Unreality of Sports
Beyond The Diehards
By Rob Rossi

As host of Fox Sport Net's landmark program, "The Best Damn Sports Show, Period!" - Chris Rose gets it.

"Not all the guys on our set are die-hard sports fans," admits Rose. "And you know what? Most people aren't."

There it is.

More than any sports show on television, "The Best Damn Sports Show, Period!" embraces such thinking - most people aren't die-hard sports fans. This is probably why Rose counts amongst his show's most loyal viewers younger sports fans.

"The Best Damn Sports Show, Period!" views and feels like a conversation you might have with friends while knocking back a few at the bar, which is exactly the intent.

Rose, formerly a sports anchor, is the "smart-ass," taking shots at anything and anyone. Tom Arnold is the down-to-earth goof, seemingly always cracking jokes. John Salley, formerly of the Bad Boy Detroit Pistons, is the ex-jock, trying to point out that, despite Joe Fan's suggestions otherwise, no professional athlete actually "sucks." And joining these three men on any given day are athletes, musicians, actors and supermodels.

The concept works, so much so that ESPN - the perceived "credible" sports and entertainment network - has gone to great lengths to create programming appealing to demographic that regularly watches Rose and crew do their laid-back, conversational, "dude, there's more to life than wins and losses" thing.

"We got killed in the beginning," Rose recalls. "We were 'too soft.' But, you know, we're not winning any Pulitzers here, this is a sports show."

And what is a sports show?

"Entertainment, that's all it is. Sports is entertainment! There just happens to be stats in sports...Fans are interested in the stats, but people are interested in the athletes - and the athletes are entertainers."

For good reason: Entertainers bank more coin over a longer period of time than professional athletes. Besides, for the money he's making, shouldn't Terrell Owens give fans something other than YACs and TDs?

"What T.O. does - the stuff that the NFL hates - he's just having a good time, giving the fans their money's worth," Rose says. "He came on the show and dressed up like a catcher. Somebody watching TV that night stopped and thought, 'Hey, that's pretty good.'

"And a lot of people will watch sports for a guy like T.O., who is an athlete and an entertainer - a lot more than who won't."

Rob Rossi regularly writes Unreality of Sports in PSR. You can also catch him on The Flip Side, weekdays in Pittsburgh Trib p.m.