Thanks to David Friedman at Best Ever Sports Talk for posting this interviewwith the Denver Post’s/ESPN’s Woody Paige.  It’s actually part of a talk Friedman had with Paige in 2004. 

The best part of the piece comes when Paige talks about his on-air ESPN persona…

…no one really knows whether I am a soft spoken, introspective person or if I am the goof that I play on TV. I create a character. (Dick)Vitale is not the guy he (acts like on TV)–I don’t want to make a comparison because I’m certainly not (as famous). Eighteen year old kids love us both–I don’t know what that says about 18 year old kids. I’m doing Dan Reeves and nobody really ever got that. I am doing Dan Reeves and Don Meredith. My writing was an amalgamation of Kurt Vonnegut and Dan Jenkins and some Jim Murray thrown all together.

Paige also points out that Skip Bayless takes his role on the WWL much more seriously than he.  And what you see from Jay Mariotti is…Jay Mariotti.

I guess you can’t always believe what you see on TV!  Thanks David!