When it comes to sports, Matthew Paul knows enough to contribute to any discussion, be it in a bar over beers, from the comfort of his favorite easy chair with a game on, or sitting in the stands.

It’s quite another thing to do it in front of a studio audience, a couple of live cameras, and a smart-alecky host, but now the Millinocket native knows he can handle that as well.

Paul, a 1996 Stearns High School graduate now living in Lynn, Mass., got a “once in a lifetime experience” as a recent contestant on ESPN’s Stump the Schwab sports trivia game show.

The show, now in its second season on the national all-sports cable network, features three contestants matching wits with Howie Schwab, who has worked for ESPN since 1987 as the network’s first researcher, a coordinating producer, and a two-time Emmy award-winning producer. ESPN sportscaster Stuart Scott hosts the half-hour show.

The 27-year-old Paul went through an involved and substantial application and tryout process to earn a spot on one of the 30 shows scheduled to air this season. Paul’s show aired Thursday night on ESPN2 at 7:30 p.m.

“I made it to the second round,” said Paul, a managing editor for HCPro Inc., a publisher of books and newsletters for healthcare professionals.

In the first round, Scott asks three questions involving multiple answers and each contestant plus Schwab gives one, with each correct answer earning points. The person with the lowest point total is eliminated.

In the second round, the two contestants go head to head answering questions from one category. The category this time around was sports movies, not a particular area of strength for Paul, who prefers live sports to dramatic sports productions.

“You had to name characters or teams from different movies,” Paul explained. “They asked what the name of the team Roy Hobbs played for in The Natural and the name of the team Gene Hackman coached in Hoosiers. I didn’t know the Knights and I forgot Hickory.”

Joe, Paul’s opponent and a junior at Michigan State University, moved on to face the Schwab, but like so many previous finalists, was unable to stump him.

Although Paul, a student-athlete at Stearns who earned a journalism degree from the University of Maine in 2000, had to pay his own travel expenses to appear on the show and came away with just two prizes ? a sports almanac and an ESPN T-shirt ? he would do it all again in a stopwatch second.

“Well, I did get a free lunch, too,” said the son of Wally and Mitzie Paul. “I mean, it was a lot of fun and it was a unique thing to do. I’m really glad I did it.”

Paul found out about the show while surfing the Internet earlier this year. He downloaded a five-page application form, filled it out, answered the mini-essay questions, and mailed it in. He was called and invited to a tryout at the Cask and Flagon pub in Boston last March.

“We took a written test which had 30 questions,” Paul explained. “We had six minutes to do it and, get this, spelling counted and one of the answers was [Duke University basketball coach] Mike Krzyzewski.”

After that, he advanced to a screen test, answering rapid-fire questions in front of a camera.

“When I walked away from the screen test, I was absolutely cooked. I thought there was no way I passed it,” Paul said. “I figured I was done.”

That was before he got another call, this time inviting him to be on the show April 22. He arranged to get the day off, made the five-hour drive to Manhattan, spent six hours at the nondescript studio on West 26th Street, and got back home around midnight.

For Paul it was reality TV for real.

“There wasn’t really any one thing I liked best. It was the whole experience,” said Paul. “It was cool to have a live audience there. When I was eliminated, I watched the final round from the audience and got high-fived.

“I’ve never been in front of a camera for TV or movies before, but I’ve been on stage before and I was less nervous than I thought I’d be. It was just a lot of fun.”

So, is Stuart Scott really as arrogant as he projects on TV?

“You know? Everyone asks that,” Paul said. “We had to sign all these legal disclaimers and everything and we couldn’t associate with the talent, so I can’t say. I talked to Schwab a bit and he seems like a pretty good guy. He really seems to love his job.”

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net