October 31, 2025 • 16 mins
Aaron Levine from FOX 13 joins to talk about the upcoming Mariners offsesaon, his appearance on Jeopardy, and more.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now back to football Frontage sponsored by Tito's Handmade Vodka.
But your home for the UNFL Sports Radio ninety three
point three KGr FL.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
All right, we're back.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Hugh Mellon joins us at five o'clock tonight. Rick new
heisl coming up in the six pm hour on the
radio program. But it's not every day you get to
welcome a champion here to the radio program. What kind
of champion are we talking about?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah? Baby, you know what kind of champion we're talking about?
I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Man. Somebody said to me, hey man, too bad what
happened to the ms. But isn't it great what Aaron
Levine did? Yeah, it makes him feel better than do
anything for me. Good for him, But he is a
Jeopardy champion. And Aaron Levine joins us right now on
the radio program.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Aaron, how are you? Man? What's up? Champ?
Speaker 4 (00:49):
I'm good. Do you realize how guilty and or selfish
I might have felt had the Mariners made the World
Series and I had absolutely no control over when those
games were going to be played, Games three, four, and
five on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I would have felt
really bad. I really would have.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, let me ask you a question.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
If they called you and it was in the middle
of the World Series, would you have said, sorry, I
got a pass, I'm kind of busy, or would you
have taken the invitation?
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Anyway, Listen, when I originally took the offer, it was
the beginning, It was the end of July, and it
was for a middle of September tape date, and I
had no idea when the air date was going to
actually be until I showed up on set.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
Well, and then you imagine the ratings you got. Because
the Mariners weren't in the wederies, I don't think a
lot of people would have been watching you otherwise.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
Well, it gave people a choice at least, and that
was kind of good.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Well, let let's talk about how this came down, because
again you mentioned that you found this out over the summer,
this was recorded a while back, and the air dates
obviously we're just this week, so you kind of had
that sounds like, maybe keep your trap shut about some
of this stuff. But talk about how this came to
be and how you became such a Jeopardy nut man.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
It's kind of crazy. I mean, I would watch Jeopardy
like a lot of people did with their parents growing
up at the dinner table in Los Angeles, who was
seven o'clock every single night. And I wanted to be
on Team Jeopardy, but I never got the written tests unfortunately,
So that was that, And when I went off to college,
didn't do any trivia at all, never watched Jeopardy. In fact,
I didn't even really know about Ken Jennings seventy four
(02:20):
wind Streak until maybe years after the fact. It was
really away from trivia or quizzing in general, and it
wasn't until I was living in Gig Harbor and we
would go to actually would go to Cannorwood who has
a trivia night every Saturday night, and if you win
the first round, you get a free advertiser. If you
win the second round, you win a free dessert. You
(02:41):
win the third round, you win a free entree. I'm thinking, hey,
this is kind of cool free food. And so between
that and starting to turn Jeopardy on again, I was
looking for something more productive in my life as a hobby.
I started not playing golf as much because of an
eye condition I had because of stress, and so I
needed to try and find something to fill that competitive
(03:01):
void and believe it or not, I turn a trivia
So started making index cards, and six and a half
years later, I've got more than twenty twenty five thousand
index cards that I legitimately go through on a regular
basis to try and keep up because I don't have
a photographic memory at all, and I just I have
to just hammer stuff into my brain before it finally
(03:23):
remembers it. So I set a long term goal of
when I turned thirty seven, I said I wanted to
feel comfortable enough to take the online Jeopardy test by
the time I turned forty. It was a three year goal.
Two years later, I felt comfortable enough. On my thirty
ninth birthday did take the Jeopardy Anytime test for the
first time and got into the contestant pool for the
(03:45):
first time. In July of twenty twenty one, I was
in the contestant pool between a zoom audition and an
in person audition in Vegas for thirty seven consecutive months,
more than three years, and did not get the call
and timed out. Last August. Took the test again at
a trivia convention in Detroit, of all places, and then
(04:05):
got the second test. This past January and got an
email to take a zoom audition when I was in
Arizona with the Mariners in spring training, and so that's
where I did my zoom audition to get back into
the contestant pool for another two years. Got the call
in late July, and then we taped a month and
a half ago.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
That is pretty cool, man. It is truly a lifelong
goal and great job. I mean you mentioned Ken Jennings.
I mean, he's from here. Why is this areas at
a hot bed for contestants and champions?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
On that game show?
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Yeah, I guess Ken one said that it's just really
rainy and gloomy here most of the year. Some people
stay inside looking for some sort of topic. And you know,
I will say though, I was studying for most of
the time during the summer when it was beautiful outside,
and it was very tempting to just drop all these
cards and go enjoy myself. But you know, the goal
was the goal, and I didn't want to have any
(04:52):
regrets after that.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Well, Aaron Levine Fox thirteen is with us, and not
because of his prowess as a sports news anchor, but
because he is a yeh, pretty champion baby joining us
right here on the radio show. A couple of things
that you just said there. First of all, I had
no idea you were so young. I thought you were
like fifty five years old.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Number one.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
And then number two, you mentioned you're not playing golf.
I mean I would just start drinking and never mind
Jeopardy and you know, index cards and all that stuff.
So good for you for finding something productive to do
because you're not playing golf. But what was the whole
experience like it looked like your family was down.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
There with you.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Did they take care of you? Put you up in
a five star hotel? Tell us about it, man.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
So actually, when you're contestant on Jeopardy, you have to
pay your own way down there.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
And everything.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Now, but here is the good news that if you
ever get invited back for a postseason tournament, which I
have fortunately there will be going back down there, then
they do take care of expenses for you. And it
was worth it. I mean listen, just trying to get
there and you're gonna I mean, if it's this dream
come true, just to be able to stand on the
(05:57):
alexro backstage and and look around and say, wow, this
is what I was able to accomplish, And yeah, I
was able to invite a bunch of family members because
I knew that ultimately I wasn't going to have a
viewing party down in the southern California area, So to
be able to invite some of immediate family members to
be there with me on the tape day was really cool,
(06:20):
and it was somewhat settling given the fact that they
taped five episodes in one day. They take a week
week's worth of episodes in a day. So after that
first episode, which was the Monday episode, you back in
the green room changing into a new outfit and then
going back out there fifteen minutes later and pretending like
it's a brand new day, don't.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
I don't really get comfortable talking to people about how
much money they make because it's their business. But it's
kind of public knowledge, man, how much you want on
Jeopardy because it's right right there on the screen.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
It's right there on the freaking TV screen.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
You want about what forty nine thousand dollars you know
over the three days in Jeopardy. So dude, you gotta
tell us, because I was asking you off the air,
does Ken just like give you a check.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Does he ask you for your venmo? How does that work? Man?
Come on, let's see an envelope.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Apparently, after it goes through the California tax board and
ends up with twenty or thirty bucks, you get a
check within ninety to one hundred and twenty days of
your air date. So maybe sometime around the holiday season
New Year's I'll get a check. And you know, I'd
love to be able to take my son on a
ski trip or something to have him learn how to ski.
(07:24):
But other than that, it's going into a college fund
for him and hopefully let that grow for the next
ten years before he goes off to college.
Speaker 5 (07:31):
All right, tell me about the highs and the low
is the question that you're kicking yourself on that you
didn't answer, and the question you were most proud of answering.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Those are easy XBH. I mean a two hundred dollars category,
A two hundred dollars clue baseball? What does it stand for?
And I just blinked, and I know it's more of
an old school stats term that used to be in
all the box scores. You don't see XPH as often now,
I don't think as we used to but yeah, extras.
(08:00):
Just not being able to pull that answer was my
biggest regret outside of the Thomas Jefferson Monticello Final Jeffrey
question that I did not get right last night that
could have extended the streak. And then to be able
to get a daily double in my second game where
the answer was Stanford, Oh wow, and be able to
say and to be able to say go Cardinal on
national TV on Jeopardy of all things, was probably one
(08:23):
of the coolest moments that I had up there. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
No, I saw that clip on social media and then
Ken actually asked you did you go to Stanford and
then cut it off.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
So did you give him a chance to say.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Yes or what I did? I said yes, and he said, well,
you wouldn't want to you wouldn't want to miss that one.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
I was like, no, that'd be pretty damn embarrassing, man,
Purple and gold on the colors of what school?
Speaker 2 (08:46):
I don't know, man, I'm freaking out. And then McAfee
did McAfee give you a shout out? Is that what
I saw on his show?
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Yeah, he gave me a shout out yesterday. He thinks
he thanked me first. Before you know, going off on.
He was just excited that he was a clue on Jeopardy,
of all things, I think anybody would be. The very
first clue though, of the very first show that I
taped was about the Olympic National Park and Olympic you
know forest, and I was like it, said Washington, I'm
(09:12):
trying to parse the clue. I'm still in a hazen
of fog from this being my first game show effort
on Jeopardy. And thank god I pulled that answer because
number one, I was able to get a daily double
on the very next clue, and number two, had I not,
it would have put me down a very very dark
path psychologically, and I don't think I would have recovered
until at least the end of the first commercial break.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
Well, you mentioned you made the playoffs, so congratulations. So
what's the next step when you tape? And when will
we see you again?
Speaker 4 (09:41):
I can say soon. We're gonna be taping soon. I
have been accepted into the postseason, which is either one
of two. It's either a Champions wild card or the
Tournament of Champions. I'm right on the bubble right now.
We have two more weeks of pretty air dates to
air to find out which one I'm going to be
(10:02):
a part of, and then either one. I think they're
both aired in January, so it's a really quick turnaround.
This week has been incredible in terms of people reaching out.
It's also been a major distraction from my studying because
I'm trying to just focus on doing my best. But
then again, this time around, it's going to be nothing
(10:23):
but icing on the cake. It's more than I could
have ever ever dreamed of, and I'm so excited to
be able to go back out there.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Well, it's very cool. Aaron Levine with us. I do
have one question for you that did not appear on
the game show. This team is in need of a
right field, a leadoff hitter, and another reliever for their bullpack.
What team am I talking about?
Speaker 4 (10:44):
Aerin? Yeah, I mean it would be nice if the
Mariners can do that, And I've stop to ownership about
maybe extending their wallets a little bit more and and
locking those down.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Well, what was not answer in the form of a
question you did not? Yeah, I'm sorry, correct? What was
It's your take on just the way the whole thing
ended made? And I get these just random flashes of
just kind of being in the dumps and thinking about
the way things went in that series.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Man, start feeling sorry for myself.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Man, that we came that close to get into the
World Series for the first time ever. How did you
kind of deal with that emotionally?
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Man?
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Absolutely heartbreaking, it really was. I mean, by the end
of this run, you want them, They're so close, and
they have two chances to do so in Toronto. Just
get one of those wins and you're make a history.
You're in the World Series for the very first time.
But yeah, the most point moments in me, and I've
referenced this at least ten times, maybe ten seven times
on the air, is walking into the clubhouse after the
(11:41):
end of Game seven, and it was really just right afterwards,
and the look on Calrall's face, everybody saw it. His eyes,
he'd clearly been crying, red puffed up. You could feel
the emotion, and just my heart went into my throat.
And it was one of those very awkward moments because
you were there with the rest of the media and
he's there and everybody's going to go up to him
(12:04):
to ask questions, and I wanted to hang back, like
I wanted to give him more time because Why are
we sticking a mic in this guy's face right away.
He's just been through it, and to have been through
Helen back and to have put his heart and soul
into something all of those guys in the clubhouse, and
(12:25):
then to have to talk about it right away, it
just didn't sit right with me. And yet I give
him so much credit in the world for talking to
the media number one and number two. Having had the
experience on Jeopardy, it's just a tiny, tiny fraction of
what these guys had in terms of the magnitude of
being close to a world series. But in many ways
(12:46):
I had a better perspective, I think than I would
have ever had before having been through something, getting so
close to something in terms of like what happened last
night with me, and it's just like I I my
heart went out to them, and you just you just
want to give these guys a big hug.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
It's gonna be okay, you really do.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
And it's just it's something that I had never really
experienced in the clubhouse before, and it was just something
I'll never forget. I'm gladfully you know that'll only hopefully
it'll only motivate them to do even better next year
and get a you further.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
That would have been weird if you gave calla hug
by the way. Yeah, good on you for not doing that.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
Well, so, which feeling is stronger watching the way this
World Series is going with the Blue Jays on the
precipice of winning this thing. Is the encouragement that you
feel like, my God, like, not only could we have
gotten there, we could have won and you know, bearing
maybe even the next year kind of how you feel
versus just the ticked off nature of if we would
have got there, we could have won.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
Oh, It's it's a combination of both of them. There's
no question. I thought that if the Mariners can make
it to the World Series, they would have a really
good chance to beat the Dodgers. I really did, and
everybody was kind of crowning the Dodgers ahead of time.
Well we've now seen what the Blue Jays have been
able to do, and we know the Mariners were locked
up with the Blue Jays the whole way in that series.
(14:08):
So yeah, I mean, it's there's definite regret for sure,
but you know, there is hope that they can do
what you just said and lock down certain guys, and
you also have a really young, talented corps and that
are gonna be motivated next season start in spring training.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Well, the question Aaron before you go, Aaron Levine, Jeopardy Champion?
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Is it with us? On the radio show?
Speaker 3 (14:30):
By the way, from now on, he will be addressed
as Jeopardy Champion Aaron Levine on the program. I'm going
to change your contact on my iPhone to Jeopardy Champion
Aaron Levine from now on, so I can see that
every time you call, which is not often, but when
you do, I appreciate it. Do you trust this ownership?
Speaker 4 (14:46):
You know?
Speaker 2 (14:46):
I mean they got to make some changes.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
We just kind of joked about needing maybe a right
fielder or leadoff hitter.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Getting some help for the bullpen.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
I mean, I'm motivated, but I've been doing this for
you know, in this town for fifty two years.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
You dick the same thing.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
You've been around long enough now to know that this
is something that we desire tremendously. How much you think
John Stanton's desire has improved or increased after that gut
wrenching series loss.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
Yeah, it's about the fifty million dollar question, right, And
I would say could go one of two directions. Either
they look around and they see, oh my god, look
the magic that this team had, the playoff run, the
incredible crowds, and the volume at Tea Mobile Park. We
want to do this so badly that we are willing
to spend. Or the opposite, and I worry that this
(15:32):
might be the case, is that they say, see, we
were right. We can still do this with the fifteenth
largest day roll in baseball and still treat it like
a mid market team and strike gold the way we
did this year, and we can continue that going forward.
So it's fifty to fifty in my mind, and I'm
very interested to see how it goes from here.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Byron Levine, Fox thirteen.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Listen, man, great stuff, Just do us a favor now
that you're a Jeopardy champion, my friend, Just remember the
little people, all right, Remember what got you here, Remember
your pals, remember those that stuck with you from the
very beginning, and stay humble man, all right, pals.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
Hey, of course, you guys, do me a favor. Just
don't give me too much of a hard time while
I'm studying index in the press box.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
And then I don't know, we'll see we'll see all
right here and great stuff. Congrats again man, we'll talk
down the roads.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Yeah, thanks lock I
Now back to football Frontage sponsored by Tito's Handmade Vodka.
But your home for the UNFL Sports Radio ninety three
point three KGr FL.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
All right, we're back.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Hugh Mellon joins us at five o'clock tonight. Rick new
heisl coming up in the six pm hour on the
radio program. But it's not every day you get to
welcome a champion here to the radio program. What kind
of champion are we talking about?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah? Baby, you know what kind of champion we're talking about?
I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Man. Somebody said to me, hey man, too bad what
happened to the ms. But isn't it great what Aaron
Levine did? Yeah, it makes him feel better than do
anything for me. Good for him, But he is a
Jeopardy champion. And Aaron Levine joins us right now on
the radio program.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Aaron, how are you? Man? What's up? Champ?
Speaker 4 (00:49):
I'm good. Do you realize how guilty and or selfish
I might have felt had the Mariners made the World
Series and I had absolutely no control over when those
games were going to be played, Games three, four, and
five on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I would have felt
really bad. I really would have.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, let me ask you a question.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
If they called you and it was in the middle
of the World Series, would you have said, sorry, I
got a pass, I'm kind of busy, or would you
have taken the invitation?
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Anyway, Listen, when I originally took the offer, it was
the beginning, It was the end of July, and it
was for a middle of September tape date, and I
had no idea when the air date was going to
actually be until I showed up on set.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
Well, and then you imagine the ratings you got. Because
the Mariners weren't in the wederies, I don't think a
lot of people would have been watching you otherwise.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
Well, it gave people a choice at least, and that
was kind of good.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Well, let let's talk about how this came down, because
again you mentioned that you found this out over the summer,
this was recorded a while back, and the air dates
obviously we're just this week, so you kind of had
that sounds like, maybe keep your trap shut about some
of this stuff. But talk about how this came to
be and how you became such a Jeopardy nut man.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
It's kind of crazy. I mean, I would watch Jeopardy
like a lot of people did with their parents growing
up at the dinner table in Los Angeles, who was
seven o'clock every single night. And I wanted to be
on Team Jeopardy, but I never got the written tests unfortunately,
So that was that, And when I went off to college,
didn't do any trivia at all, never watched Jeopardy. In fact,
I didn't even really know about Ken Jennings seventy four
(02:20):
wind Streak until maybe years after the fact. It was
really away from trivia or quizzing in general, and it
wasn't until I was living in Gig Harbor and we
would go to actually would go to Cannorwood who has
a trivia night every Saturday night, and if you win
the first round, you get a free advertiser. If you
win the second round, you win a free dessert. You
(02:41):
win the third round, you win a free entree. I'm thinking, hey,
this is kind of cool free food. And so between
that and starting to turn Jeopardy on again, I was
looking for something more productive in my life as a hobby.
I started not playing golf as much because of an
eye condition I had because of stress, and so I
needed to try and find something to fill that competitive
(03:01):
void and believe it or not, I turn a trivia
So started making index cards, and six and a half
years later, I've got more than twenty twenty five thousand
index cards that I legitimately go through on a regular
basis to try and keep up because I don't have
a photographic memory at all, and I just I have
to just hammer stuff into my brain before it finally
(03:23):
remembers it. So I set a long term goal of
when I turned thirty seven, I said I wanted to
feel comfortable enough to take the online Jeopardy test by
the time I turned forty. It was a three year goal.
Two years later, I felt comfortable enough. On my thirty
ninth birthday did take the Jeopardy Anytime test for the
first time and got into the contestant pool for the
(03:45):
first time. In July of twenty twenty one, I was
in the contestant pool between a zoom audition and an
in person audition in Vegas for thirty seven consecutive months,
more than three years, and did not get the call
and timed out. Last August. Took the test again at
a trivia convention in Detroit, of all places, and then
(04:05):
got the second test. This past January and got an
email to take a zoom audition when I was in
Arizona with the Mariners in spring training, and so that's
where I did my zoom audition to get back into
the contestant pool for another two years. Got the call
in late July, and then we taped a month and
a half ago.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
That is pretty cool, man. It is truly a lifelong
goal and great job. I mean you mentioned Ken Jennings.
I mean, he's from here. Why is this areas at
a hot bed for contestants and champions?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
On that game show?
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Yeah, I guess Ken one said that it's just really
rainy and gloomy here most of the year. Some people
stay inside looking for some sort of topic. And you know,
I will say though, I was studying for most of
the time during the summer when it was beautiful outside,
and it was very tempting to just drop all these
cards and go enjoy myself. But you know, the goal
was the goal, and I didn't want to have any
(04:52):
regrets after that.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Well, Aaron Levine Fox thirteen is with us, and not
because of his prowess as a sports news anchor, but
because he is a yeh, pretty champion baby joining us
right here on the radio show. A couple of things
that you just said there. First of all, I had
no idea you were so young. I thought you were
like fifty five years old.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Number one.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
And then number two, you mentioned you're not playing golf.
I mean I would just start drinking and never mind
Jeopardy and you know, index cards and all that stuff.
So good for you for finding something productive to do
because you're not playing golf. But what was the whole
experience like it looked like your family was down.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
There with you.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Did they take care of you? Put you up in
a five star hotel? Tell us about it, man.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
So actually, when you're contestant on Jeopardy, you have to
pay your own way down there.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
And everything.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Now, but here is the good news that if you
ever get invited back for a postseason tournament, which I
have fortunately there will be going back down there, then
they do take care of expenses for you. And it
was worth it. I mean listen, just trying to get
there and you're gonna I mean, if it's this dream
come true, just to be able to stand on the
(05:57):
alexro backstage and and look around and say, wow, this
is what I was able to accomplish, And yeah, I
was able to invite a bunch of family members because
I knew that ultimately I wasn't going to have a
viewing party down in the southern California area, So to
be able to invite some of immediate family members to
be there with me on the tape day was really cool,
(06:20):
and it was somewhat settling given the fact that they
taped five episodes in one day. They take a week
week's worth of episodes in a day. So after that
first episode, which was the Monday episode, you back in
the green room changing into a new outfit and then
going back out there fifteen minutes later and pretending like
it's a brand new day, don't.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
I don't really get comfortable talking to people about how
much money they make because it's their business. But it's
kind of public knowledge, man, how much you want on
Jeopardy because it's right right there on the screen.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
It's right there on the freaking TV screen.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
You want about what forty nine thousand dollars you know
over the three days in Jeopardy. So dude, you gotta
tell us, because I was asking you off the air,
does Ken just like give you a check.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Does he ask you for your venmo? How does that work? Man?
Come on, let's see an envelope.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Apparently, after it goes through the California tax board and
ends up with twenty or thirty bucks, you get a
check within ninety to one hundred and twenty days of
your air date. So maybe sometime around the holiday season
New Year's I'll get a check. And you know, I'd
love to be able to take my son on a
ski trip or something to have him learn how to ski.
(07:24):
But other than that, it's going into a college fund
for him and hopefully let that grow for the next
ten years before he goes off to college.
Speaker 5 (07:31):
All right, tell me about the highs and the low
is the question that you're kicking yourself on that you
didn't answer, and the question you were most proud of answering.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Those are easy XBH. I mean a two hundred dollars category,
A two hundred dollars clue baseball? What does it stand for?
And I just blinked, and I know it's more of
an old school stats term that used to be in
all the box scores. You don't see XPH as often now,
I don't think as we used to but yeah, extras.
(08:00):
Just not being able to pull that answer was my
biggest regret outside of the Thomas Jefferson Monticello Final Jeffrey
question that I did not get right last night that
could have extended the streak. And then to be able
to get a daily double in my second game where
the answer was Stanford, Oh wow, and be able to
say and to be able to say go Cardinal on
national TV on Jeopardy of all things, was probably one
(08:23):
of the coolest moments that I had up there. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
No, I saw that clip on social media and then
Ken actually asked you did you go to Stanford and
then cut it off.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
So did you give him a chance to say.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Yes or what I did? I said yes, and he said, well,
you wouldn't want to you wouldn't want to miss that one.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
I was like, no, that'd be pretty damn embarrassing, man,
Purple and gold on the colors of what school?
Speaker 2 (08:46):
I don't know, man, I'm freaking out. And then McAfee
did McAfee give you a shout out? Is that what
I saw on his show?
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Yeah, he gave me a shout out yesterday. He thinks
he thanked me first. Before you know, going off on.
He was just excited that he was a clue on Jeopardy,
of all things, I think anybody would be. The very
first clue though, of the very first show that I
taped was about the Olympic National Park and Olympic you
know forest, and I was like it, said Washington, I'm
(09:12):
trying to parse the clue. I'm still in a hazen
of fog from this being my first game show effort
on Jeopardy. And thank god I pulled that answer because
number one, I was able to get a daily double
on the very next clue, and number two, had I not,
it would have put me down a very very dark
path psychologically, and I don't think I would have recovered
until at least the end of the first commercial break.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
Well, you mentioned you made the playoffs, so congratulations. So
what's the next step when you tape? And when will
we see you again?
Speaker 4 (09:41):
I can say soon. We're gonna be taping soon. I
have been accepted into the postseason, which is either one
of two. It's either a Champions wild card or the
Tournament of Champions. I'm right on the bubble right now.
We have two more weeks of pretty air dates to
air to find out which one I'm going to be
(10:02):
a part of, and then either one. I think they're
both aired in January, so it's a really quick turnaround.
This week has been incredible in terms of people reaching out.
It's also been a major distraction from my studying because
I'm trying to just focus on doing my best. But
then again, this time around, it's going to be nothing
(10:23):
but icing on the cake. It's more than I could
have ever ever dreamed of, and I'm so excited to
be able to go back out there.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Well, it's very cool. Aaron Levine with us. I do
have one question for you that did not appear on
the game show. This team is in need of a
right field, a leadoff hitter, and another reliever for their bullpack.
What team am I talking about?
Speaker 4 (10:44):
Aerin? Yeah, I mean it would be nice if the
Mariners can do that, And I've stop to ownership about
maybe extending their wallets a little bit more and and
locking those down.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Well, what was not answer in the form of a
question you did not? Yeah, I'm sorry, correct? What was
It's your take on just the way the whole thing
ended made? And I get these just random flashes of
just kind of being in the dumps and thinking about
the way things went in that series.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Man, start feeling sorry for myself.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Man, that we came that close to get into the
World Series for the first time ever. How did you
kind of deal with that emotionally?
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Man?
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Absolutely heartbreaking, it really was. I mean, by the end
of this run, you want them, They're so close, and
they have two chances to do so in Toronto. Just
get one of those wins and you're make a history.
You're in the World Series for the very first time.
But yeah, the most point moments in me, and I've
referenced this at least ten times, maybe ten seven times
on the air, is walking into the clubhouse after the
(11:41):
end of Game seven, and it was really just right afterwards,
and the look on Calrall's face, everybody saw it. His eyes,
he'd clearly been crying, red puffed up. You could feel
the emotion, and just my heart went into my throat.
And it was one of those very awkward moments because
you were there with the rest of the media and
he's there and everybody's going to go up to him
(12:04):
to ask questions, and I wanted to hang back, like
I wanted to give him more time because Why are
we sticking a mic in this guy's face right away.
He's just been through it, and to have been through
Helen back and to have put his heart and soul
into something all of those guys in the clubhouse, and
(12:25):
then to have to talk about it right away, it
just didn't sit right with me. And yet I give
him so much credit in the world for talking to
the media number one and number two. Having had the
experience on Jeopardy, it's just a tiny, tiny fraction of
what these guys had in terms of the magnitude of
being close to a world series. But in many ways
(12:46):
I had a better perspective, I think than I would
have ever had before having been through something, getting so
close to something in terms of like what happened last
night with me, and it's just like I I my
heart went out to them, and you just you just
want to give these guys a big hug.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
It's gonna be okay, you really do.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
And it's just it's something that I had never really
experienced in the clubhouse before, and it was just something
I'll never forget. I'm gladfully you know that'll only hopefully
it'll only motivate them to do even better next year
and get a you further.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
That would have been weird if you gave calla hug
by the way. Yeah, good on you for not doing that.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
Well, so, which feeling is stronger watching the way this
World Series is going with the Blue Jays on the
precipice of winning this thing. Is the encouragement that you
feel like, my God, like, not only could we have
gotten there, we could have won and you know, bearing
maybe even the next year kind of how you feel
versus just the ticked off nature of if we would
have got there, we could have won.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
Oh, It's it's a combination of both of them. There's
no question. I thought that if the Mariners can make
it to the World Series, they would have a really
good chance to beat the Dodgers. I really did, and
everybody was kind of crowning the Dodgers ahead of time.
Well we've now seen what the Blue Jays have been
able to do, and we know the Mariners were locked
up with the Blue Jays the whole way in that series.
(14:08):
So yeah, I mean, it's there's definite regret for sure,
but you know, there is hope that they can do
what you just said and lock down certain guys, and
you also have a really young, talented corps and that
are gonna be motivated next season start in spring training.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Well, the question Aaron before you go, Aaron Levine, Jeopardy Champion?
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Is it with us? On the radio show?
Speaker 3 (14:30):
By the way, from now on, he will be addressed
as Jeopardy Champion Aaron Levine on the program. I'm going
to change your contact on my iPhone to Jeopardy Champion
Aaron Levine from now on, so I can see that
every time you call, which is not often, but when
you do, I appreciate it. Do you trust this ownership?
Speaker 4 (14:46):
You know?
Speaker 2 (14:46):
I mean they got to make some changes.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
We just kind of joked about needing maybe a right
fielder or leadoff hitter.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Getting some help for the bullpen.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
I mean, I'm motivated, but I've been doing this for
you know, in this town for fifty two years.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
You dick the same thing.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
You've been around long enough now to know that this
is something that we desire tremendously. How much you think
John Stanton's desire has improved or increased after that gut
wrenching series loss.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
Yeah, it's about the fifty million dollar question, right, And
I would say could go one of two directions. Either
they look around and they see, oh my god, look
the magic that this team had, the playoff run, the
incredible crowds, and the volume at Tea Mobile Park. We
want to do this so badly that we are willing
to spend. Or the opposite, and I worry that this
(15:32):
might be the case, is that they say, see, we
were right. We can still do this with the fifteenth
largest day roll in baseball and still treat it like
a mid market team and strike gold the way we
did this year, and we can continue that going forward.
So it's fifty to fifty in my mind, and I'm
very interested to see how it goes from here.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Byron Levine, Fox thirteen.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Listen, man, great stuff, Just do us a favor now
that you're a Jeopardy champion, my friend, Just remember the
little people, all right, Remember what got you here, Remember
your pals, remember those that stuck with you from the
very beginning, and stay humble man, all right, pals.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
Hey, of course, you guys, do me a favor. Just
don't give me too much of a hard time while
I'm studying index in the press box.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
And then I don't know, we'll see we'll see all
right here and great stuff. Congrats again man, we'll talk
down the roads.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Yeah, thanks lock I
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!