Filed in the bizarre and of no value to cruising what-so-ever category, I bring you the “Blind Nelly”.  The AmyUnit and I learned of the “Blind Nelly” during our recent visit home where we spent more than three months living in the In-Law suite in my brothers basement and sharing the house with not only him and his wife Jenn, but also their three boys, Sean, Jake and the Cooper. Early on in our stay, dinner time quickly became the high point of our family unit’s focus as we all got together to eat and socialize and talk about what had transpired during the day.

Due to the extra-curricular activities that three boys aged 8 to 11 engage in, dinner was usually a late affair greatly resembling the western European model rather than what most Americans are used to. We rarely ate before 7:30, which meant the family gathered almost precisely at the proper time to watch the American trivia game show Jeopardy with Alex Tribeck.

As those of you familiar with the game will know, contestants are provided with six categories each containing six questions and then the three combatants are required to provide an answer to each question read. Correct answers are rewarded with a monetary value based on the difficulty of the question while wrong answers are penalized in a similar fashion. There are two rounds of the categories during the half hour show and at the end of the game, there is one last question called Final Jeopardy where contestants may wager any amount up to and including all they have been awarded through the first two rounds.

Final Jeopardy starts with the host revealing the category of the last question. Contestants then make their wager based only on the category, with no knowledge of what the question is going to be. After the wagers are made, the final question is revealed and the contestants have thirty second to write down their answers, which are then revealed one at a time, culminating in the crowning of a winner determined by who has the most money.

The “Blind Nelly” is a non-sanctioned, un-official extension of the game that we play at home. Basically, when the category for final jeopardy is revealed, but before the last question is read, all of us watching at home take a guess as to what the answer will be. Keep in mind that all we know is the category, nothing else. As you can imagine, getting the correct answer without even knowing what the question is very, very difficult. When someone actually does get this right, we award them the “Blind Nelly”.

And all of this is to say that I’ve added this page for posterity’s sake to record our triumphs. This page will updated as more Blind Nellies are scored.

• Feb 5:   Player: Tom   Category: U.S. Presidents   Tom’s Answer: Who is Ford?   Question: He was the only 20th century president who never delivered an inaugural address. Actual Answer: Who is Ford.

• Feb 9:   Player: Travis   Category: U.S. Presidents   Tom’s Answer: Who is Ford?   Question: He is the only president of the 20th century to not have an inauguration. Actual Answer: Who is Ford.

• Feb 18:   Player: Amy   Category: U.S. Senate   Amy’s Answer: Who is the Vice President?   Question: During his Senate service, which lasted from 1973 to January 2009, this man cast 12,810 votes.   Actual Answer: Who is Joe Biden.    

• Feb 24:   Player: Amy   Category: Legendary Women   Amy’s Answer: Who is Guinevere?   Question: Early British literature refers to her as “the first lady of the island”   Actual Answer: Who is Lady Guinevere?

• May 9:   Player: Amy   Category: Legislation   Amy’s Answer: What is the G.I. bill?   Question: The original law called this was passed in 1944; today there’s a “Post-9/11″ version that also pays for 36 months of university education.   Actual Answer:   What is the G.I. bill?

• May 11:   Player: Amy   Category: State Songs   Amy’s Answer: What is Maryland?   Question: Its state song rhymes “patriotic gore” with the name of its largest city.   Actual Answer: What is Maryland?

• May  31:   Player: Amy   Category: Advertising Icons   Amy’s Answer: Who is Tony the Tiger?   Question: This spokes-animal created in 1951 got a wife & a daughter, Antoinette, in the 1970s.   Actual Answer: Who is Tony the Tiger

• June 7:    Player: Tom   Category: Historic TV   Tom’s Answer: What is Mash?   Question: An authentic Bell H-13 Sioux air ambulance was used in the opening credits of this television series.   Actual Answer: What is Mash.

• June 7:    Player: Jake   Category: Historic TV   Jake’s Answer: What is Mash?   Question: An authentic Bell H-13 Sioux air ambulance was used in the opening credits of this television series.   Actual Answer: What is Mash.

Current score: Amy 5, Tom 2, Travis 1, Jake 1