Watchdog

No, I did not watch the ESPYs, for the same reason I never watched the Victor Awards. Sports fans like unscripted drama and objective means of determining winners and losers.

Awards shows are not about either of those things.

Whatever.

I did watch the late Sunday SportsCenter on ESPN, mercifully reduced to 60 minutes from its usual 90.

Two observations:

You had to feel a little bad for ESPN's Karl Ravech during his awkward interview with President Bush, in which he tried to pry an opinion out of the former Rangers owner about whether Bud Selig should show up for Barry Bonds' 756th home run.

The President, a big baseball fan, sounded disingenuous when he ducked the question by telling Ravech he has more important things on his mind right now. (There always are more important things on Presidents' minds than baseball, but that doesn't stop them from being fans and having opinions.)

UPDATE: AFTER WATCHING SPORTSCENTER AND WRITING THIS ITEM I SAW A TRANSCRIPT OF OTHER QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH RAVECH AND BUSH THAT WAS MUCH MORE EXPANSIVE THAN WHAT APPEARED ON THE LATE SC. SO MR. BUSH WAS MORE INTO IT THAN HE INITIALLY APPEARED TO BE.

Also, in the latest episode of the spectacularly lame "Who's Now'' contest, the trying-hard-to-make-it-work panel of Keyshawn Johnson, Kirk Herbstreit and Mike Wilbon voted for Tony Parker over Roger Federer solely on the basis of Parker's recent marriage to actress Eva Longoria.

Yeah, I know this "tournament'' is supposed to take into account athletes' pop culture cachet, but too often that has translated into judging athletes based on the perceived quality of their female companions.

Seems a little sexist, or maybe exploitive. Kind of like throwing a picture of Longoria onto a blog item just to attract attention to it. Of course, it was about the tamest picture of the ubiquitous, not-at-all-shy-about-her-clothing-decisions actress I could find.