Final Jeopardy: Ancient Greeks (5-17-21)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (5/17/2021) in the category “Ancient Greeks” was:
Plutarch quotes this man who sentenced many to death: “Small ones deserve that, and I have no higher for the greater crimes”
It’s the first quarterfinal match of the 2021 Tournament of Champions with guest host Buzzy Cohen! Today’s players are: 19x champ Jason Zuffranieri, a math teacher from Albuquerque, NM; 4x champ Ryan Bilger, a grad student from Macungie, PA; and 4x champ Sarah Jett Rayburn, a writer & stay-at-home mom from Hutto, TX
Round 1 Categories: Actually, Mondays Are Pretty Cool – Stock Symbols – A Place in the Bible – Quotable Films of the ’80s & ’90s – American History – Fowl Language
Ryan found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “American History” under the $600 clue on the 15th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $3,800, $400 more than Jason in second place. He made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.
The 1859 discovery of this near Titusville set off a boom in Pennsylvania show
Ryan finished in the lead with $9,200. Sarah was second with $5,000 and Jason was last with $4,200. No clues went uncovered.
Round 2 Categories: Classical Music – Time Magazine Person of the Year – TV on PBS – World Geography – Essays – I Get So Emotional!
Ryan found the first Daily Double in “Time Magazine Person of the Year” under the $800 clue on the 7th pick. He was in the lead with $16,000 now, $10,600 more than Jason in second place. He bet $6,000 and he was RIGHT.
2015: This national leader instrumental in dealing with Europe’s refugee and debt crises show
Sarah got the last Daily Double in “Essays” under the $1,200 clue, with 8 clues left after it. In third place with $5,800, she had $23,400 less than Ryan’s lead. She bet $4,000 and she was RIGHT.
Nora Ephron wrote that she wanted to be her, “the only lady at the table. The woman who made her living by her wit” show
Ryan finished in the lead with a runaway $32,400. Sarah was next with $9,800 and Jason was in third place with $9,400. No clues went uncovered.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHO IS DRACO?
From todayifoundout.com: “Nowadays, we may not hear the expression, “Draconian Laws,” very often, but for much of recorded history, this term in various languages has been synonymous with harshness, severity, brutality, and unmitigated terror…. The punishments for minor offenses were ridiculously harsh. For instance, the theft of a piece of fruit or sleeping in a public place were punishable by death! Similarly minor offenses could easily see a person turned from a free citizen to a slave. The Draconian Laws’ harshness and inhumanity, as a result, caused a lot of controversy and resentment within diverse circles of Athenian society.”
Aristotle said the laws were written in human blood and not ink. Plutarch of Athens believed that Draco was insane.
Jason got it right. He bet it all and finished with $18,800.
Sarah went with Crito. That cost her $9,800 and left her with nothing.
Ryan got it, too. He bet $5 and won the game with $32,405. Ryan Bilger is the first 2021 ToC semifinalist. Tune in tomorrow to watch Karen Farrell, Nibir Sarma, and Steve Moulds vie for the second semifinal spot!
A triple stumper from each round:
ESSAYS ($1600) An essay that she wrote about marine life called “World of Waters” was published in 1937 as “Undersea”
($2000) In 1972 John McPhee contrasted the game of Monopoly with a deteriorating Atlantic City in his essay “The Search for” this property
2 years ago: NONE of the players got this FJ in “Americana”
John & Priscilla Alden lie in the USA’s oldest maintained cemetery, which like a poem about the couple, is named for this person show
IF YOU HAVE SUGGESTIONS OR COMPLAINTS REGARDING GUEST HOSTS, PLEASE SEND YOUR FEEDBACK DIRECTLY TO JEOPARDY!
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VJ,
RE: Ryan
It’s hard for me to remember any of the great champions coming out with some of the comments Ryan uttered on DD’s, such as
1) “I’m gonna go for the kill”. I’m sure many contestants ’think’ this, but who actually says it?
2) “I’m an American historian”. When I think ‘historian’ I think of people who have spent their (considerable) life in that pursuit, not a young man.
I’m not saying Ryan is a bad person; I don’t know him. But comments like these are the opposite of humility. They represent arrogance to me, and that’s how it came across in my household.
Thanks for explaining your pov, DC. You’re certainly entitled to your opinion and I’m certainly not going to defend his remarks. I actually didn’t even notice the “go for the kill” one and I doubt if it would have struck me as arrogant since I was already predisposed to favor Ryan.
As for the historian one, I took that as joking to show he was confident about betting it all — then it turned out to be a clue about his home state. I saw something similar happen to a teacher in a tournament once where she got a DD about a Great Lake. You should have seen her beaming smile when she saw the clue! It made me look into it further and I found out that it was the name of the high school where she taught.
Wow. We had 3 good contestants today and Sarah did quite well against the two others. If contestants keep doing this well we could see a very tough competition next week.
At first, I wondered who was Draco? Right after the game ended, I then recollected about the draconian rules, regulations and punishments. At the time, I didn’t know where the term was derived from. Of course, I do now.
Sorry dumdum
Loved Buzzy. Hope he gets the job as new host.
I found myself rooting against Ryan. He came across to me as arrogant.
I really dislike ryan also. He is an immature kid. I hope ryan loses next round.
Also, buzzy was excellent, superb, and fun.
Agreed, he is brilliant, but overly cocky and conceited. I don’t remember him at all from his previous games.
Sharp group tonight. I got them only on hen’s teeth, chicken feed & Rachel Carson.
Glad Jason bet it all at the end, because I picked him to win the tournament.
We’ll see about that, DC, Albert, and Howard. I’m not rooting for Jason. He’s conceited as well.
I’m shocked that anyone thinks Ryan is conceited. I’ve always liked Ryan and found him to be very personable. I was already rooting for him to win whatever game he is in. My brother came down here from Austin yesterday to help me and watched the show with me. He never saw Ryan before but he was very impressed with Ryan’s performance.
VJ, I said Jason is conceited and ruthless.
well, that’s your opinion, Richard. I don’t think either of them are conceited or ruthless.
I think a lot of people favored Jason to win this game based on his 19 wins but I learned a long time ago that a long streak of games does not necessarily translate to an easy win in the ToC
I refuse to call a graduate student a kid. He has got to be in his 20’s. He is a grown man. However his behavior imo was like that of a kid. Unsportsmanlike conduct seems to be a thing today among the intelligent. I’ve noticed it in Ken Jennings, Jeopardy James, and Jonathan on other game shows. I don’t know what’s with the weird gestures lately.
A great start to the tournament of champions today. Jason actually improved a lot since his 19 game run so lets hope.his final jeopardy skills hasn’t rusted for the semi finals. All the daily doubles are nailed at least. Speaking of draconian, does that name draco remind you of draco Malfoy from the Harry potter series vj?
Semifinalists:
Ryan Bilger: $32,405
Wild Cards:
Jason Zuffranieri: $18,800
Sarah Jett Rayburn: $0
What a great start for the 2021 Tournament of Champions and Ryan has dominated the first quarterfinal match while Jason is looking good right now for a wild card spot with 18,800.