Courtesy USA Today

(June 19, 2009) Funny how you can sometimes sense the future.

Like a decade ago when the future would be everybody buying all kinds of stuff online — from sneakers to pet food — from various high-flying Internet companies that, sadly, no longer exist.

Now, here's another trendy futuristic vision: Smooshing together various types of media into something better — especially because it will be spiced with lots of tidbits from consumers.

SportsNation, an ESPN2 show debuting July 6, will try to be at the vanguard of such progress. Says Colin Cowherd, who'll keep his ESPN Radio show as he co-hosts the new TV show with Michelle Beadle: "It will be as viral and interactive as we can possibly make it. Lots of Twittering, Skype, live polls, live viewer calls, YouTube videos, e-mails, everything. We might be willing to do anything. It's a voyage into new ground."

Or, maybe, a hike into the digital sea. Cowherd says the show, created partly to "raise the profile" of ESPN.com's SportsNation sub-site, will include having viewers vote on whether various athlete sound bites are just "baloney." And it will have "game segments" where, say, the hosts will try to guess what will happen in online polls — then see if they were right or make their case for voters to vote differently. Viewers can send their YouTube videos to get them on TV. And the set, says Cowherd, "will bring the 'wow factor' — it looks a little like a SoHo loft."

Maybe viewers could also send carrier pigeons to land on its windowsill with messages that can be read on-air. That's at least worth a poll to let viewers decide.