Ken Jennings says heartbreak of being a Seattle fan changed him

Jan 19, 2014; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Seahawks fans cheer after the 2013 NFC Championship football game against the San Francisco 49ers at CenturyLink Field. The Seahawks defeated the 49ers 23-17 to advance to Super Bowl XLVIII. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

Former Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings posted a good personal essay over at Slate. In it he discusses his longstanding love of Seattle sports franchises and how the heartbreak of rooting for said teams molded him into the man he is today.

Jennings even credits the difficulties of being a Seattle fan with helping him achieve unprecedented success on Jeopardy!:

"I myself am a product of the sturm und drang—and the inevitable heartbreak—of Seattle sports fandom. You learn quickly never to hope for too much or to celebrate too soon: The specter of eventual futility lies on the other side of every small victory. Expectations must be managed. When I went on Jeopardy! in 2004, my only goal was not to be That Guy, the one with negative money who gets booted before Final Jeopardy. Even after the first win, I expected to lose every subsequent game. This is the kind of psyche you get up here, molded not only by the annual six months of drizzle, but also by the sub-.500 memories of Harold Reynolds and Jim Zorn and Rashard Lewis."

The whole essay is worth reading, so go check it out.

[Source: Slate]

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