What Is the Best Sports Show on Television?

I found myself in an interesting debate late last week over which television show in history had done (or has done) the best job of serving the sports-minded viewer.

I think it was sports media guru Dan Shanoff who commented on the 10th anniversary of ESPN’s hit show, “Pardon The Interruption.” Dan, whom I consider a friend and whose opinions I respect tremendously, went to Twitter and called PTI “the best show in the history of sports television.”

Naturally, I took a measured, objective counter-stance to this claim and insinuated that Dan was sniffing glue.

Shanoff answered with a list (and credited me for the inspiration) of which sports television shows he found to be best in class:

PTI (ESPN)
NFL Red Zone (Red Zone Channel - subscription only)
College GameDay (ESPN)
NBA on TNT (TNT)
SportsCenter (ESPN)
Monday Night Football (ABC)

Hey, I’ll be the first one to say that PTI meets the standard of great television—the mix of Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon charged out of the gate in 2001 with a fresh brashness that most of us hadn’t seen, even in a post-”SportsCenter” world.  

It was almost as if the hosts were banging out their columns right before our eyes, and it was entertaining to watch. It was the success of that show that led to Kornheiser’s arrival in the booth at “Monday Night Football,” an assignment which anyone not working at ESPN could have told you was doomed for failure before it began.

The on-screen aesthetic of PTI, featuring a rundown of topics to be discussed on the side of the screen, has been aped by almost every sports debate show on the air today, including "SportsCenter."

And while it was new and cool 10 years ago, it comes off today as catering to the ADD set. Plus, as they continue to kick around issues involving today’s athletes, Kornheiser and Wilbon seem a bit out of touch.

Ten years is a long time for a TV show to keep its two biggest stars, so consider credit given where it’s due, but the program is showing its age. To call it “the best show in the history of sports television” seems a bit short-sighted.

So instead of blowing holes in Dan’s ideas of what makes great sports TV, I should proffer my own suggestion. In my view, the best sports TV show of all time is “SportsCenter.”

Need a reason? How about 35,000 reasons? The sports news and highlights program aired Episode No. 35,000 back in 2009. That’s easily more than any other show in American television. The show is untouchable.

“But Josh, they air SportsCenter the entire day. Of course it’s gonna have more episodes.”

That argument leads into my point. According to Wikipedia, live episodes of "SportsCenter" air at 1 a.m., 9 a.m. through 3 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. That’s nine hours of programming with a single show.

Add the five hours of overnight replays, and that’s a total of 14 hours. I posed this question on Twitter, and I’ll do so again here—how many other shows could run for over half of the broadcast day and still be considered essential viewing?

And I give "SportsCenter" the nod because so many people thought it was a bad idea at inception.

When the show first aired in 1979 on ESPN—then a fledgling cable network—there was no Internet, no CNN and almost no sports offerings on cable whatsoever. But obviously the program and its network survived—and thrived.

Its format is simple to emulate, and yet the show has no direct competitors. The reach and brand of the network that "SportsCenter" helped create remains insurmountable.

That is not to say that the show doesn’t have its detractions. "SportsCenter" seems content now to pass itself off as a highlights show as opposed to a news show, with its talent posing more as MTV-style veejays than actual journalists.

Their objectivism with regard to high-profile athletes like Ben Roethlisberger and LeBron James has come under fire of late—and rightfully so. Its cavalcade of “analysts,” generally speaking, consist of little more than ex-players looking to lob obsessive amounts of praise or scorn on those who still perform in the sports from which they were discarded.

ESPN’s well-documented relationships with athletes like those, and the leagues in which they play, has injured the product that its flagship show delivers.

Granted, the original idea has been improved upon: The subscription-only "NFL Red Zone" delivers almost-live pro football highlights as they happen.

Scott Hanson, he of the indefatigable bladder, anchors the six-hour show with delightful poise and insight, and toes the line between fandom and objective commentary in a way that we wish the anchors of "SportsCenter" could.

ESPN’s "College GameDay" basically takes the "SportsCenter" model and adds the backdrop of ravenous college sports fans. The amplified personalities of the show’s talent fit that program better than they would in a stuffy indoor news studio.

I could give "NFL Red Zone" the nod for being the best sports show on TV today. But of all time? Not by my standard.

That honor belongs to the show that started it all and is still going strong today. Of course, I’d much rather be watching the game—any game—and be left to draw my own conclusions.