Red Dog

Brad's on fire. I knew that the FJ had something to do with the movie The Ten Commandmants, but the only name I could think of was Charleston Heston, and I knew he didn't die in 1959.

Chew

It seems like Ken has a dazed look to him during this tourney. It's going to have to be a Ken blowout today for him to pull out the overall victory.

djbrown

yeah, Ken has to enter FJ with like 6k more than Brad or Brad doesn't even have to wager a dime and he'll win.

Red Dog

I think having a free pass all the way into the final hurts Ken. These guys all the know the answer to most of the questions. It all comes down to speed and whoever is lucky enough to pick the DDs.

Nefarious

I agree. This has been mostly a contest of timing and less about who knows more than who. I wonder why they did 3 days instead of the whole week? Would have given more of a chance to catch-up. As it is, one bad day of final jeopardy has all but eliminated the other two.

calhoun07

Did Ken get a free pass? I thought I recall hearing Alex say on an episode recently that Ken had to buy his way into the tournament. Either way, I was disappointed they didn't make Ken work his ways through the ranks like everybody else.

Goldberg74

Jerome went through every level of the competition.

Brad had a first round bye.

Ken had a bye all the way to the Finals.

Goldberg74

Game over.

Here's the FJ question:

These names of two original Mercury Astronauts who orbited the Earth in 1962 and 1963 are also occupations.



That's that.

Jboone

I got a big laugh when Ken responded correctly with "No Sleep till Brooklyn". Who knew he was a big Beastie Boys fan.

worrywort

Ken's probably has the ringtone on his Cingular phone.

Norm de Plume

Too bad. I don't watch Jeopardy very often, but I was hoping Jennings would win again. The guy who won seems a bit weasely, whereas Jennings always has an "aw shucks" humility about him. He even had the class to write words of encouragement to the winner on his slate during Final Jeopardy.

Charlie Goose

That was just embarassing. After dominating the show for months, Ken gets his ass handed to him three consecutive games.

This Brad guy, is he a five-time champ from back when there was a limit? So, he's never lost a game?

Jeremy517

Ken probably would have had a better chance if he had to work his way through all the rounds that everyone else had to. He could have gotten his timing with the buzzer back.

Bill Needle

Maybe Ken would have done better without being out of the loop for so long. He seems like a real momentum player. But Brad was a freaking machine, and handed Ken his ass.

calhoun07

Even when Ken was playing before, whenever they had a break, it seemed it took Ken a bit to get back into his routine, and that was up against regular players. I kinda felt sorry for him, trying to get back into his routine and find his momentum when these players already had it going, especially Brad.

I think it would be interesting to see how Brad would do on the series now without any limits of how long he can keep winning. I wonder if he could surpass Ken's record for consequtive games played?

djbrown

correct. He also won the $1 million Jeopardy! Masters Tournament a few years back as well.

Red Dog

That was probably one of the best FJ trick questions ever. I said Carpenter and Shepard, so they suckered me in.

So who thinks Brad will be invited back to compete on regular shows to see if he can make a run at Ken's record?

das Monkey

I would like to see that. Winning a three-day tournament and making a Ripken-esque run like Ken did are two different things. It would be interesting to see how well Brad could do over the longterm.

das

Goldberg74

To me there is a difference between Ken's winnings and Brad's winnings.

Ken won $2.5M over the course of 75+ games, earning it all along the way.

Brad won $155,102 in his 5-day streak, and was handed $3M for winning two tournaments.

Seems a little lopsided to me.






... and for kicks:

Brad in 2005



Brad in 2002

neiname

When Brad won the $155,102, was it when the questions were half as much or were they $200-$1000 and $400-$2000?

Red Dog

The higher level I think. He averaged $31K per win. Getting to $30K under the old scoring was extremely rare IIRC.

Goldberg74

Here's a breakdown of the winnings:

Ken Jennings played 75 games for a total of $2,522,700. Then he won $500,000 for his 2nd place finish in this tourney.

Grand total: $3,022,700

Brad Rutter was an undefeated five-time champion in Season 17 as well as the winner of three special tournaments, the 2001 Tournament of Champions, the Million Dollar Masters Tournament, and the Ultimate Tournament of Champions.

Grand Total: $3,270,102

Now I have one more question... are they going to do a "2005 Tournament of Champions"? If so, then Ken has a shot for $250,000 more and that would put him up over Brad's total.

But I doubt Ken would want to try it again.

pilot

I bet he would. I would think he would want to be the "all time" holder and get over Brad's ..He's done the tv commercials, his game that's coming out, as well as his new TV show.. I imagine he's going to get all the publicity he can get..plus more $ (not that he's spending it like crazy) ..If I were him I'd want to come back as often as possible..

matome

Probably true, though I don't think ABC would've wanted to risk Ken getting eliminated early in the tournament and have three "unknowns" in the final game(s). With KJ guaranteed a slot in the Finals, they can guarantee big ratings.

Bill Needle

I blurted out Cooper and Shepard, and griped about how easy they were making the FJ questions for this tournament. I was much quieter later.