The Lighter Side of Sports
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Lighter Side of Sports is a syndicated American sports blooper program produced by Steve Rotfeld Productions. The series, at the time of its cancellation, was hosted by Mike Golic. Lighter Side is the first and longest-running of Rotfeld's productions, utilizing Rotfeld's extensive collection of stock footage.
The first incarnation of The Lighter Side of Sports aired on ESPN from 1986 to 1990. In addition to sports bloopers, interviews with sports figures and comedians in front of a live audience were included, along with music from the house bands, The Flamin' Caucasians (1986–1988) and Nik and the Nice Guys (1989–1990). Jay Johnstone was the original host, later replaced in 1989 by Jim Valvano.[1] That first incarnation of The Lighter Side of Sports was the forerunner to another long-running Steve Rotfeld-produced sports blooper series: the syndicated Super Sports Follies, which Johnstone hosted.
Syndication: Bob Uecker shows
The idea behind the current version of The Lighter Side of Sports had its genesis in Bob Uecker's Wacky World of Sports (also known as Bob Uecker's Sports Show), which began airing in syndication in 1985. As the name implied, "Mr. Baseball" Bob Uecker was the host of a sort of mock talk show. Uecker's incarnation involved numerous sports bloopers and oddities, as well as numerous jokes and sketches involving Uecker himself, often in front of a live audience. Since Rotfeld had just begun compiling stock footage at the time, that required more room for comedy. A typical episode would include a few comedy sketches featuring Uecker (usually leading into a series of clips), three music videos, an interview with an actor posing as an eccentric athlete of some sort, and the rest filled with sports bloopers and videos of unusual sports, many of which date back several decade.