SportsNation

A blue sweater-wearing pug on a snowboard. Life-sized mascots huddled throughout the stage. Comparing Tiger's demise with that of Jay Leno's?

Welcome to SportsNation?

About a year ago, SportsNation appeared on ESPN2 as a new program in one of many ESPN stunts to somehow recreate the same top stories but in a different format. We already knew about First and Take, where Skip Bayless argues the most illogical arguments versus a host of guest stars to rally up the fans against him. Then there's Around the Horn, which panelists battle among each other, and Woody Paige of the Denver Post spends most of his time finding witty quotes for his chalkboard. And there's PTI, which is probably the most respected of the daytime shows, where noted columnists Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon discuss the daily sports news.

Until there was SportsNation.

Colin Cowherd is a well-informed sports radio host, but somehow he is stuck on this television program which gets dumber by the day.

I flipped it on the other day to find that the biggest joy of the show is showing "Weird Web Stories" and debating whether "The Akron Hammer" is the best nickname of all-time.

And unlike its predecessors, this show is an hour long -- with limited commercial breaks. Oh, it's aired twice daily.

I do have to hand it to ESPN though -- they know what they're doing. Making Michelle Beadle the co-host with Cowherd is genius. She knows all current events in Hollywood, she has a good grasp of sports and she has a terrific sense of a humor.

Oh, and she's hot.

Sometimes I feel as if I'm watching Beadle more than the actual show. I mean, I know that I've heard / will be hearing the same stories through the 6 o'clock SportsCenter, so what does it mean if I take the time to watch Beadle for an hour?

I mean, this isn't the most brilliant show on the air (see Mascots dancing around, showing a pug snowboard after each segment), so why else would Cowherd risk his rep to do such a show? Yeah, Beadle time.

So while I think the show is stupid, and definitely wasting a time slot where they might want to show more Mike & Mike in the Morning clips or the second hour of the Scott Van Pelt Show (shows where they talk sports and actually make sense of them), SportsNation does have it's one plus.

Thanks Beadle.