Reality Ruins Hollywood Ending

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Talking Points -- Jan. 8

Tony Kornheiser assesses the legacy of Joe Gibbs 2.0, the BCS championship game and Mr. Blackwell's worst-dressed woman.
Video by Atkinson & Co.
Columns: Wilbon | Live Online: Chat House                                      Send Comments

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The only good news? Fox chose to air spirited performances from the two school bands at halftime, and allowed the panel only about 12 seconds of banal blather before the second half began.

Say It Ain't So

Did we really hear an ESPN SportsCenter anchor say "Reservations for Six!!" over the highlight of a touchdown, followed by "Dinner for Two!!" when they also added a two-point conversion?

I couldn't tell who said it because so many of these boo-yah anchors seem to sound so much alike these days, but come on. At the very least, the offending golden throat ought to be banned to the Food Network kitchen for some serious dish washing duty, the sooner, the better.

E-mail of the Week.

Wow, what did Ken Beatrice ever do to you? Sure, Ken had his faults¿which you and others at the Post amply documented over the years--but he was a lot more knowledgeable about sports than any sports-talk host in Washington today. He would actually take calls and do interviews about something other than the Redskins, a nice change from those in sports radio who find even talking with any seriousness about topics such as hockey, or even the Nationals, as a waste of time.

Most importantly, he knew what he was talking about. His oft-repeated phrases such as "More games are lost than won" are as true as ever these days if you watch the NFL, and I still think his insight on what makes a good vs. a bad coach is incredibly important and yet hardly ever talked about. He often said that a good coach adapts his system to the personnel he has, instead of just having a pre-arranged system of offense or defense and slotting his players into pre-existing roles.

Sure, I'm a little sentimental about Ken Beatrice because I listened to him all through my childhood, but there are lots of people, like me, who grew up in the D.C. area in the 1980s and had Ken Beatrice as their only outlet to hear sports talk. Many of them remember him with fondness.

Eric Fingerhut,

Rockville, Md.

Leonard Shapiro can be reached at badgerlen@hotmail.com or badgerlen@aol.com.