I think James has a bit of an "edge" (if you follow him on Twitter you'll see he throws shade - in jest of course) whereas Ken is more of a "stay in the lane" type of guy. I personally like both.
Is it the first person to win three matches or the first to win two in a row?
First to win three
My kids were very impressed that I knew the daily double that James missed - obsessively following ACC sports helped me know that Florida State's colors are Garnet and Gold (I did not know the answer from the gem stone perspective).
Brad is clearly a distant third - I actually felt bad for him at times when he seemed to be frozen out for a while, and he has had bad luck with the daily doubles. The feature they did on James made him more likeable to me as it showed a more human side but I continue to be more of a Ken fan. I am slightly younger than Ken - despite the wide differences in when they were on the show, they are all actually in a pretty tight band in terms of age.
In case nobody had ever bothered to check (because I sure hadn't), Jame's Holzhauer's Twitter is FIRE
"My wife is going to make me roleplay as @KenJennings tonight."
I am very surprised by this. Brad has faced Ken 3 times before and beat him 2 of the 3 with IBM Watson winning the third. If I remember correctly, in the 2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions and 2014 Battle of the Decades, Brad beat Ken rather convincingly. I'm sure there is a recap somewhere and my memory is wrong about the ease of which he won, nonetheless, Brad has beat Ken twice. That's why I find Brad's results of this match so far to be very surprising.
I really didn’t care for James’ “ha ha” and finger point to Brad when he got a question correct about the city of Philadelphia. His mannerisms and general attitude just don’t strike me well. Perhaps I’m just showing my age, but I much prefer Brad and Ken. And I’m rooting for Ken simply because he’s been beaten out in these previous tournament of champions.
It appears to be that I am the President of the James Fan Club. I think he gets some good lines off and he's opened up more (but they all have, really) in this championship battle.
It's coming down to buzzer speed, although Ken really stuns on history and the word mashups. Geebus, do I hate that kind of category. I am not clever in the least!
Nothing incites bodily violence quicker than a Duke fan turning in your direction and saying 'scoreboard.'
I hope Brad wins tonight so it can continue to run. It certainly makes an enjoyable evening.
I think it was last night Alex asked Brad what he did to prepare and Brad gave some generic answer but finished by saying he should have worked on his buzzer skills. I think there is a lot of truth to that. James just kills on getting the buzzer right when he knows the answer and Ken isn't far behind. I think it's just a little bit of bad luck that Brad has missed on the daily doubles and I wouldn't be surprised to see him win tonight.
As far as folks not liking James' personality, I find him refreshing. A lot of the time the contestants on Jeopardy can be a little stiff and I like that he is loose and just seems to be having a good time, a lot like Austin Rogers the wacky bartender from last year who, for a while, went on a tear of his own.
"The future ain't what it used to be."
From his feed https://twitter.com/i/status/1215083028248256514
That is hilarious!
"The future ain't what it used to be."
I'm pulling hard for Ken. I like Brad just fine. James is brilliant but he comes off a little smarmy to me.
The more Double Jeopardy clues go to Brad, the higher the likelihood that Ken will win.
Brad has surprised me with some of his misses on the Double Jeopardy. "Melancholia" was a particularly easy one last night that he wiffed completely.
"We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us, an effort which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world." --M. Proust