My brother was over for dinner last night, and he asked an interesting question.

We were talking about the popular parlor game "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon", the one in which every star in Hollywood, every one of them, living or dead, can be traced to Kevin Bacon in six steps or less.

For example: Kevin Bacon to Burt Lancaster?  Easy.  Lancaster appeared with David Niven in Separate Tables (1958).  Niven appeared in Casino Royale (1967) with Woody Allen, who appeared in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) with Diane Wiest, who appeared in Footloose (1984) with Kevin Bacon.

Kevin Bacon to Spencer Tracy?  Tracy narrated How the West was Won (1962), which also starred Jimmy Stewart.  Stewart was in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) with Lee Marvin, who was in The Dirty Dozen (1967) with Donald Sutherland, who was in Animal House (1977) with Kevin Bacon.

You get the idea.  You can trace Kevin Bacon all the way back to Mary Pickford and Fatty Arbuckle if you want.

Well, since I was in that ESPN Classic special with so many other well-known people, can I trace myself to Kevin Bacon?

Yes, I can.

I was in the special with Bob Costas, who was in BASEketball (1998) with Ernest Borgnine, who was in The Dirty Dozen (1967) with Donald Sutherland, who was in Animal House (1977) with Kevin Bacon.

It might not mean much to anyone else, but it sure made my day.

By the way, ESPN Classic will re-run the special in late September.  Until then, if anyone has any other interesting ways to trace me back to Kevin Bacon, send me an e-mail and let me know.