Call(s) of the Day: Two NBA Game Winners, Called By The Losing Announcers?

For the life of me I’ll never understand this: you’re a sports league that’s constantly trying to keep your sport relevant in the growing landscape of options for the entertainment dollar. You’re savvy enough to clip up highlights to put on your website, some of which you allow other sites to freely embed (note, not these two) all, seemingly, in an effort to promote your product.

Why, then, do we get highlights on NBA.com or NHL.com with announcers from the LOSING team. Wouldn’t a highlight be better if the announcers were going nuts on a buzzer beater just like the players (and fans)? And it’s not a situation where the home team has the feed, either. It really just makes no sense.

First, listen to Andrew Bogut’s game-winning tip in from last night. The call starts out excited, but quickly turns into how terrible the Pacers have been against the Bucks.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE CLIP AT NBA.COM

The actual call of the clip above isn’t bad, but the excitement surely comes from the surprise at such anREAD MORE

Call of the Day: Howard Cosell Tells MNF Audience John Lennon Is Dead

It’s been 30 years since John Lennon died. Thirty years today. I was two (almost three), so I was not up late enough to watch the Monday Night Football game where Frank Gifford kicked it to Howard Cosell to tell America the news.

“Yes, we have to say it. Remember this is just…a football game, no matter who wins or loses. An unspeakable tragedy, confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City. John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the West Side of New York City — the most famous, perhaps, of all of the Beatles — shot twice in the back, rushed to Roosevelt Hospital. Dead…on..arrival. Hard to go back to the game after that news flash, which in duty, well, we have to tell you.”

Thank you, internet, for keeping a running archive of our history. Imagine where we’d be without you.

ESPN Launches ESPNW. (Well This Headline Sure Got Right To the Point.)

From ESPN PR:

espnW.com Launches Today, December 6

Michelle Beadle, Tamika Catchings, Julie Foudy, Wendi Nix, Summer Sanders, Sage Steele, Hannah Storm and More to Contribute

ESPN’s new content and digital business initiative for women, espnW, launches espnW.com today, Dec. 6. Presented in a blog format, espnW.com will offer fan- and athlete-centric content geared toward female athletes and sports fans aged 18+. The site, supported by a Twitter and Facebook presence, will incorporate posts by top female sports columnists and bloggers, pro athletes, expert contributors and news from a variety of ESPN and non-ESPN news outlets. This 1.0 version of espnW.com will serve as a precursor to a more robust web site with mobile applications and personalized content that will launch in Spring 2011.

Okay, so the launch isn’t really a launch so much as it’s a soft launch they felt they couldn’t hide behind a wall because too many people knew about it. Or, it’s a soft launch for a site they figured they’d make live because they’re already paying all these writers, working out the bugs beforeREAD MORE

Call of the Day: Collinsworth – “Tell That To James Harrison and his $125 Worth Of Fines”

This much is clear: nobody knows the new helmet-to-helmet or defenseless receiver rules in the NFL. Nobody. Not the players, not the announcers and certainly not the officials.

When Heath Miller got walloped by Jameel McClain during the Sunday Night Football game, concussing the Steelers tight end and taking him out of the game, there was no flag on the play. NBC had just put together a montage of all the illegal hits the Steelers — and James Harrison most specifically — have been getting fined for and then whammo! Miller gets trucked by a linebacker and there wasn’t even a flag.

Collinsworth: “Well, even if it’s not helmet-to-helmet, it’s a defenseless player. Shoulder pad, forearm or helmet to the head is an automatic penalty. And to get — I didn’t see a flag, if there is one it’s buried down there — is unbelievable to me that that was not called. That is by the very definition of what I’ve been told; defenseless player, either the helmet, the shoulder pad or the forearm to the head,READ MORE

What The Simpsons Monorail Episode Can Teach Us About FIFA & The IOC

In one of the many conversations this week trying to wrap my brain around the fact that FIFA awarded the World Cup to both Russia and Qatar — on the heels of an event in South Africa and in the midst of Brazil feverishly trying to stay on schedule for the 2014 World Cup — I came to the realization that FIFA, and the International Olympic Committee for that matter — are a lot like Lyle Lanley.

Who is Lyle Lanley? Well he’s sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville and North Haverbrook, and by gum it put them on the map.

Can’t you just hear Sepp Blatter making the mule with a spinning wheel joke? “You know a town with money…”

The context came during my conversation with James from Unprofessional Foul, in which we tried to figure out why FIFA insists on awarding the tournament to countries without a proper infrastructure to handle the number of games, and tourists. FIFA awarded 2018 to Russia over established European powerhouses like England and Spain who both have the stadiums (orREAD MORE

Dan Shulman, Orel Hershiser and Bobby V To Call Sunday Night Baseball

It’s okay if I am, but sometimes I feel like I’m the only person who thinks that Bobby Valentine is just insufferable to watch on television. He’s exactly what I hate about some ESPN personalities — he’s a talker with an ego who says things that ESPN can bill as “provocative” when in most cases it sounds like he’s just talking to hear his own voice. He’s perfect for their studio shows.

So of course, he’s officially the third wheel in the Sunday Night Baseball booth.

Why do we need three people in a booth anyway? Orel Hershiser has proven to be a solid analyst and Dan Shulman is one of, if not the, best play-by-play announcers in the game. Do we need the third guy? Do we really need the third guy?

Alas, the official release, per ESPN:

Dan Shulman will be paired with analysts Orel Hershiser and Bobby Valentine to form ESPN’s new Sunday Night Baseball booth beginning with the 2011 Major League Baseball season, it was announced today by Norby Williamson, ESPN executive vice president, production.READ MORE

Ray Hudson Certainly Enjoyed Calling Barca’s Win over Real Madrid

Ray Hudson teamed up with Phil Schoen to call the English language feed of El Classico between Barcelona and Real Madrid. Thank you, soccer Gods.

The match wasn’t close. At all. Barcelona looked like the greatest team ever constructed (note: they may be) in dismantling what was thought of as the best team in the world heading into Monday’s match. It was shocking, amazing stuff. And yes, I’m talking about the superlatives thrown at us by Hudson.

For those who can’t see the video at work (or if the powers that be flagged it already) here are a few snippets. Be sure to read them with a faint accent, high-pitch in your voice and your shoes soaked in…excitement.

“Xavi, cool as Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock again.”

“It’s Xavi, those chameleon eyes with that kaleidoscope vision.”

“This is a goal of orgiastic proportions and it’s pure Barcelona. Again, this is a melange of magic.”

“Real Madrid’s defense stretched out like spandex on Miami Beach, and Casillas is left naked.”

(On playing against Leo Messi) “It’s like playing poker with a witch. You’re goingREAD MORE

DL483: WikiLeaks In A Sports Context, Dexter Theories, The Undrainable Knee

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The doctor couldn’t drain my knee because it has coagulated. They tried three times. I have a Frankenknee.

Nick and I try to figure out if this WikiLeaks story can be put into a sports context. Then I mention soccer.

Then we talk about Dexter.

Thanks for listening, and we hope the topics of today’s show pertain to your interests. Especially the knee thing.

Call of the Day: Al Michaels & Cris Collinsworth Are Self-Deprecating Rascals

There’s honestly nothing I like more than announcers making fun of themselves. Why? Because they actually mean it; Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth are completely aware of the fact that they are, at times, obnoxious blowhards. It’s part of the job description, after all.

So, when the NBC crew came back to break during the Sunday Night Football contest between the Eagles and Giants with a video package of Jeffrey Lurie’s new plan to make Lincoln Financial Field the “greenest” stadium in the world, it was hilarious (and fantastic) to see Michaels and Collinsworth make it about them:

Michaels: “You’d have thought that Jeff and Christina would have felt there was enough hot air coming out of this booth tonight that we could have powered the stadium.”

Collinsworth: “We could power any turbine out there, baby. Believe me. Invite some of my other buddies from the broadcasting world; Phil Simms could contribute to that one too.”

Michaels: “Right. Bring ‘em all in.”

Of course, Michaels almost ruined the whole thing by making it about winning the Super Bowl, butREAD MORE

Fine I’ll Bite. Here’s the Chad Dukes Epic Redskins Rant

Look, Steinberg had this link yesterday and I debated posting it but now it’s funneled into every third Tweet I’m reading so here it is: Washington Redskins fan and talk radio host Chad Dukes “how dare you”-ing the Redskins after their epic loss to Philly. It’s epic. Epic. EPIC.

Dukes and LaVar Arrington host a show on 106.7 The Fan DC from 2-7p.m. which means this rant came at least 14 hours after the game was over and at least eight hours into most listeners sports talk daily intake. I’m not saying it’s phony for the sake of getting attention. I’m certain that Dukes was being heart felt and not just inflammatory for the sake of Steinberg (and then the rest of us) giving the show more attention. So the “epic” nature of it is likely genuine.

I just can’t stand the “how dare you” and “you should turn in your keys” and, especially “millionaire athletes” and “you owe us money.”

Teams lose. Teams get blown out. The Denver Broncos lost a rivalry game to the Raiders (THEREAD MORE