CRICKETS AND KETTLE DRUMS
The MVGsports.com column WHERE THE
GLASS IS ALWAYS HALF-EMPTY
#12
– “SHOW” TIME
BY TREVOR W. RILEY
MARCH 25, 2015
The
following piece correlates with Season 1, Episode 27 of Sports Jeopardy which
can be seen at http://www.crackle.com/c/sportsjeopardy.
Ever
wonder what goes through the head of a 3rd place Sports Jeopardy
contestant? Allow me to show and tell…
I
drew the first ping-pong ball backstage.
It had the #1 on it…championship position…the one I envisioned myself
being in.
Awkward shoulder shrug, check. Air-drawn Plus (+) 1 sign,
check. Right eye wink,
check. There’s a little something
for everyone.
Before
I continue with the highlights, please be advised that I am buzzing in like a
bumble bee on every single one of these questions. Just because I am not as animated as Robert
or Rick, doesn’t mean that I’m not pressing that buzzer feverishly like I’m trying
to avoid getting KOed in Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out…just
watch my right elbow-area twitch. Those
guys certainly played their video games before they showed up.
I
always consider myself to be a “numbers guy” so I found it appropriate to call
“Big Numbers” when I saw the category pop up.
Being a huge Michigan football and New England Patriots fan, it was
fitting that my first correct answer was Tom Brady. All three of us were rapid fire until the
interview segment. I was at 2750, tied
for first at the break, feeling pretty good.
More makeup, a chat with DP, and let’s get back at it.
NHL
Teams’ Last League MVP for 1000…
“Ted
Kennedy, 1955”
I’m
gonna take a stab at this one...Ted Lindsay played
for the Red Wings…I’ve got a 1 in 6 shot…*buzz* *buzz* *buzz*…”Who are the
Detroit Red Wings?”…
“No”
Damn,
Sergei Fedorov won it in 1994…duh. I remember why I don’t like the “home” teams lol. I’ve since done some research on Ted Kennedy
of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and it turns out that despite winning the Hart Memorial
Trophy (NHL MVP) in 1955, he wasn’t selected to either the first or second
all-NHL teams that year. Ahhh, award
selections of yesteryear.
Alright,
keep playing, get back in this thing.
Books
for 1000…
Bill
James book…I think I’ve got this…*buzz* *buzz* *buzz*…”What is the Baseball
Prospectus?”…
Dammit, it was the Baseball Abstract. I knew of the book and had seen it associated
with Bill James’ name many times before, but the word “Abstract” was never on
the tip of my tongue here. No good.
Alright,
I’ve still got Double Jeopardy left, let’s go win this thing.
50
Home Run Club for 2000…
After
a slight delay, the Daily Double screen pops up…damn, I didn’t want to see
this, this early…I know the 50 Home Run Club pretty well…2000 all day…
Once
I read/heard the name Jimmie Foxx, I was immediately trying to think of Johnny
Mize (for some odd reason I thought they were playing on the 6-letter first
name, 4-letter last name), but it just wasn’t coming to me. *Head down* I kept thinking in my head that
it was Jimmie something, again I thought they were going for a wordplay and
then *boop* *boop* *boop*…”Who is David Ortiz?”
Ahhh, that’s it…the 10-letter name total…that’s where my brain went lol.
So
now I’m a grand in the hole. I thought
to myself “I’m probably not gonna win this, but dig,
dig, dig and get what you can.” Double
Jeopardy ends with Trevor Riley at 5500, but just to rewind for a second. On Robert’s Daily Double try, where he correctly
answered “Navy”, I’m literally thinking to myself “please don’t get it, please
don’t get it, please don’t get it, please…” but you
know what happens lol.
Then
the Final Jeopardy category pops up…”Auto Racing”…”I’m in the right game” I
thought. I wasn’t even going to wait for
the crew to put up the partition before I could bet all 5500 of my points.
And
the answer...The two father-son rookie of the year winners at the Indy
500…hmmm, it’s got to be Unser (Al Sr. and Al Jr.) and Andretti (Mario and
Michael)…I write down “Unser” because the word “win” spooked me as I know Mario
was the only Andretti to win the Indy 500 (1969).
Wrong
sir, wrong!
It’s
quite a dejecting feeling knowing that you’ve finished with the goose-egg that
you started with. As I said in the
post-game interview, Final Jeopardy ended up being moot for me, however 11000
would have looked a lot better than 0 did/does.
Alas, such is life. You win some,
you lose a lot more, and in the interim you make the most of your
experiences/moments and learn whatever it is you’re to learn in the process. Congratulations to Robert for his big win,
and to Rick for a hard fought second place.
I am very grateful to have had this opportunity and hope I get to do the
Sports Jeopardy thing again somewhere down the road. I haven’t really sports trivia’ed
since I got home, however it doesn’t mean that I won’t go back to it at some
point. Perhaps the great Leon Carosi quoted it best when he said “Winning isn’t
everything, but losing STINKS!”
As
I departed the stage, I signed for my winnings, got a cab called for me, and
got a hug from the woman that I was eyeballing for much of the day (that’s not
the reason I lost lol). As I stood outside the gates of Sony, all I
could do was look to my right and smile.
The cab that came to take me back to the hotel was numbered with my
birthday…802. A
fitting end to a great adventure.
P.S. My plush, hand-sized Sports Jeopardy
basketball rolled under the dresser in room 402 at the Doubletree Hotel in
Culver City, CA if you’re looking for a souvenir J.
Well
that's a wrap for column 11, episode 12 of CNKD. If you have any comments, questions,
suggestions, or other feedback, feel free to send them along via email to trevor@mvgsports.com. There's 12 down and 999,988 to go. Peace.
3-28-15 FROM THE “OH
BTW” FILE…
-In
the “On the Line is Tony” category, during the 500 point question about the San
Antonio Spurs player who iced the game, etc, etc, I was thinking to myself, “Kawhi Leonard, Tim Duncan, Danny Green…” “Who is Tony
Parker?”…oh…idiot…Tony has to be in the answer.
So the very next question, game 7 Cincinnati Red who hit the clinching
home run in 1975, I’m thinking to myself “George
Foster, Pete Rose, Joe Morgan…” “Who is Tony Perez?”…yeah…that happened lol.
-They
cut my bit about not tying my shoes as an ode to Denard
Robinson during the “get to know the players” segment. I don’t blame them, it wasn’t all that
exciting, there was a tinge of dead air when Dan Patrick peeked around the
podium to really see if my shoes were tied or not, and they wanted to run with
the chicken wing thing since it was mentioned in my introduction, which makes
complete sense. I still don’t tie my
shoes btw, ask my co-workers. I was
wearing gray socks that day with blue and white sharks on them #insideinformation lol.
-Lastly,
I just want to commend Dan Patrick for being a consummate professional in every
sense of the term. What I was most
impressed by, was that during each break, he had to do re-reads/edits for
certain clues that may have been unclear or what have you, and he did these in
stride…no complaints, no bite back, no whining, just
all business. I found it very
refreshing. The guy’s probably making 6
or 7 figures for this gig, but he’s not above the game/show. I would also like to thank Maggie, Corina, and Aimee on the contestant team, Kelly and Jimmy
on the clue crew, Lisa who did my makeup, Mitch the sound/mic
guy, John the stage manager, and everyone else that really made this a
first-class, unforgettable experience.
They all made this process as fun and enjoyable as possible, and I would
more than look forward to doing this again, if I had/get/earn the opportunity.