The "Brad Is Still Champ In My Book" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Watching "Jeopardy" on television.  For those who live outside the United States or don't watch American television, Jeopardy is an American television quiz game show that was created in the mid-1960s by Merv Griffin.  The show features a quiz competition in which contestants are presented with general knowledge clues in the form of an answer, and they must come up with a question as their response.  The master of ceremonies for the show is a fellow named Alex Trebek who became host of the show in 1984.  It was back in May of this year that he announced to his TV viewers that he is fighting stage 4 pancreatic cancer, but will continue to be Master of Ceremonies for the show during his treatment.  Tough for a younger person, but going to be very tough for Alex who is 78 years old.  

Host Alex Trebek and James Holzhauer

My story today tells of the recent success of contestant James Holzhauer who won an extra- orbitant amount of money on the show during his reign as champion.  He won 33 times, responded correctly with over 1,100 questions and won $2,464,216.  After the first few shows which featured James, I told my wife he must be cheating.  I told her to watch his face and when he buzzes in, it seems as if he is listening to someone through a device in his ear.  She told me I was nuts and he was just smart!  That he was!!  He knew so much about so much that it took forever to beat him.  

This shows Brad when he won the Battle of the Decades

My reason for being so upset that he continued to win night after night was the fact that I feared he would surpass Brad Rutter's all-time Jeopardy winnings of $4,688,436.  I had Brad as a student at Manheim Township High School where he was a member of the class of 1995.  While at the school he was on the Quiz Bowl Team which took second place at the 1994 Texaco Star National Academic Championship.  He is one of only 19 people to have been named to the National Academic Championship Hall fo Fame.  

A few years ago Brad stopped at the Manheim Township Library and
participated in a contest again the current Quiz Bowl team.  The
 team allegedly beat Brad in the contest!  Brad donates annually to the
library so it can help younger members of the library gain knowledge. 

I must admit that I did enjoy watching James as be totally annihilated the majority of the contestants during his 33 night run.  But, along came a mild-mannered genius with the name of Emma Boettcher who used James' strategies in playing the game and beat him.  He gave her a high five when it was over, which was classy of him.  Now, I'm waiting for the show's Tournament Of Champions which Brad has won in the past.  Actually, Brad never lost a game of Jeopardy to a human opponent.  He did lose to a computer known as Watson, but never to a human.  When he played the TV game you were only allowed to win so many shows and then you had to retire from the show.  Now, contestants can stay on as long as they continue winning.  Often wonder how long Brad might have continued on the show if they didn't have that rule at the time.   The Tournament Of Champions will draw many viewers this year I'm sure.  And, I will be one of them.  And, I'm pulling for Brad.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.