Best Day Ever: Rowan Ward
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Rowan Ward competes on Jeopardy! Photo courtesy of Jeopardy! Productions Inc.
The "Jeopardy!" Tournament of Champions features past winners, but it added a Second Chance tournament this year for contestants who didn't win their first matchup.
- That included Chicagoan Rowan Ward, who ended up winning the Second Chance tournament to secure the final spot in the Tournament of Champions before losing in the quarterfinals last week.
What they're saying: Being back on "Jeopardy!" "meant even more because I got to do it as … myself," Ward says. "I'm nonbinary and changed my name about a year ago. So to come back and do it as unabashedly myself made it a second chance in the best way."
Ward is a journalist who covers local horse racing, so naturally, watching the ponies is included in Rowan's Best Day Ever:
🥯 Breakfast: "When it's breakfast time, nothing hits the spot like a cup of house coffee and a lox bagel at Cafe Jumping Bean. The location at the Damen Pink Line is my go-to."
- "I love the simplicity of just lox and cream cheese on a plain bagel."
🎤 Morning activity: "Sleeping in! I don't do mornings, unless we call 'staying out late and going to bed at sunup' morning. But if we're going to go that way, there's nothing better than karaoke at Hidden Cove until closing time: 4am, 5am on Saturdays."
🍕 Lunch: "Anyone who says stuffed pizza is only for tourists hasn't met me. My favorite food since childhood is the stuffed pepperoni pizza at Giordano's."
🐎 Afternoon activity: "Go to the races at Hawthorne Race Course. Even for a city mouse, there's nothing like being up close to the horses. Hawthorne is an unpretentious place where the Sport of Kings is really a sport for everyone."
🍣 Dinner: "Enso has my favorite sushi in town. The tamago and fresh salmon nigiri are exquisite."
🍺 Evening activity: "It's all about pub quiz. I almost never miss a Tuesday night at Globe Pub with Quizmasters Dave, Erin, and Ryan. It has a well-earned reputation as the most difficult game in town, and I love it."