Gotta take the risk

A thread on Matt Ottinger's board wondered about players who were never wrong on Jeopardy. Turns out that it's a pretty frequent occurrence, most recently with contestant Kimberley Stephenson on the July 17 episode.

As you might expect, Kimberley didn't finish so swell on the show. She got the $1,000 third place money, in fact. You gotta be bold on Jeopardy and take some lumps with wrong answers.

Other formats don't reward the brave so much. One slip on Millionaire and you're busted. But one of Jeopardy's secrets of lengthy success is the many chances it gives to contestants who fall but get back up.

It was the same way with my beloved, long-lost College Bowl. You could screw up but get back into the game. In fact, you had to risk screwing up sometimes. At this point I want to start reciting Teddy Roosevelt's spiel about the man in the arena. But I won't bore you.