Earlier today, U of Minnesota is playing Penn State in Happy Valley.
There is much talk about how much snow they’ve had, the closing of parking lots, and what not. They talk about how all of the field maintenance staff had to pull an emergency overtime shift to clear the field. They discuss how they asked college staff and student body to volunteer to help out so the game could go on without a hitch. Then they cut to a video clip of a female announcer for ESPN shoveling snow to help out. They mention that the State Penitentary is just down the road and they were even considering having the inmates bussed out to do some of the work.
The announcer says “I guess that would be an example of the State pen coming to the aid of Penn State.”
Ba-dum-bump.
Ugh. Good thing ESPN doesn’t have a comedy show.
Ladies and gentlemen, Mike Patrick from a couple of years ago, in the last moments of a Alabama-Georgia football game, brings up Britney Spears. It is awkward. And unfortunatley for ACC basketball and SEC Football fans, exemplary of the quality of Patrick’s work. I think he announces while drunk.
I was listening to the Eagles-Washington on the radio, and Micheal Vick comes on and throws his 5 yard pass. The announcers say “You have to wonder how Donovan McNabb feels about that. They bring Micheal Vick in to run Wildcat plays, but that wasn’t a Wildcat play, that was a quarterback play. Donovan McNabb could have done that.” Isn’t the point of the Wildcat that the defense doesn’t know if it is going to be a hand-off, or a run by the guy who took the snap, or a pass? I didn’t see the play, so I don’t know if they had a running back there at the time of the snap. If there was no running back there, I guess I see the announcer’s point. If the running back was there, I don’t think the announcer gets the Wildcat.
The UNC Tar Holes used to have an announcer named Mick Mixon. Several years ago he was doing a game where one of the opposing players had the first name Francis. He was a pretty good shot, apparently, because Mick said about him “You know, for a guy with a girl’s name he’s the best shooter I’ve ever seen.”
Not quite FrWindy. The quote was by Rodney Marsh, a talented but feckless player who was picked for England by Sir Alf Ramsey in (I think) the qualification campaign for the World Cup in the early '70’s. Alf disliked players who were too individual and Marsh was seriously pissing Alf off in the first half of a game. At half-time Alf said:
“Marsh. if you don’t work harder out there, Im going to pull you off!”
Marsh replied:
“Blimey, Alf, at Manchester City all we get there is a cup of tea!”
It’s found in a terrific biography of Alf by Leo McKinstry. Paints a great picture of a man trapped by background and society and such.
Further to the OP, my favourite quote is found in a delicious circumstance in a cricket match between England and West Indies. As the over commenced, the commentator gravely intoned (the only mode of commentating at cricket in them days):
“The batsman’s Holding, The bowlers Willey…” Cue much corpsing…
But that makes sense. Spotting the football is notoriously subjective and at the whims of the referee’s angle. “That’s a generous spot” isn’t a meaningless phrase because there are many instances where a spot is woefully stingy. “It’s going to depend on the spot” acknowledges that the play was really close and hard to discern, so the spot could be a foot upfield or a foot downfield - the difference between a first down or having to punt.
I think it was TSN that used to have the NHL pre-game show “Mike Keenan’s Keys to Victory” where he’d make great observations such as “to win they have to score more goals and give up less”.
The worst I can remember is John Madden circa. 94 or 95, studying the Dallas Cowboys offensive line and the amount of but sweat staining their pants complete with closeups and outlines with his light pen while he explained how hard they must be working!
There was also a game where he went on, ad nauseum, about the NFL logo situated on the “yoke” of players jerseys for about 15 minutes.
This makes perfect sense. Speed is how fast you are. IE: The time it takes you to run a given distance. Quickness is how quickly you react to things/can change vectors. These are different skills/talents and while there’s usually some correlation, it isn’t always a perfect one.
John Snagge, highly respected commentator/newsreader: “I can’t see who’s ahead, it’s either Oxford or Cambridge” - in the annual Boat Race in which those are the only two contestants.
During the 2000 Olympics a black female sprinter for Australia won the gold medal in a sprint race. One of the talking heads noted that she was the first African-American to win a gold medal for Australia.
\slight hijack… I dated a girl from South Africa who was white with blond hair and blue eyes and she would always check off African-American on any forms she filled out!
“See, what what he does here here. Watch, how he lines up, comes off the line, runs, and… Boom! Wow, what a great, great, play. I’m telling you, he just loves the game, he really lives for these moments. He’s just a great, great player, and he’s just out there playing, and in the En Ef El you have to be a great, great player to make that great, great play. His team really needed a great, great play, and like all great, great players, he really came through in the clutch. Wow, what a great, great play”