Scott Van Pelt nervous ‘SportsCenter’ is running out of things to talk about

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Some nights, Scott Van Pelt doesn’t know if he’ll have enough content to get through his show. Even as sports remain shuttered, “SportsCenter” carries on. “Well, the analogy that I’ve landed on is that it’s much like being a waiter in a restaurant where there are no chefs and there is no food,” Van Pelt …

Some nights, Scott Van Pelt doesn’t know if he’ll have enough content to get through his show. Even as sports remain shuttered, “SportsCenter” carries on.

“Well, the analogy that I’ve landed on is that it’s much like being a waiter in a restaurant where there are no chefs and there is no food,” Van Pelt told CNN. “I’ve often compared myself to being a waiter because if you think about it whether it’s MLB Opening Day or the NBA playoffs… I feel like the athletes are the ones that are creating the content. All I do is sort of deliver that.

“But at the moment — and this is not me asking for anybody to pity us because obviously our lot in life is not the worst — but in terms of the job we do compared to what we used to do, now we’re just making it up. It’s incumbent upon a lot of bright people — and we’re lucky to have a bright group that produces our particular show and plenty more that work here on other shows — it’s on us to figure out what it is that we’re going to do. So it’s a considerable challenge. For the longest time I got to come in and watch games and then talk about it.”

The longer the country is without sports, the harder it will become to create interesting discussion about it.

“I just don’t know how long we can continue to trot out, ‘Hey, baseball said they might play in July.’ Okay, cool. ‘Hey, the NBA is going to reopen practice facilities tomorrow.’ I mean it feels like updates on a snail race,” Van Pelt said. “These things are moving along — and they ought to, I’m not saying we should be sprinting back to sports — but the daily observation of the snail moving down the road is just that.”

Still, Van Pelt has found purpose during a time of great pain and suffering and boredom and uncertainty.

“I have asked that question aloud and in my brain driving home some nights where I think, ‘What are we doing?’ And I’ll tell you what I found is that whether it’s been athletes or coaches or friends or people I don’t even know who reach out to say, ‘Thank you for just providing a space that sort of feels normal,’” Van Pelt said. “SportsCenter for the longest time has been that, this comfortable place to go… I compare us to that hoodie you throw over the corner of your door. It’s not new, but it’s comfortable. We’re a comfortable place for people to come and we don’t take that lightly. We could have shuttered this operation, I suppose, but we haven’t because we feel like it still matters to people.

“All we’re doing, any of us, is trying to kill time, pass time, stay safe and try to get to the next day. And we’re here for people to help in that passage of time. I don’t know if it’s noble or not, but we do take it seriously.”