GAME TWO - Tuesday, June 17

You can find the clues, correct responses, and results of the game HERE. (Thanks again to the folks who maintain the J! Archive.)

After winning the first game, I returned to the Green Room (still not really green) to change clothes. I had planned to wear my clerics (pastor clothes) for the second game - I didn't want to embarrass anyone but myself if I made a fool of myself in my first appearance.

I got my clergy shirt on, then went to grab the plastic white tab (that fits into the collar) from my garment bag. The problem was . . . it wasn't there. I fished around in the pockets of the garment bag, but there was no tab.

It was DIY time - I asked CC Tony if there was any white cardboard around. He and CC Corinna went on a search, and located a sheet of cardboard. And some scissors. Then I spent my last moments in the Green Room cutting out a strip of the cardboard that fit into my collar. They said it was the first time they'd ever dealt with that problem! If you watched the show on HD, you might have noticed that the tab was a little frayed around the edges from my inexpert cutting.

Oh well - it was back out onto the set. I stepped up to the champion's podium. Then came another problem - I had to come up with a new Hometown Howdy.

Hometown Howdies are recorded by the contestants just before the game begins. You introduce yourself and say where you're from and ask folks to watch you. It's distributed to your local station for show promotion, but apparently they are very rarely actually aired. With the help of my wife and daughter, I'd come up with a semi-creative howdy for my first game: "Hey Maryland, I'm Dave Simpson from Harford County. Grab a bushel of crabs and something cold to drink and watch me on Jeopardy!." You can view it here.

No one told me I needed to come up with a NEW Howdy for each game. I'm not sure what I said - it was something about defending my title - but I got through it.

Then it was time to play. Until I watched last night, I really didn't remember much about this game. Of course I knew the final score, but I even got who I played mixed up between tonight and last night. I knew at some point I had wagered a True Daily Double in the Jeopardy round, but was surprised when it was in this game and that is was for 4800 (my memory was that it was less).

The keys to this game were hitting the DD's and wagering big. That was my plan going in - using shows I watched and the J! Archive, I was able to determine that I knew around 80% of past DD's in the Jeopardy Round that were in the first four rows (not in the 1000 row in other words). I planned to go TDD figuring that the odds were good I'd know it, and if I didn't I'd have the DJ round to make it up. I just hoped I'd have the guts to make that wager. The strange thing is that it didn't really take guts - being so focused on the game I wasn't phased. But watching last night, I said out loud, "What are you doing?"

The only way I got Philippines out of that clue was the one word "Bataan" in the midst of everything else. I'd never heard of those universities.

The same basic thinking went into my 5000 wager in DJ. I love "Before and After" as a category - if you can't get one part often the other part will give it to you - and this was an 800 clue, so might as well go for something that would give me some space in the game. Especially after Brian had just run the Spanish American War Category (I knew I was in trouble when that came up him being a history teacher and all), I need to make a move.

People have been asking me today why I looked so nervous when my answer was revealed in Final Jeopardy. After all, they said, you knew you got it right after the other two players' answers were revealed, and you knew you had wagered enough. Well, not exactly. I knew I had the right answer. But math is NOT my strong point - I'm a verbal guy. You don't get a calculator, just a piece of white paper and a felt-tipped marker. You have to lock in your wager before the Final Jeopardy clue is revealed. I doubled Brian's score, subtracted mine from it, then added a dollar. Then I did it again. I knew that at least one person had lost on Jeopardy! because of a math error, so did it a couple more times. So the sighing and nervousness wasn't acting - I wasn't absolutely sure I'd won until I saw my final score displayed.

I was thrilled to win a second time. Folks have also asked me about pointing up and saying "Thank you" after I win. It's not thanking God that I won, it's thanking him for the opportunity to be there and the gifts that He endowed me with that allow me to have a chance to be on Jeopardy!. Kicker Matt Stover of the Ravens has talked about that a lot - he points up after every kick, whether he makes it or not.

One more thing - I was interviewed on the radio this morning, which was kind of cool. The local Contemporary Christian radio station, WRBS, thought it was noteworthy that a pastor was winning on Jeopardy. On the morning show, I had the chance to talk about the process of getting there and to tell the story about my cardboard collar. Most importantly, I was able to name my church - Trinity Lutheran in Joppa Maryland.

It's been a fun ride. Just remember, I have to lose sometime. What's happened so far has already exceeded my expectations if not my hopes. We'll see what happens tonight.

To the Next Installment - GAME THREE