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No, not thehosting thing.
Or theother hosting thing.
What the hell is in that Culver City water?
(Roach won, by the way.)
When I flew down, for all I knew, Matt was still going to be there.
It was a relief not to see him.
Id like to pose the same question to you, Matt.
I rooted for Amy the entire time.
But Im happy Amy is so great.
Amy is incredible up and down the board.
It was hard not to root for her in spite of it.
Im curious as to how you two prepared to play against each other.
And its a little presumptuous of me, I admit.
I was pretty happy about my Daily Double hunting strategy being the best anyone could think of.
I didnt think about anything else other than the question ahead.
I totally understand Amys perspective there.
I worked really hard to get to a place where I was comfortable before stepping onstage.
I was proud of how it played out.
Theres now a time limit on Final Jeopardy!
wagering, actually, because the producers dont want you to take all day.
Im glad it wasnt there when I was playing.
Maybe they did it because of me.
From the statistics-head perspective, I felt that, going in, Matt was the slight favorite.
But there is so much luck to this game.
Will your timing be there on the day a year after the first time around?
So I went in feeling like I could win.
That was what I was there to do.
Thats just not helpful.
I felt less confident about myself than I felt that other people around me felt in me.
How thoroughly did you two research each other as opponents?
Not that I thought it made much difference.
Ultimately, youre up against the board.
Theres not really anything you could do about the other contestants.
MA:Ill admit that I looked into our buzzer timing.
Im very self-conscious and think Im terrible at the buzzer.
I think Im bad, but its probably because I want to get in on every single one.
I looked into where Amy ranked on that compared to me.
But it doesnt really do any good, you know?
It cant change the strategy.
Its just trying to gauge where you are as opposed to informing strategy.
Its gone.Its ridiculous, but I couldnt help myself.
I always felt the mornings were my worst games.
I dont think so.
MA:I take a mathematicians and engineers point of view.
If its better, then I shouldve been doing it all along anyway.
I feel confident that my strategy was still the best.
I think more of my strategy was almost from a therapists perspective.
I was focused on the psychological side.How do I find that focus?
How do I stay in it?
How do I not beat myself up when things go wrong?
Tell me about actually going into the studio to film the tournament.
There was the stress and pressure of it, sure.
But thats fun in its own way too.
One of the great things was, among all of the contestants, we all enjoyed each others company.
It was such a great group of people.
MA:I second everything there, just a wonderful group to get to know.
Im hypercompetitive, and there was stress because I wanted to go in and win.
But it didnt interfere with the fun.
Thats not orthogonal to the fun; thatspartof the fun.
If there were no consequences, having fun, and partying, it wouldnt have been as much fun.
What do you credit this pronounced uptick to?
But then it kept happening and I found it harder to credit that.
Maybe its a combination of the test being more accessible and beingavailable to take anytime.
You dont have to remember certain dates and times to audition.
For me, for instance, I had been trying to get onJeopardy!for 13 years.
I really dont know.
MA:I have questions, rather than answers.
Like, you have people who are more prepared now.
I dont think thats a fully thought-out or valid explanation.
And then theyd arrive atJeopardy!and end up in third place.
I dont know what it is, but I dont think its that.
AS:I agree with that essentially, but it reminded me of something I noticed.
I have no prediction.
I could see it going both ways.
There are all sorts of things that make this a very special period of history.
There are games where I think I couldve played with a very poor strategy and still done very well.
I totally buy Kens argument.
AS:I think its plausible.
I do think, though, that idea has been around for a while.
ThepostJames Holzhauer erais people doing different wagering.
Its hard to bet like you theoretically should.
MA:Its necessary but not sufficient.
It sounds like hes afraid of something.
AS:The only argument to me against Ken getting the hosting job is that he now cant play.
That and I cant be friends with him.
