What is a three-way tie?
Last night for the first time in Jeopardy’s history there was a three-way tie when all three contestants final scores totaled $16,000. Alex Trebek had this to say to the AP about the game show history making moment, “We’ve had a lot of crazy things happen on `Jeopardy!’ but in 23 years I’ve never seen anything like this before.” So what was the tie causing question, “1 of the men who shot her realized when he saw her body she’s often wait on him in a cafe in Dallas” The correct answer that all three got was Bonnie Parker. A mathematician said the chances of this happening were one in 25 million. Tune in Monday to see who the ultimate winner is of the three. My question is why didn’t Scott bet $2601?
UPDATE: Scott Weiss explains on his blog why he bet $2,600 and all I have to say is good for him!!!
Oh, you want to know about the Final Jeopardy! wager? It was an intentional bet. I counted on Anders and Jamey betting rationally and wagering everything. I thought it would be really cool to be a part of Jeopardy history. I knew that meant I’d be playing seasoned opponents, but it didn’t matter to me. I had already won a couple of games myself, and I thought it would be neat to share the money. (See my post about Jennifer from a couple of days; that’s what the literary people call foreshadowing. :-)). Now there’ll be a notation next to one of my games in the J! Archive. How cool is that?
But there have been other unexpected benefits. A schoolteacher present at the game came up to me and said I taught the kids a great lesson in sportsmanship and generosity. Cecil and I have become good friends with Anders and his wife Juneko, and Jamey and his wife Beth. Juneko made Beth and Cecil gorgeous glass pendants commemorating the tie, and she made a teddy bear for Ragnar out of felt. I just got a note from Anders asking what charity I’d like him to donate some of his money to.
Some people, maybe even many people, seem to think the wager was a mistake. But I don’t think so. I can’t say I was 100% altruistic in my decision. I liked Anders and Jamey; Anders and I had talked at lunch about cryptics a little, and Jamey seemed like a fun person. (Maggie commented to us before the game as to what a good time I seemed to be having, and Jamey half-joked that he hoped I’d have a little less of a good time then.) But I really wasn’t thinking about them. I thought more of the show. I’ve been watching Jeopardy! for all of its 23 years. Yesterday I got to give something back. How many players or even champions get the opportunity to do that?
