The Fourth Game

Today I was up against Ellie and Pat. I didn't really get to know Ellie, but Pat (despite the suggestive name - his last name is Harder) is a great guy - pretty smart and pretty funny.

Here's a transcript of this game.

All things must come to an end. This is true.

I had a great run. This is also true.

I should be proud of myself. This, too, is true. And I am.

But I can't help thinking I should have won this game. For the first time I was way ahead early and felt like I was dominating the game. But 4 questions turned it around for me - if I had a different outcome on any of them, I would have won:

• This $1000 word puzzle: The answer they were looking for was "year in, year out". I said "year after year". On the one hand, their answer works better, but I thought my answer was correct as well. Oh well.

• The last question in the single Jeopardy! round - who is considered England's first Prime Minister? I had no idea, but I felt like I was on such a roll that I should try anyway. This was stupid; it cost me $1000. (Actually if I had just kept my mouth shut it wouldn't have won me the game, but still...)

• On the Literary Translations Daily Double, saying "Twenty Thousand Leagues Beneath the Sea" when I should have said "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. That one word cost me $4000 in my score.

• The FJ questions - which goddess is on the current Olympic medals. It's basically a coin toss - do you go with Nike, the goddess of victory, or do you go with Athena, the goddess most closely associated with Athens?

I guessed wrong, Ellie was close enough to bet zero, and I lost.

Oh well, the only person who seems to feel like I blew it is me. And only sometimes. Looking back, it was a pretty special thing, and I'm really proud of it.

Odds and Ends