TSN scored a touchdown picking up those excellent 30 for 30 sports documentaries from ESPN. Now they`re trying to take the ball themselves starting with The Extra Yard: Inside the 2011 Argos (premiering Sunday at 10 p.m.). The first of four hour-long episodes follows 80 hopefuls through the rigors of a Toronto Argonaut training camp.
I spoke with Coach Jim Barker about dealing with all those cameras and microphones. Being dragged into a sports reality show wasn`t his idea, he says, but he understands the value of these kinds of spin-off shows to the team and to the Canadian Football League.
“It’s all part of the real life thing that’s going on, not only in sports but in society,” he says. “All these kind of reality shows like The Housewives of Orange County and Big Brother and The Bachelor are what sells and what people want to see.”
He also gets that these kind of sport reality documentaries appeal to more than your usual sports fan. “It’s human drama. It’s watching a young man fight for his livelihood. Basically we bring 80 people to training camp and 53 of them are still here.”
The episodes will run one-a-month with the next one airing Thursday Aug. 4. Read more about The Extra Yard and what Coach Barker has to say here at this story I wrote for The Canadian Press.
