It dawned on me doing Comcast Sportsnet's "Chronicle Live" that Greg Papa is clearly in a league of his own as one the Bay Area's premier broadcaster.Papa, who hosts the daily weekday talk show and is the play-by-play man for the Raiders, would be an ideal figure to do a show, similar to ESPN's outstanding "Outside the Lines", hosted by the excellent Bob Ley, one of the most underrated sports broadcast journalists in the country.
Ley reminds me of a sports version of Ted Koppel; a terrific interviewer with the innate ability to keep the viewer interested in even the most mundane and ordinary subjects. Too bad ESPN has relagated him to the relatively off-peak period of early Sunday morning.
Papa is himself very adept at the interview technique; not afraid to ask a controversial question, and commanding the respect of his interview subjects. His grilling of Giants managing partner, Bill Neukom, for example, was both informative and entertaining on a segment dealing with the A's interest in moving to San Jose. Neukom has been somewhat vague in stating that the Giants will not give up the territorial rights in the southbay, but it was Papa's interview that brought out a more blunt statement by the top Giants suit.
The "Chronicle Live" format works well as a daily forum of various Bay Area sports writers and a featured interview subject, but it would be great to see Papa do a more detailed, pithy subject matter, similar to "OTL." Clearly, that technique is more to Papa's strength and would make for provocative, interesting, "move-the-meter" material Comcast GM, Ted Griggs is seeking with this particular show.
On the program I recently appeared on, the Chronicle's Scott Ostler and city writer, C.W.,(Chuck) Nevius did a one-on-one segment on the 49ers proposed move to Santa Clara. The ten-minute segment was one of the best features on the show, as both Ostler and Nevius conducted a sort of sports "point-counter-point", with Papa in the middle as the perfect moderator. It was semi-riveting local TV and frankly, much better than "Pardon the Interuption", which to me comes off as gimmicky and disingenuous.
Lord knows the sporting world has a plethora of subject matters worthy of a weekly "Nightline"-like forum. Performance-enhancing drugs like steroids, (wouldn't it be great to see Papa grill Bug Selig on that alone?) the inevitable lockout/strike facing both the NFL and NBA, Barry Bonds and his upcoming perjury trial all would make for gritty, interesting one-on-ones perfectly suited for Papa's nightly gig.
Sidenote: I thought he was kidding, but Papa believes Bonds would be the ideal power bat the Giants are seeking as they make a run at the post-season. Great potential story, but I'm betting even the Giants are way beyond the Barry card.
On the other hand, if the reports are accurate that Bonds agent is shopping Barry as an off-the-bench power hitter, what better way to showcase your client than an intervew with the 45 year-old slugger? Papa would be the ideal candidate to conduct the encounter, only that other subject matter would come up.
Better sticking with Selig and that inane All-Star game rule determining who gets home field advantage in the World Series.
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