Bill Needle!

Longtime Cleveland sportscaster Bill Needle appeared on "Jeopardy!" Monday, and he did OK, even though he wound up finishing with no money. Needle, who is now the radio play-by-play voice of the Kent State Golden Flashes football and basketball teams, previously hosted a sports talk show on WKNR radio in Cleveland, and has also done pre-game work for FSN Ohio before Cavaliers and Indians games.

I am a regular Jeopardy watcher, though I don't often watch it the day it was broadcast. I saw Monday's show today, Wednesday, thanks to the miracle of digital video recording. But when the announcer introduced "A play-by-play announcer from Chagrin Falls, Ohio," I thought, hey, there's a chance I'll know who it is. And there he was! Bill Needle! In all the years I've watched Jeopardy, this is the first time, outside of celebrity week, that I've had prior knowledge of one of the contestants.

During the "meet the contestants" portion of the program, Alex asked Bill, "In your best play-by-play-announcer voice, sum up the first part of the game for the audience." Bill deepened his voice a bit, smiled and said, "Well, Alex I think on the Double Jeopardy, I will do better than I might have done on Single Jeopardy." That turned out not to be the case, but Bill had $9,200 going into Final Jeopardy. Unfortunately, the defending champion, a very bright stay-at-home mom from Dana Point, Calif., named Aileen Hawkins, had an insurmountable lead. Bill bet it all and got it wrong.

For those who may wonder, the category was biblical places, and the clue was: In "Return of the Jedi," a planet shares its name with this home of a woman who summons a spirit for Saul.

I had no idea, even though that's the one Star Wars movie I saw when I was old enough to remember some of it. Bill apparently had no idea either, guessing Esther. The other challenger, a legal writer from Arizona named Beth Holliday, guessed Tattooine. Aileen's answer: What is Endor? And she was right. She's a tough champion.

Bill appeared cheerful enough at the end, as he went to shake Aileen's hand, and later, chatting with Alex. I'm sure he had a good time.