And The 2006 Annika's Jeopardy Champion Is...

Tonight was the finale of the real Jeopardy's Tournament of Champions. Well, here at Annika's Journal we've just concluded our own contest, and I'm about to announce the new 2006 Annika's Jeopardy Champion.

The Final Jeopardy clue was very hard, I know. I test googled it first, just to make sure. The category was "Heroes," and the clue was: "A famous historian once described him thusly: 'He is incapable of violent action, he never raises his voice.' Yet today he is recognized as one of the Greatest Generation's great leaders."

The famous historian was Stephen E. Ambrose, if that helps any. The correct response will be revealed in the extended entry.

Let's see how the contestants did, shall we?

As on tv, we begin with the contestant who started with the lowest dollar total. That would be Skippy Stalin.

Skippy bet all of his $100, and guessed "Dwight David Eisenhower." Unfortunately, the judges can't accept that response, since it wasn't in the form of a question. Hey, I don't make the rules. So Skippy goes down to $0.

Next we have Drake Steel.

Drake wagered his entire $100, then apparently was so stumped by the clue that he failed to respond at all. Sorry Drake, you're down to zero.

Let's see how Trint did.

Trint also bet his whole wad, $200. And like Drake, he had no response to the clue so he also goes down to zero. Maybe you'll have better luck with your next CD, dude.

Next up is Blu.

Blu wagered his entire stash of $300. Perhaps he was preoccupied by his ongoing 12 round slugfest with Strawman, since Blu completely forgot to send me a response. Down to zero, my friend.

On to the Maximum Leader.

Maximum Leader wagered all of his $300 (I sense a pattern here). His guess was interesting, "Who is... Omar Bradley." Sorry dude, it was not the G.I. General. You are now tied with everybody else, at zero.

Law Fairy is next up.

Law Fairy also decided to bet it all, in her case that was $500. I like her guess, "Who was Audie Murphy?" But unfortunately, that is not the correct response either. Go join the rest of the contestants with zero point zero dollars.

Let's check on Victor.

Victor bet all $700 of his hard earned money, and guessed "Who is Dwight D. Eisenhower?" Close. Ambrose did write a fine two volume biography of the General, but Ike actually had a famous temper, so the quote doesn't fit. Victor goes to zero too.

Next is Shelly.

Shelly bet it all too. He had $1000. I say "had" because he guessed "Who is (was) Mahatma Gandhi?" which is also interesting, but way off. Shelly is now tied with everybody else in the basement.

Tuning Spork.

The Spork guessed "Who was Pope John Paul II?" He also lost his entire $1500 too. Gosh, what if everybody tied with zero? Has that ever happened before?

D-Rod brought the second highest dollar total.

With all $1600 of his dollars, D-Rod guessed "Who is Gandhi?" same as Shelly. Great minds think alike, I guess. While the Ambrose quote might very well apply to Gandhi, the historian was talking about someone else. So D-Rod loses it all.

Finally there is Leif, who had the distinction of having gotten the most correct responses this year. Like Tuning Spork, Leif also incorrectly guessed "Who is John Paul II?" But what did he wager?

$1301 of his $1900 total.

Wow, Leif was the only contestant to hold something back, and as a result he is the new Annika's Jeopardy Champion with a total of $599! Congratulations Leif!

Well, that was an exciting finish this year. Thanks for playing!





































Oh my goodness, I almost forgot to tell you the correct response.

The full quote, from Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers, is this:

He is incapable of violent action, he never raises his voice, he is contemptuous of exagerration, self-puffery, or posturing. He has achieved exactly what he wanted in life, that peace and quiet he promised himself as he lay down to catch some sleep on the night of June 6-7, 1944 . . .

Got it yet?

Here's the rest:

. . . and the continuing love and respect of the men he commanded in Easy Company in World War II.

There you go. If you've read the book, or seen the miniseries, you'd probably remember "who is Captain Richard Winters." If not, he is definitely a hero you'll want to learn more about.