(Photo by Randy Sager / ESPN Images)Twenty-five years into Pardon the Interruption, Michael Wilbon has a theory about why the show is still running: ESPN never let it move in. Eric Rydholm then built it out and, according to Wilbon, ran interference for the hosts once it launched. Wilbon said neither he nor Tony Kornheiser were ever willing to take marching orders on which teams or storylines to cover, using the Dallas Cowboys as his standing example. Staffers in Bristol reportedly saw Wilbon and Kornheiser as outsiders muscling in on television real estate they hadn’t earned through the network’s usual pipeline, and some advised D.C.-based hires to rent rather than buy, betting the show wouldn’t last. Even then, Wilbon admitted he didn’t expect the show to reach its current run when he and Kornheiser signed their original deal.