Is James Holzhauer the Jeopardy! GOAT?

Deadspin

Holzhauer may have come short of beating Ken Jennings' record, but he is the Greatest of All Time at Jeopardy!, says Drew Magary. "He was a f*cking machine," says Magary. "He was so good that he almost always rendered Final Jeopardy into what (Alex) Trebek dubs a 'runaway,' in which he could not be caught by anyone behind him because he had more than double the next highest contestant’s amount. He had to match wagers to his favorite lottery numbers just to keep sh*t interesting, both for himself and for you. What’s more, his style will, for better or worse, be duplicated over and over again by his successors. You can accuse me of being full of sh*t here, but I don’t think that Jeopardy! contestants are as vulnerable to Recency Bias or Old Man Bias as pro athletes are. Virtually every GOAT argument in sports features an old fogey who believes his childhood represented the peak era of athletic achievement, squabbling with a young squirt who believes he’s LIVING in that era right now. I have no rose-colored glasses for Jennings, even though I watched his run and even though his 74-game streak is still mindboggling. Nor am I all that attached to Holzhauer, who sucked every last drop of suspense out of the bulk of his appearances and who still can’t smile properly. But I’m not an idiot. I saw what I saw. Holzhauer was the GOAT. Ask him after a few beers if he was and he’ll tell you that the averages don’t lie."

ALSO:

• In defense of the media spoiling James Holzhauer's loss hours before airtime: "Here's the thing about spoilers: People hate them, but they generate buzz," says Jimmy Traina, pointing to Jeopardy!'s Monday ratings that were on par with the NBA Finals. "For the past few weeks, the country had been talking about Jeopardy! at night—during and after the show. Monday, the country was talking about Jeopardy! all day long. And that momentum led to more curiosity."
• Holzhauer's Jeopardy! streak ended because he was forced to play like a normal contestant
• Holzhauer's streak begs the question: Is the goal to make more money or stay on the show?
• Holzhauer doubts he changed Jeopardy! forever
• The countdown to Holzhauer joining a Major League Baseball front office begins
• Tuesday happened to be the 35th anniversary of "Weird Al" Yankovic's "I Lost on Jeopardy"