Pardon the Interruption is my favorite sports-related show. It is immensely entertaining with two likable hosts (I also enjoy Tony Kornheiser's radio show although it just went on hiatus while he is doing his tour of duty with Monday Night Football - Even though he is a contrarian, I am also a fan of PTI fill-in Dan Le Batard). But PTI has also wrought an unspeakable evil on us. Although PTI was an original at the time it premiered, it has spawned a number of truly awful, unwatchable knock-offs featuring annoying sports writer talking heads spewing meaningless opinions about sporting minutia and pop culture. Now comes what looks like the absolute worst of the lot, this one featuring one of our beloved PTI guy's. I am talking about the worthless piffle that is new Sports Center feature Who's Now.
I am, of course, not the first person to complain about the awfulness of the idea of Who's Now, never mind the execution. But this is the lamest excuse yet to have fill 10 minutes of air time. It doesn't provide information that we don't know. It isn't entertaining or interesting. We are simply treated to three or four ESPN empty suits telling us which sports celebrities they like best. That is it. They talk about some nebulous criteria like endorsement dollars and on field success but that is a smoke screen. But really, the only thing that we get out of this exercise is the knowledge that Keyshawn Johnson prefers Dwayne Wade over The Flying Tomato. And the nation takes a collective sigh of relief. Structuring this sham popularity contest of overexposed athletes as a tournament or adding the Web 2.0 feature of internet voting doesn't make it any better. I won't be seeking out the voting aspect but if I stumble across it on ESPN.com, I plan to vote for the lowest seed. The best result I could envision for this mess is a finals matching Amanda Beard vs. Kelly Slater. That should make for some riveting TV. Boo-yah.
I am, of course, not the first person to complain about the awfulness of the idea of Who's Now, never mind the execution. But this is the lamest excuse yet to have fill 10 minutes of air time. It doesn't provide information that we don't know. It isn't entertaining or interesting. We are simply treated to three or four ESPN empty suits telling us which sports celebrities they like best. That is it. They talk about some nebulous criteria like endorsement dollars and on field success but that is a smoke screen. But really, the only thing that we get out of this exercise is the knowledge that Keyshawn Johnson prefers Dwayne Wade over The Flying Tomato. And the nation takes a collective sigh of relief. Structuring this sham popularity contest of overexposed athletes as a tournament or adding the Web 2.0 feature of internet voting doesn't make it any better. I won't be seeking out the voting aspect but if I stumble across it on ESPN.com, I plan to vote for the lowest seed. The best result I could envision for this mess is a finals matching Amanda Beard vs. Kelly Slater. That should make for some riveting TV. Boo-yah.
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