Screaming at the television

Okay, I'll admit it: I like trivia and I watch Jeopardy. This week featured the finals of the annual college student tournament. Like their children's tournament, the questions are a slight bit skewed for the age group. But not as much, because, after all, these are young adults. And very bright ones at that.

In yesterday's final of the week long tournament, the three contestants were a nonchalant young man with trendy, spiky hair from Vanderbilt, a sulky "woman" from Goucher (a highly politically correct all-female private college in Baltimore where Margaret Sanger is practically deified), and a flippant Asian gal from University of North Texas.    

As you would expect from "the best and the brightest," they did well in all categories - from abstruse science topics to the usual pop culture categories (music, movies, TV). They especially excelled in government and politics. Following the typical pattern of avoiding the category you know the least about until last, the one category they had not touched until the end of the final round of double jeopardy was - books of the Bible.  Because it was a close game and the scores were nearly even, they strategically started at the bottom of the category (the high dollar questions) and worked their way back up to the top.

In all my years of watching Jeopardy, I have never seen a category so completely stymie a group of contestants, much less the finalists in a highly-contested tournament! There's always one contestant who just happens to be an expert on whatever esoteric topic the Jeopardy writers may dream up. Not only did no one successfully answer the first three questions - no one even buzzed in with a close guess (almost unprecedented)! These were all questions I think my elementary students at Veritas could have answered with ease. For the most part, they looked disinterested - the wise-cracking gal from North Texas actually held up her hands in the "Who cares?" pose after the second uncomfortable silence. After the third miss, host Alex Trebek, attempting ease the tension, made a little joke that "at least you're learning something today."

As an anti-climax, they got the last two questions (the lowest dollar value, and therefore the easiest) right, even though the happy-go-lucky dude from Vandy mistook Exodus for Genesis. Then the sulky broad from Goucher got it after him (by process of elimination, one might assume). The Vandy dude also got one right about Job.The flippant chick from North Texas, who went on to win the whole tournament, didn't buzz in once, clearly blowing off the entire category.

I screamed at the television set. "You are a wicked and adulterous generation, and God will judge you!"  The trouble is....they are the best and brightest of that generation. Jeremiah, move over, we got some lamentin' to do!