Sports Geniuses
| Sports Geniuses | |
|---|---|
| Genre | game show |
| Presented by | Matt Vasgersian with Lisa Guerrero |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | Fox Sports Net |
| Original release | March 27 – June 23, 2000 |
Sports Geniuses was an American sports-themed game show that aired for 65 episodes from March 27, 2000 until June 23, 2000 on cable channel Fox Sports Net. It was the network's second game show (Ultimate Fan League was the first, airing in 1998 and 1999, and only other).
Sportscaster Matt Vasgersian hosted, with Lisa Guerrero as his co-host.
The show was divided into four separate segments.
The first round was played similar to Jeopardy!, with four categories each containing five questions that ranged in value from 10 to 50 points. Two questions in the round were designated Double Plays, and were questions that employed video clips and had follow-up questions attached which if answered correctly doubled the value of the question.
After the round was over, a speed round called the 30 Second Blitz was played. In this, the players would be shown a photo of an athlete and had to identify who it was. Each correct answer was worth 30 points; the round ended after seven photos or when the 30 seconds expired, whichever came first.
The next round of play was almost identical to the first round, with the following exceptions:
In addition, a special guest athlete or other sports personality would appear to read all the questions from one category.
A new wrinkle was added for this round, called "The Shaft." The third place player was given The Shaft (which was a silver shaft of a baseball bat, hence the name) to start the round and could use it at any point in the round to force one of his opponents to answer one of the questions on the board. Each player could only be "Shafted" once, and once The Shaft returned to someone who had already used it, it was taken out of play.
At the end of this round the two highest-scoring players advanced to a final showdown. A category would be given for each question (i.e., Super Bowl winners), and the value would start at 100 points and increase by 10 points for each correct answer given by the contestants, who alternated giving answers. If a player gave an incorrect answer or froze, their opponent would receive the points in the pot and play would continue, otherwise the value of the pot would roll over to the next question. Each subsequent question's starting value would increase by 25 points.
Play continued in this fashion until time ran out, at which point the contestant with the highest score was declared the winner and won a prize package.
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