Final Jeopardy: U.S. Geography (7-2-14)
The Final Jeopardy question (7/2/2014), in the category “U.S. Geography” was:
2 places called Point Udall, referred to as the USA’s easternmost & westernmost points, are in these 2 territories.
New champ Howard Ray won $30,200 yesterday. In his second game, he takes on these two players: Christi Esterle, from Colorado Springs, CO; and Matthew Harney, originally from Springfield, IL.
Round 1: Matthew found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “A History Lesson” under the $600 clue. He was in second place with $800, $400 less than Christi’s lead. He bet the $1,000 allowance and he was RIGHT.
The FSA & NYA were part of the “alphabet soup” of this 1930s U.S. Government Program. show
Christi finished in the lead with $5,000. Howard was second with $4,400 and Matthew was last with $1,400.
Round 2: Christi found the first Daily Double in “Literary Quotes” under the $2,000 clue. She was in second place with $6,600, $600 less than Howard’s lead. She bet $2,000 and she was RIGHT.
This Edgar Allan Poe short story ends “The inquisition was in the hands of its enemies.” show
Howard found the last Daily Double in “Mob Movies” under the $2,000 clue, last clue on the board. He was in second place with $12,000, $3,000 less than Christi’s lead. He bet $3,000 and had no idea, so he was WRONG.
These 2 men, Best Actor Oscar winners for 2000 & 2001 square off in “American Gangster”. show
Christi finished in the lead with $15,000. Howard was next with $9,000 and Matthew was in third place with $3,800.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
Point Udall in Guam is the westernmost point (by travel, not longitude, according to wikipedia), in the territorial United States, located on the Orote Peninsula of Guam. In 1987, it was named for former Arizona congressman Morris “Mo” Udall (1922-98). Before then it was called “Orote Point.”
Point Udall in the U.S. Virgin Islands is located at the east end of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands is the easternmost point (also by travel, not longitude per wikipedia) in the USA, including territories and insular areas. It was named for Stewart Udall, U.S. Secretary of the Interior under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.
Matthew wrote down Alaska & Maine. He lost his $3,500 and finished with $300.
Howard came up with American Samoa and Guam. He lost $6,100 and ended up with $2,900.
Christi wrote down the same thing as Howard. She only lost $3,001, so she won the game with $11,999.
Christi is a stay-at-home mom. She talked about her hobby, a web series analyzing “terrible musicals on film.” She told Alex that there are more than one might think and specifically named “Can’t Stop the Music” and “Xanadu.” Trebek said he would check out her series.
2 years ago:: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “Nuclear Nations”
On May 18, 1974 this country tested its first nuclear device, nicknamed “Smiling Buddha”. show
We may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made from Amazon.com links at no cost to our visitors. Learn more: Affiliate Disclosure.
but look at the bright side: the whole thing triggered a lively discussion and quite some research. that’s how you get to the truth, eventually. once they thought the earth is the center of the universe and the sun is moving around the earth…still in the 17th century the catholic church and galileo were completely at odds about helio- or geocentric matters….not so long ago in historic terms.
John, excellent point. This clue was written as if the United States was the center of the universe.
How about if we just take out the clause between the commas?
Then the clue would have been: U.S. Geography:
2 places called Point Udall are in these 2 territories.
Then what would have happened today?
Easy. Matthew would’ve written Alaska and Maine.
Matthew: if you read this, sorry. I’m sure that you’ve already taken a ration for this.
Well, it would have been an either you know both or you don’t scenario then. So by giving that extra info, it would have been a help to look in the other direction for a player who only knew one.
Just looking at the clue another way.
VJ, I’m just saying the J writers make a lot of money to do what they do. You should not have to take valuable time trying to clean up their mess. We need your expertise on FF.
okay, but not defending them, Jacob — it was just a thought. Sometimes I do that take the clause out thing when I’m writing or reading other things. Of course, on the show, you wouldn’t exactly have time to do that unless you were someone who was remarkably quick on his/her feet.
We? We didn’t write the fj clue. Not one commentator. What if the Jeopardy clue writers had left it out? What would have happened. I have been searching sites and Jeopardy Facebook has some email complaints to Jeopardy. J Board has some baffled comments over fj clue.
Why didn’t they write the clue in a way that was clear and concise? I have never seen so much discontent over a fj clue from viewers. Of course, I’m still smarting from the “phooey” category last week. That was weird.
Well, I’ve seen more discontent about a clue — How about this FJ on 6/11/2012 —
Events in the Bible: Acts 1:13 says this event occurred in “an upper room”. The cluewriters thought the answer was The Last Supper.
(I’m not counting last year’s Kids Tournament – that ruckus was over the judges’ ruling not the clue)
I remember those but this one is off the charts. It could be because there are more J specific websites now.
Well, after yesterday’s answer in the middle of “the Bill of Rights,” and today’s answer in the middle of “Alaska and Maine,” we’ve gone from dumb to dumber.
Now, Alaska was a territory up until January 3, 1959. But Maine was originally part of the colony (and then state) of Massachusetts.
I agree with all those who say that Guam is one of the U.S.’s easternmost, not westernmost points. And using that logic, the Virgin Islands are rather centrally located.
Which, as Mr. Ripple says, gives us both the eastern- and westernmost points in Alaska, which is NOT a territory any more, no matter what Matthew thinks. And so much for the two Misters Udall.
NOMI: do you understand now why Americans are confused about geography?
Hey Eric, you can’t get away with blaming America’s geography confusions on a badly worded Jeopardy clue. Americans are just generally geographically challenged :).
Hey, didn’t mean any offense to anyone. My apologies.
you can make a joke, Nomi. Your remark was directly addressed to eric, so I don’t see why that should offend anyone. I mean, any reasonable person would see it as playful repartee
How do you know that it didn’t offend me?
Ha, ha..ha! It didn’t!
The Udall thing is correct leads you to only two places, but they are not the eastern and westernmost places controlled by the US. Both would be in the Aleutions. Amatignak Island is the westernmost and Semisopochnoi Island is the easternmost. Both are in the state, not the Territory, of Alaska. This is assuming that the Prime Meridian of 180 degrees defines East and West. Don’t mention the international date line – this is for time not geography. Both are arbitrary however, unlike latitude which relates to the poles. So this question is logically flawed and not answerable.
Also, the IDL isn’t a line, in a strict definition: it juts in hundreds of miles and has a few peak-looking variations.
I’ve learned something today.
Agreed. I was just about to tweet about it. thanks for posting.
Eastern and western by travel is the key word. It didn’t say eastern and western by longitude.
Any BASEBALL fan should check out the post by Sport Team.
any conspiracy theorist should check out the post about Kathy Bates :-0
Every baseball conspiracy theorist knows who Rothstein was.
So, the actual answer is Puerto Rico (per John) and Wake Island (per Doug). THAT has triple stumper written all over it!
I thought Wake too until I googled it and the Marshalls, they are independent but under the “protection” of the US. But let them try to align with Russia and see how quickly we invade! LOL
Sorry, Wake IS a territory. spoke too soon.
Can’t remember what Matthew Harney was introduced as by occupation. VJ, can you remember?
I just checked Linkedin and he shows up as a PhD in Chemistry. Could you double check vj?
Johnny Gilbert just said he was a research assistant and student. In the chat, he talked about his budget wedding, a long time, I thought. Oh, well, Matthew’s tie matched his shirt really well!
That was one bright shirt Howard had on today.
Since guam is past the date line, it is referred to in EASTERN longitude. so technically, guam is the EASTERNMOST point of the u.s. (144 degrees and change EAST), while the virgin islands are located at 64 degrees and change WEST. so does crossing the date line make guam the eastermost point in u.s. territories?
the 180th meridian is at the same time the easternmost and westermost line in the world, which would put guam into the eastern hemisphere. everything EAST of the 180th is not in a territory. so the OMISSION of “by travel” makes the fj answer guam and v.i. kind of shaky.
“BY TRAVEL” would have made a clear point, poor phrasing- or as k said- it became a trick question. the prime meridian (greenwich) and the 180th (date line) are there for a reason.
The bottom line is the clue was terrible. Over on J Board some commentators are posting that what they learned in school was incorrect.
Contrary to the fj clue, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. That fact will never change. As I post this on Wednesday at about 9:10 pm est it is Thursday 11:10 am in Guam.
Actually Guam is incorrect. The easternmost most point of the United States and its territories, is wake Island. This is why the sign at the airport says “where America’s day really begins”
I thought that was Dunkin’ Donuts.
Thanks, Doug I remember that sign now. I was stationed at Guam for 6 months back in the day and this fj clue was news to me.
Do you think the writers ruled out Wake Island because it is used as a stopover by the USAF?
I now understand why they used Point Udall in the fj clue. That gets the writers off the hook because Wake Island is actually 2 hours ahead of Guam but no Point Udall there. Sneaky, sneaky.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who was confused by this question. I knew it was the islands in the pacific. But they get away with it saying “referred to” as the easternmost and westernmost. I guess some bigwig referred to it one day and Jeopardy fell in line.
SLIGHT CORRECTION: WAKE island is an unorganized and unincorporated TERRITORY, ca. 166 degrees and change east, GUAM between 144 and 145 degr. and change east. That makes de facto WAKE the easternmost point in a u.s. TERRITORY and puerto rico the westernmost. there is no u.s. territory west of p.r. until after the 180th! The “REFERRED” lets j off the hook. had they said “ARE the easternmost” the contestants could ask for a another clue.
in any case, doug and eric s, you are correct as is k will. this fj was completely screwed up, if you pardon my language.
@VJ whether you did it intentionally or not, THANK YOU! You deserve more credit for everything that anyone could ever give you!
anyway, an explanation by j would be nice. a confusing thing, the whole matter, but WE got it finally right. the clue writers should be docked 1/20 of their pay checks 🙂
thank you all for not dismissing my first post about this and getting to the bottom of this, after checking maps, google etc. as a teacher of mine once said:”knowledge is when you know WHERE to look when you want to find out/learn something”
On the India thing — the other two said China
@vj, thanks for including St. Croix in your recap. Whenever we visited the U.S. Virgin Islands the people were specific in stating that Point Udall was in St. Croix and not St. Thomas or St. John.
Matthew, Matthew, Matthew! Time to send you back to school and revoke your diplomas and/or degrees. Alaska and Maine are territories? What?
finally a game where the fj bets make sense.
and we have yet ANOTHER champ!
one rose to christi, THAT i can afford 🙂
I don’t understand. Why not by longitude? Is this one of those curvature of the earth, rotating on a tilted axis, very confusing things?
By longitude the only correct answer is the one that the two contestants answered with…and got punked –i.e. the furthest west and east means closest to 180 degrees (the Int. Date Line) in either direction, west or east.
So, I was right: two correct!! Ha, ha, ha.
if you put it that way, yes, considering AMERICAN samoa (being about 170 degrees WEST, 10 degrees shy of the IDL.. samoa itself is an independent country.
amazing how a simple thing can become so twisted, isn’t it?
I warned you over on CotD, but, you didn’t believe me. This clue was wild. It is currently Thursday in Guam about 9:45a.m. at the time I am posting this on Wednesday in the U. S. EST. Go figure.
The comment I wrote above was meant for Eric about Guam.
You were absolutely right. Only once have I ever seen them bring back a contestant (I have relatively limited viewing experience). But, alas, it made no difference in the final standing. Of course, Christi lost 3001, but still won. Jeopardy on a budget.
at least the screw up did NOT change the outcome of the game. nobody had wake and puerto rico. so there is some consolation.
Now, I guess, we know why they included the Point Udall qualifiers.
Yep.
Uh…what’s the term I’m looking for here?
Ba-da-BOOM, ba-da-BING!
Wow. Truly rare is the day when I know the FJ and the players get stumped.
Wow, wow, wow: Howard, buddy, those are states.
That was Matthew, if vj had it right. But yeah, that is a candidate for sToOpiD for sure!
yes, I got it right though I would not be surprised if I screwed something up. Lightning and thunder during the game, a phone call right when FJ came on and that darned cat. He is jealous when I do the recap and deliberately messes with my lampshade to get attention from me. Doesn’t seem to care that it’s negative attention. It is a mystery why he’s jealous — he’s not even my cat. My daughter-in-law has a little dog who likes me too and when she comes over, she gets jealous if the cat sits by me. It’s just crazy.
Sorry Howard. I was too shocked, and still baffled by the longitude thing.
yeah, i could have accepted puerto rico, if he forgot about the v.i.
both, guam and puerto rico are unincorporated territories.
the DDs were not too difficult either, at least imo. especially the first one (for me) since it covers u.s. history. the second i got as well, but denzel washington- i had it on the tip of my tongue but could not spit it out….
I got Denzel, but couldn’t think of Crowe (not really a fan, but for Mystery, Alaska, but not really for him).
same here, and this is one I saw in the theater but forgot Crowe was even in it. heh
Matthew is the one who gave state names
Once again, just in case he stops by: I am sorry, Howard.
Here is a textbook case of the clue writers simply skipping a key piece of info that vj included, namely, “by travel”.
It is, I think, entirely fair to argue that this was at minimum an unnecessarily tricky question, if not quite a trick question. But kudos to yours truly for calling the triple stumper (against conventional wisdom here at Fikklefame.)
😉
Yes, kudos to you, Bill. You don’t smoke cigars, do you?
Ixnay, but I’ll take credit card numbers in lieu of such a gift.
LOL – how about a cyberial coffee milkshake.
As I commented on CotD this was a horribly written clue. It was specifically designed to trip up the contestants. As vj and I commented over on CotD, the writers probably try to figure out ways to trick contestants. But Matthew still does not get off the hook. Alaska and Maine territories of the U. S.? No excuse for that response.
can’t take credit for including “by travel” — that was in the wikipedia articles I paraphrased and linked to. In fact, the reason I paraphrased, rather than quoted it, was because in the one on Guam, where it says by travel not longitude, it has (clarification needed) after that. In the other, it just says by travel not longitude and doesn’t have any citation or ask for any clarification.