In "Bound For Glory," which made its debut Tuesday, ESPN is attempting to promote not just any television show but a so-called reality show that is based on a blatant falsehood.

Needless to say, it figures to be a tough sell, even with the marketing and production wizardry of ESPN.

"Bound For Glory" is the story of the Montour High School's quest to turn a losing football program into a winner under the direction of coach Dick Butkus, the NFL Hall of Famer.

And that's the lie. Butkus is not the coach. He might be the coach on the TV show, but he's not the real coach of the Spartans. Lou Cerro is the real coach. He is shown as the assistant head coach with a cameo or two in the first installment of the show, which will run every Tuesday at 10 p.m. on ESPN.

Cerro was hired away from Seton-LaSalle, where he was a major success, to rebuild the once-proud Spartans program. Before he coached his first game, the Montour school board sold out to ESPN and allowed Butkus and the ever-probing television cameras to take over.

ESPN never explains this nor does it suggest at any time that Butkus is involved with Montour for three months and no longer.

Early in the show, Butkus says, "The real reason [for] coming to Montour is my love and respect for football."

That's another lie. Butkus is in this for the paycheck, nothing more.

We get no inkling in the first installment, which covers only the preseason, what kind of coach Butkus is. If his tiresome old-school act is as boring to the players as it is to the viewers, he'd better stick to making beer commercials.

Possibly because Butkus is such a one-dimensional character, halfway through the first episode, about a week into the preseason, former NFL cornerback Ray Crockett is brought on board as an assistant coach. We don't know how good a coach Crockett is, either, but he's a far better TV presence than Butkus.

In Montour's opener, neither Butkus nor Crockett wore headsets or appeared to be heavily involved in the coaching.

Sadly, local talk-show host Ellis Cannon is involved in this charade. In an opening scene, Cannon's show is introduced as "Pittsburgh's No. 1 sports radio show." He is heard talking in serious terms about Butkus coming to Montour. He had to know better.

If it had only been Cannon's voice, it's possible the dialogue was legitimate. But when he visually appeared in front of his microphone, well, we knew to whom he was talking -- the ESPN cameras, not his radio audience.

E, as Cannon likes to be called, gets an F on this one.

It's possible people not familiar with the true story could get involved with this show. ESPN skillfully builds some strong story lines.

Will running back Christian Wilson, after first being told he's out for the season, come back in two weeks after surgery, as a second diagnosis suggested?

Will Butkus' primitive motivational techniques work on these hip kids from Kennedy and Robinson townships?

Next week -- surprise, surprise -- Ben Roethlisberger makes an appearance at a Montour practice.

We'll have to wait and see if Big Ben can help the show. He didn't help the team. The Spartans are 1-3.

A win for KDKA

Not surprisingly, KDKA's Sports Showdown crushed WTAE's Action Sports Sunday in the first head-to-head meeting of the two Sunday night discussion shows.

The numbers went like this: The WTAE newscast signed off with a 7.1 rating. That dropped to a 3.8 for the start of Action Sports Sunday and fell to a 2.1 by the end of the show. The overall rating was a 3.0.

The KDKA newscast signed off with a 9.4 rating. That dropped to a 8.3 for the start of the Sports Showdown and fell to a 6.1 by the end of the show. The overall rating was a 7.2.

With a seven-year head start, KDKA should have the edge in the ratings. But, for now, it's more than viewer familiarity that separates the shows.

WTAE needs a sharper focus. It comes across more as Andrew Stockey interviewing the various panelists than as hard-edged discussion.

Stockey's almost non-stop laughing is highly annoying. It doesn't help that co-host Jon Burton laughs almost as much. Nothing is that funny.

ESPN radio talk show host Mark Madden has been on the panel for the first two shows and has been comparatively mild-mannered. I'm waiting for Madden to get revved up and call Stockey a jackass -- just to see if Stockey laughs at that.