GOAT Revealed --- Day 8/282

Walk: Hood
Distance: 1 mile, Yoga

Ken Jennings with his Jeopardy Greatest of All Time Trophy

So until June 2, 2004, Jeopardy was quietly watched by regulars like Ciwt.  Like Ciwt, many of those viewers starting watching when it became a nighttime show with the one and only Alex Trebek as host.  And slowly others joined.

Then on that June date, a new contestant came on to compete.  His name was Ken Jennings, and he won.  Nothing new with that.  Then he won a whole week and came back the next week to keep competing.  Now this was new because the Jeopardy producers had only recently eliminated the 5 game limit for contestants.  Ken actually got a little press because of that, and a few more viewers showed up at their TVs to watch him.

Then he won a third week and a fourth.  By then Jeopardy and Ken were beginning to get national attention.  The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and other prestige publications took notice and wrote articles.  And the viewership grew and grew.

As the eyes of the world watched, Ken Jennings did the unheard of before or since by winning 74 consecutive games!  (Think of the number of times you've marched smartly into a room and forgotten completely why you are there, and you can imagine the brain power feat Jennings accomplished sometimes taping as many as three games in one day).  

And in the process he put Jeopardy on the map.

So it seems fitting and just right that he bested the other phenomenal trivia pros last evening to become Jeopardy's Greatest of All Time Champion.