At their best, sports are electrifying and suspenseful. So why do most sportscasters opt for the most boring format possible — taped interviews and the like — for their Sunday sports shows? With The Fan Show, shot live on Sunday nights at the Casino Queen's Club Sevens, KPLR's Rich Gould (is that a beer he's drinking?) loosely reins in the circus while letting the show's spontaneous nature shine through. The program's seemingly stitched together with a "Why not?" philosophy: More shots of the Fan Girls' asses? Bowling with frozen poultry? Arm-wrestling roller-derby girls? Why not? Gould and his rotating roster of co-hosts can expertly rattle off stats, but they do so with a personal angle that's lacking in so many other sports shows. To wit: When local boy Jay Williamson (who has been a guest on The Fan Show) narrowly lost the Travelers Championship to Hunter Mahan in June, Gould dissected Williamson's outstanding golf game while sharing anecdotes about how great a guy Williamson is. Which is to say, the show is St. Louis' biggest fan — and we're theirs. Well played.