Jeopardy James Holzhauer--too Good To Be True?

[thirteenbyseven]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/hist...pardy-james-holzhauer/?utm-term=.d1211cbbcf0f

He's the Jeopardy champion with a strangely weird smile and encyclopedic memory. Ask him anything: what distance from Earth will the asteroid Apophis be on April 13, 2029? What was the weather on May 25th in the year 1.....B.C.? Almost coincidental with much beloved game show host Alex Trebek's announcement that he has possibly terminal stage 4 pancreatic cancer, James Holzhauer came riding from out of the west to boost interest and ratings for Jeopardy into the stratosphere. I really want to believe everything is legit.

In the days of B&W television before 95% of us on LPSG were born, there was a quiz show called Twenty-One. A tall, lanky contestant named Charles van Doren seemed to know every question imaginable. The game show had our nation's families sitting together in their living rooms, watching with astonishment at their huge Dumont TV sets with tiny black-and-white cathode ray tubes. Miraculously time after time, Charles van Doren would grasp victory from almost inevitable defeat, much like Holzhauer did a short while ago when he gambled everything on a last question and won by the narrowest of margins.

For Charles van Doren, it was all a dream come true-- until it wasn't.
Charles Van Doren - Wikipedia

 

[thirteenbyseven]

James Holzhauer’s ‘Jeopardy!’ Streak Ends Just Shy of a Record

Oh darn, he almost did it. He came this close to achieving a Jeopardy record-haul for loot and winning one for the Gipper. How in the world did Jeopardy James lose? People from all walks of life, game show nuts and John Q. Public alike, are offering-up their reactions to one of the more puzzling mysteries in the annals of game shows.

Holzhauer lost to Emma Boettcher, a woman who from all appearances, seems to be suitably studious with an academic and game show fan resume to back it up. Certainly her haircut suggests a woman who could conceivably spend hours in-solitude memorizing everything from sports to Bible trivia. A contest at the ready to push the buzzer and answer "Crazy Legs Hirsch" or "Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego" at a moments notice.

I want to believe James Holzhauer lost out of love for his little daughter who tearfully asked "when are you coming home daddy?" The alternative explanation is too cynical and conspiratorial.