I ran to Hardee’s and got us each a sausage biscuit for breakfast, which we had with coffee.
We met Joe at the lake, just after noon, and the three of us did the three-mile walk, which went by pretty quickly.
On the way home, we all stopped at Quizno’s for lunch.
On the way to Will’s and Amy’s, I stopped at the Food Lion, mostly to get “cash back” instead of having to use an ATM machine. I got a bag of 
while I was there.
We started drinking at about 3:30, and Brian, who was using Courtney’s ticket, since she’d gotten in a minor traffic accident and needed to take care of that, showed up after about 20 minutes. Tickets? What tickets?
Picturing this day since last Thursday when Will & Amy asked me if I wanted the fourth ticket they had, I’d been picturing us arriving at the RBC Center right at about 4:45, when the doors opened.
Being an ESFJ, I’m always on time, or early, for everything.
As you can see on the ticket, they closed at 5:45. So, at 5:32, we’re still on the road on the way to the RBC Center.
Once inside the arena, at about 5:42, a few stragglers came in behind us, but they went directly into the line, as I waited while first Will went to the mens room, Amy looked for the ladies room, and Brian went off to get some coffee to where the usher had told him there was a coffee stand or something.
Will came out first, then Amy came back from the ladies room, which was a little ways from the mens room, and finally Brian returned. It seems the usher forgot to mention one little tidbit. The coffee stand wasn’t operating today.
So, finally all together and raring to go, we joined the seating line as the last four people.
My next door neighbor, who saw the Saturday taping, had told is to wear something ACC-related to increase our chances of being pulled to sit up front. Obviously, that didn’t factor in being the last four people in line.
I hesitate to tell the rest of this story, because all it does is re-enforce undesirable behavior. But here’s what happened.
The last about 12 of us were ushered into the last row, the highest row being used in the balcony, noted as the area marked with a 1 in the diagram below.
But, before we sat down the usher was wired something into her ear piece, and I heard her say something about the “second row.” We got all excited as they led us back out into the corridor, but our hopes sunk when we entered another doorway in the balcony. “Oh, they must have meant the second row in the balcony,” we thought as they lead us to the area marked with a 2.
No sooner had we got halfway down there another wireless news flash arrived in somebody’s ear, and the usher said, “Sorry folks, please come this way.”
Out in the corridor again, one lady with headphones said, “Sorry to be leading you guys around, but believe me you’re going to get good seats,” and with that led us to the area marked with a 3.
The seats were not in the center, but they were on the ground floor, very close to the stage, just not with the best angle, and there was one sort of “archway of wires” that partially blocked my view.
No sooner had we all sat down here, across three rows, the people overseeing the ground floor seating came up and started asking us how many were in our respective parties. They took a party of three away to sit somewhere down front and center.
Then, shortly after, they came back and looked at our row, and said, “Six of you? Come this way.”
Our party of four got up and immediately followed. The other couple on our row, who was not with us, didn’t want to sit up front. We left them, and were put in the second row center as indicated in the diagram with a 4. We were freaking out.
We watched the taping of two shows, which will be the final two shows of the 2005 College Championship, airing the weeks of November 9th – 11th and the 14th – 18th.
This means we have a chance to be on the air on Thursday, November 17th or Friday, November 18th, and it also means we saw the final match, which in turns means we know the 1st ($100,000), 2nd ($50,000), and 3rd ($25,000) place winners. Going to any bars to make bets on those days?
After finally calming down after getting our second row seats as the last four people into the taping, we were given “instructions” by
who is a very energetic, and charismatic, guy.
He reminded us over and over again about two things: 1) there are lots and lots and lots of cameras all around the arena to capture you being an enthusiastic audience member, and 2) the microphones, equally as ubiquitous, are very, very sensitive, and will pick up you telling an answer to your neighbor. Don’t do it.
We actually had to sit out the commercial time. I should have asked why as one of our questions. During the waiting time, the audience was allowed to ask Alex questions. I don’t understand why they don’t just splice the commercials in later.
Some of the many, many questions people asked Alex:
- Q: If you could have hosted any other game show in all of history, which one would you have chosen?
A: Hollywood Squares. - Q: Why did you shave off your mustache.
A: Because I wanted to. And I did it because I know this: I have the power, if at any time I want to, to grow it back again. - Q: What do you think of those skits on SNL that they do about you?
A: I love them. I even like the Sean Connery character. I realize that any time they are doing something like that, they are saying that you, meaning Jeopardy, as become a part of Americana, so it’s an honor. My ego is not so big that… (I didn’t even hear the rest of this sentence as I couldn’t get past how it started…) - Q: May I have your autograph?
A: Yes, but you are the only one. I only give it to the first person that asks that question. So, please, don’t anyone else ask for it. - Q: (by a 12-year-old girl) What is the biggest river in Central America?
A: He stammered and joked, but bottom line was he didn’t know the answer to it. - Q: May I shake your hand?
A: Shake my hand? You don’t know where this hand has been. Where are you from young lady? (Her answer: Charlotte, North Carolina.) - Q:Do you keep in touch with Ken Jennings?
A: No, I don’t keep in touch with any of the past contestants. I do understand that Ken’s doing very well these days, though. He has developed his own board game, and it’s going to be on TV, and he’s going to be the host. - Q: Are you and Pat Sajak friends?
A: Well, we don’t hang out together. We’re friends, yes, but he lives in Maryland, and he commutes to Hollywood to do the show. In his own jet. Vanna has two jets. (Everyone laughed at this comment, but I don’t think anyone was sure as to whether he was kidding or not.) - Q: (by a female audience member about the three male contestants) My question is, “Are any of the contestants free after the show?”
A: Very good! Do you have one in mind now, or would you rather wait until you know which one is $100,000 richer? - Q: (Asked at the first break of the taping of the second show) Since it’s a “new day,” can I have your autograph?
A: Very clever, but, I’m sorry, it’s one per audience. - Q: (by a lady in the audience) What are you doing after the show tonight, Alex?
A: I am going back to my hotel room, and I’m going to watch The West Wing and then Desperate Housewives.
The audience asked these questions between Regular Jeopardy and Double Jeopardy, and then again between Double Jeopardy and Final Jeopardy. The commercial break between Double Jeopardy and Final Jeopardy is much, much longer than the break between Regular Jeopardy and Double Jeopardy.
In between all of the questions, Alex told a few “You know you’re a redneck when…” jokes, which I don’t particularly care to hear.
Over the course of both games, there were only two “errors” pointed out, and only one of those was addressed with a “re-take.” The error that wasn’t re-shot had to do with Alex inserting a word that wasn’t there into an answer. The answer said just “Leno” in it, but Alex read it “Jay Leno.” I assume this wasn’t redone as they can just fix it by editing out the word “Jay.” I assume.
The other “blooper” if you will, was that Alex read one clue that referenced Lance Armstrong’s retirement date, and it was 5 years off. It wasn’t clear to me if he read it wrong, or if it was written wrong in the clue. At any rate, they only re-shot Alex reading the answer, not whichever contestant had rung in to give the correct question.
The scores at the end of the first taping, the first day, if you will, were something like $399 to $25,000 to $14,000. Something in those ranges. They got to add these totals to the “next day’s round,” which started about 20 minutes later.
During this break, all of the contestants left the stage, as did Alex. The contestants, presumably, went to make-up. Alex went for a wardrobe change.
Johnny explained that though they’re taping the 10 games over these two days at the RBC center, they will run for 10 different days when they air, and if Alex didn’t change his clothes, people would actually write in, “thousands of letters,” he said, and ask, “Why doesn’t Alex change his clothes? Is something wrong with him?”
Alex came out in a new suit, and before the new game started, he talked to the three contestants, and then the audience.
He said to us, “I was just telling the guys, that often times, someone that doesn’t do so well one day, will have a total turn around the next day. So even though, [name omitted to avoid a spoiler] didn’t do that well yesterday, you never now. A run on a category, or some good luck on the Daily Doubles, and things can totally turn around.”
The game opened with that contestant with the lowest score from yesterday running an entire category, with around $5,000 at the first break, while the other two had around $1,000 each. That got Alex charged up.
I was cheering a lot, and yelling “woo-hoo” when a Daily Double was found, like they’d told us to, and at one point toward the end of the second show the lady sitting next to me said, “Do you know someone up there?” LOL.
“No, I don’t. I’m just being a good audience member,” I said smiling at her.
I left Joe a voice mail message at 7:50, as soon as we got out of the taping, then another one at 8:50 when I still hadn’t heard from him.
I was still at home waiting to hear from him, when Brian called at around 9:35 to see if I was coming out.
I left Joe my third, and final, message at 9:50. I was beginning to worry about him, but deep down thought that things must have been going well in order for it to be going on so long.
I got to Flex at about 10:00, and when Joe still hadn’t arrived by 10:50, and Brian had disappeared without saying goodbye, I left.
When I got in my car, I called Joe to tell him that I’d decide to bag it, but he answered and told me he’d be leaving in just a minute. He had stopped by home to change clothes.
I went back in, and Brian returned after a while. He had gone to make a CD for someone.
We played a few games of pool: April Jane, her friend Nick, Joe, and me. I also got to meet Joe’s friend Chuck, with whom he’d been to dinner at a Lesbian couple’s house earlier in the evening.
All of them twisted my arm to go to Legends. After all, Carmella Corella Garcia was performing.
This isn’t a video of what she did tonight, but of a performance in another place at another time. I’ve never heard of this woman, and I was not impressed. She was abusive to one person [uh… that would be a customer] in the audience. I hate that. She must have attended the Brigner school of business.