This is the Jeopardy! post

I've been remiss in letting people know what happened last weekend when I went down to Portland to try out for Jeopardy!. well, it wasn't too bad. It turns out that it wasn't a tryout to get on the list to be a contestant for next season. By passing the online test and being randomly selected, I was already there! (Those of you who took the online test and didn't get called to your local in-person test, don't despair. Over 100,000 people took that test! Even a lot of people who passed weren't called, and I only got in by luck of the draw. And it was so successful, they'll probably do another online test before long, so don't give up hope!)

No, the reason I was there was so they could coach me on how to be a good player (much of it I already knew, but it was nice that they took the time), and if I had some personality. First, however, came the fifty question written test, much like the online test and what they've done in the past. This one was tougher, but I think it was more of a psych test, to see if you could do it again, would freeze up if you didn't know one, that sort of thing. This one was tougher, and I have no idea how I did, but I got at least some of them right. Then came the mock game. This time around, unlike when I did it about ten years ago, it was electronic, with Johnny Gilbert reading the clues. It was fun, but I have no idea how I did. I was the last one up, however, so I at least knew to keep pressing the button over and over instead of just once, and to speak up and show some enthusiasm. It was a fun way to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday morning, and I hope it was enough.

But despite getting that far, it's still not a shoe-in. They need about four hundred contestants a year, but they're doing so many contestant searches now around the country that the list of potential contestants ends up being much longer. It does not help that I'm a white male teacher, which is the prototypical J! contestant — but I was the only teacher there, much to my surprise. There were a lot more folks there who work for Microsoft. There were also a lot more Seattle-area folks than Oregonians, plus one from Idaho, and two who had come in from further (Texas and Virginia).

The good news? If I am picked, they'll give me a call a few weeks ahead of time. So I'm not going to start studying until I know I'll need to do it. And I'll let everyone know when my first show is, so you can finally see what I look like and how badly I flame out — or not!