Muss Es Sein?
I almost stayed in bed today. It’s not because of the weather, which is crappier than I remember crappy weather being. It’s because last night, on Jeopardy!, Ken Jennings lost.
He lost.
Ken was on 75 shows, which comes out to 15 weeks. Of course, his streak straddled the summer, and was interrupted by College Championships and whatnot, so he had been on for almost five months to the day (June 2-November 30). I was living in New Rochelle when he began his run. My friends and I had just started looking for apartments in New York City. That was a long time ago.
I hope two things spring from this juncture:
1. That Ken Jennings doesn’t turn into Quiz Kid Donnie Smith. No one deserves that.
2. That you remember the name “Nancy Zerg.” Like Vic Wertz and Steve Trachsel, she is and will be, for most of us, merely the answer to a trivia question: “Who beat Ken Jennings?” If we remember her, we remember him. To have that immortality — we should all be so lucky.
