Tuesday, June 19, 2012

And Now The Waiting Begins

Today I auditioned for "Jeopardy!" The auditions take place in several cities throughout the country, and it was New York's turn. Two teams of contestant staff scour the country looking for good players with awesome knowledge. Today's auditions were run by Senior Contestant Coordinator Glenn Kagan, who's been working on game shows for over 35 years, the last 25 with the current version of "Jeopardy!", which will enter its 29th season this fall. We were one of the first audition groups for the new season, which begins taping July 24 at the Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, CA.

Kagan and his associates Corinne and Kenny were all friendly types in spite of jet lag from flying in the day before. There were nineteen of us in the audition room; sixteen men, three women. We started with a fifty-question written quiz. As the same quiz is used in future auditions I cannot spoil any of the material, sorry. I think I got about 42 of the fifty correct including some lucky guesses and in spite of a few brain farts.

After scoring the quizzes, we each played a mock game of "Jeopardy!" using the familiar handheld buzzers and a truncated board showing only three questions in each category. As each category is used up a new one replaces it. If I could figure out a way to reprogram the pages on J! Archive (www.j-archive.com) to do that, it would be just so sweet as a training aid. I was in the sixth and final trio of contestants. Afterwards I gave Glenn and Corinne the story of my life, then made way for the 19th and final contestant.

My morning was over with a quick 20-block walk back to Penn Station to catch the train into Metropark (with a stop at Ray's Famous Original Pizza - good slices), and the drive home from there. (The commute to and fro was routine and uneventful, unlike my drive into NYC for "Millionaire.")

So now begins 18 months of waiting for a phone call telling me to pack my bags for LA, which I haven't visited since 1989. Looking forward to finally getting a chance to be on a show that I watched as a wee child with Art Fleming on NBC, and one I first auditioned for sometime in the early 1990's with a 50-question test at what was then known as Merv Griffin's Resorts. (Needless to say I didn't do well on that one.)

Will update you if I get a tape date. After that, I must remain mum until the show (hopefully, shows) air.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

What A Night For Pitchers

Three incredible pitching performances last night, one in Miami with a potential Boston no-hitter by Felix Doubront broken up by no less than Jose Reyes, R.A. Dickey's one-hitter against Tampa Bay, and Matt Cain totally shutting down the Houston Astros late last night at AT&T Park.

This morning word comes that the Mets are going to try to appeal what they believe should have been a fielding error on David Wright on B.J. Upton's first-inning dribbler "single". Jon Heyman of CBS doesn't believe the Mets have a chance to have the call overturned. I would think that then we'd go back to the tapes and films of all one-hitters and try to make them retroactively into no-nos. The decision of the official scorer should be final. Imagine if the Cards were to appeal that blown third base foul line call in Santana's no hitter of almost two weeks ago....

That said, let's roll out the revised roster, as we continue to count down the Padres' continued futility in their quest for a no-hitter at right. (Anyone else doing this?)

LAST NO HITTERS - ACTIVE TEAMS
combined no hitters not counted, including the one the Seattle Mariners threw on June 8, 2012
06/13/12 San Francisco Giants (Matt Cain - perfect game)
06/01/12 New York Mets (Johan Santana - team's first)
05/02/12 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Jered Weaver)
04/21/12 Chicago White Sox (Philip Humber - perfect game)
05/07/11 Detroit Tigers (Justin Verlander)
05/03/11 Minnesota Twins (Francisco Liriano)
10/06/10 Philadelphia Phillies (Roy Halladay - postseason game)
07/26/10 Tampa Bay Rays (Matt Garza - team's first)
06/25/10 Arizona Diamondbacks (Edwin Jackson)
05/09/10 Oakland A's (Dallas Braden - perfect game)
04/17/10 Colorado Rockies (Ubaldo Jiminez, team's first)
09/14/08 Chicago Cubs (Carlos Zambrano)
05/19/08 Boston Red Sox (Jon Lester)
09/06/06 Florida Marlins (Anibal Sanchez)
05/18/04 Arizona Diamondbacks (Randy Johnson - perfect game)
09/03/01 St. Louis Cardinals (Bud Smith)
07/18/99 New York Yankees (David Cone - perfect game)
09/17/96 Los Angeles Dodgers (Hideo Nomo)
07/28/94 Texas Rangers (Kenny Rogers - perfect game)
04/08/94 Atlanta Braves (Kent Mercker)
09/08/93 Houston Astros (Darryl Kile - vs. METS)
04/22/93 Seattle Mariners (Chris Bosio)
08/26/91 Kansas City Royals (Bret Saberhagen)
07/26/91 Montreal Expos (Dennis Martinez - perfect game - now Washington Nationals)
09/02/90 Toronto Blue Jays (Dave Stieb)
09/16/88 Cincinnati Reds (Tom Browning - perfect game)
04/15/87 Milwaukee Brewers (Juan Nieves)
05/15/81 Cleveland Indians (Len Barker)
08/09/76 Pittsburgh Pirates (John Candelaria)
08/13/69 Baltimore Orioles (Jim Palmer)
NEVER San Diego Padres (team's inception, 1969)

Friday, June 01, 2012

EL GOCHO BELIEVE IT!



LAST NO HITTERS - ACTIVE TEAMS
combined no hitters not counted
06/01/12 New York Mets (Johan Santana - team's first)
05/02/12 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Jered Weaver)
04/21/12 Chicago White Sox (Philip Humber - perfect game)
05/07/11 Detroit Tigers (Justin Verlander)
05/03/11 Minnesota Twins (Francisco Liriano)
10/06/10 Philadelphia Phillies (Roy Halladay - postseason game)
07/26/10 Tampa Bay Rays (Matt Garza - team's first)
06/25/10 Arizona Diamondbacks (Edwin Jackson)
05/09/10 Oakland A's (Dallas Braden - perfect game)
04/17/10 Colorado Rockies (Ubaldo Jiminez, team's first)
07/10/09 San Francisco Giants (Jonathan Sanchez)
09/14/08 Chicago Cubs (Carlos Zambrano)
05/19/08 Boston Red Sox (Jon Lester)
09/06/06 Florida Marlins (Anibal Sanchez)
05/18/04 Arizona Diamondbacks (Randy Johnson - perfect game)
09/03/01 St. Louis Cardinals (Bud Smith)
07/18/99 New York Yankees (David Cone - perfect game)
09/17/96 Los Angeles Dodgers (Hideo Nomo)
07/28/94 Texas Rangers (Kenny Rogers - perfect game)
04/08/94 Atlanta Braves (Kent Mercker)
09/08/93 Houston Astros (Darryl Kile - vs. METS)
04/22/93 Seattle Mariners (Chris Bosio)
08/26/91 Kansas City Royals (Bret Saberhagen)
07/26/91 Montreal Expos (Dennis Martinez - perfect game - now Washington Nationals)
09/02/90 Toronto Blue Jays (Dave Stieb)
09/16/88 Cincinnati Reds (Tom Browning - perfect game)
04/15/87 Milwaukee Brewers (Juan Nieves)
05/15/81 Cleveland Indians (Len Barker)
08/09/76 Pittsburgh Pirates (John Candelaria)
08/13/69 Baltimore Orioles (Jim Palmer)
NEVER San Diego Padres (team's inception, 1969)