Good at being the wacky ‘Best’

“The Best Damn Sports Show Period” on Fox Sports Net isn’t even the best at being the worst. That distinction could go to any number of programs, like ESPN’s “Mohr Sports,” that have been dropped by executives as easily as the New York Jets were by the Oakland Raiders.

Instead, since premiering in July 2001, the sports-comedy show has expanded from one to two hours and become a fixture in Fox’s nationwide sports empire. Whether you’re in California or Tennessee, you cannot escape it. Tonight, it’s on at 8 on FSN, because the Southern California operation doesn’t have any pesky sporting events to clutter the schedule.

As is apparent from the title, the guys on the show don’t much care if they offend prudes with their language (interestingly enough, during in-game promos of the show in Nashville, the network’s own play-by-play announcers refer to it as “The Best Bleep Sports Show Period”) or if they offend egghead grammarians with their punctuation deficiencies. They encourage viewers to crack open a cold one -- from one of the show’s relentlessly promoted sponsors, of course -- kick back with the jocks and, every once in a while, ogle the score-update babe.

This approach to sports talk isn’t a total abomination. In fact, on Monday night, the show managed to be fairly danged decent. Host Chris Rose kept the interviews moving along quickly, with help from the regular contributors -- former pro athletes John Salley, John Kruk, Michael Irvin and D’Marco Farr -- minus the show’s big loudmouth, actor Tom Arnold.

Arnold’s absence seemed to the keep things focused on sports, with the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, Emmitt Smith, and Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Gary Carter topping a lengthy guest list. The odd man out was game-show mastermind Chuck Barris, who was touting a book and movie about his life.

Strangely enough, the show has become a regular stop on the Hollywood promotion circuit. This week’s scheduled guests include Barris, Julia Stiles and William Shatner hawking various film and TV projects.

Tonight’s show is no exception, as Ahmad Rashad and Oscar De La Hoya are slated to stop by and, oh yes, mention their forays into show biz. It could be “Sports Show” at its backslapping but innocuous best, or at its crude worst; you just never know. But, given the show’s dismal beginnings, that in and of itself is at least some progress.