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The Best Damn Sports Show Period was an American sports television show that aired on Fox Sports Net and Comcast SportsNet. The show regularly featured irreverent and opinionated interviews with top athletes, coaches, celebrities, and entertainers. It also aired Top 50 countdown shows and other sports specialty shows. Since its debut on July 23, 2001, BDSSP welcomed thousands of guests and aired more than 1,300 episodes. The last original show aired June 30, 2009; however, FSN taped a handful of Top 50 specials. The show aired weeknights at 9 p. m. and 11 p. m. local time, usually after FSN Final Score, or later if there was a local live sporting event that ran longer than expected, depending on the region and telecast schedule.

In 1999, FSN's nightly sports news show Fox Sports News, later renamed to the National Sports Report was losing ratings ground to ESPN's SportsCenter. The executives at FSN wanted a 2 3 hour show that could provide consistent, original programming on nights when there were no local basketball, baseball, or hockey games being broadcast in FSN regions. The decision was made to do a sports roundtable type of show with the same camaraderie and energy as the Fox NFL Sunday pregame show. Fox NFL Sunday, which debuted in 1994 on FSN's network brother, Fox Sports, quickly became the top rated NFL pregame show due in part to the personalities of NFL veterans Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long. However, the new show on FSN would focus on not just football, but every sport, as well as the entertainment world. Fox Sports' president David Hill modeled many aspects of the show from The Footy Show, a sports talk show which covered the Australian Football League in Australia (Hill's home country). The preliminary idea for the format of the new show for FSN would have one main host and different ex athletes as hosts for each major sport. It would interweave sports talk with comedic sports related content.

In June 2001, the producers started doing screen tests with over 30 different TV hosts and former athletes. Tom Arnold was one of the celebrities called to try out as the "comedian" of the show. He was reluctant to do it at first, and "didn't know what to expect", but he wasn't doing much at the time because he was waiting for True Lies 2 to be green lit (the 9/11 attacks a few months later halted those plans). He was a part of one of the last test runs of the panel and was signed to the show. One week before the show was to launch, National Sports Report sports anchor Chris Rose was called to help sit in and host one of the show test runs. What was a temporary rehearsal turned into a permanent gig, as Rose was named main host. In November 2001, the Los Angeles Times wrote: "It's certainly not the worst either, and it's getting a lot better." The show quickly gained more credibility in its first few months with big name guests such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sammy Sosa, Shaquille O'Neal, and Terrell Owens. A main part of the show's set was "The Cage", where guests performed varying athletic challenges with the hosts. Some of the initial memorable "Cage" moments were Terrell Owens in a touchdown celebration competition, Shaq donning a blond wig and recreating famous movie scenes from Casablanca and Jerry Maguire, and Gary Payton leading a trash talking competition. The competitions that were too large in size were brought outside the Best Damn set into the Fox backlot. Such an example was a tricycle race between the hosts and Lance Armstrong. By November 2001, the show was expanded to 90 minutes, and by mid December it jumped to a 2 hour format.

The sports talk in the show was mixed in with different pre produced comedy bits and features which many times lead the show to commercial break. One of the first comedy segments within the show was the "Nightly/Daily Sports Report", hosted by Ken Rudulph, a Daily Show type satirical look at the latest sports news reported at an anchor desk, which soon became a daily staple in the show for its first year. The show would end with Tom Arnold's "Things You Would Never Say To " A different athlete was highlighted each day, and Tom Arnold would belt out around 10 different lines you would never say to that athlete. One example was "Things You Would Never Say to Patrick Ewing": "Hey, Ewing, don't worry about the swelling on your fingers. It's not like you have any rings to put on them!" Also in 2002, former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin joined the roundtable as the main football analyst and was known for his outlandish and eccentric wardrobe on the set. Former Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Stephen A. Smith made his TV debut on the set and via satellite as an NBA insider for the show. Model Leeann Tweeden came on board to report on features and be a correspondent on the road. In addition to athletes, the show drew many hot celebrities to the guest chairs such as Adam Sandler, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck. Many critics argue that this time period was the strongest for the show's cast with Rose, Tom Arnold, John Salley, Michael Irvin, and John Kruk presenting an "irreverent mix of entertainment and insight in sports that you cannot find anywhere else on TV." In June 2002, FSN launched its biggest advertising and promotional blitz for the show with the "Best Damn All Star Summer", with superstar athletes and celebrities appearing on the show, along with a barrage on newspaper, billboard, and radio advertising to help garner more recognition just before the show's one year anniversary. In late October, all the hosts dressed up in costume for the entire show to celebrate Halloween. All guests on set and on satellite also dressed up in costume. Since then, it has been a yearly Halloween tradition on the Best Damn set, along with a custom carved Best Damn pumpkin for each of the Best Damn hosts. On October 27, 2004, Best Damn partnered with professional wrestling promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) to produce a two night television special The Best Damn Wrestling Event Period which aired on November 10 and 11.

The beginning of the year presented a crossroads for the show, as its ratings had plateaued and after being on the air for over three years, some felt it needed to be reinvented. In January 2005, following the Christmas/New Year's break, the program was revamped to appear like a late night talk show. Original host Rose was dropped, and Arnold was made the headlining star with Salley as his sidekick. Sitting behind a desk, Arnold did comedy bits and an opening monologue, similar to other late night shows such as Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Late Show with David Letterman. In February 2005, with the new format, the show traveled to Jacksonville, Florida to tape a special episode of the show aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company, as a part of Fox Sports' pregame coverage of Super Bowl XXXIX. The special's title was changed to The Best Darn Super Bowl Road Show, Period ("Darn" being substituted for "Damn") so it would not offend network executives or viewers. (A similar temporary change was later made to the show's name for the duration of one show so that Kansas City Chiefs head coach Herm Edwards, who disapproves of profanity, would appear as a guest.) With the new direction, they would feature either Top 50 or 100 moments related to sports such as bloopers, dangerous mishaps, or historic moments. Because of the witty tone, sometimes videos indirectly related to sports would appear in the Honorable Mention segments such as Fidel Castro infamously falling hard after his speech.

Although the "late night" format drew notable guests such as Snoop Dogg, Dennis Rodman, Bob Knight, Chris Rock, Derek Jeter, and even former president Jimmy Carter; many loyal long time viewers were confused and felt abandoned by the new format. The show had taken a big step away from what had always been its sense of purpose a group of athletes sitting around and talking sports as an ensemble cast. By March 2005, the show was quickly formatted back to its original concept, with Chris Rose returning as the main host. John Salley would stay aboard. Two weeks later, former NFL QB Rodney Peete and former MLB closer Rob Dibble were named as permanent hosts alongside Rose and Salley. Tom Arnold left the show as a host, and would return occasionally only for special events and/or segments. The show also stopped running many of its pre produced comedy bits and segments. The show was now back down to an hour long, which remained that length for the remainder of its run.

Announcer Tomm Looney was the announcer for the show's entire run and currently does sports updates and co hosting on J. T. the Brick's show on Fox Sports Radio.