While not nearly as forced as John McCain and Barack Obama’s appearances on WWE “Raw”, there was more than a little to cringe over from each candidate’s brief discussion with noted political powerbroker Chris Berman.

Berman:  Senator, if you could change one thing in sports, what would that be?

McCain: I’d take significant action to prevent the spread and use of performance-enhancing substances. I think it’s a game we’re going to be in for a long time. What I mean by that is that there is somebody in a laboratory right now trying to develop some kind of substance that can’t be detected and we’ve got to stay ahead of it. It’s not good for the athletes. It’s not good for the sports. It’s very bad for those that don’t do it, and I think it can attack the very integrity of all sports going all the way down to high school.

Berman: When Americans go to the polls tomorrow Senator and they read your name: Senator John McCain. What’s the one personal quality that you want them to think about?

McCain: I want them to think: He. Could. Go. All. The. Way … To the White House. [laughs]

Berman: Senator, let’s bring it into our arena for a moment. If you could change one thing in sports, what would that be?

Obama: I think it is about time that we had playoffs in college football. You know, I am fed up with these computer rankings, and this and that and the other. Get eight teams. The top eight teams right at the end. You’ve got a playoff. Decide on a national champion.

Berman: You could probably make that happen. If, as President, you could attend one sports event a year, what would that be?

Obama: You know, that’s a tough one but I’ve got to say the Final Four. March Madness. I think college basketball, because it’s win or your out, generates more excitement, more upsets, more fun than just about any other sporting event. I love it even though this past year I picked UNC in my pool and that didn’t go so well.

Berman: Pools are hard on all of us.

Congratulations to Berman on having an presidential also-ran American War Hero recite his (2nd) most famous catch phrase, but “you could probably make that happen”?  The rifle-toting hockey mom caught considerable flak for her wishful thinking redefinition of the VP’s job description, yet an alleged journalist like Berman would have us believe the 44th U.S. President will have some jurisdiction over the NCAA.

How about some meatier questions next time? For instance, does Sen. McCain share the suspicions of close pal Ken Kendrick that Luis Gonzalez used performance enhancing drugs, and if so, should the D-Backs’ 2001 World Series title be forfeited? Whose election day endorsement would be considered most harmful to the Obama campaign, William Ayers, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright or Rex Grossman?