Tuesday, November 5, 2002
'Beg, Borrow & Deal' backseat driver
By Dan Shanoff
Page 2 columnist
Whether you have tuned in for the first seven
episodes of "Beg, Borrow & Deal" or just getting into it
now, there's enough time to catch up and figure out
which team you want to root for during the season
finale on Tuesday night. (For all the info on the show
-- full player bios, complete task lists and post-show
commentary from every episode -- check out ESPN.com's
Beg, Borrow & Deal site,
Keyword: Beg)
Here's a primer:
Two teams of four strangers were dropped in the middle
of Times Square in New York City. They have no money.
(In fact, they aren't even allowed to handle money.)
They have no cell phone. They have no change of
clothes.
Each team is given a list of 40 sports-related tasks. The first team
to complete 10 tasks, then make their way
cross-country to Alcatraz Island is declared the
winner. The winning team gets free trips and tickets
to all the major sports events next year yada, yada,
yada. The fun here is the process, not the end goal.
And the process, as the title suggests, is to
literally beg, borrow and deal your way across the
country. And so they have, with mixed results.
Meet the teams:
Team Cobi
What's the team dynamic? As dysfunctional as
their opponents are, Team Cobi is all about loving
each other. No, no intra-team hook-ups (yet), but
relatively easy success has kept everyone in bright
spirits. At times, Juliet has alienated her three
teammates with her self-absorbed attitude, but as soon
as they complete a task, all strife is quickly
forgotten.
Which tasks have they pulled off?
Cobi: (1) Got picture taken with an Olympic
medal; (2) Caught a 35-yard pass from an NFL QB; (3)
Gave a bath to a college mascot; (4) Shagged fly balls
during MLB batting practice; (5) Scored on an NHL
goalie; (6) Threw out the first pitch at an MLB game;
(7) Led MLB crowd in pre-game singing of National
Anthem; (8) Scored a goal on an MLS goalie; (9) Hosted
a sports-radio talk show.
Where'd the name come from? The team's first
completed task was to get their picture taken with an
Olympic medal. In their case, it belonged to Summer
Sanders. Asked to come up with a team name upon
completing the task, Summer volunteered that the
mascot of the Olympics she won her medal at was named
"Cobi." The team adopted the name as a tribute to the
person responsible for helping them nail their first
task.
Meet the team members:
|  |
| Josh |
Josh: Josh is the Jason Kidd of "BBD" -- he makes
everyone around him better, and it says here that if
he was on the other team, the scores would probably be
reversed. He's that much of a difference-maker,
mainly because the guy is a Class A schmoozer with
strangers. He's made the funniest jokes of any player
and is never afraid to speak his mind. If there's a
knock against him, it's that he knows nothing about
sports, instead offering knowledge of showtunes and
movies.
|  |
| Juliet |
Juliet: A one-woman wrecking crew
interpersonally, Juliet has nevertheless managed to do
the most for the team with her family connections,
which have included everything from direct-dialing
Summer Sanders for her Olympic medals to giving the
team a wonderful night in her mom's swank suburban
Chicago mansion. She also hooked up with a friend of
Kelli's in East Lansing, Michigan, and she did a mean
impression of Meg Ryan from the diner scene in "When
Harry Met Sally." What a moment for the show.
|  |
| Bubba |
Bubba: A gentlemanly Southerner, Bubba turns on
the charm when begging from other obvious Southerners.
But aside from that, he's offered little to the team
except some spicy flare-ups with Juliet and a type of
consigliere role with Josh, as the two guys schemed over
the team's next moves, allowing the two women
teammates to do what they really want to do: Go for
workouts and wash their hair. Nice luxury.
|  |
| Kelli |
Kelli: Despite her innocent-Midwesterner
routine as a way to bum cell phones from strangers,
Kelli has been much more of a follower than a leader
within her team. She heroically offered to flash a
bus-full of NHL players, but -- sadly for them -- never
had to go through with it. Just the fact that she
would is enough for us. Her highlight was the way she
manipulated her team into going to East Lansing just
in time for her college-graduation party. She managed
to BBD her way into sleeping with her boyfriend -- and
giving Juliet first-class wingman treatment. Still, in
the game's last few stages, she has been more luggage
than leader.
Team Contact
What's the team dynamic? Couldn't be more
dysfunctional. They all seem to hate each other, and
they have rarely worked as a team. To their credit,
coming by the tasks has been such a hardship that they
really seem to appreciate them when they complete them
(as opposed to Team Cobi, who all seem to take their
successes for granted). Also appreciated is Team
Contact's hit-the-after-party attitude when they
complete a task. They may be getting blown out, but
they know how to stop and enjoy the moment.
Which tasks have they pulled off?
Contact: (1) Gave a bath to a college mascot;
(2) Caught a 35-yard pass from an NFL QB; (3) Beat an
NBA player in HORSE; (4) Rode with a minor-league
baseball team on their bus; (5) Got their picture
taken with an Olympic medal; (6) Hit an NBA
three-point shot.
Where'd the name come from? The team realized
that its success would be dependent on their contacts in
the outside world, not just on their ability to work
as a team (an ability that turned out to be quite
suspect).
Meet the team members
|  |
| Aubrey |
Aubrey: A professional cheerleader, Aubrey has
been the team member most focused on knocking off
tasks and actually winning the game. She regularly is
the only team member who does any legwork once they
reach a destination to try to set up a task.
Coincidentally, she tends to celebrate completing
tasks with cheerleader-like high kicks. She also tends
to spend at least once segment per episode either
crying or on the verge of tears, making every episode
a "When's Aubrey gonna lose it?" adventure.
|  |
| Tony |
Tony: An obnoxious, mouthy kid from
Connecticut, instantly recognizable by his frat-style
backward-facing baseball cap and his
10-minutes-too-late "soul patch" facial hair. Tends
to explode on his teammates - for not trying hard
enough, for not letting him get food when he's hungry,
and generally for not being enough about Tony. Once
ruined his team's opportunity for a five-hour car ride
by bumming a cigarette from the potential driver (a
team is only allowed to accept one favor per person).
His biggest contribution so far was to beat Nets
forward Richard Jefferson in H-O-R-S-E, which says
more about R-Jeff than Tony.
|  |
| Julian |
Julian: Up until Episode 7, this guy had been
the definition of "no value." He never really set up
any tasks and barely contributed to completing them,
always seeming to be more interested in where his next
cigarette would be coming from than where the team's
next task would come from. Threatened to quit the team
if they didn't make their connecting bus from Little
Rock to Dallas. Then, in Dallas, he set the team up
with a place to stay and even miraculously hit an NBA
three-point shot to allow the team to complete their
sixth (and most recent) task.
|  |
| Katie |
Katie: Really, really, REALLY wants to be the
boss of the team, but is regularly shown up by
Aubrey's effort. This has led to regular clashes
between the two of them. Katie also had a blowout
with Tony in the middle of a NASCAR RV park in
Richmond, Va. After completing each task, Katie seems
content to spend the rest of the night partying. Much
like opponent Kelli, she seems to be obsessed with
makeup and staying pretty during the road trip.
Doesn't that appear to be purpose-defeating?
Current score: Team Cobi 9, Team Contact 6.
Outlook: Team Cobi seems to have an insurmountable lead over
Team Contact, but currently Cobi is stuck on a Wyoming
highway with car trouble. I really can't see Cobi
choking so badly that they collapse so close to the
victory. However, could Cobi's late-stage problems be
the opening the usually dysfunctional Contact
(currently in Oklahoma City) needs to make a surge and
pass the front-runners at the finish line? I guess
that's why they play the game. All will be revealed in
the season finale on Tuesday night.
Dan Shanoff is a columnist for Page 2. He has
followed "Beg, Borrow & Deal" through the entire
season via a weekly "Backseat Driver" column.
