As much as unpredictably and tension fuel humanity's obsession with contests and sport, I believe we're also comforted by those whose performance we expect. Just as we all have food, clothing and music that elicit feelings of instant nostalgia, I'm reassured that the universe is in order when an athlete performs exactly as expected. The consistency of Lance Armstrong dominating Le Tour, Serena Williams (Anna who? Serena represents the pinnacle of human physical potential) winning a grand slam, Michael Jordan hitting the big shot in his heyday, even Takeru Kobayashi shaking down four and a half hot dogs a minute. Even losing is comforting - after a long solitary walk and falafel dinner last night I found myself in a Bay Ridge bar guzzling Bass and watching the Mets. They lost, of course. If they start winning I'm not sure what I'll do with myself.
Anyway, I'm thinking about all of this because I googled Ken Jennings and Jason "Mr. Google" Kottke's entry The cult of Ken Jennings was the first result. Jason, I salute your continued dominance over the world's greatest information resource. It's quite a streak. (Other Ken Jennings pages: wikipedia: Ken Jennings, TV Game Shows: Ken Jennings, JeopardyJennings: Ken Jennings).
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