Jeopardy!

I've been obsessing a little about Jeopardy! lately (I'm going to dispense with the exclamation point now).

First, there was the Battle of the Decades pitting the best against the best from the last 30 years.  For the May finals, I mostly cheered for the guys from the end of the third decade.   As a johnny-come-lately fan of the show, my personal favorites, Stephanie Jass, Keith Whitener and Kristen Morgan, were all from the 2012 season.

None of them made it to the finals, which left me cheering for the newer guys who were left--the guys I formerly loved to hate, Colby Burnett and Roger Craig.  Colby Burnett won me over when he told that he bought his mom a house with his winnings and Roger Craig won me over with his fool-hardy gutsy wagering in the finals.  Although Ken Jennings was before my time, I cheered for him most of all.  I found his Opie Taylor looks and lisp endearing.  And, of course, he has the brains.  One cannot forget the brains.

We all know how it turned out.  None of my guys won.  It was that Brad Rutter.  Ugh.  Still.  So fun to watch!

Then there was Julia Collins, the one with the second longest winning streak after Jennings, who ended her run yesterday.  It was fun to see history (Jeopardy history anyway) being made.  I watched 20 of her 21 episodes.  As the shows progressed, she didn't really make that strong of an impression because her style is rather low-key.  She's sharp but shy.  Reportedly, she was too tongue-tied to pass the auditions in a previous attempt to be a contestant.  Shy girls unite!

I'm somewhat inspired to invest in a crew neck sweater in every color in her honor (maybe a few nice necklaces too).  I was so sorry to see her streak end.  Now I have to wait for her Tournament of Champions appearance, which will hopefully end in a show-down with the other 2014 standout, the infamous Arthur Chu.