Looking back, though, there was also my sense that I wouldn't be able to tell any other story until I told this one, and for that, I had to wait until last Friday. I blogged about my Jeopardy! experience quite a bit for the blog I keep for my students and their families (the one mentioned above). You can read those posts and see some pictures here:
- L.A. OMG (12/13/14)
- Livin' in Beverly Hills (12/14/14)
- Gagner to Gang. Come in, Gang (12/15/14)
When Jeopardy! in real life ended, I began the long wait for its syndicated resurrection and that long wait seemed to block all the other stories I might have told in the two months between when we got to L.A. and when the fruits of that trip went public. That doesn't mean I had nothing to say, it just means that I needed to say this first.
Most, if not all, of my fellow Teachers Tournament colleagues immediately posted reflections about the experience on Facebook and in a massively long email chain that we have been keeping up with. All I could say was bravo for being able to turn around such an emotional bit of writing so quickly! I've been sitting on mine for a couple days because I haven't been able to pull it all together. The pieces by my tournament buddies were all fantastic to read and helped bring back a gaggle of memories and kindred experiences, some of which I have drawn on for this, my own Monday morning QB session. Watching the four games that came before mine was a truly novel experience as I had been sequestered all day and barely knew what time it was, let alone who was winning or moving on to the semis. All I knew about who had advanced I found out on the bus ride from the lot back to the hotel; many of the logistics of it all were a mystery until last week. I wasn't surprised by the awesome performances and high-scoring games. Having spent just a couple days in the company of the 14 other teachers still gave me enough time to understand that they are all the real deal when it comes to the big J!.
Right Place, Right Time
And I guess that brings me to my first thought about the game: there's nothing you can do to win it other than play it. Sounds simple, stupid even, but I can't think of any other way to say it. Take the two Daily Doubles I found in my quarterfinal game. I didn't have a clue about either of them and, to me, that "Bad Poetry About Poets" category should have been called "Gibberish WTF" instead. I punted with Shakespeare, figuring a) Jeopardy! loves the Bard (see: the clue in my Final and categories in at least one other game that week); and 2) that he had written enough poems to have a reasonable chance at having written the one that this foreign language-esque bastardization of a clue was describing. I still don't remember who it was. Tennyson maybe? Or Byron? As for the other one, I had to Google Wabash to figure out just where in the Midwest it is. I offered Swanee because all I could think of was Eugene Levy singing that mash up of "Camptown Races" and "Swanee" in Waiting for Guffman. It seemed as good a reason as any and I had to say something.
Had I gotten the clue about the feudal system that my buddy Adam E-H got on his DD, I would have slam dunked it just like he did. It's all about what comes your way, which is something you have no sway over. (Sound a lot like life? Sorry, didn't mean to clobber you with my metaphor.) There isn't much worse than being on a quiz show and knowing all kinds of answers, but not getting asked the corresponding questions. I guess that's true for a lot of situations and there have been a few times in my life when I have made the same face as I did at my buzzer during that game. My mom, who watched from her home outside of Vegas, said she knew that eye-roll well. It just came from a place where all I could say was, "Oh, come ON!" Sometimes your hands are tied and no matter how hard you try to buzz in, someone else gets to it first. The important part to remember is that, in someone else's world, sometimes you get to be the someone else who gets it first. Those are the cool times. This whole trip was one of those times.
On Making A Whoopsie on National TV
Gladly, the internet was kind to me for my mistakes. Someone dogged on me for not getting that poetry clue, which is fine, but I think that's the extent of it so far (aside from flap about my buzzer etiquette, TBD). They don't call it "trivia" for nothin' and all I can say to the internetters who said that our games were too easy is that it's always easy from the couch. I've been guilty of the same crime myself, sighing, "Ugh, how did you miss that one?!" to the folks on my TV screen. Well, add the fact that you're in front of 150 strangers, you're caked in make-up, it's hotter than the blazes of Hell and damnation, there's lots of money on the line, you're matching wits against two really smart people, you wish you had worn different shoes, you're thinking about your husband sitting in the audience going on seven hours, and you're trying not to do anything that will make Trebek raise his eyebrows, and you'll know why you miss a few "obvious ones." All About That Bass? Nope. All About That Buzzer, baby.
Speaking of, I have been surprised by the vitriol against us teachers when we missed a question. It's like using a snow day to measure our careers and the impacts we have on kids' lives. In a manufactured, high-stakes, absolutely not run-of-the-mill experience, where you have to press a button at the exactly right moment to talk, I would question most anyone's capacity for flawlessly responding to a barrage of completely random bits of knowledge. (Careful! Don't step in my standardized testing diatribe.) I would argue that the fact that we're teachers means very little to our play, other than the fact that we were picked for a set of games where our chosen profession was the sole qualifier (and our abilities to pass a litany of IQ and personality tests too, I guess). Some folks have squawked at there being a Teachers Tournament at all. The good people at Sony said that it's a way to give back. After all, no teachers, no Jeopardy!. Makes sense. Plus, the 15 of us were pretty darned bright, regardless, and I don't think any of us did anything in any of these 10 games to make us rightfully blush. I'd be glad to have anyone in this group teach a child of mine and the rest of America should be, too. These are people who chase dreams, my friends, all while embracing our own smarts and inspiring kids to do the same. That's pretty flipping noble, whether you know where the Wabash is, or not.
Minor Brush With Fame or Brush With Minor Fame?
Having been a publicist for almost a decade, I have had my share of on-air minutes and elbows rubbed with big shot types. But the difference between that and being on a nationally syndicated TV game show is that I was usually behind the scenes, not right smack dab in the middle of them. Being a part of Jeopardy! has been such a wonderful way to connect with people and feel encouragement from all over the place for something I've wanted to do since I was six. Add the fact that we were the chosen 15 out of the hundreds of thousands of people who wanted the same thing and you've got yourself a lifetime of feeling super cool.
Over the weekend, I participated in a Google Hangout with some fans and former players and being able to talk about and share this once-in-a-lifetime experience and be the recipient of people's curiosity and amazement isn't something I'll ever forget. We have an IMDB page, a Wikipedia entry, hundreds of column inches of combined newspaper coverage, and all kinds of TV exposure (not to mention the "Hard Rock" category from the first game, which went viral and landed a clip of Colin, Martha, and Erin on The Jimmy Fallon Show, among other pop culture places). Closer to home, neighbors, students and their families, coworkers past and present, and folks from all over Vermont reminded me that I wasn't just representing myself, I was representing Monkton Central School, Addison County, and the entirety of the Green Mountain State. We're small, but we stick together... and that's what makes us mighty.
What Really Matters
Probably the best part about the whole experience--even better than getting an all expenses paid trip to Southern California while Vermont was digging out of a blizzard--was getting to meet a great bunch of people. The folks at Sony--producers and contestant wranglers Maggie, Corina, Glen, and Aimee; make-up artists Sandy and Chris; Mitch, who always made sure my mic was on; Ernie and Vincent the bus drivers; Jimmy and Kelly from the Clue Crew who posed for all kinds of pictures; Johnny Gilbert who said my last names so beautifully after only about three tries; Trebek for letting me teach him what "Semper ubi sub ubi" means in a Winner's Circle conversation; and the countless other folks who did everything from raise and lower us short people on the hydraulic lifts behind the podiums to ease our nerves and listen to our questions, from psyching us up to reminding us to "watch your step" when coming off stage--were such a warm and welcoming bunch. They made this nerd's fantasy come to life in a really fun way. In fact, it might have been a pretty scary experience without this crew.
That is until I really met the teachers... I think I'll miss you most of all, scarecrows. The picture below, our official publicity shot, was taken after the first day of taping, when Colin, Eric, Lydia, Mary, Cathy, Jennifer, Erin, Adam, and I all knew that we would be moving on to the semis. From the smiles and the camaraderie on set, you couldn't tell any difference between those whose journey was coming to an end and those whose had another stop or two. My guess is that this is what makes the Teachers Tournament so special. Already, we have an inexplicable bond because of the work we do. The addition of Jeopardy! is just another way that we will always be connected.
That is until I really met the teachers... I think I'll miss you most of all, scarecrows. The picture below, our official publicity shot, was taken after the first day of taping, when Colin, Eric, Lydia, Mary, Cathy, Jennifer, Erin, Adam, and I all knew that we would be moving on to the semis. From the smiles and the camaraderie on set, you couldn't tell any difference between those whose journey was coming to an end and those whose had another stop or two. My guess is that this is what makes the Teachers Tournament so special. Already, we have an inexplicable bond because of the work we do. The addition of Jeopardy! is just another way that we will always be connected.
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| Back row, l-r: Jay, Colin, Eric, Tracy, Trebek, Lydia, Marylou, Michael, Chris Front row, l-r: Mary, Cathy, Jennifer, Erin, Martha, me, Adam |
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