Stumped by the Schwab’s Purpose

I was watching ESPN Classic the other day and got caught into back to back episodes of Stump the Schwab. Loving sports trivia as much as I do it became an impossible feat to change the channel, no matter how corny Stuart Scott’s jokes can get. In between the episodes, though, an interesting thought crept into my head: Who exactly is this Schwab-guy and what possible job would require him to know that much about sports?

Though relatively little information on the Schwab can be found online, a simple combination of his ESPN and Wikipedia biographies provides enough information to answer the above question. Howie Schwab, a graduate of St. Johns, began his career as the editor-in-chief of College and Pro Football Weekly; he also frequently contributed information to The Jodie Mac Show on WFAN. In 1987, ESPN hired him as a freelance researched and, by 1995, he had skyrocketed the employment ladder to become the coordinating producer for ESPN.com.

He does everything from working for Dan Patrick’s radio broadcasts to informing anchors and analysts of certain statistics and facts. In fact, he is the one responsible for the “Did You Know” facts that, unless I’m going a bit senile at 22 yrs old, have not been on the air recently.

When it comes to baseball knowledge, I really became impressed with him when he displayed knowledge of the past. Naming players like Pud Galvin and Kid Nichols in his answers as well as recalling Darren Lewis’s errorless streak shows a breadth of knowledge about somewhat obscure particulars. Granted I’m a big Kid Nichols fan but not many know about his efforts and contributions to the early days of baseball. One question relating to baseball I messed up on, despite swearing I was right, was with this question: “Who scored the winning run when the Dbacks beat the Yankees in the 2001 World Series?”

I said Craig Counsell, in my head, and the contestant even commented, “I know this unfortunately because I’m a Yankees fan and that image has been embedded in my head… Craig Counsell.” Stuart Scott then proceeded to, with an odd look, say that it was Tony Womack. I’m not sure if this was correct as the Schwab also had a look of “this is wrong” on his face. Looking at the box score/play by play shows that Jay Bell scored the winning run, with Womack advancing to third and Counsell advancing to second. Odd.

I read not too long ago that he is given the categories in “The Schwab Showdown,” the final round of his contest, in advance; not the questions but the categories in which questions are derived. Despite how annoying his television persona can be, does him being given the categories lessen his “ability” for anyone? Or do you still feel, regardless of that, his freakish knowledge is unsurpassed? Unlike one of my favorite shows from the past, Beat the Geeks, the questions the Schwab gets are on the same level as those posed to the competitors; on the former the Geeks would be given much harder questions than the contestants. I’m curious to hear your thoughts on this. It isn’t like the movie Quiz Show where questions and answers are given in advance but, still, knowing the categories in advance and not being asked tougher questions than the contestants seems a bit easier. Despite this, it isn’t as if he does not know anything, but do you feel his ability is lessened by these assertions?