TVSquad

At the rate they're going, the 2008 presidential candidates will have made appearances on every kind of TV program before voting day arrives. No show is too insignificant, it seems. (Seriously, if only we could have seen Obama and McCain do the cha-cha on Dancing with the Stars!)

Therefore, it comes as no big shock that on the eve of the election -- Monday, November 3 -- the presidential candidates are going to appear on ESPN's Monday Night Football.

They will be interviewed -- separately on tape -- by half-time anchor Chris "Boomer" Berman. The anticipated time is 10:15 p.m. (ET), but because of the flow of the game, it could be closer to 10:30.

Berman, who is infamous for his proclivity with nicknames, may use the informal interviews to dub Barack Obama and John McCain with some catchy appellations. The candidates won't need to prep for Berman's grilling. He won't be asking about the economy or national security, although you can be sure he'll be asking them to predict the outcome of the Monday night game, Washington Redskins versus the Pittsburgh Steelers.

That's actually a pretty important question. In the past 15 presidential elections, when the Redskins win their last home game before the election -- which would be the Monday game -- the incumbent party remains in power. The only time this predictor failed was in 2004. So, if you buy into the history, if Pittsburgh wins the game, Obama will be president. If the Redskins prevail, McCain will be Commander-in-Chief.

Here's one more sports tie-in to predicting the election -- from 1952-1976, when the American League wins the World Series, Republicans win the White House. More recently, the results have varied. Still, when the National League Phillies won the World Championship last night, Barack Obama must have breathed a sigh of relief.

Back to the Monday Night broadcast, I would have rather heard Tony Kornheiser, Mike Tirico and Ron Jaworski question the candidates than Berman. It might have been more cumbersome technically, but any one of those guys would ask more substantive questions than Berman. As an interviewer, he's about as penetrating as Jay Leno.