I guess Brad figured he would get $250,000 anyway! Why work hard?
I found it pleasantly ironic that Ken and Brad adopting James’s tactic of hunting around the board for the Daily Doubles was largely James’s undoing.
Pride?
Well, Brad has already established his legacy. And who knows what else he’s got going on in his life at this point. This was probably not a priority for him.
I think Brad wanted to win the tournament. All 3 of them are big time competitors and you just don’t turn that off easily. But he was having a tough time of it. Got more daily doubles than Ken and James but got too many of them wrong. Never seemed to get into a rhythm. And there were several times for each contestant with a daily double/final where they seemed to be trying to decide between two or more possible answers (making educated guesses if you will), Ken and James were getting most of those right while Brad was not. It wasn’t like Brad wasn’t even trying at all.
In the second game last night, Brad seemed to lay back a little. Ken had a big lead from the first game. In the second game it became clear James was the only one who could build up a sufficient lead before final jeopardy to pass Ken. At that point, there is no reason for Brad to try to answer questions because it would only take potential points (and in the double jeopardy round, James was really hunting for the last daily double – which he found, bet big and got it right) from James. Having James win a match wasn’t necessarily what Brad wanted but he wanted the tournament to continue for another day.
Brad’s last answer didn’t matter. He just wanted to pay tribute to Alex. Another contestant did that (wrote “we ‘heart’ you, Alex” and brought Alex to a tear).
Brad can still point to the scoreboard. The overall scoreboard in terms of $$ won on Jeopardy where he is still leading. Also ahead in terms of head to head with Ken and overall number of Jeopardy tournaments won. Though Ken is officially the Jeopardy GOAT (having played an excellent tournament). And seems likely they will try to get the 3 of them together again.
Watching the tournament, I wondered how much prep time they had. Jeopardy just had the All-Star tournament about a year ago. From what I have read, it wasn’t well received. So presumably another tournament in the near term wasn’t on anyone’s radar. Then James came along and most fans of the show knew they would want to get Brad, Ken and James on the same stage. There ordinarily would be time to get that in the works. But with Alex’s health, time is something they didn’t have (because getting all 4 of them on the same stage was the true prize). As a result, did they have the same amount of time to prepare as they normally would have? In that amount of time, did each have time available to dedicate to practicing? Seemed like Ken and James did (James was also coming off his regular season run and his tournament of champions). Maybe Brad didn’t? Don’t think you will see Brad making excuses but who knows.
Wasn’t clear going in how Ken and Brad would adjust to James’ style of betting big. Ken clearly adapted very well (though there were times he seemed uncomfortable with it). Maybe he would have won more tournaments had he used it earlier.
That tournament last Febraury was just so confusing. It was the third day before I figured out how it worked.
I wasn’t able to watch the All-Star tournament when it originally aired. I watched it when they re-ran the episodes a few months later. By that time I had already read several negative reviews so I did not have high expectations. I liked it. Though it may have been because it involved so many of my favorite Jeopardy champs and it wasn’t one and done so we got to see them more than just once.
I was hoping to see a good three way battlle among these champs. Instead it was a two way battle between James and Ken. I think Brad deserved that “snarky” comment from James last night.
How long ago was Brad’s Jeopardy time? I knew James and Ken but had not really heard of Brad.
@abasket 2000 but Brad was in the tournament in February, 2019 and led his team to win it.
I enjoyed the tournament, loved the competitive camaraderie among the three champs, and think James makes the games more fun.
I also am beyond tired of Alex, and wish he had retired 10 years ago.
For all you stats freak out there, this is pretty interesting. James got the most correct answers and was the quickest on the buzzer. Not finding those DDs killed him.
Ken: 179 correct, 13 incorrect, 37.50% in first on buzzer, 11/13 on rebound attempts (on 20 rebound opportunities)
James: 188 correct, 14 incorrect, 41.45% in first on buzzer, 6/7 on rebound attempts (on 18 rebound opportunities)
Brad: 81 correct, 14 incorrect, 17.11% in first on buzzer, 7/7 on rebound attempts (on 22 rebound opportunities)
I didn’t get to see the show last night but looked at Jeopardyfan for the betting. Ken had nothing to lose last night so could bet it all in the finals (and did happen to get them right). James was behind so had to bet conservatively in final (bet about half his money). When Ken got it right, the tournament was over.
I didn’t like the double games in one day. I think they should have all been stand alone games and then do the best of 10 or whatever. Betting would be different.
James still could have tied up the tournament by getting the second final jeopardy question right. And I read this today: Iago (the answer to that final jeopardy question) is a variant of James. Little ironic.
The 2-day format is what they use for the final round of each Jeopardy tournament. Despite being far behind after game 1, James still had a chance to win the match with the second game. And with that format, you started over with each match. Mix of single game best out of x format and cumulative totals.
Its also a little ironic that someone with your name wouldn’t like the two day format. 
I was a little surprised (miffed?) that James didn’t get Iago… as that was my best guess. (The clue was “He has 272 speeches, the most of any non-title character in a Shakespeare tragedy.”) I was a little confused by figuring out what “speeches” are – but I guessed Iago simply because Iago is pretty much the center of everything in Othello. I also thought James’ choice of Horatio made no sense, as Horatio doesn’t really do a whole lot except to listen to Hamlet. I mean, if I hadn’t guessed Iago I might have guessed Marc Antony in Julius Caeser (who at least gives one speech that’s quite memorable … it was that #272 that’s the problem there).
Anyway, it was only a guess for me as well – but I guess it comes down to Ken knowing his Shakespeare. James is good with sports & geography, not so much with arts & literature.
I do feel that the whole thing was a no-lose situation and James the gambler would have been as aware as anyone – he signed on for a guaranteed $250K with roughly a one-in-three chance of getting $1 million.
I think Ken will be the next host when Alex retires.
from an interview with Ken out today - https://www.polygon.com/tv/2020/1/15/21067497/ken-jennings-jeopardy-greatest-player-of-all-time-winner-money-alex-trebek-interview
Alex isn’t looking to retire, but in theory, Jeopardy! will go on without him. Would you ever come back to host?
Oh man. To me, I can’t even think about that question, because Alex is irreplaceable to me. He’s synonymous with the show. To answer that question, it would require thinking about a version of Jeopardy! without Alex Trebek, and I have not emotionally prepared for that. I mean, it would be very flattering, honestly. Obviously, that’s a dream job.
I think Brad would be a better host than Ken (and James would be horrible). Different skill sets involved (best athletes don’t make the best announcers of sporting events). Not saying any of them would/could take the job or be good at it.
Watched an interview with Ken and Brad yesterday that I think was recorded the day before the first match aired. When asked about their friendship with Alex, they both said they didn’t have one outside of Jeopardy because they couldn’t based on game show rules. They said Alex is effectively in an isolation chamber before matches (he knows the categories/questions before each game). Only interaction they have with him is after the show when the contestants talk with Alex as the show ends. That was something I hadn’t thought about in terms of the next host.
Was also interesting to think about how Ken and Brad went on the talk show circuit (I think James was with them for part of it tho I don’t recall James appearing with them) before the shows aired. Makes total sense that Ken was happy (knowing the results). But you never would have known that Brad had a very disappointing performance on the show. $250k probably goes a long way toward helping with that I suppose.
Ken says he thinks he is done with Jeopardy (per that interview just posted). Wonder if part of him at least thinks about passing up Brad in terms of total Jeopardy $$. He says he is over the hill effectively but he was saying that before the tournament and did very well. Plus I think there will be a lot of pressure (and a lot of incentives) to get the 3 of them together again.
Ken is featured in an article in today’s WaPo and is also quoted there as if this was his swan song as a Jeopardy contestant. The article said his initial reaction to the invite was to turn it down as he thought he was past his prime, but he says he ultimately decided that he couldn’t miss the chance to play with Alex as host one last time.