Site Presented By
Thursday, Nov 26, 2009
It's news! It's chat! It's recipes and jewelry tips and bimbonics and fat-cheerleader jokes! Welcome to the frat-house hangout zone of "The Best Damn Sports Show, Period."
Apr 25, 2002 | Picture a clueless traveler adrift in a foreign land where nobody speaks his language.
Now picture me sitting in front of the TV watching Fox Sports Net's "Best Damn Sports Show, Period."
Oui, oui, I have no idea what anybody is talking about. The more I watch, the more I feel it. I'm like one of those guys who, having grown weary of supercilious accusations of xenophobia, visits a foreign country for the first time and finds himself wallet- and trouserless in a back alley.
But that's just me ... and perhaps a few others like me. As co-host Tom Arnold has said, "If you're a critic of the show, the headline is right there for you ... 'The Worst Damn Sports Show ...' It's all been said before." Like most things self-consciously crude and lowbrow, "The Best Damn Sports Show, Period" has become a respectable hit since its launch last July, having steadily attracted more viewers each month after expanding to a two-hour format in December. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the show is also a big hit with advertisers, and accounts for the 10 percent net gain in Fox Sports Net's ad revenue last year.
Part of this hybrid newsmagazine/talk show's success with the ad people is no doubt due to the 1950s-style insertion of products into the programming. One of the show's newest sponsors, Mike's Hard Lemonade, has set up a little stand in the corner of the set, adding a quaint, frat-boy version of "Hints From Heloise" segment to the program. Did you know you can mix Mike's Hard Lemonade with Mike's Hard Ice Tea to create a drink named after some golfer? Now you do. Outback Steakhouse has also graciously provided beef to be consumed onstage.
The show is billed as Fox's answer to ESPN's "SportsCenter," and although it's unclear who posed the question in the first place, it's still a good answer, ratings-wise. Whether "Best Damn" ("Damn Sports"? "Sports Show"? "Show Period"?) lives up to its name is a matter of taste, but that it is more, um, assertive than other shows of its genre is undeniable. Co-hosted by Chris Rose, the show is far more "real guy, real guy talk"-oriented than its ESPN counterpart, and it clearly likes it that way. In fact, "Damn Sports" makes abundantly clear what it thinks of the more "highbrow" comedy-sports cocktails that have been essayed recently, notably Dennis Miller's short-lived association with "Monday Night Football."
Fox Sports president Tracy Dolgin has said that "Sports Show" is the result of trying to create a more "Fox-like" sports franchise than some of the Net's failed past efforts. But after watching a few episodes and a highlights tape, the show strikes me as far more genial and civilized than, say, "The O'Reilly Factor." Again, this may just be because I don't speak the language, or maybe it's because I was expecting "The Man Show" with balls. (Comparatively speaking, the bikini bimbonics are kept to a minimum here.)
Still, what I have perceived as a relative gentility may simply be a factor of co-host Tom Arnold's temporary absence from the installments I caught. (Arnold was off shooting a movie, but did occasionally call in to the show to kid guest host Will Sasso, of "Mad TV," about his weight.) Rose and other guest hosts, such as former Major League player Steve "Psycho" Lyons, former NFL player D'Marco Farr, former NBA player John Salley and leggy news-babe Lisa Guerrero don't exactly come off like rabid Fox dogs. They all seem to enjoy each other's company. When Guerrero pitches in with, "I agree with Psycho!" everyone nods happily and the audience applauds.
In fact, aside from the occasional fat-cheerleader sketch, "Sports Show" is mostly reminiscent of "The View." (In the fat-cheerleader sketch, in case you are wondering, a cheerleader complains, while gnawing on a turkey drumstick, that her team's new weight regulations don't make sense.
"The team is called the Buffaloes, OK? Hello!"
Rose nods and asks, "What's next for you? Are you going to make weight?"
"You're damn right I'm going to make weight," she ripostes. "Thanks for reminding me!" Sticks finger down throat.)
