Alex Trebek Under Fire for (Supposedly) Making Kid Cry

LINK

 

So only reason I am posting this is to see what people think. Basically it was Kids' Week on Jeopardy and this twelve year-old mis-spelled "Emancipation Proclamation." So he lost and was on the verge of crying. A storm of rage followed on Twitter and the parents are bent-out-of-shape over it, with the father saying, "Everyone knew what he meant" and also that he felt that Alex Trebek was "smug" in how he handled the incident. The kid himself said that he was "cheated" out of winning because of that. Thing is though, the rules are that the answer has to be spelled correctly.

 

Was wondering what others' opinions on this are? My own opinion is that Alex Trebek did not come across as smug at all, I don't know why people think that, but then again, I am bad with people skills. I also think the whole thing is a huge over-reaction and that the kid should man up and just accept the loss. The RULES were that the answers must be correctly-spelled. If you don't like the rules or think they are stupid, then you shouldn't be competing in the first place. But until/unless the rules are changed, then if you mess up, just accept it and move on. Make it a goal to always know the answers and how to spell them correctly.

 

IMO, this is symptomatic of the whole "Everyone is a winner" mindset, like in the kiddie sports games where they don't keep score and everyone gets a trophy at the end. That kind of raising sets kids up for not being able to handle failure later on in life. Whether sports or an academic game like Jeopardy, if you lose due to a rule violation, then you have to accept it.

 

In the men's Olympic swimming, the U.S. team just was disqualified because they violated a rule. Something about where you can't do something within a small fraction of a second, it instead must be over a larger fraction of a second. Now the thing is, whether .25 seconds or .75 seconds, that time in so miniscule, that to me it's a stupid rule. But it's one of the rules and they violated it, and thus were disqualified. If you don't like those rules, then don't compete in swimming. Accept it and move on.

 

If I was the kid's father, I'd say to him, "Yeah Son, it's a stupid rule, but it nonetheless is the rule, that you must spell the answer correctly. You have just learned a very important life lesson, which is that sometimes things don't go your way in life over something really miniscule or stupid-seeming. Consider it practice for when life will do the same to you later on."

 

So do folks agree or disagree with me?

AT has always been smug, is this anything new? Just because the kid is 12 maybe he should tone it down, but at the same time you're on jeopardy, what do you want?

 

If it's in the rules and you break them, you lose, what is there to discuss? The whole idea that "rules don't apply to me" is a serious problem with this generation of kids anyway, this is a valuable lesson.

 

Besides, this kid will most likely be just fine.

 

A fine excerpt taken from this years Ghoul Pool, courtesy of RD:

Alex Trabek- 72 Year old quizmaster, most famous for shaving his mustache and for pretending he would have known the right answer to "The Atomic weight of Cesium" without it being written on the card in front of him, when he informs a contestant they got the answer wrong in the smug, demeaning manner, he has cultivated to an art form over the last 40 years. On his second heart attack in as many years... 5 pts

Rules are rules for a reason. If we didn't have them life would be chaos. I agree with emanon, kids are coddled and it ain't that way in the real world. It's better to learn that lesson early in life.

 

I've coached various sports for several years now and I'm soooo tired of "participation" trophies and having to play every kid an equal amount regardless of talent.

 

Ugh, we're making them all soft

Alex Trebek is a smug man, this is common knowledge. But the rules were undoubtedly explained to the contestants and they were applied to everyone. I don't see anything other than an unfortunate spelling mistake here. The kid was technically wrong.

I've coached various sports for several years now and I'm soooo tired of "participation" trophies and having to play every kid an equal amount regardless of talent.

 

Ugh, we're making them all soft

 

 

not everyone is a winner, cold hard fact, you must have incentive to strive to be better.

Read about this yesterday and my thoughts are: A. If your smart enough to be on Jeopardy you should know how to spell as that is a part of the game. B. Rules are rules. He knew them going in. He made a mistake a feels stupid about it, we've all been there. C. And this is the big one. He wouldn't have won anyway cause the kid after him had like 30 something thousand already and wagered almost all of it. So unless i'm wrong, he/she with the most money at the end is the winner. God damn entitlement attitude is ruing this world.

Read about this yesterday and my thoughts are: A. If your smart enough to be on Jeopardy you should know how to spell as that is a part of the game. B. Rules are rules. He knew them going in. He made a mistake a feels stupid about it, we've all been there. C. And this is the big one. He wouldn't have won anyway cause the kid after him had like 30 something thousand already and wagered almost all of it. So unless i'm wrong, he/she with the most money at the end is the winner. God damn entitlement attitude is ruing this world.

 

If the kid with $30k was smart he would have bet nothing and drawn a middle finger on the board.

 

disclaimer: Being over 30 I'm still not smart enough to be on teen jeopardy.

Rules are rules for a reason. If we didn't have them life would be chaos. I agree with emanon, kids are coddled and it ain't that way in the real world. It's better to learn that lesson early in life.

 

I've coached various sports for several years now and I'm soooo tired of "participation" trophies and having to play every kid an equal amount regardless of talent.

 

Ugh, we're making them all soft

 

^Couldn't have said it any better myself.

I've coached various sports for several years now and I'm soooo tired of having to play every kid an equal amount regardless of talent.

 

I disagree with this point.. If it's rec league then isn't it the time to teach the kids about the game and teamwork etc, not survival of the fittest? When the weed out begins the real players will move on to select, ODP, Club, etc.

I disagree with this point.. If it's rec league then isn't it the time to teach the kids about the game and teamwork etc, not survival of the fittest? When the weed out begins the real players will move on to select, ODP, Club, etc.

Regardless they need to understand from day one if you aren't getting it done you need to work harder. IMO it's NEVER to early to start teaching those life lessons. Part of teamwork is realizing your weakness and trying to improve for the benefit of everyone. Sometimes that motivation comes from within, other times it's the other kids making fun of you for sucking. But if the coach is telling everyone they all did a great job and get a trophy for getting their asses kicked, then there is no lesson there what so ever.

 

I will never support praising someone for a poor performance, especially at ages which are so developmentally critical.

Regardless they need to understand from day one if you aren't getting it done you need to work harder. IMO it's NEVER to early to start teaching those life lessons. Part of teamwork is realizing your weakness and trying to improve for the benefit of everyone. Sometimes that motivation comes from within, other times it's the other kids making fun of you for sucking. But if the coach is telling everyone they all did a great job and get a trophy for getting their asses kicked, then there is no lesson there what so ever.

 

I will never support praising someone for a poor performance, especially at ages which are so developmentally critical.

 

 

I took out the trophy part. I don't disagree with that. All the points you make are good. I'm talking about benching the kids. I understand if you're benched you'll possibly work harder to get more playtime. There's other ways to help this such as self motivation from hot holding up your end of the team. Let's say you are getting your equal play time, hopefully you'll learn during this time to improve yourself so that you put on a better performance.

The fact that his name is Thomas Hurley the third tells me this kid is going to be just fine.

The fact that his name is Thomas Hurley the third tells me this kid is going to be just fine.

What are you saying?

 

Bad Parenting, it's all around you, watch out. Why this is even a "news story" is beyond me. Kid lost fair and square, whats the arguement here, that he is a kid? They can't all win. It would be unfair to the other two contestants if they had given him credit. As far as the smug thing, maybe you should watch a TV show before you go on it?

What are you saying?

 

 

 

Well played

I bet he won't misspell that again.

I bet he won't misspell that again.

 

The kid didn't provide the correct answer according to the rules, and he lost. End of Story. The fact that anyone is making a big deal about this just illustrates what a bunch of weak and whiny losers the citizens of our society have become. We're a nation of pussies.

The kid didn't provide the correct answer according to the rules, and he lost. End of Story. The fact that anyone is making a big deal about this just illustrates what a bunch of weak and whiny losers the citizens of our society have become. We're a nation of pussies.

I love how he says he was "cheated" out of winning. Hey kid ,you're the one not playing by the rules asshole!

1. Did anybody besides me actually WATCH the episode in question?

 

 

2. Does anybody else regularly WATCH Jeopardy?

 

 

3. Has anybody else ever tried to write anything with one of those light pens? (you have if you have ever accepted a UPS delivery...HINT... ITS IMPOSSIBLE to write ANYTHING that looks like english).

 

I have seen adults write CHICKEN SCRATCH, and as long as you can kinda sorta tell (and they will often SAY their answer while Trebeck is trying to read it) and get credit. What the kid wrote was EASILY better than THOUSANDS of other accepted answers....

 

 

ITS A TRIVIA SHOW.... NOT A fcuking SPELLING BEE. It never has been a spelling bee... This is the FIRST time Ive ever seen ANY contestant dinged for an OBVIOUSLY CORRECT ANSWER on account of "Spelling".

 

 

To say that he "Misspelled it badly" (he added one gratuitous "T" that looks like a clear and obvious typo) is a gross misstatement. In fact, as a general stickler for spelling, he spelled it better than 90% of the adults on this forum would have.

 

 

For fun, somebody should pull up my Ghoul Pool obit for Trebeck.... The guy is an ass.

For fun, somebody should pull up my Ghoul Pool obit for Trebeck.... The guy is an ass.

 

Scroll Up.

 

Scroll Up.

Lol. Missed that. Moving sucks.

I see where spelling would be a legit rule like for example: words like gene vs. jean, mail vs male, right vs. write. Easily be misunderstood and spelling would define the correct answer.

 

1. Did anybody besides me actually WATCH the episode in question?

 

 

2. Does anybody else regularly WATCH Jeopardy?

 

I did not see the whole episode and do not watch Jeopardy.

 

3. Has anybody else ever tried to write anything with one of those light pens? (you have if you have ever accepted a UPS delivery...HINT... ITS IMPOSSIBLE to write ANYTHING that looks like english).

 

I have seen adults write CHICKEN SCRATCH, and as long as you can kinda sorta tell (and they will often SAY their answer while Trebeck is trying to read it) and get credit. What the kid wrote was EASILY better than THOUSANDS of other accepted answers....

 

I agree that those pens are very difficult to write with. I also agree that the kid wrote his answer clearly. It wasn't considered misspelled due to the writing being difficult to read or anything, it was clearly misspelled.

 

ITS A TRIVIA SHOW.... NOT A fcuking SPELLING BEE. It never has been a spelling bee... This is the FIRST time Ive ever seen ANY contestant dinged for an OBVIOUSLY CORRECT ANSWER on account of "Spelling".

 

 

To say that he "Misspelled it badly" (he added one gratuitous "T" that looks like a clear and obvious typo) is a gross misstatement. In fact, as a general stickler for spelling, he spelled it better than 90% of the adults on this forum would have.

 

 

For fun, somebody should pull up my Ghoul Pool obit for Trebeck.... The guy is an ass.

 

True Roman, but the problem is that if the rules say that you must spell the answers correctly, then misspelling a correct answer is still wrong. One could argue that it's a stupid rule, but it's still a rule for the time being.

It is the future, kids text and email all day with 'auto correct' and 'spell check'' Kids won't know how to spell anything in the future because they don't have to think about it.