To Kellie, Brian, and all you who are talking yourselves out of trying for
or becoming a Jeopardy contestant:
There will always be categories you are sure you know nothing about - mine
is sports, but I have noticed that I end up with correct answers, If I have
any answer, about 50% of the time. The clue is not to make wild guesses but
semi-educated are okay, Ken Jennings surprised himself with correct answers
hundreds of times. You could see it on his face or hear it in is voice. So
did Eddie. If you judge yourself against how them, first find out how they
did in the preliminaries and how many times they failed the test. I think
Ken tried 3 times before making it.
As for dates: you don't need to know the exact ones very often or I would be
sunk. I always learned that they whys and hows of history are important,
the who's also but less, and the exact dates could always be looked up. Most
English school kids know the dates of all major British historical events -
they have to memorize them. But that tells us nothing about how they do in
life or what they really know or understand about history. We all have dates
we remember because of things in our own lives and it is those dates that
help us put things in context. It seems to me that the dates I remember or
can "guess" are ones related to events in my own life. I remember the 1968
convention not because Dan Rather was hit and ended up on the floor or
because Walter Cronkite lost his cool but because my sister was going home
from her waitress job that afternoon and was in the wrong place at the wrong
time and was gasses 5 times by the police. And I know it was not just plain
tear gas because someone she knew warned her to either dunk her whole
face/head in the near fountain or not get wet at all because it was pepper
spray and would cause blisters if slightly wet. The kid who warned her had
been in political demos in Paris and learned the hard way. We all have
memories connected to dates and or places and everything I remember about
that convention is because of my sisters connections to what I was watching.
If had had not heard her stories I probably would not have remembered about
Dan Rather and Walter the unflappable. I was busy taking courses and trying
to get my BA un 2 2/3 years (and succeeded). I am amazed I saw any tv that
year.
I think both of you should try as well as anyone else reading this who can
and are hesitant for their reasons. Hell. What have you got to lose ? And
if you try and don't make it you need not tell anyone until you finally do.
We will know when we see you on the show and just getting on is a success.
How you would do on the show is the luck of the draw with topics and with
betting at the end. You can't win if you don't play and if you lose it all
on the lfinal jeopardy we will remember that you had the guts to gamble.
Amy
Brian,
If all the sighted contestants thought like that, there wouldn't be much
Jeopardy anymore. <lol> I like Jeopardy too, but I have areas of glaring and
willful ignorance that would make me a rather unsuccessful candidate, namely
sports of all kinds and art and architecture. I'm good at remembering all
sorts of details about individuals from history, but I'm not great with
dates unless I specifically memorize them and I'm completely unable to
sequence unrelated events. So I guess I'll just sit on the couch and yell
out answers and feel intelligent when I get a few correct. <lol>
Kellie, who would love to see anyone from Bookshare on Jeopardy
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