It's been awhile

Wherein five



1. horse racing
2. monocle
3. Rand Paul
4. Horse racing
5. the Sun
6. the "Murder, She Wrote" lady
7. dk

Actual George Clooney quote

Wherein so the White House is saying their photos may be used in any way that suggests disapproval or nonendorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House

It was the best of hoary tropes, it was the worst of cheesy cliches

Wherein remember that time in middle school we read that paragraph
from Dickens wasn't that cool

• It was the best of weeks and it was the
  worst of weeks for hip-hop star Lil' Wayne this week
  
  
• It was the best
  of Weeds and the worst of Weeds-all in one episode.
  
  
• It was the best of times, it was the worst of
  times..."
  
  The opening line of Charles Dicken's classic about the happenings in
  London and Paris during the French Revolution is a perfect summary for
  how a sports fan in San Francisco felt as they tuned in to the pain and
  joy that was Sunday.
  
  
• blame the headline writer, not the author: It was the best of lines, it
  was the worst of lines
  
  
• As the book says, it was the best of times and it was the worst
  of times.
  
  
• June Casagrande is author of It
  Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences.
  
  
• It was the best of halves, it was the worst of
  halves
  
  
• 
  It was the best of TIFFs, it was the worst of TIFFs.
  

Maybe it is, maybe it isn't

Wherein the ambiguity is enticing

Bet on Adam and Kyrie and bet against Paula and Roy

Wherein my three favorite contestants are also the worst


Note: All information below is based on data before the 10/09/2010
show.

To quickly get everyone up to speed:

1. There's a public radio game show called Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!
   
2. Someone has created a WWDTM database
   
3. Found out about the database from Popehat.

I decided to pull some numbers and see if anything interesting popped out. Not really, so feel free to stop reading here.

I pulled game totals for the panelists with the most number of appearances -- after Provenza, the next most appearances was 14. Database includes number of points everyone scored per game, so that's something you could play around with. Or maybe review for shows recorded in Chicago versus those not and create home and away statistics. I won't be doing either of those.

Also of potential interest is how well the panelists do in the final round -- who can hold onto a lead and who comes from behind. But the ability to suss that out looks to be outside the realm of the database.

What I would like to see in the database is Bluff the Listener data. I'd like to know how well these guys bluff. And what happens when they have the real answer versus when they don't. Maybe I'll try to work on this.

Number of games played
Basic stuff: numbers 1st, 2nd, and 3rd; and total games played. Ties are a separate column in the database; here, I've combined them. So Charlie Pierce's 53 wins is 37 solo wins plus 16 ties for first.

Name	1st place	2nd place	3rd place	Total games
Charlie Pierce	53	31	18	102
Roxanne Roberts	50	35	15	100
Adam Felber	62	28	9	99
Paula Poundstone	23	32	44	99
Roy Blount, Jr.	35	35	27	97
Mo Rocca	20	32	34	86
Tom Bodett	24	24	22	70
Kyrie O'Connor	41	19	9	69
Amy Dickinson	15	19	16	50
PJ O'Rourke	10	10	19	39
Sue Ellicott	7	17	15	39
Paul Provenza	7	15	12	34

Total Points
Assign three points for 1st, two for 2nd, and one for third; calculate total.

Name	Total Points
Adam Felber	251
Charlie Pierce	239
Roxanne Roberts	235
Roy Blount, Jr.	202
Paula Poundstone	177
Kyrie O'Connor	170
Mo Rocca	158
Tom Bodett	142
Amy Dickinson	99
Sue Ellicott	70
PJ O'Rourke	69
Paul Provenza	63

Percentage of First Place Wins
First place total divided by number of games played.

Name	1st place percentage
Adam Felber	62.63
Kyrie O'Connor	59.42
Charlie Pierce	51.96
Roxanne Roberts	50.00
Roy Blount, Jr.	36.08
Tom Bodett	34.29
Amy Dickinson	30.00
PJ O'Rourke	25.64
Mo Rocca	23.26
Paula Poundstone	23.23
Paul Provenza	20.59
Sue Ellicott	17.95

Percent of Total Points

Assume three points for a win, and multiply by games played. Divide this into actual number of points earned. Does this work as some sort of efficiency rating?

Name	Percent of total points
Adam Felber	84.51
Kyrie O'Connor	82.13
Roxanne Roberts	78.33
Charlie Pierce	78.10
Roy Blount, Jr.	69.41
Tom Bodett	67.62
Amy Dickinson	66.00
Paul Provenza	61.76
Mo Rocca	61.24
Sue Ellicott	59.83
Paula Poundstone	59.60
PJ O'Rourke	58.97

Most likely to finish third
Like first place, but for last place.

Name	3rd place percentage
PJ O'Rourke	48.72
Paula Poundstone	44.44
Mo Rocca	39.53
Sue Ellicott	38.46
Paul Provenza	35.29
Amy Dickinson	32.00
Tom Bodett	31.43
Roy Blount, Jr.	27.84
Charlie Pierce	17.65
Roxanne Roberts	15.00
Kyrie O'Connor	13.04
Adam Felber	9.09