Bob Baril - A Treasured Experience

 

I've been an ordained minister for over 30 years, and I spent over 20 years pastoring a small church in Framingham, Massachusetts. I didn't make a lot of money, but I had a very fulfilling life and I really enjoyed much of that time. My wife, Marianne, loves kids. And we raised three of them. I have a daughter, Amy, that is a registered nurse today. She's got a family of her own and she has-- I'm suddenly drawing a blank here. Oh, she's got a family of her own. She lives in Springfield, Missouri. I've got a daughter, Rachel, who's very active in community theater in Framingham, very talented. 

 

I've also got a son, John, who looks something like me and is very intelligent. I don't know where he got that from. Didn't get that from me. I've got to tell you about a couple quirks of mine. One of them is I tend to speak many times before I think. I'm also quite a big aficionado of the TV game show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? I mean, when that show came on the air in 1999, I couldn't get enough of it. It was on ABC, if you recall, almost every night. I was glued to it. Regis Philbin was the host. What a great guy. 

 

I just wanted to sit down and have a burger with the guy [audience laughter] and watch a Patriots game with Regis. These ordinary people were coming on the show, and he would ask them a few questions and the next thing, they're leaving the show and they've got all kinds of money. And I thought, what a great thing. I want to go on that show. I want to go on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the worst way. I wanted to do that. 

 

Well, fast forward to 2015. And of course, now Millionaire is a daytime show and Chris Harrison is the host. But I still catch it from time to time when I can. In fact, I even watch it today. But I got an email, it's 2015, in the spring. I got an email from my 31-year-old son John, and he said, "Dad, I have been selected to be a contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" Now, how great is that? But not only that, now you may recall that in the Regis Philbin days, they used to have a lifeline called Phone a Friend.

 

And you know, the contestant would call up one of their friends to help them answer a question. Regis would be there, “Charlie needs a little help,” if you recall those days. Well, they no longer do the Phone a Friend. But even better, they let you bring a friend to the studio. And John asked me to be his plus one, his friend at Millionaire. So, I was going to get to go on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Let me tell you, I was pumped. [audience laughter] I was telling everybody, “We're going to be on the show.” There was more to do to being on the show than I would have initially thought. A lot of paperwork to read and sign, this and that you had to do. I was surprised there was so much.

 

But several weeks went by and it's July 2015. And in those days, it was taped in Stamford, Connecticut, which is very convenient being from Boston, just a few hours down Interstate 95. And there you are. We had great father and son time. It was just great. I so enjoyed being there at the facility. And being in the green room, I was actually quite surprised, because guess what, the walls were actually green. [audience laughter] Some of it was boring, because you're in there for hours, but you're meeting contestants and other plus ones, staff from the show, things like that. But finally, the time came that a gentleman came in and he said, "John and John's father, come with me."

 

So, we followed him. It wasn't too long before we're walking onto the set of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? I was just absolutely in awe. I couldn't believe I was there. I wanted to just break out in The Pointer Sisters. I'm so excited, I really did. [audience laughter] They even had a special seat for the plus one. I'm sitting in my special seat, just feeling so great. They start the taping. They introduce, “John Baril from Framingham, Massachusetts.” He really was great. 

 

I got to tell you a little bit about the show, just in case you're not familiar with it. They ask the contestant 14 questions. And they start with low dollar amounts. First one's $500, then $1,000, goes all the way up to a million. And they have two, what they call thresholds that if you get to the $5,000 level and you get it right, you can't leave without $5,000. Same thing with $50,000. You get to $50,000, you get it right, can't leave without $50,000. But also, at any time you may be at a certain level and say, boy, I'm not sure. I don't know if I know the answer. I think I just want to walk with whatever amount of money you've banked to that point, $10,000, $20,000, whatever. 

 

Well, John starts answering the questions. He was absolutely phenomenal. He was funny, he was interesting, he was entertaining and he's a humble guy, really. But he was really showcasing his intelligence. I got to tell you, I was so proud of him. I'm sitting there with an ear-to-ear grin, giving two thumbs up, and I'm sitting there thinking he's going to leave here with at least $50,000. John's just whipping through them, you know, $10,000, $20,000, $30,000, wow. 

 

Something I got to mention that I don't want to forget, is when you see the figures on the television show on the screen, you might think, oh, well, big deal. But when you're actually there, they're huge. [audience laughter] They're on this huge screen. I'm looking at $10,000, $20,000, $30,000. And he's got the $30,000, and now he's going for the $50,000. I knew, I just knew he was going to get that right. Things just couldn't be any better. And here's the $50,000 question. Said, “In the interest of fighting cybercrime, the FBI is seriously considering removing which hiring restriction?”

 

So, in other words, there's a group of people the FBI currently won't hire, but to fight cybercrime, they're seriously considering hiring them. The question, “Is it A, those who have Twitter accounts. B, those who are under age 25. C, those who smoke marijuana. D, foreign-born US citizens.” And John starts bantering a little with Chris Harrison, and he says, “You know, I'm not sure the answer. I think it's time for my plus one.” [audience laughter] And all of a sudden, the spotlight is on me. I'm walking down looking at Chris Harrison and looking at John, and I'm thinking, I don't have the slightest idea [audience laughter] of the answer to this question. 

 

Now, I said at the outset, I've had an issue in my life that I've been known to speak before I think. [audience laughter] Well, this would be a great illustration of that. Because I get up there and I'm just babbling, "Well, everybody has a Twitter account, and I really don't think it's those who smoke marijuana. Could it really be people under 25? Foreign born?" I'm just babbling and I don't know the answer. But I turn to John and I say, “You know, I really think it's foreign-born US citizens.” And John says, "D. Foreign-born US citizens. Final answer." I'm standing there and I'm looking right in front of me is that big $30,000 figure. And suddenly, it dropped to $5,000. And Chris Harrison said, "Oh, I'm sorry. It's those who smoke marijuana." You would not believe how fast we were whisked right out of there. [audience laughter] 

 

I was amazed. It felt like one minute later, we're standing in this parking lot [audience laughter] in Stamford, Connecticut, and I turned to John and I said, "What did we just do?" [audience laughter] And he said, "Look, Dad, don't take this on yourself. It was a game." He said, "I gave the final answer. So, if anybody messed up, it's on me. But he said, "Hey, I'm still going to get a check for $5,000. It's not that bad." Well, he was very good about it. I have to tell you, I was a mess. [audience laughter] I was. I was a mess. 

 

Now, if you recall, I talked about signing, reading and signing paperwork when we agreed to go on the show, we had contractually agreed we would not say anything about what happened on the show until it aired. Nothing. I mean, it was three months from the time we were on the show till the time it aired. People are asking, “Is John a millionaire? What happened on the show?” And we had to just keep saying, "I can't say anything. I can't say anything." But I'll tell you, the first 48 hours was so difficult, [audience laughter] because I just--

 

People say when they're drowning, they see visions of their whole life before them. Well, I didn't see that, but all I could think about was in my life, how many stupid things I'd blurted out that maybe were hurtful to people, even when I was pastoring. I never intended to be mean-spirited or nasty or anything like that, but I would just make offhanded comments. I mean, if somebody had us to dinner or something and I might later say, "Boy, they had us for lasagna, but it looked and tasted like vegetable soup," and then it would get back to the person and they'd be upset. [audience laughter] A lot of things like that, really. 

 

Now, you know, it is funny now. It really is. [audience laughter] It is funny now, but at the time, I was a mess. I really was. But I got to tell you about a neat little word, a cool word that you may not know, and it's from the Hebrew. And it's Selah. S-E-L-A-H, Selah. It's found in the psalms. Usually at the end of a sentence or a stanza, you'll be reading along. "The Lord is great, Selah," or "The heavens are majestic, Selah." What does selah mean? Well, literally, selah means pause and think about that. Pause and think about that. 

 

Well, I had three months [audience laughter] of selah. I did. I did. I had three months to pause and think about that. But to think, I could have just said, "You know, John, I don't know the answer. You don't know the answer? Let's just walk with $30,000." What would be wrong with that? That was the right thing to do, that I didn't do. And to think about, do I really have to say every stupid thing that comes into my mind? Well, I don't. Now, I'll tell you, that show actually aired on Columbus Day of 2015, which was great, because it was a holiday, a number of people had the day off. 

 

I watched it with family. As upset as I was when it happened three months later, I really enjoyed watching the show. I really did. I watched it with family, including my sister. And my sister is all excited, saying, "He's got $20,000, he's got $30,000." I'm sitting there thinking, well, [audience laughter] wait, let's see what's coming. And she did. And then, it was, "You mean that's what happened? [audience laughter] You lost all that money?" I said, “Yeah, but I was so relieved. I was so relieved that I could talk about it.” And tonight, I can say, as I look back upon that, seriously, I cherish the memory of going on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? with my son, John. And I even cherish the memory of the aftermath of that experience. Selah. Thank you.