Last week on “Pardon the Interruption” co-host Tony
Kornheiser held a maple leaf in front of his face, pretending to be
Canada.
That’s right, he was pretending to be the fair northern
country we share a border with.
This has gone far enough. It should have been a red flag when
Tom Arnold got his own talk show, Fox’s “The Best Damn
Sports Show Period,” (from here on we will reduce that awful
title to the pleasant acronym “TBDSSP”), but the line
in the sand must be drawn now that “TBDSSP” has spawned
a batch of similarly mindless programs.
The hosts of these shows spew such banal and mindless drivel
they make ESPN’s Stuart Scott, whose own rants are obnoxious
enough, look like a rocket scientist.
I am all for entertainment, but those shows are supposed to be
about sports; unfortunately they are actually about the
participants’ personalities. Everyone from
“TBDSSP’s” John Kruk to Kornheiser comes off as
self-aggrandizing and sensational.
Two nights ago, I randomly flipped on the television and came
across “TBDSSP.” Within a minute of tuning in, I was
treated to a story about a tattoo that model/tennis player Anna
Kournikova allegedly sported at a recent tennis tournament.
Kournikova insists it is a bandage. The show displayed
“footage” of the tennis player exposing the tattoo. In
one form the tattoo read, “John Kruk was here,” while
in another it read “danger: high maintenance.”
Now that’s journalism.
When the viewers rejoined the cast of “TBDSSP” in
the studio after the clip had aired, Kruk was gleefully high-fiving
his co-hosts.
I was not-so-gleefully bored.
The proliferation of these pandering programs is a continuation
of the trend in journalism to cater to the least common
denominator. These shows have nothing to do with their
groundbreaking predecessors like ABC’s “Wide World of
Sports.”
Shows like “Pardon the Interruption” are the
“Access Hollywoods” of the sports world. This junk has
nothing to do with sports journalism.
I am trying to imagine the demographic to which this programming
appeals, but I am at a loss for words. I cannot imagine an educated
human deriving pleasure from viewing a show like
“TBDSSP” unless the pleasure results from elevating the
viewer’s own ego.
As in: “Oh my, look at how the plebes entertain
themselves. Ha.”
Furthermore, a true sports fan could not possibly care for these
talk shows. Give him “SportsCenter,” and he’s a
happy camper.
Even the format of “Pardon the Interruption” is
indicative of the current state of sports journalism. Kornheiser
and Michael Wilbon argue about a flurry of gossipy topics for 60
seconds each. In this short time, nothing is accomplished other
than each character getting a chance to try out his weak stand-up
routine on the audience.
In a recent issue of ESPN Magazine, beleaguered 49ers receiver
Terrell Owens made an interesting point. He wondered why the media
made such a fuss over his Sharpie antics, when professional
athletes are taking drugs, beating their wives, and committing
various other crimes. Owens may actually have been on to something.
These talk shows could stand to learn something from Owens and
focus on the ethics of some athletes’ behavior ““ not on
pens and tattoos.
Who cares about signing a football with a Sharpie after scoring
a touchdown when professional athletes operate as though they are
above the law?
Who cares about journalism when it goads professional athletes
to operate above the law?
Miller thinks television is for dummies and prefers to read fan
mail. E-mail him at dmiller@media.ucla.edu if you want to join his
book club.