Top 10 Best Sports Shows of All Time
Sports shows come in all shapes and sizes. There are daily news updates, deep-dive analysis, old-school retrospectives, and panel brawls dressed up as debates. Some taught you the finer points of zone defense. Others made you care way too much about a Tuesday night game in the Big Ten. They've been the soundtrack to your fandom and the source of your hottest takes.
So here's your shot. Vote for the ones that hit home. The shows that kept you company during rain delays, gave you pregame goosebumps, or just knew how to fill airtime without making you change the channel. Scroll through the list, pick your favorites, and help decide which sports shows truly earned their spot in the starting lineup.
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SportsCenter
SportsCenter is a daily sports news television program that airs on ESPN. It features highlights, analysis, and breaking sports news coverage.
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This Week in Baseball
This Week in Baseball was a syndicated television program that showcased weekly highlights and stories from Major League Baseball. It originally premiered in 1977 and was hosted by Mel Allen.
This show revolutionized the sport in more ways than one. It was the first weekly show to include major highlights of key games and personalities. It was the forerunner of today's MLB Network programs.
When TWIB began doing more lengthy profiles and stories beyond baseball in the late 1980s, it paved the way for other sports shows to go beyond the scores and previews. One of them is the one and only College GameDay, the football edition.
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NFL Game of the Week
NFL Game of the Week is a television show that presents a condensed version of an NFL game with added narration and analysis. It debuted in 1965 and has featured multiple production formats over the years.
There's something about this show that, back in the old pre-cable TV days, was the place to be to see which great NFL game made the cut. Down through the years, there were so many of those great games that made NFL history. For example, the 1977 AFC Divisional Playoffs: Ghost to the Post, among many of those great games.
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College GameDay
College GameDay is a pre-game show that airs on ESPN and focuses on college football matchups and analysis. It began broadcasting in 1987 and often travels to the site of the week's biggest game.
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Pardon the Interruption
Pardon the Interruption is a sports commentary show on ESPN hosted by Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon. It features rapid-fire debates on the day's biggest sports topics.
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NFL GameDay Morning
NFL GameDay Morning is a Sunday morning pregame show on NFL Network that provides analysis and previews for the day's NFL matchups. It includes insights from former players and league insiders.
This is the show of the future, with four exciting hours to get you ready for Sunday football. This great NFL Network show will get you ready to head out of the tunnel!
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Sunday NFL Countdown
Sunday NFL Countdown is a pregame show on ESPN that covers news, features, and predictions for the upcoming NFL games. It originally aired in 1985 as NFL GameDay.
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NFL Live
NFL Live is a weekday studio show on ESPN that focuses on news and analysis related to the National Football League. It includes updates, expert breakdowns, and coverage of player and team developments.
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ABC's Wide World of Sports
ABC's Wide World of Sports was a long-running anthology sports program that aired from 1961 to 1998. It showcased a broad range of international and lesser-known sporting events.
There are sports shows, and then there was this show. This show paved the way for other great sports shows and eventually sports channels.
This show featured lots of thrills of victory and agonies of defeat. It showcased NASCAR in a way highlight films never did before. It brought us The Harlem Globetrotters traveling around the world, including Disney's Hollywood Studios. It brought us Muhammad Ali, from his beginnings to his sad retirement as a goodwill ambassador. Wide World totally rocks.
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Sports Challenge
Sports Challenge was a television game show that featured sports trivia competitions between teams of famous athletes. It aired from 1971 to 1979 and was hosted by Dick Enberg.
What I remember about this show is the legends who appeared on it. Many are no longer with us, but their magic lives on, especially when Billy Martin thought Bear Bryant was a baseball manager. Not true, but very funny.
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The Way It Was
The Way It Was is a PBS series hosted by Curt Gowdy that aired from October 3, 1974, to 1978, featuring athletes reminiscing about notable past sporting events. Each 30-minute episode included an edited game rebroadcast followed by a short discussion.
When it premiered on PBS in 1974, it was something we had never seen before. In the first episode, the 1958 NFL Championship was seen through the eyes of six competitors, and their stories were great.
But my favorite episode was when six Negro League players got together to tell great and funny stories about playing Negro League Baseball. This show was a pure classic, and that's the way it was.
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NFL Total Access
NFL Total Access was a year-round studio show on NFL Network that covered league news, features, and interviews. It included expert commentary and in-depth segments on teams and players. The program was cancelled in May 2024 after airing for twenty-one seasons.
NFL Network's signature show keeps getting better year after year. During the season on Mondays, it's your perfect pre-game show for Monday Night Football. You can't get better than this. Great hosts, great experts, and great action, that's what it's about.
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Pro Bowlers Tour
Pro Bowlers Tour was a weekly television broadcast of Professional Bowlers Association events that aired on ABC from 1962 to 1997. It significantly contributed to the popularity of professional bowling in the United States.
2020 is no doubt a different year than past years. The past was a better time, and Saturdays for 35 years (1962-1997), the Pro Bowlers Tour on ABC was the place to be. It was a place where 300 games happened, where a trophy break happened, where a 7-10 split conversion happened, where the Firestone Tournament of Champions happened, where the Bowling Tip of the Week happened, and where Chris Schenkel and Nelson Burton Jr. happened.
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Greatest Sports Legends
Greatest Sports Legends was a syndicated television program that profiled the careers and lives of famous athletes. It featured interviews and archival footage, running from 1972 through the early 1990s.
Here's the godfather of sports biographies. It even got a Sports Emmy nomination in 1982 for a biography on Jackie Robinson. This series brought me, for the first time, stories on such legends like Yogi Berra, Kareem-Abdul Jabbar, and, can you believe it, Bob Uecker.
Long live Greatest Sports Legends, and long live its legend.
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The Superstars
The Superstars was a sports competition show where athletes from various disciplines competed in different physical challenges. It first aired in 1973 and inspired multiple international adaptations.
It was the ultimate show where we wondered how athletes tried to do new sports that many had never done before. This ABC American edition saw Joe Frazier, a legendary boxer, sinking in swimming, or O.J. Simpson trying his hand at bowling, or that obstacle course where anything, I mean anything, could happen. It's a way to enjoy watching those athletes give it their best shot.
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The Best Damn Sports Show Period
The Best Damn Sports Show Period was a sports talk and variety show on Fox Sports Net that ran from 2001 to 2009. It combined athlete interviews, commentary, and comedic segments.
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SportsCentury
SportsCentury was a documentary series on ESPN that profiled notable athletes and sports figures of the 20th century. It launched in 1999 as part of ESPN's 20th-anniversary celebration.
This series won an Emmy in 1999. Don't take my word for it, because I love the series. Even more, they show in virtually every episode all the great vintage magazine issues with a spotlight on an individual on the cover. I know I love reading those vintage magazines (TV Guide, Sports Illustrated, Sport, The Sporting News) because they bring back great memories for me.
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Around the Horn
Around the Horn is a weekday sports discussion show on ESPN where journalists debate current sports topics and receive points for their arguments. It premiered in 2002 and is hosted by Tony Reali.
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NFL Blitz
NFL Blitz (also called The Blitz) was an American television program on ESPNEWS that broadcast NFL game scores and highlights. It originally debuted on September 11, 2005, and aired Sundays during the NFL season. The show featured analysis from hosts like Chris Berman and Tom Jackson before eventually being replaced by other programming.
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Who's Number 1?
Who's Number 1? was a countdown show on ESPN that ranked athletes, teams, and moments across various sports categories. It originally aired in the early 2000s and was hosted by Stuart Scott.
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Baseball Tonight
Baseball Tonight is a sports television program on ESPN that provides news, highlights, and analysis related to Major League Baseball. It debuted in 1990 and has featured various notable analysts.
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Stump the Schwab
Stump the Schwab was a sports trivia game show where three contestants compete to outsmart ESPN statistician Howie Schwab, known as "The Schwab." It aired for four seasons between 2004 and 2006, with Stuart Scott as host.
Yes, I know it's a game show, but it's also sports trivia at its best and even funniest. The highlight of this show is when Howie Schwab gets stumped by a contestant. It's like winning horse racing's Triple Crown. This show is classic. R.I.P. Stuart Scott.
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RollerGames
RollerGames was a single-season U.S. television series (1989-1990) that offered a theatrical version of roller derby on a steeply banked figure-eight track with gimmicks like an alligator pit. Produced by David Sams and Michael Miller, it featured former Roller Games league skaters and aired nationally.
Why RollerGames? This was sadly a case of a show that would've been one of the all-time great sports shows. Rating-wise and critically acclaimed, this was truly the greatest one-season wonder in TV sports history.
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NASCAR on FOX
NASCAR on Fox (also known as Fox NASCAR) is the branding used for Fox Sports' televised coverage of NASCAR races on the Fox network. It began in 2001 and continues to present event telecasts, including Cup Series races.
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The American Sportsman
The American Sportsman was a syndicated ABC television series that ran from 1965 to 1986, showcasing filmed highlights of celebrities and hosts like Curt Gowdy on hunting, fishing, and adventure outdoor activities. Episodes typically aired Sunday afternoons following live sports coverage.