Traina Thoughts: 'Jeopardy's' James Holzhauer Says He's Bryce Harper, Ken Jennings Is Ichiro

The 'Jeopardy' stars talks about his current streak.
Getty Images/Jeopardy

1. It's been a few days since we last checked in on the man dominating Jeopardy! in a surreal way—professional gambler, James Holzhauer.

The super-aggressive bettor won another $90,812 on Monday’s show, bringing his 13-day total to $942,738.

Amazingly, Holzhauer told Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter that despite his 13-game winning streak, he's not really a scholar.

"It's really funny seeing all these media depictions of me as an intellectual because I'm a connoisseur of low culture," Holzhauer said. "I would love it if a category came up like 'WWE Catchphrases' or 'Name That Guitar Solo,' but I'm not holding my breath on that sort of thing."

"WWE catchphrases" would be an AMAZING Jeopardy! category, but I digress.

During the interview with SVP, Holzhauer also dropped a great comparison when asked about the last person to capture the nation's attention while on a significant Jeopardy! run, Ken Jennings.

"It's really an honor to be compared to Ken at all. I think it's interesting because we have such different approaches to the game. To use a sports metaphor, he's a Seattle guy. He's kind of like an Ichiro, best singles hitter of all time. I'm more of a Las Vegas guy, Bryce Harper who's swinging for the fences and he's gonna strike out a lot. Both guys can be very successful with their different way of coming at the game, which is pretty cool."

Jennings, who won $2,520,700 over 74 straight games, weighed in Monday on Holzhauer's wild betting philososphy.

2. Chris Long's weekly Game of Thrones recap is here and the Eagles defensive end went deep on several characters and plotlines from Episode 2 of Season 8.

3. I think Carson Palmer wins this battle.

4. Blake Griffin not only had a hell of a game in a losing effort against the Bucks on Monday night, but he also joined the fans in letting the refs know their work was not appreciated.

5. John Cena turns 42 years old Tuesday and he wants everybody to know he works out, and rightfully so.

I had the WWE legend on the SI Media Podcast in October and he was kind enough to give me an hour-plus in studio and it was one of the best interviews I've done.

6. Mike Francesa had some major issues at the end of his job Monday and the result was this hilarious meltdown.

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7. RANDOM YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY: Since we led off today with Jeopardy!, here's one of Saturday Night Live's better spoofs of the game show.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on iTunes, Spotify or Google Play. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.

IN CLOSING: I'm completely sick of the NFL draft already.


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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.