PREPARATION J (or, The Big Wait)

When we last left this saga, the viewing parties were over and the world had returned to normal. Well, most of the world.

I knew I was in the running for the Tournament of Champions, but that my standing was tenuous at best. The Tournament would be taped in January, 2009, and the top 14 winners since the last TOC would be invited (plus the College Tournament Champion). At the time my shows were aired in late June, I was #6 on the list. So, I just had to hope there weren't any more than 8 bigger winners than me over the next 7 months.

So, for months I was in a strange kind of purgatory. There was absolutely nothing I could do to improve my situation. All I could do was watch Jeopardy! every night and root for the returning champion to lose. And root even harder for two time returning champions to lose. And so on.

To all those I rooted against, I apologize. It wasn't personal.

When Jeopardy! wasn't on, while I was supposed to be doing other things (like writing a sermon), I did calculations using the J Archive. Like . . . in the average Jeopardy month, going back 10 years (but not including Ken Jenning's run), there were .8 champs who did better than me. In the number of shows between mine and the TOC, the average was 4.6. So . . . I should be ok - in about 11th place.

But . .. back in Season 17 there had been an average of 7.6 bigger winners in that time.

Uh oh.

These calculations were revised every week or so based on how many shows were left and how many bigger winners there had been. YES, it was sort of obsessive, but in a way it gave an illusion of control to something over which I really didn't have any control.

I also studied. Not so much at first, then in every spare moment starting in early November. I made electronic flash cards of every fact listed in the back of Mike Dupee's "How to Get on Jeopardy and Win" book, as well as for world capitals and other lists. I carried a small spiral notebook and tried to jot down any fact I came across that might be J-worthy. Those facts also became flash cards. I also tracked which flash cards I studied, and what percentage I was getting right (the program I use does the figuring for you).

I also TIVO'd the GSN and current Jeopardy! broadcasts each day, and "played" them using the pause button on the remote as my buzzer. I tracked my Coryat score to see my improvement. During that time, GSN re-ran Ken Jennings' streak so I "played" against him. Some days my Coryat was even a little higher than his!

Yes, it was a lot of studying and preparing for something that might not happen (although the likelihood increased as time passed). But, here's what I figured . . .

• If I did make the TOC, I wanted to be as prepared as possible. Not so much to "win" - too many variables (i.e. categories, buzzer speed, etc) for that, but so that if I did not do as well as I hoped then I would not regret having not taken time to prepare. And . .
• It was something to DO besides sit and wait and wonder if i would make the cut.

From the taping schedule on the J! website, I knew that the last shows that would air before the TOC would be taped December 3. So, I was expecting to hear something by December 4.

Or not.

Little did I know that I wouldn't have to wait that long . . .

To the Next Installment - THE ALMOST, WELL SORT OF, TOC CALL