What better way to celebrate not having to go into work than a special edition of Screengrab Snafus - the one place where we pull together the funniest graphics flubs from the past week in sports.  This time, the snafus celebrate the beginning of college pig and the unofficial start of Fall with an all college football edition, where otherworldly SEC speed finally broke televisions across the south.  Either that, or I've been partying with Cliff Harris way too much.  With games happening all over your televisions, there were bound to be screw ups somewhere along the line (and we're not talking about Pam Ward's announcing either, that comes later this week) and our readers did a great job sending in all the pics below...

First, vegaskev informed us of our friend Darren Rovell noticing something interesting during Thursday night's Wisconsin/UNLV game.  In the third quarter at a break, ESPN showed a picture of the Minneapolis skyline.  The only problem being that Minneapolis is in Minnesota and Wisconsin is in... well... Wisconsin.  Does every sporting event just use a default backdrop of the Twin Cities?

Several folks sent in the following snafu where College Gameday went back in time to a period when Tommy Tuberville was the coach at Auburn and the Tigers were getting screwed out of National Championships instead of buying them.  By the way, Tommy Tuberville coaches at Texas Tech these days, I wonder if he's tired of Craig James' calls too...


jroag takes us next to the Virginia Tech/Appalachain State game where I won't tell you that I embarrassingly tipped App State to be the upset game of the week over at Crystal Ball Run.  In fairness to me, that game was a lot closer than the 66-13 final score.  With all the stats, you have to give the ACC Network folks a break if they couldn't quite keep up.  It is a day off from work and school, but I'll work your brain a bit and let you discover what's wrong with the picture below...


And finally, CraigDesign brings us this snafu from Yahoo's Sportstacular app. (Wait, that's not a real word, that's just a marketing ploy!)  Yahoo is certainly a growing force in the college sports world, but powerful enough to reverse the score of the South Carolina/East Carolina game?  (AND the Oregon/LSU game, thanks Andrew Schmidt!)  I thought those kind of voodoo tricks were only reserved for ESPN...


That was your Labor Day edition of Screengrab Snafus.  Next time, and especially today, be careful out there!

And I blame Mitch Williams, who was pretty terrible. If you do a simple name search for him on Twitter, that should back that up (and that's not counting all the other tweeters who are undoubtedly complaining and couldn't care enough to learn his name). But because I don't want to write about the 10,000 things that were wrong with him today during the Tigers/White Sox game, I'll instead focus on just the two home run calls in the 9th inning.  In the bottom of the 9th inning, with the Tigers trailing by just two runs, after being down 8-1 at one point, the Tigers hit two home runs -- one a game tying, two-run shot by Ryan Raburn and then a Miguel Cabrera walk-off bomb.

On both home runs, Mitch Williams opted to disregard his role as analyst and reacted like some kind of indifferent viewer at a bar. Instead of providing the play-by-play, Vasgersian had to play off of Williams' lame "that's gone," and "gone, see ya, game over."

Here's how he handled it on the Ryan Raburn game-tying home run:

Vasgersian did a nice job playing off of Williams ("that one is, in fact..."), but the "GONE!!!" sounded awfully forced and a little much. Williams did it again on the Cabrera walk-off and Vasgersian basically just said eff it and let one of the least exciting calls of a dramatic walk-off home run materialize:

'Wow' is right. What THE ... Mitch? Let Vasgersian make the call and then you can come in later with your awful casual spectatorial commentary. Or maybe I'm being easy on Vasgersian? Either way, pretty contrasting, yet equally bad home run calls, if you ask me.

In the Baylor/TCU upset, there was a pretty funny call that left announcers Joe Tessitore and Rod Gilmore lulz'ing all the way to the reference bank. While this was a funny call and had Gilmore somewhat imitating Nelson from the Simpsons, it wasn't as funny as the false start call on EVERYONE (even the center) just a week ago. Actually, it's not the first time a ref has flagged everyone on the offensive line, but the center: 

In last night's Redskins' preseason finale, Brandon Banks returned a punt 95 yards for a touchdown. It was impressive, but it wasn't that impressive - Banks just ran it up the gut and outran a punter - but it was the only real highlight of the game and a highlight nonetheless. It made Mike Shanahan smile, it made Banks dance, and it earned ex-Redskin and color analyst Joe Theismann's praise.

That was until the play was brought under a lengthy review when it appeared Banks might have finger rolled the ball out of his hand in premature celebration before he actually crossed the goal line. Shanahan's face turned to stone; Banks was still excited, but clearly nervous as he paced the sidelines; and Joe Theismann was all of a sudden appalled by Banks' showboating:

Not that Theismann is wrong about hot doggin' not getting it done. There's no excuse for Banks to come that close to losing that touchdown, but it's kind of funny how Theismann was all, 'he's electric,' and 'how do you make a football team?' after Banks scores and then quickly does a 180 and suggests his hot dogging could cost him his roster spot and even his career. You didn't need a replay to see that Banks was hot dogging it on his way into the end zone. And Theismann gets so caught up in his little spiel, he does a complete disservice to Muhammad Ali's "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee," by adding "make sure you get the ball in your hand or else you won't get a TD." To cap it all off, Theismann was wrong that the touchdown would absolutely get overturned, because it was ultimately upheld. 

[SB Nation]

Former Rutgers player Eric LeGrand was paralyzed from the neck down after attempting a tackle on kickoff coverage during an October game against Army.  Since that day, LeGrand's faith and belief in recovering from the horrific injury has inspired countless individuals.  His recovery has been slow, but progress is being made.  Earlier this Summer, he reported slight movements in his arms.  LeGrand also released a picture of himself standing next to his mother with support in his rehabiliation process.  And now this Fall, Eric LeGrand will return to the Rutgers football family as his recovery continues.  He will serve as a pregame, halftime, and postgame analyst in the Rutgers radio booth...

LeGrand made his debut as a radio analyst last night in Rutgers' win over North Carolina Central.  LeGrand is hoping to pursue a career in sports broadcasting according to Yahoo Sports...

A player who was told he likely would never walk again is suddenly standing very tall. With headset on, LeGrand broke down the Rutgers 21-0 halftime lead over FCS program North Carolina Central in both program's season openers. He didn't like the Rutgers penalties, three in all for 25 yards against the MEAC program, but he saw good things from a defense he once anchored in limiting the visitors to just 78 yards of total offense in the first half.

And since the injury last fall has derailed his dreams of playing in the NFL for his favorite team, the Denver Broncos, LeGrand has focused on a future on broadcasting.

"It's just my dream got started earlier now than I expected so I got to go with the flow," LeGrand said. "Enjoy the stuff I'm doing now."

Hopefully for Eric LeGrand, his progress as a broadcaster will parallel his continued progress in recovery.  His presence at Rutgers football games in the broadcast booth is one of the most uplifiting stories you'll find in the sports media and we wish him all the best.  You can make a contribution to the Eric LeGrand Believe Fund at this link.   

[H/T Dr. Saturday]
 

Some of ESPN's finest minds have come together to try to solve the mystery of this week's Screengrab Snafus.  Believe it or not, this was the intellectual high point of First Take this week.  Ok, maybe it isn't that hard to believe after all.  Somewhere Dana Jacobsen is throwing a bottle of vodka at her computer screen...

Speaking of the leader, let's take a look at the lighter side of their craptastic PR week.  ESPN.com had some trouble with the waiver-wire drama associated with Padres closer Heath Bell.  Was someone's autocorrect spellchecker not turned off for this headline, or is there something we don't know about the reliever...


Two NFL teams ply their trade in New York, New York.  NFL Network was focusing on Jets/Giants when they wanted to show us a fancy graphic reminding us of the city's location.  According to my research, New York, New York apparently has the largest population in the United States.  Who knew.  How they got all those people to relocate to Boston is quite the accomplishment.  Now that New York resides in the state of Massachusetts, my God, what would that do to YANKS/SAWX!!!


Kevin7673 sent us this screengrab from last night's Murray State-Louisville game along with this note - "Bruce Feldman says there is no integrity to ESPN's graphics."  Either the following graphic is another small element of a vast Bristol conspiracy, or the scoreboard was as functional as Danny Kanell's play cock.


And finally, let's check in with Mt. Rushmore resident Craig James to see how he's handling the pipebombs that Bruce Feldman is continuing to drop on his employer.  James' seat must be getting fairly warm with criticsm from the media and blogs now reaching a fever pitch.  He seems to be handling the heat well...


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

We're barely hours into the opening week of the 2011 Pammies and already we have a frontrunner for the Week 1 honors.  On ESPNU, former FSU QB Danny Kanell joined Rob Stone in the booth for Louisville's game with Murray State.  Danny was trying to tell an old war story about his first start as a QB after a delay of game penalty and started talking about the play cock.  Whoops...



The official Pammies Open Thread will go live Saturday morning at 10 AM, but you can also tweet submissions until then by tweeting us @awfulannouncing and including #PWAA in your tweet.  It promises to be a great year ahead!

H/T to Brian Finley for sending us the clip!

 

In the latest AA Podcast, we talk with one of the most influential bloggers in sports, Timothy Burke of Mocksession and SportsGrid. Tim has developed a massive following thanks to his screencaps and video posting that are quickly seen all around the internet. We unravel the mystery of his bubbaprog moniker and also talk about...

-His move to full-time sportswriting at SportsGrid and screencapping 
-The famous Georgetown brawl video 
-His methods for being able to cover so much ground 
-The role of sports blogs and mainstream sports media 
-Tim's favorite and least favorite announcers

Much more is included in this insightful interview with one of the best in not just sports blogs, but the entire sports media.



 

Bruce Feldman's Twitter silence finally ended today with this announcement...



Feldman also destroyed ESPN on The Dan Patrick Show this morning.  The best quotes and hopefully audio or video are coming soon.  Welcome back, Bruce!

UPDATE: And here's the full video from Feldman's interview thanks to our own Brady Green...



UPDATE 2: And here is the entirety of the CBS press release on Feldman's hire...

CBS today announced that veteran journalist and New York Times best-selling author Bruce Feldman has joined CBS to cover the sport of college football.

With over two decades experience covering college athletics, Feldman joins CBS after 17 years working for ESPN. In addition to writing for CBSSports.com, Feldman will report on college football across multiple CBS platforms.

Feldman's hire comes on the heels of the recent addition of three award-winning writers to the CBSSports.com staff: Tony Barnhart, Brett McMurphy, and Jeff Goodman. Feldman joins Barnhart, McMurphy, and Senior Writer Dennis Dodd in covering college football for CBSSports.com. Feldman, Barnhart, Dodd, and McMurphy will combine with RapidReports, the innovative network of reporters covering 40 of the largest college football programs and the Eye on College Football blog to bring CBSSports.com users the most comprehensive coverage of college football available to fans.

"There aren't too many writers covering college football with the experience and talent of Bruce Feldman and we're thrilled to have him join the team at CBSSports.com," said Jason Kint, Senior Vice President and General Manager, CBSSports.com. "In combination with the recent hires we have made, Bruce's addition puts CBSSports.com in a leadership position in terms of our coverage of college sports."

"CBS presented me a great opportunity. I've been very impressed with so many of the moves they've made and with the people I've met there," said Feldman. "I'm excited to join the company and can't wait to get started."

Feldman co-wrote Swing Your Sword, which was published in July 2011 and reached number five on the New York Times Bestseller list. He also is the author of Meat Market: Inside the Smash-Mouth World of College Football Recruiting and Cane Mutiny: How the Miami Hurricanes Overturned the Football Establishment. His articles have been cited in several editions of The Best American Sports Writing, nominated for numerous national magazine awards and he has won first place awards in contests sponsored by the Football Writers Association of America.

Feldman lives in Los Angeles. 

This is certainly huge news and we'll have a more detailed analysis on what it all means coming later today.

As you know, Arian Foster hurt his hamstring last weekend, aggravating a prior hammy injury. Foster then created a stir by calling the people who were only concerned about their fantasy football teams 'sick,' and subsequently getting into a back and forth with everyone's least favorite boob. 

Well, Foster stirred the stir yesterday by tweeting the MRI of said hamstring injury. While Foster is adamant that he'll be back by Week 1, the MRI he tweeted paints a different picture. ESPN's medical expert suggests it's a Grade 1 or 2 tear and he could miss 3-4 weeks. (Woah, that just hit me. Hold on, I need to go adjust my fantasy team.) 

Foster defended his decision to tweet the MRI by following it up with,"If I had a 'significant injury' why post it? I'll be fine, it was jus meant to make fun of the whole situation. Humor is lost nowadays." People are sick.

Of course, the other issue is that Foster revealed some highly intimate information that NFL teams typically hold very close to the chest. Tedy Bruschi was on that one blockhead's radio show yesterday and expressed just how up in arms he is over Foster's MRI tweet:

Seriously, how genius would it have been if Foster actually tweeted an MRI image of our hammy from the other night? I know, it clearly says Arian Foster and 8/28 on the image, but man, talk about tweeting to win the game -- that'd be the very definition.

Anyway, since it is against Texans' policy to openly discuss their team's injury updates, the Texans are handling Foster's tweet internally and we'll undoubtedly hear more talk about how the NFL should do something about its darned Twitter policy.