Tag: Brad Rutter

This is the online version of our morning newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning.

The second night of the Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time tournament wrapped up in dramatic fashion Wednesday night and continued to be the perfect type of distraction TV we need in what is a wild world these days.

I won’t spoil it for you, because that’s just not the type of person I am. I think the word you’re looking for here is “hero”.  You can find the results right here with my pal Charles Curtis’ great breakdown of the second, one-hour episode.

But I will spoil it a little – Brad Rutter, much like on the first night, didn’t win. But he still won and will continue to win for as long as this tournament goes on.

Let me explain why.

Rutter made his first appearance on Jeopardy! way back in the year 2000 – when HDTV’s weren’t really a thing and Twitter definitely wasn’t a thing.  Champions were only allowed five title defenses before they were sent home with a nice check and whatever prizes they won – Rutter got two cars for being an undefeated 5-day champion. That’s not bad.

But here we are in the year 2020 and this guy is still getting a chance to play Jeopardy! on the biggest stage this game has ever seen, as he has a front-row seat to what should be a classic battle between Ken Jennings (who won 74 straight games) and James Holzhauer (who had 32 straight wins). Chances are if you told Rutter 20 years that he’d be in this position he sign up in a hurry.

Rutter is here because he is the record-holder for money earned on the show with $4,876,036, which he has won through various special games and events over the years. That’s not bad, either.

Think he cares about all the jokes being made about him on Twitter that past two nights by people who will never get a chance to even play this wonderful game?

Yeah, I don’t think so either.

None on this should be embarrassing for Rutter. He’s living the dream of many Jeopardy! fans, getting to play more of the legendary game while competing head-to-head with two incredible legends. Plus, he’s won more money than both players, which is something I’d take over the win streaks.

Chances are things will continue to not go his way in the remaining episodes of this tournament.

And chances are he couldn’t care less.

Because his lengthy and profitable run on this show if proof that he’s a winner, no matter how many Holzhauer beats him to the buzzer.

Wednesday’s biggest winner: Mike McCarthy.

McCarthy waited until he was officially introduced as the new coach of the Dallas Cowboys before admitting that he lied a little bit in his job interview with Jerry Jones. I mean, who hasn’t done that before? (I haven’t and if any of you @ my boss about this I will deny all. Also, if my boss subscribes to this newsletter I’d like to wish you a happy Thursday, Nate.)

Quick hits: Ed Orgeron shotgunning Red Bulls… Rudolph’s gloves go for a ride… Garrett’s awkward meeting with Jones… And more!

– LSU center Lloyd Cushenberry III told a great story about a shirtless Ed Orgeron shotgunning Red Bulls to fire up his team.

– Vikings TE Kyle Rudolph thought a reporter was going to use his game-worn gloves to raise money for charity. Instead, they ended up on Ebay. But then a fan did something awesome.

– Jerry Jones revealed details on what must have been an awkward meeting with Jason Garrett last week.

– The Clippers’ Montrezl Harrell opens up about his obsession with sneakers.

– Here are three reasons why Clemson will win the national title game.

– Here are three reasons why LSU will win the national title game.

(Follow me on Twitter at @anezbitt. It might change your life. Just don’t tell me about your fantasy team.)

This is the online version of our morning newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning.

Jeopardy! legend Ken Jennings had to sit there in his Seattle home all of last spring and watch as the confident and personable James Holzhauer went on his dominant run and won over large parts of America.

Time and again during that streak Jennings had to hear others, including Holzhauer, speak of how this professional gambler from Las Vegas, this Jeopardy James character, could take out anyone in this game, even the great Ken Jennings.

Imagine how Jennings felt having to listen to these claims. Jennings, as we know, is the GOAT of Jeopardy, having won a record 74 games in a row. Holzhauer only had a 32-game streak but still, in this day-and-age of what have-you-done-for-me-lately attitudes, everyone was wow’d by how much money Holzhauer was winning on each show and how easily he was beating his competition, and how his strategy was game-changing!

On Tuesday night Jennings finally got his shot at Holzhauer (and Brad Rutter), as the first episode of Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time aired. It was a very close night and a perfect way to kick off the tournament. I’m going to give a spoiler here, so if you didn’t watch, go away right now. Dump your phone in your coffee. Turn and sprint out of your office. Throw your computer off the desk.

Do whatever it takes (within reason).

Because here comes a spoiler.

Jennings, the GOAT, let everyone know he’s still the baddest man in the Jeopardy planet as he went all-in on a Daily Double in the Double Jeopardy round and then held on to win the first game of the night with 33,200 points. Holzhauer finished in second with 16,600 and then Rutter was third with 5,200 after missing an all-in Daily Double in the Double Jeopardy round.

What a message sent by Jennings, who is second only to Rutter in most money earned on Jeopardy. What. A. Stud.

Here’s a man who won 74(!) in a row and had to hear doubters weigh in with thoughts that some big personality professional gambler could take down the champ.

Shame on them!

Sure, Holzhauer won the night’s second game but Jennings won the overall night by 200 points over Jeopardy James and takes a 1-0 lead into the rest of the tournament.

This special Jeopardy tournament could go three nights if Jennings wins the next two, or it could go seven nights if it goes the distance. Either way, this seems like a nice little distraction from all that’s going on in the world right now.

And here’s to Ken Jennings, one of the greatest mental athletes of our time looking to prove once and for all that nobody takes down the king.

He’s now just two steps away from history.

I know I wouldn’t bet against him.

Tuesday’s biggest winner: J.J. Watt and Kealia Ohai.

The Houston Texans star rightly stuck up for his fiancee, Kealia Ohai, after a local ABC station tweeted a terrible headline about Ohai, a professional soccer player, being traded from the Houston Dash to the Chicago Red Stars. Well done, J.J.

Quick hits: McGregor’s awful UFC shirt… Stephen A. Smith crushes Giants…  Kevin Love’s childish outburst… And more!

– There’s no way Conor McGregor can wear this official walkout shirt at UFC 246 next week. It’s just awful.

– Stephen A. Smith rightly destroyed the Giants over the Rooney Rule.

– Kevin Love admitted he acted like a child during an on-court outburst.

– Former Eagles RB Jay Ajayi is now a pro FIFA player for the Philadelphia Union.

– Ravens are now nervous about the Drake Curse.

(Follow me on Twitter at @anezbitt. It might change your life. Just don’t tell me about your fantasy team.)