Battle of the Decades: 2000s, Tuesday

Monday night's game was a great way to start the 2000s tournament: three great players playing very well!  Colby was strong throughout, with Celeste making a great comeback in the second round and Tom hanging around by getting a lot of the tougher material but struggling with the buzzer.  An interesting FJ wager by Colby paid off when neither he nor Celeste got a tough opera/Shakespeare clue.  So Colby's winning streak continues! 

Tuesday's players are, again, a remarkable bunch: Vijay Balse, Roger Craig, and Stephanie Jass.  Vijay won the Tournament of Champions in 2010.  I feel like I've known Vijay forever, but only first met him in person at the taping.  He and I "met" on the old J! message board (where he used a pseudonym) when I was on the show originally, and then he sent me one of his creative invitations to watch him on the show (see yesterday's post to see the one he sent for this tournament!)

Roger was scary good -- he set the single-day record ($77K) and then went on to win the ToC in 2011 with the help of back-to-back true Daily Doubles.  He became well known for using data mining techniques to optimize his preparation for the show. (He also apparently knows even more about Prince than I do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TUNcQO4v8A)

And Stephanie was a 7-time winner in 2012; the most games ever won by a woman on the show.  She's also a professor, and a Valpo grad!  We had a great time sharing Valpo memories, and she's one of the most delightful people you'll ever meet.  She used her winnings to fulfill a dream of putting on a cabaret show a few weeks ago!

Russ and Stephanie say, "Go Valpo!"