Because of so
many outside factors I have not yet gotten to the point to a play-by-play for
the Wild Card Tournament. However since I have an interim in my normal schedule
I think it’s worth taking a look at what we’ve gotten so far.
At this
point, we have completed the first ‘leg’ of this Tournament and are about to
begin the semi-final round of the second. So I think it’s time that I begin
making some general assessments of both the caliber of play, the quality of the
competitors and whether it’s worth everything we’re going through to get here.
The first
series – referred to by the show as Wildcard Spades – had a mixed bag but the
semi-final matches were all exciting. Sam Stapleton and Josh Saak won great
matches and Lucy – was the last player standing in hers. Still the first game
of the final was thrilling with Josh getting a big lead at the end of Game 1.
Lucy had an early advantage in the Jeopardy round of Game 2, but Josh pulled
ahead with the first Daily Double late in the round. An error on the other
Daily Double by Sam not long after took him out of contention and gave the game
to Josh. Had he gotten in right, the game might have gone otherwise because
Lucy was the only player to get Final Jeopardy right. (However, considering it
was a lock tournament she might have been the only one to take it seriously.)
There’s an
argument that Josh Saak more than deserved to earn not only the $100,000 but
his spot in the Tournament of Champions. Not only had Josh won three games and
$66,405 in his original appearance he was defeated by Matt Amodio in the first
win of his historic run. Furthermore Josh had been in a tie with Matt for first
place before he got a $400 clue incorrect and the end of round buzzer
rang. There is a real possibility that
but for that incorrect response, the world might never have heard the name of
Matt Amodio and Josh might have had an impressive run on his own.
The problem
is that’s still a slippery slope. Elizabeth Deveraux came in third in that game
and she got invited back for the Second Chance Tournament earlier this year.
You don’t invite players back based on the almost.
Josh is in a
different situation: he did win three games and some years that might be
enough. Lucy Ricketts, who I made an argument for in the previous article in
this series and who finished second to Josh in this tournament, has as much a
reason to be qualified for this tournament as Josh does. That still leaves me
with a different issue which I’ll get to below.
I have to say
that while the play overall in the Spades leg of the tournament was overall
superb, the play in the quarterfinals of the Diamonds round has left much to be
desired. In two of these games, I was amazed that all of the competitors had
managed to win at least one game in the first place. There have been a lot of
games where there have been many incorrect answers and nearly as many with no
responses at all. There’s also the fact
that the Second Chance Tournament has been playing a factor, though I can’t
quite argue with at least one of the choices.
Isaac
Applebaum finished fourth in the semi-finals of last year’s National College
Championship and therefore had to go home. He was selected to take place in
last year’s Second Chance Tournament but because of scheduling issue he
couldn’t participate. They invited him back to his year’s Wild Card Tournament
which was good. However, like so many College players who come back to
Tournaments against adults he wasn’t up to it and was eliminated.
Jillana Cotter,
who won the third and last second chance week showed that she deserved her
second chance. How much of that is due to the fact she’s had by far the least
lag time between her last appearance on Jeopardy and this one is debatable; but
her nearest competitor was Steve Crupi who’d last played two and a half years
ago and she was at his level. She also got Final Jeopardy right.
We also saw
the return of Hari Parmeswaran, who won the first Second Chance slot. He played
brilliantly in his match considering the circumstances. He lost everything he
had on the first Daily Double in Double Jeopardy, rebuilt, got the second Daily
Double correct and was in the lead going into Final Jeopardy. However, he came
face to face with a Final Jeopardy that stumped all three players and his wager
ended up with him being defeated by Aaron Craig who won two games in February
of 2021. (He ended the run of Sam Stapleton, for the record.)
Now I will
acknowledge that much like in the Spades leg, the cream has a tendency to rise
to the top. Among the semi-finalists are three three-game winners: Emily Sands
who won $73,000 April-May of 2021; Brian
Adams, who won $44,901 in October of 2020, and Dave Rapp, who won $69,200 in
February of 2022. But this actually
brings me to a different argument as to how this tournament should have played
out.
I’ve already
commented that I think the Wild Card Tournament, while based on a sounder
principle than the Second Chance Tournament, still has cast by far too wide a
net. I think if this was to be done, it would have been fairer, both to the
players and the fans, to simply have all the players who had won three games
compete in a smaller Wild Card Tournament along with the three Second Chance
Tournament winners and Isaac Applebaum.
There are three more of them to come in
Season 38: Emily Flasco, who won $87,201; Yungsheng Wang, who won $84,202 and
Emma Saltzberg (she was defeated, incidentally, by Lawrence Long, who also won
three games). From Season 37 there is Katie Sekelsky, Garrett Marcotte, who won
$60,400 and lost to Kevin Walsh, a semi-finalist in the 2021 Tournament of
Champions; Carmela Chan, who won $55,401; Brandon Deutsch, who won $70,026;
Patrick Hume, who won $60,500; Mike Nelson (who defeated Patrick) and Kelly Donohue, who won $79,601.
Many of these players won more money than
several participants in the 2022 Tournament of Champions who won more games;
Emily, Yungsheng, Garrett, Brandon and Kelly won more than Megan Wachspress
managed to do in six (and Patrick won almost as much.) Considering that
three games has been a qualifier in the past; it’s hard to argue none of these
players are qualified.
No doubt we
will be seeing all of these players in the final two ‘suits’ of the Wild Card
Tournament. But I’d argue that there is something demeaning about having
players who would have to go through this work when in earlier years they might
have gotten in without having to bother. In that sense a Tournament that only
featured this many players – and perhaps the three game winners from Season 39
– might have been easier on everything.
For the fans
who might well be becoming exhausted of this, it would be a relief to have it
dealt with and few could question the qualifications of the players involved.
(Steve Moulds, incidentally, managed to win three games at the start of Season
35 and was invited to compete in the 2021 Tournament of Champions, so the
precedent would have been intact.) It would be fairer to the contestants in a
sense because they would be playing against champions who were truly their
equals in a way that so many of the participants in the Wild Card Tournament,
truthfully, just aren’t. And it would
give them a chance to compete to prepare for the harder competition that lays
ahead in the Tournament of Champions – whenever that happens.
Obviously
that’s not what’s going to happen: we’re going to have to go through
both legs of this and God knows what they’ll do when it comes to Season 39. All
I’m saying that as a fan and friend of the show, I think this would have been a
better way to do things. Especially since there’s a decent chance we may end up
with all four wild card spots going to three game winners anyway. As to whether
that happens with this group, I’ll start covering the results of the semis on
Monday.
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