By LEAH WEATHERSBY

It seems as though bars and trivia are inexorably linked - at least in Seattle. Many local taverns have trivia nights, but at least one establishment, Cooper's Alehouse in Maple Leaf, was bought by Trivia. Literally.

Kirbie Predmore, a longtime Maple Leaf resident, purchased Cooper's, located at 8065 Lake City Way NE, last December after winning $40,000 on the ESPN sports trivia show "Two-Minute Drill."

Predmore's adventure started when he filled out an e-mail application for the show. Last June he got a call to travel to Manhattan to take both a written test and a screen test. He was accepted and ended up traveling to New York two more times to compete in a total of three rounds of competition. He came in third place, overall. Predmore said his poise and ability to stay calm under pressure helped him do well.

"To know that much about sports trivia, most of those people have to be pretty big nerds," Predmore said. "By no means do I think I was the third smartest guy in that group, but it's a competition like anything else."

Predmore, 30, not only has a sports background, he has what one might call a bar pedigree. His mother and stepfather, Katherine and Russell Nash, owned the Cardiff Arms Alehouse in Greenwood. It is now known as The Globe Fine Ale House, and ironically, has a popular trivia night on Thursdays.

Predmore, who had been working at a beer distributor prior to buying Coopers, had planned to take his winnings and purchase a bar he could renovate.

But as a customer who had been coming to Coopers for over 10 years, he couldn't pass up the opportunity to buy the neighborhood pub when he learned that owner Troy Stahlecker was looking to sell. So far Predmore has made some small changes such as expanding the menu. He also hopes to be able to offer liquor starting in September. Still, he says, he plans to keep the place close to its roots.

"We have a lot of regulars, " said Predmore. "We're more of a neighborhood place."

Not surprisingly, trivia plays an important role at Coopers. Predmore added a Tuesday night trivia contest after he bought the place and assures the non-athletes out there that only five out of 40 questions relate to sports. Not surprisingly, Tuesday is Cooper's busiest night of the week. (