Place an Ad Calendars Classified Forums Sports Weather

sptimes.com Text-only News sections Arts & Entertainment AP The Wire Business Citrus County Columnists Floridian Hernando County Hillsborough Letters Movies Neighborhood Times News Update North Pinellas North of Tampa Obituaries Opinion Pasco County South Pinellas Sports State Tampa Bay TV Times World & Nation  Find your local news section Weekly sections Brandon Times City Times Homes Outdoors Perspective Personal Tech Taste Travel Weekend Xpress Special Sections Arena football Buccaneers College football Devil Rays Lightning Police reports Schools Seniority Subscriber Services Subscribe Renew Help Advertise Place an ad In print Online Market Info Join Us Internships Scholarships Times Jobs Contact us

Bay area link to ESPN quiz show

By ERNEST HOOPER

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 8, 2000

TAMPA -- Like a lot of kids, Richard Brindisi grew up watching sports with his father. Football in the fall, hockey in the winter, baseball in the summer.

Actually, Brindisi didn't watch sports, he absorbed sports during his Rochester, N.Y., upbringing. His passion led him to play football at Pittsford Sutherland High, baseball at Seton Hall and, now, sports trivia on ESPN.

Brindisi, a Tampa resident and trust administrator at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, is one of the first contestants on ESPN's 2-Minute Drill, a game show that debuts at 7 p.m. Monday.

"Growing up, everyone who knew me said, "If there is ever a sports trivia game show, you should try it,' " said Brindisi, 32. "I've watched sports my whole life and I remember a lot of statistics. I just remember what I watch."

Brindisi was not chosen at random. He went through a pretest after dialing a toll-free number on ESPN.com. After successfully answering those questions, he was invited to New York along with 999 other potential contestants. The pool was divided into groups and each group answered 20 fill-in-the-blank questions and was given a screen test in which it played a mock round.

From the overall pool of 1,000 and a group of 35, Brindisi qualified along with 51 other contestants.

"I wasn't nervous, I was just having fun," Brindisi said.

The game show, developed by Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? executive producer Michael Davies, features celebrity panelists who fire questions at the contestant in the hot seat for two minutes. On Brindisi's show, the panel consisted of Knicks forward Marcus Camby, former Cowboys running back Tony Dorsett and SportsCenter anchor Rich Eisen. Kenny Mayne is the show's host.

Davies got the idea from his admissions interview at Oxford, which included professors snapping off questions in rapid succession.

Prizes include cash and "ESPN experiences" such as a road trip with ESPN's College GameDay crew, a day of boxing training with ESPN's Teddy Atlas or an on-air appearance in an ESPN This is SportsCenter promo.

Brindisi would not reveal how he performed, but a quality outing could land him in the tournament and a return engagement. The series' first run concludes in December.

"I would watch it even if I never appeared on it," Brindisi said. "I would watch it a lot just to play along. Kenny Mayne is a funny guy and so is Rich Eisen. I got a chance to talk to those guys between rounds ... and it was a good time."

FIGURE THIS OUT: Thanks to the U.S. Open, you will see three NFL games in this market Sunday, and three games on most weekends the Bucs play at home.

In the past, this market got only two Sunday afternoon games when the Bucs played at Raymond James: the Bucs' game, provided it was sold out, and a second game from the competing network that would not air at the same time as the Bucs' game.

This year, thanks to a one-year NFL blackout experiment, we will get three games on Bucs home game Sundays as long as the bonus third game does not compete with the Bucs. For example, CBS has the doubleheader on Sept. 24, so it will show a game at 1 p.m. and the Bucs-Jets game at 4:15. Fox, limited to airing a game at 1, probably will broadcast Detroit-Chicago.

The Oct. 29 Vikings-Bucs game and Dec. 3 Cowboys-Bucs game, however, are airing on Fox when that network doesn't have doubleheader rights. Consequently, CBS will air only one game of its doubleheader at 4.

Where does tennis come into play? Well, the rule limiting this market to two games should apply this week because CBS does not have a game to air at 4. But a one-time U.S. Open waiver will allow CBS to air the Minnesota-Miami game opposite the Bucs-Bears at 1.

FINE TUNING: Todd Kalas and Wade Boggs will help fill in for Devil Rays analyst Joe Magrane while he's in Australia working the Olympics for NBC. Kalas will handle games played Sept. 10-17 and Boggs will handle games played Sept. 18-28. ... In a related note, Braves announcer Skip Caray will fill in for Bob Costas on NBC's divisional baseball coverage Oct. 3, 6 and 7 because Costas will be en route from Sydney. ... Buccaneers Diaries airs at 7:30 p.m. Monday on Sunshine Network with an interview with offensive coordinator Les Steckel and a profile of strong safety John Lynch. ... Miami sportscaster Craig Minervini will handle play-by-play on the Notre Dame-Nebraska college football game Saturday. ... HBO's Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel on Tuesday will include a profile on Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder and a feature on gymnastics guru Bela Karolyi.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright