Many people have far fetched dreams when they are young about things they would like to accomplish during their lifetime. For reigning Jeopardy! champ James Holzhauer, he had two very specific dreams. His first dream was to get onto the show Jeopardy!, something that he has accomplished. In fact, he’s won 21 straight games and his winnings have surpassed $1.6 million. He will go down in history as one of the most infamous champions in the show’s history. Thus, it is safe to say this particular childhood goal was met. However, there was one another dream Holzhauer had when he was a little boy and it just might end up coming true as well, according to Vulture .
Like a lot of young boys, Holzhauer used to dream about a career in major league baseball. Over time, he lost focus upon that goal as he pursued other avenues in life. He became a professional sports bettor in Las Vegas, a career that has certainly served him well during his time on Jeopardy! , and got married and started a family. While his priorities shifted, he never forgot about that particular dream, he admitted during an interview with The Athletic.
“Part of me always wonders what it would be like to realize that childhood dream. Baseball was my goal from a young age, but gambling had significantly fewer barriers to entry.”
Holzhauer has certainly showed the world that nothing is impossible, not even childhood ambitions that may have once seemed far fetched to many. His impressive winning streak on Jeopardy! has brought him media attention, and he’s reportedly even caught the interest of an actual professional baseball team.
“After all those years shouting answers at the TV screen and one very tense morning in the studio waiting for my turn, this is it. I’m going to be the one who takes down Goliath. Goliath, in this case, is James Holzhauer.” https://t.co/PbRsika6oS
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 4, 2019
“At least one team has some level of interest in his services,” The Athletic reported, though not offering any more specific details about the name of the team or the details of the position that would be offered.
The way in which Holzhauer will spend his post- Jeopardy! life is still to be determined. In the meantime, he’s offering wannabe Jeopardy! competitors a few words of advice about playing the game to the best of their ability.
“If you’re not playing a game you find comfortable, that’s going to be worse for you than just having a suboptimal game-theory strategy. If you’re the kind of player who needs to take the low-value clues first to become comfortable with the categories to move along, that’s what you should do. But if you’re like me, who goes in cold-blooded about it, then you play the cold-blooded strategy. Everyone is doing the best things for themselves.”
