You know what I hate more than anything else when it comes to announcing? When people are lazy. You have the coolest job ever, and you don't prepare at all (Joe Morgan) and you end up looking like an idiot.

This isn't exactly the same thing, but it's close. John Saunders and Bill Walton have been broadcasting the entire FIBA Championships from Bristol.....

With the U.S. on the way to a 113-76 victory, Saunders and Walton had plenty of time to fill, and they began talking about Brazil's basketball history, most notably the 1987 Pan American Games final when Brazil upset the U.S. 120-115 to win the gold medal. Saunders noted that after the U.S. lost to the Soviet Union in the 1988 Olympic semifinals, U.S. basketball officials decided it was time to send the best players to the Olympics.

That, of course, is wrong. The U.S. did not force the world to allow NBA players into the Olympics; the rest of the world invited them. But when I asked someone from ESPN where Saunders and Walton were so we could have a friendly conversation about that, there was more shocking news.

ESPN's play-by-play man and analyst are not in Las Vegas. They are calling the game action from a studio in Bristol, Conn., a continent away. An ESPN spokesman described that as "a production decision," which means even ESPN -- a network with more money than Fort Knox and Mark Cuban combined -- has a budget, too.

A production decision? Why not just do that for every game then??? That just really rubs me the wrong way. It's not like they Championships are in Prague! They're in freaking Las Vegas!!!

That's some bad history from a network that didn't show up (Awful Announcing)