sport

Chet Simmons was a true television pioneer. The things we watch today and consider essential to our viewing, didn't exist before Simmons created it. You know that little show on ESPN, 'SportsCenter'? That was Chet Simmons. All this is important to appreciate because Simmons died last week in Atlanta at the age of 81. In his passing, it's time to appreciate that Simmons was a visionary television executive who had the gumption and wherewithal to make his visions a reality.

Simmons started in his career at ABC Sports, one of Roone Arledge's right hand men, and part of the team that came up with the 'Wide World of Sports.'

Today, the show is remembered as an Emmy-winning program that literally scanned the world looking but 'Wide World of Sports' was really groundbreaking entertainment. You saw things on that show that were new and different and always filmed brilliantly. Whether it was ski-jumping in Austria or cliff-diving in South America, 'Wide World' was exciting. And Simmons understood that sports fans craved more.

Good news: your chances of seeing men pound the living crap out of one another on television have just increased. The Ultimate Fighting Championship will be syndicated in late 2007 as UFC Wired, hosted by Joe Rogan, who has already appeared on UFC pay-per-view events and on UFC coverage on Spike TV.

UFC Wired will pit the top UFC champs against one another. This isn't really my cup of tea, but then I've always been missing whatever male gene makes one drink heavily, pick fights, slap puppies and fix tractor engines. Oh why did I have to be born handsome instead of strong?

Anyway, the new series will run for twenty-two episodes, so keep an eye out to see if it plays in your neck o' the woods.