Jeopardy! I can no longer boast that...

[youtalkfunny]

...I've only missed one sports question in my life.

Even that one I missed, long ago, I barely missed. They were looking for the name of the Romanian-born gymnastics coach who carried an injured Kerri Strug off the mat at the Olympics. I say that I barely missed it, because I could picture the guy's face, and could come up with his first name.

It's all moot now, after yesterday's Tournament of Champions show, where I missed not one, but TWO sports questions.

The first was looking for the golfer who shot a 59. "Azinger" immediately leaped to mind, but I had a feeling that wasn't right. But I couldn't get past "Azinger". But I knew it was somebody much, much older than Paul Azinger, someone who made the leap to the Senior PGA Tour a while ago.

My thoughts were interrupted by the contestant who answered, "Who is Sorenstam?"

Wait a sec...they were looking for a female golfer? I saw "This golfer" and "59" in the question, and ignored the rest.

Sorenstam was accepted. My near-perfect record has turned to dust. I'm devastated.

Now the last clue in "sports":

"This New York horse racetrack is the oldest operating track in the country."

I booked horse races in Las Vegas for many years. And I never miss a Jeopardy sports question. So I can't miss this one, right?

But I'm still tilting from the golf question. I desperately want to say the answer out loud before someone on the tv does, and they're already ringing in.

As well as I know my own name, I know that the three NY tracks are Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga. Aqueduct is not nearly the oldest. It's Belmont or Saratoga. In my haste, I let "New York based" point me towards New York CITY, and since they've run the Belmont Stakes (part of the Triple Crown) for at least 125 years (actually 140), I blurted, "Belmont!"

That's wrong of course. If I had two seconds to think about it, I would have certainly said Saratoga, which is famous for being old! Saratoga is almost 50 years older than Fenway or Wrigley.

I never tilt when I play poker. But I had more than money on the line yesterday. I had a big chunk of ego--hell, a big chunk of my IDENTITY on the line, and it led me to choke.

///

The gymnastics coach was <font color="white">Bela Karolyi</font>, and Mr 59 was not Azinger, but <font color="white">Geiberger--Al Geiberger</font>. Finally, Aqueduct (1894) is not older than the Belmont Stakes (1867), but it IS older than Belmont Park (1905). Figure that one out.

[tuq]

I can't believe that you missed the gymnastics one if your record is that solid. He always creeped me out because he spent decades hanging around nubile young girls but maybe I'm being paranoid.

Also, Chip Beck shot a 59 in a Vegas event maybe a decade ago, and I think David Duval did it a few years back too at the Palm Springs event. So there are multiple correct answers to that question unless it was worded "first" golfer to do it or something, and it was a couple more decades before it was repeated.

[Dominic]

I'm pretty sure David Duval did it, too...

[tuq]

Dom,

O RLY?

[zacd]

Al Geiberger, Chip Beck, David Duval, Annika, that's all right?

Man [censored] Duval, whatever happened to him, I always thought he was going to be great.

[OrigamiSensei]

I was trying to think of Geiberger, I knew it was a G---er name and I knew it first happened quite a few years ago. My blurted answer would have been Chip Beck, which apparently is correct as well. Would not have come up with Duval or Sorenstam.

[Mr_Mxyztplk]

without using google, who was the first basketball to score 1000 rebounds in a single season?

[JackCase]

[ QUOTE ]
without using google, who was the first basketball to score 1000 rebounds in a single season?

[/ QUOTE ]

[tshort]

Missing the Sorenstam question would have been brutal in your situation, but Belmont is the obvious guess. My roommate and I were both watching and quickly blurted out Belmont.

I watch Jeopardy most every day (dvr) and feel like a moron for missing Sports questions too... and science/math questions for that matter. I do miss sport questions more often than you, but it is a rare occasion.

The questions for Tournament of Champions have definitely been more difficult than the norm.

[quirkasaurus]

you were just watching the show, right?

i have a near perfect record for the "bible" category... lol.

some of the answers and dumb looks these people give who
can name the obscurest of Broadway musical lyrics always
cracks me up.

the only "bible" question i got wrong was one where they
asked something about the year the King James came out
or something about the Guttenberg printing press...

I had no clue...