'Jeopardy!' champion turns trivia to gold
By Mira Reverente Special to the Acorn

Ken Jennings

What exactly is trivia? Derived from the Latin words "tri," meaning three, and "via," meaning way, trivia literally means "three-way," or an intersection of sorts.

Most dictionaries define trivia as "unimportant matters" or "insignificant, obscure items." But trivia was anything but unimportant or insignificant to Ken Jennings, former computer programmer and record-breaking "Jeopardy!" winner.

Jennings' fascination with trivia started in his childhood, during his family's 11-year stay in South Korea. "'Jeopardy!' was one of the very few Englishlanguage shows on TV at that time. So it became sort of a contest among . . . kids after school. We were always strategizing and trying to outdo one another," recalled Jennings.

Despite his obsession, it took more than 20 years for Jennings to get onto his favorite TV show. In his website- www.kenjennings.com- Jennings compared the odds of getting onto "Jeopardy!" to "getting into Harvard or Yale, with the latter two being more likely to happen."

After he got the call, he spent months practicing at home with his wife, often using a recliner as a makeshift lectern and one of his son's Fisher-Price toys as a buzzer.

Now that his buzzer-pressing days are over, Jennings is wrapping up a book tour promoting his second book, "Ken Jennings' Trivia Almanac: 8,888 Questions in 365 Days," and doing freelance writing. He has quit his full-time job. "I was a lousy programmer anyway," Jennings added in jest.

Jennings believes that there is a trivia buff inside everybody. "It's just different for every person. That's why team trivia is also becoming a popular game in bars and parties, because you can put many good heads together, so to speak. Growing up, my fascination ranged from state birds to unusual middle names. I always had these weird lists of useless information."

Not everyone is a hard-core trivia buff, though, and individuals can easily develop "trivia anxiety." According to Jennings, "Most people are needlessly overwhelmed by trivia, but it is just mostly application and retention of information. It just so happens that we retain different types of information depending on our interests and experiences."

Jennings' son Dylan is a perfect example. Just 5-years-old, the boy seems to have inherited his dad's genes when it comes to dinosaur trivia. Multisyllable dinosaur names are a "piece of cake" for this boy wonder. "I hope to someday see him on 'Jeopardy!,' beating my record," said the proud dad.

When asked about California trivia, Jennings was quick to answer, "Did you know that California produces more broccoli than all the other states combined?" Ninety percent of the USA's broccoli comes from California, according to www.foodreference.com and www.darwin.nmsu.edu.

What about Moorpark? "All I know about Moorpark is that it's very close to Ventura," where Nancy Zerg, the real estate agent who ended Jennings' 74-game winning streak on "Jeopardy," lives.

That's trivia for you, folks.

For more of Ken Jennings and a night of trivia, come to the High Street Arts Center at 7 p.m. on Wed., March 19. The event is free.