Yesterday’s episode of “Jeopardy” included one of the worst contestant responses I’ve ever seen in the “Final Jeopardy” round.
The answer given by Alex Trebek: “Of all the states that have 2 NFL teams, it is the only one that touches the Mississippi River.”
Two contestants responded “What is Minnesota?” Wrong! While on the Mississippi, that state only has one NFL team, the Vikings. The third contestant, however, had a real beauty: “What is Florida?”
Florida? Let’s see. Miami Dolphins, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers — hey, that’s three NFL teams in one state! Unfortunately, the question was about states with two NFL teams.
Now, I can see going on “Jeopardy” without a lot of sports knowledge. All of that other trivia can take up so much brain space that a list of NFL teams might not fit, and no one can know everything (even Ken Jennings). Okay.
But almost every “Jeopardy” contestant is pretty good at geography, particularly US geography, which is what makes this one even worse — because you don’t have to be the love child of Rand McNally and Paul Tagliabue to know that Florida is nowhere near the Mississippi River!
The correct answer, of course, is Missouri, home of the St. Louis Rams and Kansas City Chiefs.
Yes, good old Missouri, the orange juice state.