Ramblin' with Roger

Season 39 of JEOPARDY!

2022 Tournament of Champions

Season 39 of the game show JEOPARDY has begun. Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik were named permanent co-hosts, replacing the late Alex Trebek. Ken started the season on September 12, with Mayim stepping in starting in January. Mayim is also hosting Celebrity JEOPARDY, which begins on September 25 on ABC-TV. The co-hosts share all.

ITEM: “Some JEOPARDY fans are already upset with Ken. Fans online began to call him out for making an allegedly unfair ruling in favor of reigning winner, Luigi de Guzman, who scored his fourth consecutive victory on Wednesday, September 14.

“The incident in question occurred when de Guzman was answering a clue about a 19th-century British painter, prompting his first response, ‘Who is Constant?’

“‘Say it again,'” Jennings replied.

“‘Sorry, who is Constable,'” de Guzman then stated, with his correct answer being accepted.”

“It is unclear if Jennings allowed him to correct his answer or if he simply did not hear de Guzman.” Though I believe it was the former, this created a huge swing in the game. It was a $1000 clue as the last clue in the first round, which meant Luigi ended with $4,200, Winston Li had $1,800, and Harriet Wagner had $2,000.

Talk about Double JEOPARDY!

“But Jennings, 48, stirred up controversy later in the show when… Wagner provided an answer about a science fiction author, stating, ‘Who is Angela LeGuin—sorry, Ursula LeGuin,’ although her answer was not accepted.

“‘Harriet, you remembered that her name was Ursula, but I’m afraid I’d already began ruling against you when you corrected yourself,’ Jennings said,” about the “rule that allows contestants to change their answers ‘as long as neither the host nor the judges have made a ruling,’ per their website.”

This was even more significant in the game. It was a $2,000 clue, the final clue in Double JEOPARDY. Not only was Harriet’s clue deemed wrong, but Luigi rang in with the correct response. This assured a lock game for the returning champion, $17,800 to $8,600 for each of his opponents.

“But fans on Twitter couldn’t help but notice the double standard in the two rulings, with many pointing out that Wagner corrected herself even faster than de Guzman, calling the JEOPARDY rule unfair for not providing a certain amount of time for contestants to correct themselves rather than depending on when the host begins to rule.” Some fans even suggested that Jennings was a misogynist.

I believe that the ruling against Harriet Wagner was correct. But the judges should have overridden Jennings and also ruled against Luigi de Guzman, whose initial response was clearly incorrect and might not have changed if not prompted by the host. Reportedly, per Reddit, a viewer in the audience said judges did intervene during the commercial break on both rulings but did not change either one.

The JEOPARDY Tournament of Champions, which starts on October 31, is hosted by Jennings, and has format changes. There are byes to the semi-finals for Amy Schneider (40 games won), Matt Amodio (38 games won), and Mattea Roach (23 games won). “These three players will proceed automatically to the semi-final round, meaning they do not have to play in the quarter-final rounds. [Executive producer Michael] Davies explained that this is to make the contest fairer, as Schneider, Amodio, and Roach are so far ahead of the curve’ that they felt it would be unfair to place them in a lower bracket.” Meh. Here are the players.

The 2022 Tournament of Champions will feature six quarter-final games, with the winner of each game advancing to the semi-final round. The nine semi-finalists will then each play their three games to determine the three winners that will face off in the final round. However, the final match will also work a little differently than it did last year.

“This year’s final match will adopt the rules of the 2019 Greatest of All Time tournament” [Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter, James Holzhauer]. “The three finalists will play until someone wins three matches. This means the 2022 Tournament of Champions final could take as few as three days or stretch for the full seven days, depending on how the competition shakes out.”

My rooting interest includes Ryan Long, the rideshare driver who got through his first week without his prescription glasses and ended up winning 16 games, most of those NOT getting a bye.

The stars

ITEM: ‘Celebrity Jeopardy!’ Reveals a Brand-New Triple ‘Jeopardy’ Round. “Triple JEOPARDY JEOPARDY contains six new categories with five clues per category. And hidden on the game board are three Daily Doubles.”

It may be okay; I’ll have to see. But it has the potential to change the nature of the game. When NBC brought back PASSWORD this summer, with host Keke Palmer, it was exceedingly amped up. Also, there was too much executive producer Jimmy Fallon, who played every game against a different celebrity opponent. But the game’s play is very similar to the late Allen Ludden days.

Likewise with the $100,000 Pyramid, which has been on for six summers on ABC, hosted by Michael Strahan. The clues may be a bit more risque. Still, the structure is the same as when the late Dick Clark hosted back in the 1970s when the top prize was $10,000.

Alum of sorts

ITEM: I taped the genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are for an extra hour this summer. The subsequent program was The Weakest Link, a game show hosted by Jane Lynch. The best contestant was a woman named Kelly. She noted that she had worked for JEOPARDY and learned some things.

It was Kelly Miyahara, a member of the Clue Crew from 2005 to 2019. She was also the announcer for the spin-off show Sports Jeopardy! She got voted off, not because she was bad at the game but because she was correctly perceived as the greatest threat.

ITEM: Pat Sajak, 75, who recently posed with MTG, suggests he’ll be retiring sooner than later. If so, I think the person to replace him short-term is letter-turner Vanna White, 65, who filled in for him when he was ill a couple of years ago. Technologically, do they still need a letter-turner?

I’ve long suggested that my wife should play the game because she’s better than I at Boggle, Wordle, and other word games.

Movie – Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song

September Cohen

When we were in the Berkshires last week, my wife recommended that we go to the Images Cinema in downtown Williamstown, MA, to see the documentary Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song. She knew this would be the type of film I would be interested in seeing. I didn’t even know of its existence.

It is, the New York Times called “a definitive exploration of [the] singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen as seen through the prism of his internationally renowned hymn.”

It starts off with the poet and perhaps dilatant songwriter too shy to go out on stage. His then-new friend, Judy Collins, who had just covered his song Suzanne, went out on stage with him. He developed some confidence in performing, but developed some bad, though not uncommon, habits.

Leonard and his producer created an album containing Hallelujah and other good songs. In 1984, his label, Columbia, initially rejected it! (Yet they released an overdone album produced by Phil Spector.) The path of the song, involving perhaps 150 verses, Bob Dylan, John Cale, Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, and far too many versions from American Idol and similar programs, is a fascinating tale.

Then in his seventies, Leonard has a musical resurgence. I have two albums of his from the 2010s, which I enjoy. He died in 2016 at the age of 82.

Rarities

“Approved for production by Leonard Cohen just before his 80th birthday in 2014, the film accesses a wealth of never-before-seen archival materials from the Cohen Trust, including Cohen’s personal notebooks, journals and photographs, performance footage, and extremely rare audio recordings and interviews.” The film’s copyright is 2021, but the release date was July 15, 2022.

At some point, Leonard considered changing his first name to September. It’s not only his birth month, but it is also the month that Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur often fall. I was particularly fascinated with him negotiating with his religious beliefs.

As luck would have it, Kelly has already written an essay about the song and has linked it to a Cohen version of Hallelujah.

The documentary is recommended if you can find it.

Greatest Forgotten Home Run of All Time

black, Puerto Rican, and Spanish-speaking

The Greatest Forgotten Home Run of All Time took place on July 25, 1956, the Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh Pirates. Here’s the box score.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Bucs were trailing 8-5. Here’s the play-by-play from SABR:

“With Turk Lown pitching for the Cubs, a walk to Hank Foiles, a single by Bill Virdon, and another walk to Dick Cole loaded the bases for Clemente. Jim Brosnan relieved Lown and threw one pitch, described by Jack Hernon as ‘high and inside.’ There was no doubt that Clemente would swing.

“He hit the ball over Jim King’s head in left field and after the ball struck the fencing, it rolled along the cinder warning track toward center field. The three runners easily scored and Clemente ignored the outstretched arms and stop sign of Pirates manager and third-base coach Bobby Bragan as the relay throw came in from center fielder Solly Drake to Ernie Banks to catcher Hobie Landrith. The last moments of the improbable were captured in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: ‘He slid, missed the plate, then reached back to rest his hand on the rubber with the ninth Pirate run in a 9-8 victory as the crowd of 12,431 went goofy with excitement.'”

Roberto Clemente hit an inside-the-park, walk-off grand slam. Now the term walk-off wouldn’t enter the lexicon until three decades later.

If Pete Rose had done it…

Martín Espada suggests in the Massachusetts Review suggests that the REASON it is The Greatest Forgotten Home Run of All Time – emphasis on FORGOTTEN – was Clemente’s ethnicity.

“Brosnan’s reaction—that he was ‘shocked’ and his team ‘disgusted’ —is key to understanding why Clemente’s amazing accomplishment has been diminished and even forgotten. First of all, consider the fact that this quote comes from an article published in 1960—four years after Clemente slid past home and slapped the plate with his hand. It is distinctly possible that tiptoeing up behind Jim Brosnan and whispering ‘Roberto Clemente’ in his ear was enough to send him into a babbling fury for the rest of his life…

“It was no coincidence that Brosnan was writing about Clemente for Life magazine in October of 1960… Brosnan was commissioned by the magazine to write a scouting report in advance of the World Series between the Pirates and the Yankees.

Bias, maybe?

Here is Brosnan’s previous quote in context:

Clemente features a Latin-American variety of showboating: “Look at número uno,” he seems to be saying… He once ran right over his manager, who was coaching third base, to complete an inside-the-park grand slam homer, hit off my best hanging slider. It excited the fans, startled the manager, shocked me, and disgusted my club. (And no, he did not run over his manager, he just ran through Bragan’s stop sign.)

“Roberto Clemente was black, Puerto Rican, and Spanish-speaking in the 1950s… According to [author David] Maraniss, Al Abrams of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette covered Clemente in spring training 1955—his rookie season—and wrote: ‘The dusky Puerto Rican… played his position well and ran the bases like a scared rabbit. It seemed that every time we looked up there was Roberto, showing his flashing heels and gleaming white teeth to the loud screams of the bleacher fans.’ Even his admirers utilized a racially charged vocabulary; thus, Clemente’s detractors, like Brosnan, felt perfectly free to couch their criticisms in racial terms.”

Sunday Stealing: Staying Up Late

The color of my blow dryer

The Sunday Stealing prompt Staying Up Late has some interesting questions, plus some “really?” ones.

But before that, I want to note that I’m thankful that a relative is finally home after a week or so in the hospital and then far too long in a physical rehab center. The service was… uneven. Then some state evaluators showed up on the scene a couple of weeks ago. Suddenly, the patients were asked if certain protocols were being followed.

More importantly, home equipment that seemed to have been the victims of supply chain shortages for months suddenly became available and was delivered to the home. A case worker was assigned, as was a visiting nurse.

Frankly, it wasn’t anything WE did. But SOMEONE kvetched to the powers that be, and the situation for everyone at the facility improved rapidly.

***

Do you have any Pepto-Bismol in your house?

No. The liquid was awful. The tablets aren’t as bad.

Do you have a favorite flavor of vodka?

Does vodka have flavors? Yes, I know it does. I mean, no, I don’t get into flavored vodka. That’s what grapefruit juice or orange juice is for.

Is your backyard big enough to fit a trampoline? …and then some.

Depth-wise, probably. But one might jump into power lines and tree branches. Width-wise, the chance is great that one would bounce into the fence or over the fence into my neighbor’s pool or patio, which would hurt.

When was the last time you had eggs?

I have eggs all of the time, possibly this very day. In an omelet, fried, scrambled, poached, deviled. It was the first food I made when I was seven or eight.

How often do you blow dry your hair, and what color is your blow dryer?

Have you SEEN my hair or the lack thereof?

Stay Up Late

Have you ever gone to bed later than three AM?

Yes. When I was going to college, the bars closed at 4 a.m. I wasn’t up a lot for that, but a few times. The most recent time I stayed up that late was on June 13/14, when I stayed up all night when my daughter and I went to Carnegie Hall

Have you been to a surprise party before?

There was a stretch of about two decades that I regularly planned surprise parties. I had this college friend named Candid Yam who was freaking out about turning 20. We were working on a newsletter together. But that night, the other co-editor and I actually finished it early while CY’s friend was distracted with a (real) tale of woe. CY returns, sad that they’d have to go back to work. Nope, SURPRISE!

I’ve been surprised a few times myself, including just before my 19th birthday.

What is your least favorite month?

I suppose February, which, for a short month, seems to go on forever.

Have you ever gone to see a movie the day it came out?

I’ve gone to two movie premieres. 1983: Twilight Zone: The Movie at the Crest Theatre in Binghamton, NY. Why Binghamton? Because Rod Serling, the creator of the television show, grew up in a small upstate city. He had died in 1975, but his favorite teacher, Helen Foley, was there. WAY back in 2005, I wrote about my convergence with Rod and Helen.

1986: Howard The Duck. The premiere was sponsored by FantaCo, the Albany, NY, comic book store I worked at. We did not know how poorly it would be received.

I may have gone to one or two movies on opening night, but they’re not coming to me.

You can believe it because it’s the truth

Do you like movies/books about drugs, and why or why not?

I saw the very absurd Reefer Madness (1936) when I was in college. Talk about a contact high. It inspired me to write a truly terrible song called (Marijuana) The Assassin of Youth, which I have shared with VERY few people.

Do you have scrap paper by your computer desk?

Of course. That’s where I figure out Wordle options.

Have you ever kept a bag from a store because you liked it?

Probably.

Was the last thing you drank carbonated?

No, plain water. I do drink carbonated beverages occasionally.

Do you own any yellow clothing?

No, all my apparel is very courageous.

Last person you argued with?

Likely, my wife, though I have no idea about what.

After intermission at Carnegie Hall

Clarinet choir?

After intermission at Carnegie Hall on June 13, 2022, at a concert attended by my daughter and me, the Columbus [OH] International Children’s Choir performed. CICC is “an inclusive program that aims to empower children of all ages, races, and religions.” About a third of the participants appeared to be eastern Asian.

“CICC was formed by Tatiana Kats in 1998 as a small international ensemble consisting mostly of children of immigrants… The National Music Certificate Program recognized Tatiana as a ‘Founding Teacher… instrumental in establishing a national standard for developing musicians'” in the US. Before the intermission, this group was part of the mass choir singing the Mozart Requiem.

Tebe Poem by Aleksandr Dmitrievič Kastal’skij (1856-1926), spelled in the program Alexander Kastalsky. This version is by Calicantus Children’s Choir, 2020.

Ev’ry Time I Feel The Spirit, arranged by William L. Dawson. I have sung this version of this song since high school choir. Here’s the Colorado State University Choirs, 2019.

Northern Lights by Ola Gjeilo. This performance is by the National Youth Choir of Australia, 2017.

Why We Sing by Greg Gilpin. Sung here by a combined choir from Chandler High School, 2014.

Next up, the Trinity University Chamber Singers of San Antonio, TX, a well-regarded group under the direction of Gary Seighman. They also sang the Mozart Requiem beforehand.

Luminescence by Andrea Ramsey. Performed here by The University of Wisconsin Eau Claire Concert Choir in 2018.

If ye love me by Thomas Tallis. I’ve sung this perhaps a dozen times, maybe more often. This is the Cambridge singers, 2014.

Unclouded Day by Rev. Josiah K. Alwood, arranged by Shawn Kirchner. Listen to Cor Cantiamo, October 2017.

Dupré

Finally, the Tara Winds Clarinet Choir, Dickson Grimes, founder, and director. The group was created in 2011.

Claribel by Roland Cardon. Hear CasinoKoksijde Claribel Clarinet Choir Guido Six Vzw from 2018.

The Commute by Nicole Chamberlain. Here is The Tarawinds Clarinet Choir at the 2019 ClarinetFest at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

Two Songs Without Words by Gustav Holst, arranged by John Gibson. The performance is by the Community Clarinet Choir, 2015.

Variations sur un Noël op. 20 Marcel Dupré: I couldn’t find a clarinet version, arranged by Matt Johnston, at all. There are tons of organ iterations, such as this one by Christian Barthen.

But as I’m listening to it, I think, “I KNOW this piece. But much faster!” So naturally, I asked Kelly. He said, “The Dupré piece is based on a French Christmas carol called ‘Noel Nouvelet.’ I know I’ve heard it before, but I don’t recall when! It has a definite ‘Gregorian polyphony’ feel to it.”

I found some versions of the carol, written in the late 15th century or early 16th century.

The King’s Singers

Choir of King’s College, Cambridge

This one has the musical notation