Yes, the headline from Craig James' first debate performance this week and his introduction to the media before the debate was the admission of taking "$20 handshakes" while a player at SMU in the 1980's.  (Even though he had previously denied any involvement in SMU's checkered past.)  In the sports world at large, that might be considered the biggest story.  But, for those among us who just see Craig James as the joke that he is, the best of the rest of his quotes from the initial debate didn't dissapoint.  As expected, James sounded like a mix of the corrupt dope of an announcer he was with the caricature of the politician he is trying to be.  As Deitsch pointed out on Twitter, the following quotes seem like they belong on the Onion instead of in a legitimate political race.  Quotes come from the Texas Politics blog at the Houston Chronicle:

“I’m going up there to kick the skunks out of the bushes,” he said, adding later: “The game’s over, man.”

-Look out skunks in Washington!  Craig James is coming to flush the fish down the toilet that is Washington.  He's going to drive the rats out of the sewer that is our nation's capital.  Hmm, I better stop myself before I give James' brilliant metaphor writer more material.  

“I didn’t have the maturity to turn it away,” (On his taking improper benefits at SMU)

“Right is right; wrong is wrong. It’s never right to do wrong.”

-James claimed the benefits he took while at SMU were "insignificant"... so clearly they don't fall into the "right is right" category.  I guess wielding your influence at ESPN to get Mike Leach fired and that whole hooker thing also don't fall into the "wrong is wrong" category.  

Even while playing for the New England Patriots, James turned to real estate deals during the off-season “to prove that I was more than a football player, that I was a smart guy.”

-*shaking head in disbelief*

“I get what’s going on in the real world,”

-Do you Craig... do you really?  Because it sure seems like your "real world" and "real street" aren't in this little place I like to call REALITY.  

As if this stream of quotes that would be laughed at in a D-level political movie wasn't enough, Craig James is out with his newest television ad.  Go ahead and watch, but remember AA isn't responsible if you decide to shoot your computer in the process.

Let's see...faith, family, freedom, free enterprise.  I think Craig is missing a couple of other "F" words to describe himself.  Maybe the "F" theme is appropriate though, seeing as how that's the letter college football fans use to stamp his legacy as an announcer.

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In the newest AA Podcast, we talk with the man behind one of the most popular daily sports articles on the internet, Jimmy Traina of SI's Hot Clicks.  Jimmy talks to AA about how Hot Clicks has grown over time and his favorite kinds of stories and posts to share.  We also cover a multitude of topics in the sports world and announcing including...

*Trying to explain TebowMania and why Tim Tebow has become America's most talked about athlete.
*Jimmy's favorite and least favorite NFL announcers.
*Comparing the networks and their coverage of the NFL.
*Joe Buck as Fox's lead baseball and football announcer.
*Rapid Fire: What one word does Jimmy use to describe everyone from Erin Andrews, CM Punk, and Chris Berman?
*NFL Divisional Picks

All that and a lot more on this edition of the AA Podcast.  Don't forget to check out all of our podcasts on iTunes and follow Jimmy on Twitter @JimmyTraina.

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In live television, there's always a danger of saying something that seconds later you know was a terrible idea.  Enter ESPN's Marcellus Wiley.  As he was discussing the upcoming 49ers-Saints playoff game  with Kevin Negandhi on SportsCenter (wait... you mean there are other playoff games this weekend besides that one happening in New England!  Who knew!), Marcellus had one of those "oh sh*t" moments.  Not the kind that Shaq experienced last night, but the kind where you know you exercised terrible word choice on national television in front of hundreds of thousands of people.  

Marcellus, who I actually like amongst the neverending stable of ESPN NFL analysts, describes the 49ers defense as "terrorists."  As a Saints fan, this not only scares me that Drew Brees and the New Orleans offense may be slowed down and lose the game, but that they also might not manage to make it out of San Francisco alive.  Marcellus obviously meant to say that the Niners defense "terrorizes" opponents, but yea, this just came out bad.  The awkward pause and look on Wiley's face is also priceless...

"Sometimes you go out there in two gap like a Justin Smith and you know you got those terrorists behind you." - Marcellus Wiley

(video via SportsGrid)

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ESPN NBA reporter Chris Broussard obviously graduated summa cum laude from the Tim McCarver School Of Spelling Excellence In Broadcasting.  If the late Tim Russert only knew what his groundbreaking use of a whiteboard on television would produce over a decade later. 

The LSU-Alabama BCS title game deserved a snafu of this level.  If only LSU could come close to scoring one point, let alone nine, this game could have been remotely interesting.  This flip-flopped picture and a rant from a former Saints QB were the most exciting things about the national title game.  S-E-C!  S-E-C!  S-E-C!

From JamFan41: "This went under the radar. When did Mel Kiper become a doctor?"  

And finally, well, this is just one of the greatest screengrab snafus I have ever seen.  Hats off to bubbaprog for catching this one during a random bowl game between two random teams you weren't watching anyways.  Just remember, Line 1 goes here...

That was your week in Screengrab Snafus, next time be careful out there!

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Check out this clip from Inside the NBA tonight, where Shaq slips up and says shit before commercial. This just adds to the legend of Shaq as a studio analyst, who is already developing quite a rapport with Charles Barkley on the panel. We had high hopes for Shaq coming into the year when TNT released this teaser ad for him joining Inside the NBA, and it's been all aces so far.

Now, I know that swearing on TV isn't much of a huge deal nowadays (and Shaq has never cared), but it's still one of those things that gets our blood running. I mean, hell, it happened last week during the Winter Classic with Mike Milbury calling the New York Rangers the Blue "Shits." But on the downside, it wasn't nearly as good as this rant from the end of the Wagner-Santa Clara game in December.

Keep fighting the good fight, Shaq!

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I don't speak Arabic, so I can't translate this. But this Arab hoops announcer goes absolutely bonkers calling this dunk as Al Haji Mohammad completely destroys a defender "with no regard for human life!" A quick Googling tells me that Mohammad plays for the Al Kuwait team, and is an alumni of Louisville, where he was a bench player for three seasons. In his 2003-2004 senior season, he averaged 15.6 minutes and 4.6 points per game. Al Kuwait was playing Al Sahel in this game, but I can't make out the number of the player who Mohammad dunks on.

Back to the dunk. There is so much to like about this clip. First, Mohammad pretty much smashes his defender in the face with a flying knee. Then, the defender does a full back roll before standing up.

And of course, the announcing. It's just not enough for our announcer friend to go crazy for the dunk, but he has to do it while invoking a 1990's TLC song ("shoop shoop shoop"), his choice in deity ("Alllllllah!"), and mentioning Al Haji no less than 15 times during this clip.

Announcers of America, take note. You've got a hell of a call to beat in 2012.

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ESPN announced their schedule for the first couple of days of the MLB season, and the first game they'll be broadcasting is one featuring a pair of teams who spent a lot of time in the headlines this winter: the St Louis Cardinals in Miami to take on the shiny new Marlins.

St Louis won the World Series last October, dispatching the Texas Rangers in seven games in one of the most thrilling Fall Classics ever. They added slugger Carlos Beltran to their team this offseason, and lost a franchise legend in Albert Pujols, who signed with the Los Angeles Angels last month. The Marlins on the other hand, are opening their brand spanking new park in Miami and have completely rebranded their team with a new logo and new uniforms, a new manager in Ozzie Guillen, and a bunch of new players, highlighted by Jose Reyes, Heath Bell, Mark Buerhle, and Carlos Zambrano. ESPN has to be hoping that the new park is jammed, and we don't get a repeat of last August in Miami. 

If you're interested in ESPN's other telecasts during Opening Week, here they are.

April 4th, 7:00 PM: Cardinals @ Marlins
April 5th, 1:00 PM: Red Sox @ Tigers 
April 5th, 4:00 PM: Marlins @ Reds
April 6th, 7:00 PM: Giants @ Diamondbacks
April 6th, 10:00 PM: Royals @ Angels

Two Marlins games. Man, this team is going to have a lot of pressure on it this season. All of the above games are on ESPN2, with the exception of the opener between the Cardinals & Marlins.

As ESPN launches ANOTHER TEBOWCENTER this morning at 11 ET, we have asked you throughout the week for your feedback on Tebow and the media and more specifically, ESPN's Tebow obsession.  Good timing.  But hey, I suppose everything is justified because ESPN says Tim Tebow is the world's most popular athlete according to ESPN and Tim Tebow has increased ratings which means Tim Tebow is the world's most popular athlete.  

As I said on Twitter, I commend ESPN for horrifyingly exploiting Tim Tebow to boost ratings.  I commend them for turning an average QB into a real superhero.  They should take full credit in making him the most popular athlete in America.  But while they tout those numbers, they lose credibility with their core audience.  Much like The Decision, the tradeoff of respect for ratings isn't worth it for ESPN.  As a sports fan and a fan of ESPN and even a fan of Tim Tebow it is frustrating and disappointing.  But don't take my word from it, others have strong opinions too.  Has the media obsession changed or influenced your opinion of Tim Tebow?  What follows are reader e-mails from with their thoughts on Tim Tebow and ESPN.  As always, these are real e-mails from real people...

For me, the media hasn't done a whole lot to change my opinion of him. They've doubted him going into every week, then sung his praises to the extent that he becomes overrated after each win. He gets overrated after every game for a day or two, then underrated going into the next game. They flip-flop to the point that it's tough for it to affect me. To me, social media has influenced me much more. Tebow has become less of a football player than he is an internet meme, a social symbol. Everyone collectively freaks out about him on Twitter and Facebook. He's a common discussion topic, even if we don't all agree on his merits as a player. The debate about Tebow isn't about his QB play anymore, it's about what you think of him and what that says about you as a person.

Stephane Hardinger

As a Broncos fan I hated the Tebow draft pick, and his move to the starting role. I didn't think he'd do anything of worth. After his (very) rough start and the media's initial destruction of him though, I started to feel terrible about how he was being treated. For a guy who has yet to have an offseason as the starter, he needed some time to adjust. I don't mean to go all Gundy on you, but he's certainly a guy that does everything right in his preparation and with his attitude. The deification of him since then has gone way overboard, but I don't think that's fair to have the media's obsessive coverage of him affect someone's view. It's one thing to be like the Jets, putting out soundbytes on a daily basis in an attempt to gain recognition. It's quite another situation when it doesn't seem that Tebow has changed how he's humbly handled himself.

Zack G.

I never had any reason to like/hate Tim Tebow, but over the last two years I've taken the position that I want him to succeed ONLY because I want the media to choke on all the crow they'd have to eat. I've come to the conclusion that all these people who analyze him incessantly must be insanely jealous of him - its kind of like bullying: you hate on people to feel better about yourself. It seems like these media types don't seem to have any ability to cover or learn about anything else and so they just keep on the Tebow Beat: they either aren't smart enough so they have to keep repeating the same three takes (kind of like a politician), or they're too lazy to cover a different story...

Jared Dudley of the NBA's Phoenix Suns tries his hand at being a sports broadcaster on a new espisode of "Out of My League" on YouTube.  We all know that he can ball in the Association, but does he have what it takes for a post-NBA career?  That's up for you to decide after watching this clip.  I suppose it is impressive that he can commentate his own badminton matchup against grade school children, but I'm not sure how that will translate into an actual basketball or announcing career...

Jared Dudley's British accent could probably use some work before going "big time."  And while the short clip is decently funny and amusing (come on, you can't hate on Dudley!); I would venture to say that he probably shouldn't quit his day job as a professional basketball player anytime soon.  Although, I hear the ESPN NBA studio could use a couple more talented announcers to read highlights and Dudley is already better than Magic Johnson.

H/T Dashiell

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The NSSA announced the winners of the Sportscaster of the Year and Sportswriter of the Year for each state, as well as nationally, this week. Both of the national winners are known, and generally well-liked, to members of the Awful Announcing community: Dan Shulman of ESPN (sportscaster) and Joe Posnanski of Sports Illustrated (sportswriter).

Shulman became the voice of ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball this past season alongside Orel Hershiser and Bobby Valentine, replacing the much-maligned duo of Jon Miller and Joe Morgan. Since the baseball season ended, he's been doing basketball for ESPN, both college and pro. Shulman has recently been involved in one of the best calls of the season with Dick Vitale, as he announced Indiana's dramatic victory over Kentucky. Shulman had another great moment early in the baseball season, when news of Osama Bin Laden's death broke during a Sunday Night Baseball game. He did an AA Q&A with Matt back in May and is one of our favorites.  Shulman's the ultimate pro as an announcer and is very deserving of such a high honor.

Posnanski is a (dare I say) modern day legend for his sportswriting. His personal blog features random pieces usually taken from Twitter discussions, while his writing at SI has taken a temporary hiatus while Posnanki takes up residence in State College, writing a book about former Penn State coach Joe Paterno. With all the events surrounding the program this year, it's fitting that Posnanski, out of all possible writers, would be the one writing a book about the coach when the scandal broke. Of course.  He is another person whose stature continues to grow in the sports media and is a hit with fans and media experts.

A hearty congratulations goes out to both men, as well as all the state-specific winners, and Bob Costas and John Feinstein, elected to the NSSA Hall of Fame this year.

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