Jeopardy! wants me.
Sort of. Maybe.
I’ve received an invitation to audition for the show.
In Kansas City.
I took the online test for fun. I didn’t expect to be summoned. There’s an element of chance in that process. Not everyone who passes the test is called in.
Those who know say prospective contestants are evaluated on their ability to behave as if they wouldn’t look scared to death on camera. It certainly takes more to qualify: appearance, general demeanor, and so forth. But it probably boils down to acting cool but not frozen.
I am practiced at appearing before an audience, though not a camera, and at answering Jeopardy! questions in the privacy of my home. I am not practiced at answering them in front of people I don’t know. Playing against people I don’t know. With a buzzer in my hand.
Think how embarrassing it would be–to go through an entire show without ever being first to buzz in. Or to buzz in but not be able to think of the answer you know you know.
A relative says I could answer questions other contestants get wrong. That way, I’d have more time to think.
The writer of one of the articles cited below suggests there should be an edition of Jeopardy! for people with fibromyalgia.
I think there should be an edition for people whose brains freeze.
Without questions about sports, geography, or popular culture after 1970.
The issue is moot anyway. I have a conflict on the date of the audition.
I’m a little sad about that. If I were going to Kansas City, I would need a whole new wardrobe. I would like a whole new wardrobe.
But the most important thing here is that I have received validation, not for a head filled with junk, but for my philosophy of education, which I shared with all my students, and which I set forth in a previous post:
You study literature so when Alex Trebek says, “‘The blank ‘for all his feathers, was a-cold,'” you will buzz in and put the answer in the form of a question and walk away with a pile of money.
It is, after all, the duty of the student to outperform the teacher.
*****
Related Articles
- Jeopardy!: the Fibro Edition (phylor.wordpress.com)
- Jeopardy! Honors Teachers in their 1st Teacher Tournament (therogersrevue.wordpress.com)
M. K. Waller 
Hey, I think you should go! Cancel the other stuff–go win money!!
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If I’d thought the trip would lead to money, I would have canceled EVERYTHING. I’m afraid I don’t dream big enough. But seeing The H.M.S. Pinafore instead is considerable consolation.
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What great validation. I think you should cancel your other commitment, if at all possible, and go.
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I could have canceled, but it would have been such a rush trip. When I go to Kansas City, I’d like to have time to visit family there for more than a few minutes. Maybe I’ll luck out the next time the show comes looking for contestants in Texas.
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I am sooooo impressed that you made the cut, and I’m sorry you have to miss the in-person try-outs (and the new wardrobe). I never even got around to taking the test, although I had good intentions.I’d love to see someone I know on the show. This week I am enjoying the teachers–long overdue, I think. I can relate to the fibro edition since that fog follows me everywhere.
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I agree–the teachers were long overdue. I think they were so brave. I’d have been scared to death I wouldn’t know any answers, and then I’d have to go back to school and explain that to my students.
The test is fun. You ought to take it next time it comes around.
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