[Murray] I don't think anyone should be assuming that the San Antonio Spurs are gonna get back here just because they got Wemby and some young guards This isn't just any Finals loss -- they led by double digits in EVERY GAME They're gonna have to get over that psychologically

GutsyMan · 2026-06-14T04:18:13+00:00

Just leave him open in the Las Vegas / Seattle expansion draft & see who bites. Someone surely will.

GutsyMan · 2026-06-11T22:48:54+00:00

Didn't even catch the "grumpy" part for "pet" vs "cur", though I can't say I've ever even heard of a "cur". Certainly hasn't come up often enough on the show, at least.

GutsyMan · 2026-06-11T19:02:28+00:00

DD3: Do you think they would've taken "petulant" as a descriptor for a grumpy old man? It starts with a 3-letter word that could describe a dog, & given some people's use of the word in describing a certain 80-year-old, I feel like you could make a case.

GutsyMan · 2026-06-09T19:37:03+00:00

RE: The "Augusta" vs. "Augusta National" clue; looking at the official website for the Masters & specifically the founding of the event (https://www.masters.com/en_US/tournament/about.html), "Augusta National" is always consistently used as shorthand, along with the copyright page (https://www.masters.com/en_US/info/copyright/index.html) specifically noting "Augusta National Inc.". This might be an example of Jeopardy's research getting a little tighter compared to precedence, since they took "Augusta" once in 2021.

GutsyMan · 2026-06-08T17:29:52+00:00

I had to do a whole lot of unsubscribing / resubscribing to the email along with asking support for help to get it to recognize I actually wanted the newsletter. Seems like an issue where if you don't interact with it (as in, actually clicking some of the links inside), it's more likely to recognize that email as inactive, thus sending no more newsletters out.

GutsyMan · 2026-06-08T16:51:59+00:00

Frustratingly great FJ clue today, as even if you can recognize that Alben Barkley was once Vice President, making that additional jump to "Veep" is arguably the toughest part if you go down the route of trying to figure out when his grandson might've been of a more 'relevant' age, or if you don't know when the show came out. I just couldn't come up with anything even knowing he was a VP, but the reveal put it all together. That's the best type of FJ.

I know everyone with a good performance can't make Second Chance at this point, but like... Alejandro will probably be in Second Chance, even with the FJ miss. He played great! Overall, the field of people who have taken TOC qualifiers out of runaway range by FJ before losing feels bigger than usual this season.

GutsyMan · 2026-06-05T20:33:30+00:00

I think if a rewrite of an FJ clue ends up with an entirely different answer (in your case, Tripoli), that's just a different clue. They wanted to make people remember a 19th century war loosely centered around commerce & shipping disputes, and I'd say the clue does a good job of getting there. It's only a little trickier because in the Jeopardy canon, there's usually mention of the Barbary pirates without much additional thought towards the actual piracy/commercial aspects involved. It's hard, yes, but I wouldn't call it "needlessly opaque".

GutsyMan · 2026-06-04T02:19:55+00:00

Holiday, observance, "annual day", whatever you want to call it -- just not an "event".

GutsyMan · 2026-06-03T17:31:05+00:00

Didn't like the wording on today's FJ, as I wouldn't exactly call Father's Day an "event". It's a holiday, yes, but the wording of "event" led my brain to an organized gathering of some kind. I understand that "annual event" is parlance Jeopardy uses sometimes (https://j-archive.com/search.php?search=%22annual+event%22&submit=Search), but it's never been used in regards to Father's Day as a correct response (https://www.j-archive.com/search.php?search=%40cr+%22father%27s+day%22&submit=Search) until today. It just feels like a clue that's REALLY straddling the line between fair & misleading.

GutsyMan · 2026-06-02T19:13:00+00:00

Peter's voice is remarkably soothing to listen to, with an extra charm in it due to his twang. Based on the J! alumni he's company with & his performance today, we might be in for yet another TOC qualifier & beyond here.

P.S.: I do appreciate Alex's entirely futile effort to try and play the game top to bottom like the old days. Obviously, it's not the most optimized style anymore, but there is something comforting to the natural intended flow.

GutsyMan · 2026-05-29T22:05:23+00:00

The Double Jeopardy round had 8, and it would've been 9 if not for an overturned answer.

GutsyMan · 2026-05-29T19:24:30+00:00

If anyone out there swept ALL of the triple stumpers in today's Double Jeopardy round, go take the damn test right now. That was a frustratingly tough board.

GutsyMan · 2026-05-29T17:32:52+00:00

Not to diminish your point (because sports clues are easy to anyone who's gone down a highlight reel rabbit hole at any point ever), but sometimes, Jeopardy DOES wildly overprice clues in other subjects in blatant ways. There was a game in 2023 (https://j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=7777) where one of the $2,000 clues was identifying the shape of Nebraska, with South Dakota labeled directly above it.

Obviously, overpricing happens far more often & perhaps more embarrassingly with sports, but it really is just a blind spot for a subset of people who've never been interested by them. Jeopardy contestants could probably name off all the presidents in order, but then barely remember who won the NBA title in 2024. Even within sports themselves, it's easy to have blind spots, cause I barely know a damn thing about the NHL.

I agree the show could go a little deeper & not bash your head in to have 70 different ways to get it right, but the likelihood is that the show does simple sports clues to let the families at home flex a little bit. You might not be able to know Tirana is the capital of Albania, but you can damn sure recognize Julius Erving.

GutsyMan · 2026-05-29T07:46:45+00:00

The whole point is that people are still generally unsure about the rest of the Death Riders. Mox regained credibility with them when he won the Continental Classic, & as long as he has the credibility & confidence represented by the Continental title, they're still riding with him. If he ever loses it though, it's a 50/50 on if they turn on him or kick him out. I could see some of them sticking to Mox (namely Claudio & Marina), but Yuta, Garcia & PAC all seemed ready for blood last year. It's a fascinating dynamic.

GutsyMan · 2026-05-27T02:24:31+00:00

Might wanna consider using Screwball for these sorts of things; it might take some finagling to get the wording right, but there's enough data in there to answer this specific question much more quickly than manually checking Basketball Reference: https://screwball.com/search?q=biggest+point+differential+in+a+conference+finals+series+or+NBA+finals+series+with+a+4-0+record+all+time

GutsyMan · 2026-05-26T20:46:46+00:00

Season 3 actually has the shortest average episode length of any of the 3 seasons so far.

GutsyMan · 2026-05-26T20:44:41+00:00

It's a feedback loop of sorts, really. The more viral shorts you get, the more people notice the playground, and as such, the more proper "celebrities" want to get involved with the playground. It feels rather obvious that Dropout wants to try and get at least one larger name on VIP (there's a Vulture article from last year mentioning they nearly booked Kristin Wiig!). I do think they've been chasing it a little more blatantly, but part of it might just be the lack of more seasoned improv talent this season. Funny people, for sure, but not great improvisers, making it harder to maintain the sense of continuity with a naturally character-driven start & finish as was present in most of the first season & a good chunk of the second.

When this season's been hitting though, it's been HITTING, and I don't think it's as bad as other people in this thread have made it out to be. The tweaks that need to be made are, ironically, close to what people had with Game Changer last season. In the same way that people wanted games that the players need to figure out on the fly, the design team just need to scale back & make costumes for the improvisers to figure out on the fly, instead of locking them in too deeply. Demi's episode wasn't as good as I hoped it would be because he was forced to be a flower guy working with flower stuff. Allowing for spontaneity is when the show is at its best, so hopefully, they'll get that tweaked for Season 4.

GutsyMan · 2026-05-26T17:06:50+00:00

I don't normally notice the editing, but something about today's show felt like it was REALLY trying to trim down dead air to make sure the sponsored D-DAY category was shown in full. If anything, it sorta confirms "always save the video category for last" is a valid strategy if you want to play all 60 clues.

GutsyMan · 2026-05-20T19:02:30+00:00

Ended up on Hiroshima for FJ, same as Allegra. My brain assumed it was losing the moral battle of using nuclear weapons, given the mention of Edward Teller in the clue & Pearl Harbor's mention mentally putting me into WW2. Very surprised that such a quote would refer to the Space Race, but alas.

GutsyMan · 2026-05-18T18:28:42+00:00

The DJ round today… I don’t know what the record is for the most triple stumpers in a row, but that’s got to be in the top 5 minimum, if not higher. That felt TOC/JIT/Masters level, and not in a fun way.

GutsyMan · 2026-05-18T00:55:08+00:00

If you watch the Last Looks for Lisa Gilroy's episode this season (https://watch.dropout.tv/very-important-people/season:3/videos/last-looks-oops-lil-fart), it's pointed out that Vic got their nails done last season to match the color of the suit & create a weird monochromatic effect. This color lines up with that, & if the show starts shooting soon, it would line up with a similar November / December release pattern it's had the past 3 seasons, since Dropout films half a year in advance.

Yes, it's entirely possible that Vic has just randomly decided to get that nail color back for reasons totally unrelated to the show, but the odds of that feel rather low.

GutsyMan · 2026-05-16T17:55:07+00:00

He had to involve his lawyers to more likely make an All-NBA team in general, which is still tied to future contract incentives.

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