Tony Kornheiser (left) and Michael Wilbon
October 22, 2001: ESPN premieres its show Pardon the Interruption. Just as I would later describe Around the Horn, which debuted on the network a year later, as "The McLaughlin Group for sports," PIT is to sports what Crossfire was the politics.
Tony Kornheiser, from Lynbrook, Long Island, New York, was 53 years old when the show began, although his advancing age would become a running gag. Michael Wilbon, from the South Side of Chicago, was about to turn 43, although, as the show went on and he became, in his own words, "an old man," he seemed to enjoy telling younger athletes and fans, "Get off my lawn!"
Both were sportswriters at The Washington Post, Kornheiser from 1979 to 2008, Wilbon from 1980 to 2010, both eventually becoming regular columnists before getting bought out. Kornheiser grew up as a fan of the New York Mets, Jets, Knicks and Rangers; Wilbon, of the Chicago Cubs (despite growing up in White Sox territory), Bears, Bulls and Blackhawks. But both retain affection for the D.C.-area teams, including the teams of the University of Maryland and Georgetown University, due to having covered them for the Post.
The show begins with "Headlines": They discuss three major sports stories of the day. Each segment has a clock, usually no more than 2 minutes. After a commercial break, they might do more Headlines. Or they might do a short in-depth interview with another ESPN expert on a particular sport, calling the segment "Five Good Minutes."
Or they might play a game. Sometimes it's "Toss-Up," where they choose between two preferences: Who's likelier to win a game, who's the better performer at a particular event, which coach is on a hotter "hot seat," etc. Sometimes, it's "What's the Word?" where they choose a word to describe an occurrence in sports. Sometimes, it's "Mail Time," where they read questions sent in by viewers, and answer them.
Long-since discarded games were "Odds Makers," in which their former assistant, Tony Reali -- known as "Stat Boy," before (and, for a few more years, after) becoming host/moderator of Around the Horn -- would ask what were the odds of something happening; "Over/Under," in which Reali would give them a number of something, like how many games a team would win, and they had to guess over it or under it; "Role Play," where they would hold up a picture of an athlete or coach, and the other man would ask him a question, and he had to answer it in his perception of that person's character; "Good Cop, Bad Cop," in which one would be nice about an issue and the other would be mean; and "Food Chain," where they would rank certain items, leading to Tony creating a catchphrase that has survived the segment: "That's it, that's the list!"
Then, another commercial break. Then, "Happy Time." First, they wish a sports figure a Happy Birthday, and talk about them for about 30 seconds. If it's an old guy, Tony will said, "History lesson, kids!" Then, "Happy Anniversary" -- or, sometimes, "Not-So-Happy Anniversary." Finally, "Happy Trails" to a coach getting fired, a player retiring, or a seemingly likely event failing to happen. If a sports figure has died, "Happy Trails" is replaced by "A Melancholy Trails" and a considerably more respectful discussion.
By this point, the clock will show under 2 minutes left to do the show. This is followed by "Errors and Omissions." Finally, the Big Finish: Tony will say, "We're running out of show! It's time for the big finish!" and Mike will say, "Let's do it!" Five brief segments, Tony introducing the 1st, 3rd and 5th, Mike the 2nd and 4th.
After Mike responds to the last, Tony says, "We're out of time. We'll try to do better the next time. I'm Tony Kornheiser!" And Mike says, "And I'm Mike Wilbon. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads!" Unless it's a Friday, in which case, it's "Have a great weekend, knuckleheads!" Or, if they're pre-empted, "We're bumped by basketball/golf/tennis 'til (whatever the day is), knuckleheads!" Followed by Mike introducing the show at 6:00: "Here's SportsCenter!" Or, if it's Monday night, "Here's Monday Night Countdown!"
Frequent references are made to their colleges: Tony's Binghamton University in New York State, and Mike's Northwestern University north of Chicago. Mike refers to Tony's bias toward New York, or at least to the Northeast, referring to the main Interstate highway, I-95, as opposed to his own Midwest, or "Big Ten" or I-94 region.
Less frequent than usual are Wilbon's references to guys Tony likes as "Your boy!" Tony began to fire back when Wilbon waxed about Chicago-adjacent personalities, and called them "Your boy!"
They dress up for Halloween, and, on their last show before Thanksgiving Day, they do "The Turkeys of the Year." Tony says, "Wilbon, tell them the rules" (for deciding them). Mike says, "There ain't none." And then they show bloopers, and athletes, coaches and owners who made fools (or "turkeys") of themselves in other ways.
When the show was suggested to them, because they had such great chemistry together when talking about sports, both of them thought the show, airing weekdays at 5:30 PM Eastern Time on ESPN and repeated at least once a day on ESPN2, would last a few weeks at most. Nobody is more surprised than they are that, as of October 22, 2022, it is still on the air, and they're still the ones doing it.
But they don't always do it in the D.C. studio where it is taped, usually broadcast live. Wilbon frequently does it from the arenas where he covers NBA games for the network. Sometimes, he's back home in Chicago, doing it from ESPN's studio there. Sometimes, he's at ESPN's studio in Phoenix, because he has a house in suburban Scottsdale, Arizona -- Phoenix being to Chicagoans what Florida is to New Yorkers: Where you go to retire. Except Wilbon has no intention of retiring.
Likewise, when COVID hit in March 2020, Tony started doing the show from his house in the Chevy Chase section of Northwest Washington (which borders the city of Chevy Chase, Maryland). Even after restrictions were lifted, the joke is that he does the show from his attic. It took about 2 years for him to once again do the show from his studio -- and on the day that he did it, Wilbon was on assignment, covering a Lakers-Warriors game in Los Angeles!
Occasionally, one or both will be out -- the joke is that Tony is tired, or that either one of them is indulging in their golf fetish -- and replaced by a substitute. For years, a regular sub was Dan LeBatard of the Miami Herald, and both Tony and Mike pretended that they hated him. Sometimes, it's Frank Isola of the New York Daily News, a.k.a. "Fill-In Frank." Sometimes, it's another ESPN correspondent, such as Pablo Torre (whom Tony jokes is "my son") or Mina Kimes.
In 2004, CBS tried to build a sitcom around Tony, titled Listen Up. It starred Jason Alexander of Seinfeld as Philadelphia-based sportswriter Tony Kleinman, who hosts a talk show titled Listen Up with Bernie Widmer, a former NFL player played by Malcolm-Jamal Warner of The Cosby Show. Like Home Improvement, it tried to balance the protagonist's work life with the TV show and his home life with his wife and kids in the suburbs, but it didn't work, and was canceled after 1 season.
*
October 22, 2001 was a Monday. NFL Pro Bowl safety Brian Branch was born. Also on this day, tennis had its "royal wedding": Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi got married at their home, in Agassi's hometown of Las Vegas. The private ceremony happened in their courtyard, where they exchanged vows barefoot in jeans, with only their mothers and a Nevada judge present. Between them, they have a son, a daughter, and 30 Grand Slam singles titles (Steffi 22, Andre 8).
This was also the day that the American League Pennant was decided. The New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners, 12-3 at Yankee Stadium, in Game 5 of the AL Division Series. The Mariners had tied the major league record with 116 regular-season wins, but flopped in the Playoffs. I have a separate entry for this occurrence.
The National League Pennant was also decided on this date. The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-2 in Game 5 of the NL Championship Series, to win the Pennant in record time, their 4th season of existence. Randy Johnson outpitched Tom Glavine, and Erubiel Durazo hit a home run.
And on ABC Monday Night Football, a rivalry was played out: The Philadelphia Eagles beat the New York Giants, 10-9 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.
No comments:
Post a Comment