What's Up at PTI?

Those who know me, know that I always get my daily dose of Pardon the Interruption (PTI). So when the format changes, I tend to notice. This week, during each commercial break, the broadcast has cut back to the set for about 15 seconds, where Tony and Wilbon are bantering, checking mic levels, or having makeup applied. It's kind of like those satellite TV channels that show you what news anchors are doing when the cameras (supposedly) aren't rolling. And it's genius. This may be the first thing inserted in a commercial break that actually makes people sit and watch (or at least fast forward slow enough to catch the shots from the set). I think other live programs should take a lesson here and cut back to the studio during the break, even for a few seconds. Who's going to skip the commercials when there's a chance of catching Regis Philbin cursing out a production assistant for putting too much creamer in his coffee? That's quality TV.

Olympic Air Supply

I heard it on PTI the other day: "Michael Phelps is sucking all the air out of Beijing." And I thought it was just the smog. But it's a true statement. Michael Phelps' improbable run at eight gold medals has reduced the rest of the Olympics to an afterthought. For the most part, I'm OK with that. Phelps is a dominant performer in most of his events, and he conducts himself with poise and enthusiasm. He's the type of athlete you don't mind being inundated with.

However, there are athletes in other sports that are not getting the typical level of attention. Great example: Women's gymnastics. The other night, the US had two gymnasts with realistic medal hopes. Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin both had the potential to win the women's all-around. But Phelps-mania held the collective attention of the American audience and remains the big story despite Liukin and Johnson's Gold-Silver finish. But is it really all Phelps' fault? Nope.

Much of the reason that Phelps has been permitted to dominate the attention surrounding the games is that he was the only viable storyline the media chose to promote prior to the opening ceremonies. Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor are the two most dominant women's beach volleyball players in the world. They closed out the gold in the 2004 Olympics in Athens without dropping a set. But the dynamic duo didn't get much press heading into games, despite the fact that they're favored for another run to the gold. And as far as gymnastics go, most sponsors that actually sunk money into a specific athlete backed the wrong horse. Shawn Johnson was remarkably consistent, but it was Nastia Liukin who took the gold. Now the pre-games face of the US women's gymastics team isn't the winning face. Oops. Looking at track and field, we have no flamboyant speedsters like Michael Johnson to market, so another Olympic staple loses focus to the goings-on in the Water Cube.

I can't explain why Walsh and Misty-May didn't get more pre-games press, but I have a theory as to why gymnastics, track and field, and the US swimmers not named Michael Phelps don't get much play before the opening ceremonies. The reason: Competitive parity. Back in the cold war days, it was the US vs the Soviet bloc. If the Soviets didn't have a contender in a sport that the US did, nobody else was going to get in our way. But times have changed. The globalization of sport has allowed elite athletes to emerge all over the world. No longer can corporate sponsors and the media predictably crown their heroes before the games. Phelps is an exception, but in coming Olympiads, the media will be less and less likely to celebrate the achievements of an athlete before the gold is in the bag.

Mariotti is Back

I just started playback of today's Pardon the Interruption (PTI) and I am SHOCKED to see that Jay Mariotti is sitting in for Tony Kornheiser. Longtime PTI fans will remember when Mariotti was a frequent guest host of the program right up until June of 2006. That was when White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen went on a rant and dropped a homosexual slur on Mr. Mariotti. In all fairness, Mariotti was slinging mud at Guillen while purposely avoiding the White Sox clubhouse. But in the fallout from that ugly episode, Mariotti seemed to disappear from the PTI desk. I've seen him periodically on Around the Horn, but this is the first time I've seen him back on PTI since the summer of '06. In his absence, it seemed that Dan Le Batard became the substitute of choice. Now that Mariotti is back behind the desk, I think I miss Le Batard.