringing back KenJen too soon?  Is it because regular play's on hold until late May?  The first round might be a tad boring, unless you get a match-up with two or three superb, memorable champs.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Feb 8 2005, 07:50 PM\']If he places second or third, the $$$ should go to a charity of his choosing.
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Remember that, due to his religious affiliation, a good chunk of it will.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'hmtriplecrown\' date=\'Feb 9 2005, 12:28 AM\']Just curious, but why the negative feedback about this tournament?  Is it because they're bringing back KenJen too soon?  Is it because regular play's on hold until late May?  [/quote]
I've heard several criticisms, again at Sony's Jeopardy board that I keep mentioning.  The two you've named are at the top of the list.  There is a small but very vocal contingent complaining that it's unfair Ken gets a free pass to the finals while everybody else has to fight their way up.  There's also a concern that Jeopardy may fall victim to the "stunt" programming that was the original WWTBAM downfall.