Cal's diary: adventures with Wilbon and Kornheiser


Nov. 8, 2002, midnight | By Calvin Anderson | 21 years, 6 months ago


They bicker like little kids fighting over a single piece of candy. They argue like high-paid lawyers defending a client. They are constantly at one another's throats and never seem to agree on anything, yet on camera, they come together like a Broadway production. They're old, bald men with every sports almanac ever written tattooed on their brains. They are Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon of the popular sports show Pardon the Interruption (PTI) on ESPN.

A few weeks ago, I ran into Wilbon while enjoying a strombolli with extra tomato sauce at Montgomery Mall. We chatted it up about sports, my column and his show. We talked like old school buddies with me clasping his hand in amazement. He invited me to come to the set and get a tour of ESPN studios in Washington, D.C., and check out PTI live.

So once again I let out my patented schoolgirl giggle, guzzled my food and immediately contacted my Silver Chips cohort Chris Biggs. Chris's father is an audio engineer who sometimes works for PTI so we set up a date and had a good old take-your-son-and-his-big-black-friend-to-work day.

When we arrived at the studios, we immediately sought out Wilbon. He was in the production room with his crew, ironing out the script. He recognized who I was and showed us to the luxurious green room where the merry-go-round of celebrities started.

While in the green room, we got an awesome sneak peek at the first episode of up-and-coming sports broadcast superstar Max Kellerman's new show, "Around the Horn." After viewing the show, Kellerman came into the green room and chatted with us for about ten minutes about his show and what we thought about it.

Next, the hilarious and raunchy host of the Daily Show, Jon Stewart, stuck his head in the green room to say hi. He didn't have much time to talk, so he didn't stay for long.

After sitting in the green room watching the TV on the awesome flat-screen plasma televisions, we were escorted to the studio where we witnessed the main event, the bickering of Kornheiser and Wilbon live, which is really a sight to see.



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Calvin Anderson. Calvin Anderson was born in Washington D.C. on January 3rd 1986. He now lives with his mom in Takoma Park Maryland. Calvin is the man behind the infamous column Cal's Call. In addition to writing his column he enjoys playing sports including lacrosse and basketball … More »

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