To distract us during this tough week, a philosophical question: Which is REALLY better, "Best of Michael Kay" or "The Michael Kay Show?"

Each day, YES Network runs four hours of "The Michael Kay Show," because - frankly - nothing translates to the high-def TV screen better than radio.

On certain nights, YES distills the wittiest moments of the day into "Best of Michael Kay." It's like watching the highlight reel on Sports Center, (except, as stated above, it's radio.)

But here's the question: Is the "best" of Michael Kay really better than regular Michael Kay? Can we tell the difference? Because without the full four hours of Michael Kay, viewers are denied the subtle grins, the Diet Coke product placements and hand gestures that separate Michael Kay from not only Mike Francesca, but from actual entertainment programming (which would cost Hal "I'm Not Cheap" Steinbrenner money.)

Is the best really better? That is the question.

Some of you will say, yes, cramming four hours of Michael Kay into one is like Superman squeezing a lump of coal into a diamond. But I say no.

Michael Kay is not a lump of coal. He is a fine wine. To be properly savored, he must ferment for an entire afternoon. He needs to breathe. He needs two hours to chew on the news nugget, to parse it, to ponder it, to break to a commercial, to chew some more, to suck on it... and only then does he render judgement. That's the real Michael Kay. To compress four hours into an hour-long "Best of Michael Kay" is like cutting the Mona Lisa into canvas strips and saying, "There! We'll keep her eyes and ditch the stupid mouth."

It's good that we have time to consider these debates. I'm so happy the team - by collapsing like that Army blimp - gave us time to ponder such issues.

A true "Best of Michael Kay" would be to take the four-hour show and run it in slow motion - over, say, twelve hours. That way, each of us could digest the elegant wordplay that too often dances over our limited consciousness. And maybe drink more Diet Coke.