JEOPARDY SCORES, plus WHAT A WEEKEND OF SPORTS

From Sports Illustrated about Jeopardy (scroll down to next posting):

The first episode on Tuesday drew 14.4 million viewers. The second episode on Wednesday drew 14.8 million viewers. Thursday's show landed 15.4 million viewers.

Just for comparison sake, Game 1 of the NBA Finals last year drew 13.5 million viewers. Game 1 of the World Series drew 12.2 million viewers. Game 1 of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals drew 5.5 million viewers.

The show is also doing better with viewers than "Monday Night Football."

For the record, Ken Jennings has two wins and James Holzhauer one.  Brad Rutter has been very unlucky, but shows potential.  Episode #4 occurs this coming Tuesday night.  I bet the viewership will jump to 20 million.  Then, after this competition is over, sometime next month these three will challenge Watson, where they will play as a team.  Nah, just making this up, but I would be surprised if something like this does not materialize.  It's all about the money.

My sports weekend began yesterday at the SONY Open:

The iconic hole is the 16th (actually 7th in normal times).  This is Waialae Golf Course.

I had a pastrami hot dog and Kirin beer.  Really, just a hot dog with bits and pieces of pastrami and other stuff over it:

As I was eating this dog, I saw Collin Morikawa sink a birdie on his final hole of the day, and led the Sony Open with a -5.  Amazing, as I swear for periods that lasted for minutes, winds were blowing from 30-35 miles per hour.

Later, I was just about to cross the 18th hole, when a ball came trickling up close to me.  I looked at my golf watch, and that was around a 400-yard drive.  I waited on who did it, and it was Tomoyo Ikemura of Japan.  This was definitely wind-assisted.  He is 5'5" tall.  Ended up with a +6 for the day. 

Of course, the Sony Open is more than just golf.  For example, Sony this year featured:

360 reality audio is merely a headphone.    There was a Toyota Mirai, a fuel cell car:

Only available in Hawaii and California, for around $60,000.  There is subsidization of the hydrogen fuel cost.

University of Hawaii sports began last night with two men wins in basketball and volleyball.  Four more events by Saturday.  The #1 men's volleyball team plays Harvard tonight.

Tomorrow, two NFL playoff games, and two more on Sunday.  Then, on Monday, LSU versus Clemson for the NCAA football championship.

The Dow Jones Industrials topped 29,000 earlier today, but will fall more than a hundred points for the day.

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