Game 2

As I write this, it's already been 2 weeks since the taping. Luckily, I only had to wait 4 weeks for my show to air. I can't even imagine those who had to wait 3 months!! I went back to Lisa for another make-up touch-up. Robert greeted me as champ. Still not sinking in. Johnny and Jamie were getting miked up. Now, I am definitely not a defeatist type of person. I always go out there with everything I've got - and some would say I am an eternal optimist. But Johnny was the buzzer killer in rehearsal - the one who buzzed so fast that I didn't even see the Go Lights come on. I knew the odds of ringing in before him were slim - which means the odds of winning another game even slimmer. But, I was so happy to have won one game, and I was so happy my Jeopardy! experience would last at least one more game, that I honestly did not worry about the outcome of the next game - I had already achieved my dream and more.

I now got to stand at the champ's podium - it was so surreal. I had to record another Hometown Howdie - this time as "returning champ". I think I said something about the Kings. I hope they don't air that, especially since my interview revealed that I was a Lakers fan, haha. Oops. I think this time I was more relaxed so my face was shaking less. All right! Funnily enough, when Alex came out, he had a little dialogue about me. I don't remember word for word, but the gist was pretty much: "Randie sucked yesterday but she won anyway!" I remember thinking, Oh... okay... haha this will be a good story.


The game started, and Johnny was off and running. Definitely had mad buzzer skillz. I think I only rang in once before the first commercial break. But I was NOT in the negative - as I cheerfully told Maggie. YES. haha. This time, Alex asked me about playing basketball, I wish I could have added a few more details. Then after I thought we were done, he asked about another bullet point on my card - My dream job being the LA Lakers doctor. Now, I put that randomly on my contestant sheet, I didn't actually think it would make the card. But it was actually a nice segue since I'm a medical student and a big basketball fan. I think Alex does a very good job at improvising. He's very smooth that way. I heard he was a basketball fan too. As a side note, Jamie talked about her fear of butterflies, and I wanted to say, "OMG, I'm afraid of butterflies TOO." She didn't like their wing to body ratio - I don't like their erratic flight pattern. You never know where they're going to be!! Anyway, I didn't get a chance to tell her that later, but Jamie, if you're out there - I feel ya.


I don't remember much, other than once again, I was in 3rd place going into Double Jeopardy! I do remember seeing a category that was possibly good for me: "The Body Human". Unfortunately, it turned out to be a plug for some company that makes plastic models. The clues also mostly referred to layman's terms which eluded me. To me, kyphosis and scoliosis are just that and there was no way I could have come up with "hunchback". I hope I ended up answering at least one clue in that category. 


I also remember a category that seemed to deal with mostly men's clothing. So did not do well in that category. 


There was also a category called "Basebrawl" - The first one was about the Dodgers. Yeah! The second clue was about the guy who said "Nice guys finish last." I don't remember where I picked up this information, but it stuck in my mind because I was surprised that it wasn't Yogi Berra or Tommy Lasorda or Vince Lombardi and I'm pretty sure I came across it as a common error in the J! Archives. So as Alex is reading the clue, the name "Durocher" swims into my mind. Of course, I've never even said this person's name before, so it comes out phoenetically... "Who is... Du-ro-cher????" Alex seemed QUITE surprised, as I recall. Anyway, that was one of my proud moments. :)


In this game, the turning point in my mind was when Johnny hit the Daily Double in Inaugural Addresses. The clue before was LBJ - I couldn't ring in. Johnny hit the DD next, and I knew it was JFK. Fortunately for him, Johnny didn't bet big. He ended up finding all the DDs in the game. Later, I gave him some game advice - if he was beating us to the buzzer, he could afford to bet bigger on the DDs. If he got the wrong answer, he was more likely to recoup his losses more quickly. 


I must have done all right because at some point, I looked up and I had more than half Johnny's score. I hit the last 2 clues in the Bible; I remember capitalizing on a miss by Jamie. The last remaining category was Art Books. Now, I am good at Art. I love Art History. But I could not understand what this category was about. You know how sometimes you read a clue and you just don't understand what they're talking about. There were 2 clues left, I took a stab at one - about an American art school. Eakins stuck in my mind. Unfortunately, I later found out he spent most of his time studying in France. The answer was Hudson River school. Damn. I was now at 10,000 and Johnny at 19,600. If he answered one more question, he would have a lock game. But as it turned out, the last 2 questions turned out to be triple stumpers.


I couldn't believe that I still had a chance. Albeit, it was a small small chance. But it was there. A glimmer of a chance. The category was revealed - Countries of the World. Well that narrows it down to about 194. It didn't matter, I knew that the only way I could win was if I got the answer correct and Johnny didn't. This was a Crush scenario, so I wagered everything. Because if the only way you can win is if you get it right and the other person gets it wrong, you might as well win as much as you can. I thought about protecting 2nd place, but there was no difference to me being 2nd or 3rd. I had already won a game, I might as well go for winning.


The clue was revealed and I knew I had lost - it was too easy for Johnny to miss. We quickly wrote down our answer, before Alex even finished reading the clue. I had no regrets, I was very happy. After the Think Music was over, Alex said he had a feeling all 3 of us had gotten it correct because we had written down our answers so quickly. Surprisingly, Jamie wrote down Laos and I thought, could it be that Johnny might have gotten it wrong too? I doubled up my score and was very proud of at least ending strong. I think Alex liked my wager too - "Good for you!" But Johnny also had down Singapore, wagered correctly, and won by a dollar. I immediately turned to him and said "I'm so happy for you!" And I was. I like to see everyone winning. And I couldn't have been happier with how everything turned out. Would I have liked to win more? Of course, but I have no regrets. Besides, Johnny deserved it, and he won that game, and I have no problem with that.


He stayed on stage to do his post-game interview, and I headed back to the Green Room to collect my things. I got a nice Jeopardy! tote along with a slew of memories and hopefully a picture of me with Alex in the mail coming soon. :) I quickly exited and waited for my family, the first time I could talk to them all day. We stood outside the studio and reminisced. Maggie caught us there and came over. I'll miss her - I hope we get to keep in touch somehow.


P.S. A special shout-out to Craig who came up to see me!!