Season 25 2-time champion: $17,800 + $1,000.
Jeopardy! Message Board user name: harris55
Harris Cohen - A Family Physician
Lower Gwynedd, Pennsylvania
June 5, 2009
I am still basking in the surreal glow of my recent appearances on Jeopardy! Since my early teens, it has always been a goal of mine to actually appear on Jeopardy! Television was never watched during my childhood dinners, but our 6:30 dinner time coincided with a 7:00 start time of Jeopardy in my suburban Philadelphia home. I always performed well at home, even when keeping scores on our used dinner napkins. Due to my quick trivia question answering speed, I could not answer until Alex completed the question, while the rest of my family could answer early. This was only fair, as I was playing against 2 of my sisters, one of whom was 8 years my junior. It was during this period that I tried out for Teen Jeopardy and, if memory serves, I did not fare well with the 50 question test at WPVI in Philadelphia.
Flash forward to 2007 – I was 34 and heard about the online test. I took the test and thought I did reasonably well, but never heard from Jeopardy! Obviously, I did not do well enough. I signed up again for 2008, thought I did reasonably well, and then went about my life. Several months later, a wonderful e-mail arrived inviting me to further test and audition in New York City – wow! Is this for real? I remember running down the stairs to tell my wife the good news – I am pretty sure I touched only 3 of our 13 steps.
The New York City date arrives, and it is a hot day in June. I get there early, and see many like-minded contestant wannabes in the lobby – many reading from almanacs and their personal notebooks. Uh oh – did I not prepare enough for the audition? Before my fears can really take hold, the morning tryout group empties out of the conference room, and Robert starts to snap Polaroids of our group. We enter a small conference room, and meet Maggie, Robert, and Corina. Maggie’s energy is almost inhuman, and we are all put at ease. We are then given another 50 question test, and I feel as though I did better than the online test, even though I had no idea the Orinoco River was in Venezuela. I should have studied Enya lyrics more closely… Next is the mock game, and I am in the first group. Trying to show my personality and the ability to answer questions simultaneously was the goal – I show my personality, but miss a few questions, including completing an Elton John lyric…. Honky _____ …..brain freeze, brain freeze…….could not think of cat! I walk out of the audition feeling as though I did as well as possible, and mentally prepare for the possibility of an 18-month wait.
Flash forward again…move to a new house on January 30th …baby due February 9th…the call came February 6th. A Friday afternoon in the office (I am a Family Physician), in a room with one of my favorite patients, when there is a knock at the door. This often happens when the ER or another doctor needs to urgently talk to me. I crack the door open, and one of my front office staff says, “It is Jeopardy!”. I quickly think this is a practical joke, but realize that most of my office does not know of my tryout. Heart beating out of my chest, I head to my office and hear Robert’s familiar voice. After some preliminary questions, he asks if I am available March 3rd and 4th for taping…wow…is this real? I call my very pregnant wife, and luckily this news didn’t induce an early labor. Somehow, I finish the afternoon in the office and go home on cloud 9.
Reality sets in. I know nothing about Shakespeare, the Bible, opera, and country and western music. What if there is a whole category on Ghana or famous harpists? How do I prepare? I figured the best preparation simply is to brush up on major categories (Presidents, capitals, etc) and familiarize myself with my weaker knowledge areas. I ordered a used copy of “Secrets if the Jeopardy! Champions”, read the Bob Harris book “Prisoner of Trebekistan”, and read summaries of Shakespeare’s plays. I also watched every Jeopardy! episode with my newborn daughter cradled in my arms. My thinking quickly became, “I know what I know” – it isn’t reasonable to learn entire new subject areas.
March 2nd arrives, and we have the largest snowstorm of the past 5 years – I was fortunate to leave Philadelphia with only a 4-hour delay. Before I knew it, it was the morning of March 3rd – I went to the lobby to eat breakfast, only to see some Jeopardy! types milling about, one contestant-to-be was even reading the almanac. The shuttle pulled up, we all chatted, and quickly realized a 7-time champion was back to defend his title against our new group. Great…just my luck…I finally am on Jeopardy! and Ken Jennings, Jr. is here…(actually his name was Justin, and he was a very nice and gracious guy…)
The prep time in the green room was as fun as it could be. Maggie, Robert, and Corina knew our names before we got there – a nice touch which placed a nervous group at ease. The 12 of us were an eclectic group, but most of all, despite our desire to defeat each other come game time, we all got along really nicely. Walking onto the stage was surreal, as was practicing with the real signaling devices. Wow – is this really happening?
The rest of the day is still somewhat of a blur. In the first game of the day, in which I was not a participant, the 7-time champion was beaten by a very smart Sara…after the game, I hear “OK, Harris, you are in game 2”. Being on stage, in heavy makeup, was surreal. I was in the middle position, played reasonably well, and was in second place going into Final Jeopardy! Smart wagering and a triple stumper on a Hemingway question allowed me to earn the title of Jeopardy! champion. Mitch, the extremely nice audio guy, took to calling me champ between games 1 and 2. Very cool.
After an outfit change and a brief break, it was time to defend my title. Again, I played well enough to earn a second place spot going into Final Jeopardy! I was able to wager successfully again on a triple stumper (the feared Video Final Jeopardy!) to earn my second win. Wow, a two-time Jeopardy! champion, yet no Final Jeopardy! questions answered correctly. I will take it!
Lunch was next, although I had lost all track of time. In my third game, I never really found a rhythm, and Andrew went berserk in Double Jeopardy! and took an insurmountable lead into Final Jeopardy! I was in third place, and…you guessed it…I actually got Final Jeopardy! correct…but still finished in third place.
Corina called a taxi for me. The astute taxi driver saw that I had several changes of clothes on hangers and knew right away that I won a game or two – he used this to his advantage when he mentioned that as a champion, I should help “stimulate the economy” by increasing his tip. Back at the hotel, I eagerly shared the results with my wife, parents, sisters, and parents-in-law. Despite intense pressure and creative questioning from many others, I just reminded everyone (friends, co-workers, patients) to wait patiently to see the results of my quest to become a Jeopardy! champion. |
