Jeopardy! Contestants Display Humorous Lack of Football Knowledge

Ever wonder how much those nerds on Jeopardy! know about sports? Well, in some cases it's not very much, as one Jeopardy! show demonstrated, much to the amusement of Alex Trebek.

This week--on Thursday, June 18, to be exact--Jeopardy showed a replay of a show that first aired on Feb. 1, 2018, three days before the Super Bowl. The category of "Talkin' Football" went untouched until all the other categories had been played out.

When you watch this video, you can see why these contestants avoided it:

Five easy football questions, and none of the three contestants even ventured a guess at any. The only question (answer?) that was mildly challenging involved the nickname of the famous Vikings defense of the 1970s. But no self-respecting sports reporter would be stumped by that one.

The best part is Trebek's commentary on the last few selections in the category.

National Public Radio, the high-brow purveyor of sophisticated news and events, reported on the football-information shortcoming with appropriate humor, and Sports Illustrated had some fun with it too.

The Jeopardy! show even poked fun at the contestants and the Cleveland Browns by posting this Tweet:

Fun fact: Our contestants answered as many clues in this category as the @Browns had wins this season. pic.twitter.com/KMaR8otIHe
— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) February 2, 2018

The way the contestants reacted to each question (answer?), you almost wonder whether they were pleased with themselves for knowing so little about something as mundane as football.

Now there is a Cal connection in all this. Some time after the original 2018 show, Jeopardy! attempted another football category, but this time it focused on referee signals that Trebek would demonstrate. The contestants did somehwat better.

Here is a video of that segment, and see if you can detect the reference to a famous former Cal player in one of the questions (I mean, answer).

Did you catch it?

On the very last question in the category there was a reference to catching the other team with too many players on the field. That, of course, is a trick Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers likes to exploit, and Rodgers was Cal's quarterback in 2003 and 2004, leading the Golden Bears to a No. 4 national ranking at the end of the 2004 regular season. (The Bears finished No. 9 after losing to Mike Leach's Texas Tech team in the Holiday Bowl.)

Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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