Before the days of First Take, Undisputed, or even 1st & 10, sports talk shows were few and far between. The arrival of Pardon the Interruption helped flip the script, at least at ESPN. But there was a show from the early 2000s that helped set a blueprint for the shows of today.
In Chris Rose‘s mind, that show was none other than the Best Damn Sports Show Period.
From 2001-2009, Best Damn aired on Fox Sports Net and Comcast SportsNet. It was a bit different from the usual sports talk shows. It was a bit more relaxed. Rose, Tom Arnold, and John Salley, amongst others, often contributed their takes in a free-flowing manner. Sort of in a way that reminds of today.
Rose joined Comeback Media’s Jessica Kleinschmidt this week on the Short and to the Point podcast and discussed the show, its history, and why he thinks it helped “blaze a trail” for the sports shows of today.
“We were the first of its kind. I suppose we kind of blazed the trail for what’s out there today,” Rose said. He recalled criticism of the show, saying, “Why in the world should John Kruk have an opinion about football? Or why should Michael Irvin be saying anything about the NBA? Or John Salley?”
“We let them talk about other sports,” Rose explained. “Because they were just fans. Salley would just ask the most ridiculous questions about baseball.
“But you have to remember not everyone is an expert on every sport. I thought that’s why a show like that resonated with people. We put people in totally different positions and now, everybody is talking about every sport.
‘So either you’re welcome, or I apologize. I don’t know which one it is or which one I should be saying. But yeah, I think we were the first of its kind.”
The former MLB Network host discussed when he first realized that Best Damn was the first show of its kind. He said that it was hard at first to get guests, but once people started asking, he felt the show started resonating. He was grateful when talking about how much the show influenced his career.
“It changed my life. I’m so thankful that happened and appreciative. It was pretty amazing,” Rose said. “It was an amazing eight years. It was great for six and a half. The last year and a half we kinda knew they were just running out the string and cutting budget. All that had been difficult to handle,” he recalled.
Rose says he thinks the show could have kept going as Fox’s answer to PTI.
“If it had been launched in 2014 instead of 2001, I think it would have been the hit show around.”
