Lots of folks across our state have been anxiously following (and cheering for) young Cooper Lair of Little Rock as he's used his considerable intellect to steadily march into the semifinals of the hit TV game show Jeopardy (Teen Tournament version).
Now a 16-year-old junior at Little Rock Christian Academy, Cooper, the son of Craig and Wendy Lair, already has overcome amazing odds to wind up as one of the semifinalists and hopefully make it into the final three. The winner of Teen Jeopardy is the one who accumulates the most points. He or she receives $75,000; second place gets $50,000.
In last week's pre-taped show, Cooper forged a dramatic come-from-behind win in his match to enter the semifinalist round with the only correct answer in the category of "Religious History" during the Final Jeopardy round. They couldn't have hand-selected a better category for young Cooper who is well-versed in the topic, as well as being a violinist in the Arkansas Youth Symphony.
Long odds also are nothing new to the youth who was 15 when his winning first appearance was taped in March in Culver City, Calif. To get to the quarter-final round, he had to earn his way into the top five percent of 300 students nationwide who auditioned for the program as well as the 300,000 who took the show's online qualification test.
Put another way, Cooper was among 0.005 percent to make it to the final 15 contestants. That's tighter odds than a high school athlete making it to the pros, my friends.
And as the Arkansas watch parties who saw last week's program know, his final answer was victorious (called a Hail Mary by his proud grandfather Herb Lair of Harrison).
With Cooper in a relatively distant second place with $12,800 in winnings behind a very bright 16-year-old junior named Kat Deabill from New Hampshire with $20,400 as they entered the Final Jeopardy wagering round, the question was posed (let's see if you can get it, valued readers): "This term comes from a 1529 event in which a group of Lutherans formally disagreed with a decision by a Catholic council."
Cue the music: "da da da da, da da da, da da da da dum de da da da da ..." OK, enough of that annoyance.
Kat, who had wagered $6,000, answered "What is the Reformation?" Oops, good guess but sorry, little lady. She dropped to a total of $14,400.
Cooper wagered $7,700 on his final answer: "What is Protestantism?" With that correct response, the wily young man overcame a whopping deficit and finished with $20,500.
That kind of underdog finish hearkens back to Matt Jones' 2002 "Miracle on Markham" pass with nine seconds left that lifted the Razorback football team to a 21-20 victory over LSU.
I have no doubt that thousands of TV sets across Arkansas will be joining the nine million viewers of Jeopardy's teen version this week when Cooper competes on his road to the Final Three.
Actually, the series of programs all were taped back in March, so the winner is already known to a select few. But the price of divulging the answer is forfeiting all of a winner's earnings. So I don't see a leak springing. And I'll be content to watch along with everyone else to see who made it out.
And I'm sure I'm but one of many proud Arkansans wishing nothing but touchdowns and a championship for this bright prodigy from Little Rock.
To protect officers
Benton County Sheriff Kelley Cradduck let me know the other day that the armored military transport vehicle (MRAP) his office purchased for $5,000 would never, ever, under any circumstance, be used for anything other than protecting his officers who often find themselves under fire from those they arrest.
"I had two officers shot at in the past two weeks," he said.
"My only priority in acquiring this enormous, safe vehicle is the protection of my officers. I want each and every one of them to go home to their families each evening.
"Mostly I suspect this machine will gather dust. At least I sure hope that's the case," he added.
Following my column about this MRAP, one reader implied I was naïve and foolish to believe that these vehicles would be used only in emergencies where officers' lives are possibly at stake.
So I called Cradduck, whose word I've learned to trust, to ask his motives in wanting such a vehicle. I can safely report yet again that even the most suspicious and concerned people of Benton County have nothing to fear from the purchase of this military surplus piece of armor that other police across America also are buying at ridiculously low prices.
"We are here to protect the people of the county and I assure everyone that is all we do, and ever will do," Cradduck said.
------------v------------
Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at [email protected]. Read his blog at mikemastersonsmessenger.com.
Editorial on 07/27/2014