When it came to sports interview shows in the 80's and most of the '90s, only one show came to mind-SportsLook or later Up Close with Roy Firestone.
The show was a staple of mine for years around five thirty with Firestone and a guest talking with just two chairs in the studio.
Sometimes the show was devoted entirely to the guest with others getting fifteen minutes and an assortment of rotating contributors filling out the show, but it usually was interesting, if not always entertaining.
Firestone's name came up a few days ago, when I remembered the terrible (and thankfully brief) lyrical version of the show's theme and of course had to offer my take on it (sorry, no YouTube available of either!) that was written and sung by Terry Cashman.
Cashman is the singer that did all of the Talkin' Baseball songs that were such the rage in the early '80s.
Cherie wondered whatever happened to Firestone and reading the Sports Illustrated that arrived in today's mail (the Whatever Happened to issue, which is my favorite issue of the year), I found an article on Firestone and the show.
Firestone still does the banquet circuit and appears in various films and television projects that need a sportscaster role, but SportsLook continues to be remembered so well.
ESPN Classic has an SL everyday and watching them makes one feel old and dated but in a not so good way.
Firestone and SportsLook were very much like the old Tomorrow show (or his later effort with CBS,the Late Late Show) with Tom Snyder with both being the type of conversational television that we just don't have enough of anymore with probing questions that brought the person being interviewed out of their public relational shell enough to answer questions honestly and without spin for good or bad.
Firestone could be quite funny as well as his impersonation of Gordon Lightfoot singing the National Anthem has been a staple of comedy here for years.
Don't get me wrong, there were sometimes stinker programs, usually when Firestone booked a comedian or musician.
I realize that sports fans come from all walks of life, but just as Firestone wasn't calling me up for a 20-minute stint on my opinions on sports, he shouldn't have been imposing David Brenner's on us either.
Brenner being a funny person doesn't make his opinion's any more worth watching than mine and nothing was a guaranteed channel turner more than the occasional visit from jazz musician Winton Marsalis.
However, running five days a week of any show that is produced daily is difficult and they cannot all be compelling television, but the show suffered when the topic shifted from sports to non-sports celebrities opinions on sports.
When the show was good though, it was very good as I remember vividly interviews with Jim Valvano, Pete Maravich and Mickey Mantle to this day that make you think about the person as just that-a person that is involved with sports for a profession.
With the advent of the internet, television and the web have become the home of the quick soundbite and shows such as Firestone's might not be the type of show that appeals to the more youthful demographic,but I prefer to remember the time that sports interviews had a bit more substance than Erin Andrews grinning into the camera without the slightest idea of any type of insight at all, let alone draw any out of her guest.
Here is hoping some network gives Firestone the platform again to bring this type of television back to the airwaves.
Back tomorrow with Pirates-Rockies.
Photo Credit:KesslerSpeakers.com
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