Wednesday, February 16, 2011
COME WITH ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE: Watson was less dominant in tonight's finale, in part because of boards that seemed to be more skewed toward the humans--far more puns and "back door" ways into clues, especially in the first round. Also, Ken continues to surprise, not just with his ever-present sense of humor but with knowledge you wouldn't expect a dorky Mormon to come up with (knowing the members of Gnarls Barkley?) and an extremely weenie wager in Final Jeopardy! We won't spoil the final outcome here, but let's talk about it in the comments. Sadly, we go from this (which has had boffo ratings) straight into the Teen Tournament, which may be the most boring week of the year, since they dial down the difficulty so much.
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The only thing I can think about Ken's small wager is that he realized it didn't matter, because he had to win the two-day total, and he either couldn't or almost-couldn't because of Watson's huge first-game lead. But I forget the numbers so I can't promise.
ReplyDeleteKen was wagering to guarantee himself second place, which was worth $100,000 more than third place.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't clear to me whether Watson's wager could have cost him the game if he had gotten Final Jeopardy wrong again.
What surprised me most was the number of times the human beat Watson to the buzzer.
ReplyDeleteAh. OK.
ReplyDeleteIf you read Ken Jennings' blog, it's clear he has an incredibly varied set of interests, and is an very funny writer, also. I actually think he would fit in very well on this blog.
ReplyDeleteHere's his recap of the game on Slate.
I missed the last one! So did Ken come in second then?
ReplyDeleteThere's definitely a part of me that wonders if Ken's concern was more about getting another chance to beat the undefeated Brad than beating the computer. But seeing how many of the clues Watson took out of commission in the first half, I don't think "at least I beat the other human" would be all that satisfying a victory. Other than the hundred grand I mean.
I got the impression that Watson doesn't buzz unless his answer certainty is over 60% or so (couldn't tell exactly where that line was). And yesterday's boards were much more punny and wordplay-ish than the previous games, so his certainty was much lower. Thus, no buzzing and the humans had a shot.
ReplyDeleteI believe Watson has a bit of a sliding scale--he'll buzz in immediately if he's 80+% certain, but wait a second or two if he's 50-80%, and not buzz at all if under 50%.
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is I loved it. I'm sad it is over. I want more.
ReplyDeleteWeird, my local affiliate (Columbia, MO) didn't air the last Watson and put the teen tournament on Wednesday night.
ReplyDeleteI did like Ken's final Jeopardy8 notation/Simpsons rip off.
ReplyDeleteI won KJ's trivia quiz thing two years ago, and had a brief (2-message) correspondence with him. He pointed out that I share the name of a comic book supervillain.
ReplyDelete