Numbers Never Lie

Welcome to the center of the ESPN newsroom, here in Bristol, Conneticut!

The newest member of ESPN's "sportswriters yack about sports" group along with with Around the Horn, Dan Le Batard Is Highly Questionable, Jim Rome Is Burning, Pardon the Interruption and Sports Nation, Numbers Never* Lie focuses on the statistics side of sports. Hosted by Charissa Thompson and infrequent Around the Horn panelist Michael Smith.

Segments in this show include some variation of "X or Y" - including Michael's favorite "Over/Under", plus the show-ending "Numbers You Need To Know," which runs down the good and bad numbers of the day.

Needs More Tropes.

Tropes used in Numbers Never Lie include:

• Ascended Extra: As mentioned before, Michael Smith.
• Catch Phrase / Title Drop: Charissa says "Numbers never lie" going into commercial breaks and to end the show.
• Good with Numbers: Smith and the guys from Football Outsiders who drop in every now and then.
• Guest Host: Amazingly for an ESPN talk show, subverted as of yet.
• Don't Shoot The Messenger!: A show segment with a football statistician (Usually from Football Outsiders during the NFL season) acting as the "messenger."
• Hey, It's That Guy!: Michael Smith from ATH, obviously, but Charissa's not a newcomer to the sports talk show genre either -- she was a correspondent on The Best Damn Sports Show Period.
• Prop Recycling: During "Are The Numbers Lying?", the stands that the cards go on are obviously from Sports Nation with the NN*L logo covering the SN.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Michael tried to do this as a response to the Broncos upsetting the Steelers. Unfortunately for him, the higher-ups at ESPN told him to appear on the show anyway.