July 14, 2004

My Love's In Jeopardy

I love Jeopardy. I love, love, LOVE Jeopardy.

Quick nerd story here. When I was a young'un, my house used to STAND STILL between 7:30 and 8:00 while Jeopardy was on. It's the one program that my parents encouraged me to watch, even though they didn't like it themselves. If it was dinnertime, I was allowed to eat in front of the TV. If I was grounded or confined to my room, I was allowed to watch Jeopardy.

But, see, I was good at it. Even at the tender age of 9 or 10, I was GOOD at it. I would even keep a running score-sheet to see how I did compared to the other contestants. Oh, by the way, I was a nerd.

Hey…being a nerd can be lucrative. Just ask Ken Jennings.

If you don't watch the show, as of yesterday (July 13th), this guy has won 30 STRAIGHT GAMES (they don't have a 5 game limit any more). His take so far…over a MILLION BUCKS. All for playing a frickin' GAME SHOW.

He's my new hero. I never thought I'd idolize a tee-totalling Mormon, but I do. I also think I could kick his ass (game-wise).

Some people know this, but it is quite literally a life-long dream for me to go on Jeopardy. I get all the games, play them out, and DREAM of going head-to-head with Alex. Hey…I'd clean up in Potent Potables alone.

But thus far, it has not come to fruition. The closest I've come is appearing on a lame Canadian game show called "Time Chase"…which is a great story, actually…but for another day.

Contestant Searches are crap, by the way. The last time Jeopardy had a contestant search up here, it worked like this…you fill out a ballot in TV Guide with 5 questions on it (easily researchable), all of the correct ballots go into a drum, they pick 100 at random, you go down for a "mock game", they realize that the "contestants" they found are dumb as stumps, and move on to the next city.

My only other option is to go down and write the test in LA…something which I've never been able to afford to do. But, they warn against it. They say that because the test is so hard, you shouldn't bother making a trip JUST to take the test. That initially scared me off.

But then, I played the latest version of the PC game, which includes a sample contestant exam.

I passed the bastard EASILY. 44 right out of 50. I can DO THIS!!!

So now, it's simply a matter of getting down there.

So, here is my pledge to all of you. From this day forward, every single DOLLAR I make through this site will go toward a trip to LA to take the Jeopardy exam.

It seems nerdy, I know. But it IS a life-long dream. And who knows what may happen? I could wind up beating ol' Ken Jennings there.

If NOTHING else, it will be worth the experience, and I don't want to put it off any more. If I don't at least try, I'll be doomed to a life of playing with myself…and nobody likes that.

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