On the surface, there isn't a lot that Frank Gore and Al Gore have in common besides their last name.  Frank is a Pro Bowl runing back for the San Fransisco 49ers, is 28 years old, African-American, and stands 5 ft. 9 in. tall.  Al is 35 years his senior, claimed to have created the internet, has a thing for the environment, is white, and has a problem invading the personal space of others.  In fact, besides these two sharing the same last name, I'm pretty sure it's impossible to confuse the two... unless of course you're name is Marty Thom Brennaman.

Now, comes another underrated clip for biggest announcing blooper of the year.  Watch and see if you could also confuse the former Pro Bowl running back with the former Vice President in the following clip.

[Cosby Sweaters]

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If you just watched the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Victor Ortiz fight like I did, you are also probably stunned right now like I am.

Mayweather won the fight by way of a fourth round knockout, but it was done in a fashion that left many questioning the legitimacy of his win. You see, Ortiz head-butted Mayweather in the round, and the referee, Joe Cortez, broke the fighters up. Well, that's when things got crazy. Oritz apologized to Mayweather for the head-butt and went in for a hug. While this was happening, Mayweather threw two hard punches at Ortiz's face. Knockout.  

The main question here is, did Cortez signal for the fight to be resumed, or did Mayweather clock Ortiz during a timeout? It didn't look like Cortez asked for the fight to be resumed, but he awarded Mayweather the knockout. So that's sure to cause plenty of people to claim the fight was fixed.

And the craziness surrounding this fight continued after it was over. Larry Merchant, who has been an HBO boxing analyst/reporter since 1978, was interviewing Mayweather about the fight. Mayweather told Merchant, "HBO needs to fire you; you don't know shit about boxing." And he continued on.

Then, the 80-year-old Merchant replied with probably the greatest quote from a reporter ever: "I wish I was 50 years younger and I would kick your ass." 

Here's video not taken down by HBO from SportsGrid:

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The Pam Ward Chronicles are here for Week 3 and the major story of the young college football season is the dominance of Pam Ward.  She's taken the win in the first two weeks of the Pammies.  Can anyone stop her from reclaiming her rightful throne?  This week, PamHawk is in Chapel Hill for Virginia @ UNC at 3:30 ET on ESPNU.  All eyes will be on tonight's games between Ohio State and Miami and the huge clash between #1 Oklahoma and #5 Florida State.  We will update the Pammies as we can with your comments in the open thread and Tweets to us at AA throughout the day.  Use the hashtag #PWAA to send in submissions via Twitter or leave a comment below.  The nominees will come Monday for you to vote on and the winners will be announced on Wednesday.  You can check out the winners from last week and the full Week 3 announcing schedule below.  Here's a few quotes from that bastion of freedom Craig James to get us started.

Week 2 Pammy Winners and Standings

Full Week 3 Announcing Schedule

Also, if you're a college football fan, make sure to check out our podcast from yesterday with Bruce Feldman of CBS Sports.
____________________________________________________________________

"Not transferring shows you moxie." - Craig James (via sctvman)

"Les Miles told me his defensive line loves to make plays and they are violent... violent in a good way." - Craig James (via bjoe109)

You play 4 quarters in the SEC." - Craig James (via Michael Necci).  As opposed to the 3 quarters elsewhere.

"You gotta hold your water." - Jesse Palmer (via bmaze) on LSU's defense jumping offside... or needing to pee.

"LSU should continue the run here so their defense can rest" - Jesse Palmer (via CaptTouchback) on the first drive after halftime.

"What's new? it's DU at LSU!" - Craig James (via bjoe109) umm, what?

We're a week away from the opening of Moneyball and despite positive chatter about the movie, some people are not so enthusiastic about the movie adaptation of the Michael Lewis's best selling book about the Oakland A's front office. However, you wouldn't think the A's television analyst, Ray Fosse, would be among some of the more begrudging skeptics. Clearly though when probed on the subject of Moneyball, Fosse awkwardly stumbles through this meandering reply in which he completely avoids talking about the film.

Eesh. Awkward pause, check. Lots of ummmmmms, check. Avoiding the question, check. Rambling on about other movies like The Sandlot and Field of Dreams, check.

We don't really know why Fosse seems to be allergic to discussing the movie, but we'd prefer if he didn't bite his tongue rather than awkwardly dancing around the question. Although Fosse's shtick is being totally aloof about all things pop culture including Twitter, music, television, and movies, you'd have to think this isn't the same old "I don't know what you're talking about" routine given the movie is based on the team he's covered for over two decades. 

I definitely want to hear his thoughts about the movie when he does see it, but that would require watching a sub .500 and out of contention team during football season. If only the A's figured out a way to compete despite their limited payroll.[follow]

 

 

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The 2006 Michigan State/Notre Dame game ended with MSU melting down and blowing a 16 point 4th quarter lead at home due to some of the most inconceivable coaching decisions I've ever seen. While that meltdown was bad, it was nothing compared to what radio host Mike Valenti of 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit had. In this 15 minute rant, among some of the numerous highlights, he yells his voice hoarse, says Michigan State's defense would be better off coached by H.R. Pufnstuf and Teddy Ruxpin and this is all the while bemoaning MSU running the option in "Hurricane Katrina." Valenti's voice didn't last and he had to go home early that day and would miss the next couple days of work. Here's his rant in its entirety.

Part 2

I was a student at Michigan State at this time and was at this game. Suffice to say, I know a few things about soul-crushing losses... but this one might be the worst. It was the 40th anniversary of the "Game of the Century," and they retired Bubba Smith's number before the game. MSU was controlling the game handily for three quarters when all of a sudden then MSU coach, John L. Smith, decided 5-wide and the option was the best way to run out the clock in an absolute monsoon. Ehh, didn't work so much, and ND scored 19 straight points in the 4th quarter to win 40-37.

I did go to the MSU/ND game in 2007 at Notre Dame where MSU won by a substantial margin. After the game, my group did run into Mike Valenti outside the stadium... at that moment, he might have been the happiest person I've ever seen in my life.

The MSU/ND rivalry is one of the most underrated rivalries in college football. Just in recent years we've had flagplants, alleged coach slappings, Golden Tate's celebration, laptop-gate, alleged sign stealing and "little giants." Michigan State and Notre Dame play tomorrow at 3:30 on NBC.

In the newest AA Podcast, we're joined once again by New York Times #1 Best Selling Author Jim Miller from Those Guys Have All The Fun.  As the resident expert on all things ESPN, we talked with Jim about the impact of the book and the eventful summer in Bristol.  In a wide-ranging discussion, Jim chats with AA about...

-Bruce Feldman's departure from ESPN and what we learned about the inner workings of Bristol.
-Craig James' work at ESPN and whether or not he has the full support of the leader.
-ESPN's journalistic endeavors and how much it hurt to see Yahoo break the Miami investigation.
-The massive, new Monday Night Football deal.
-Whether or not ESPN seriously pursued the Olympics.
-Details on a possible movie based on the book and the release date of the paperback version.

All that and much more is covered in this podcast with the foremost expert on ESPN.  You can follow Jim on Twitter @ESPNBook and don't forget to check out all of our podcasts on ITunes.  

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Somehow, each one of our snafus this week revolve around the Mississippi State Bulldogs.  That's the way the cookie bounces, as Dan Le Batard's pops would say.  Last week, the Bulldogs lost on a heartbreaker at Auburn.  Except, as CaptTouchback observed, ESPN wasn't so keen on letting Mississippi State leave The Plains with a loss...


Last night, MSU hosted LSU on ESPN's Thursday night college football game.  Unfortunately for Bulldog fans, that meant a heavy dose of Craig James.  Also unfortunately for Bulldog fans, some of their less academically inclined (or plastered out of their mind) students were showcased as well.  EVERY SINGLE PLAY CONTS!  The tiny, hurriedly scribbled "u" isn't fooling us.  My only hope is that the back of the sign reads "I'LL TRADE YA MY SHIRT FOR A GRILLED CHEESE!!" (h/t ChrisCrane27)


Then, ESPN mysteriously decided to remove Mississippi State's #25 ranking at one point during the telecast, as bubbaprog observed.  No word on whether or not ESPN temporarily bestowed that ranking upon Texas...



But there is one more snafu, although it has nothing to do with sports.  This may be the greatest headline in the history of the English language.  (H/T @ESPNAtTheBuzzer)

 

Wait.  There's more.  Here are the first few lines of the article from Reuters...

For actor Nicolas Cage, making the new thriller movie "Trespass" hit close to home.

Cage, at the Toronto film festival along with director Joel Schumacher promoting the film about a home invasion, said that he has actually lived through the nightmare in real life.

"It was two in the morning. I was living in Orange County at the time and was asleep with my wife. My two-year old at the time was in another room. I opened my eyes and there was a naked man wearing my leather jacket eating a Fudgesicle in front of my bed," he told reporters on Wednesday.

"I know it sounds funny ... but it was horrifying."

A Fudgesicle is a frozen, ice cream-like snack.

Thank God Reuters cleared up the mysterious identity of the fudgesicle.  I had no idea it was a frozen, ice cream-like snack.  Phe-no-me-nal.  That was your week in snafus, next time, be careful out there... especially if you see any naked men with fudgesicles... or if you come across an angry Nicolas Cage...

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Sometimes I think Rick Reilly is too easy of a target for the blogosphere.  Reilly epitomizes much of what is unappealing with the old school media to much of the new school crowd.  He collects a huge paycheck and puts out intermittent columns of irrelevance, living on the reputation he built at Sports Illustrated.  The guy has been mailing it in for quite some time now.  In one of those columns, Reilly wrote these words about Peyton Manning on August 30th in some sort of all-encompassing NFL and college football preview...

"If you think he's going to miss a start because of a neck problem, you've been chugging paint thinner. This guy hasn't missed a start since 1994 at Tennessee. Do you know how long ago it was when Manning didn't start for the Colts? Google was two days old. Kim Kardashian was 17. Russell Crowe was skinny! If Manning doesn't start Game 1, I will come to your house and eat things that are stuck in your carpet."

Rick should have thrown in that he was last relevant in 1994 (rimshot), but that would be beside the point.  Of course, any keen observer knew Manning's streak was in huge jeopardy, so it came as a bit of an odd prediction.  (And yes, I don't know why he has to throw Russell Crowe under the bus either.)  Well, when Manning didn't start in Week 1, Reilly manned up on his proclamation.  Somewhat.  He ate popcorn off the carpet in Sun Life Stadium.  I'm a little disappointed though, couldn't he have gone to a floor featured on Hoarders instead of a pristine stadium carpet?  Watch this video, but don't feel too bad for Reilly - each kernel of popcorn earned him $75,000.



[ESPN] 

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This week, former ESPN blowhard Jay Mariotti pleaded no contest to stalking and assault charges due to the latest domestic violence episode with his ex-girlfriend in Los Angeles.  This is now Mariotti's second no contest plea in about a year relating to domestic violence charges.  Details from the Los Angeles Times...

Former ESPN sports personality Jay Mariotti pleaded no contest Tuesday to stalking and assault-related charges in exchange for community service and probation, authorities said Tuesday.

Mariotti, who faced up to five years in state prison if he had gone to trial and been convicted on all counts, will not spend any time behind bars. Under the plea before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Dabney, all five counts -- including three felonies -- faced by Mariotti will be reduced to misdemeanors, officials said.

Mariotti entered the no contest plea and will now avoid jail time, being put on probation, and having to do counseling and community service.  With his life defined by words like stalking, assault, and domestic violence... one would think that Jay Mariotti would want to fade away from the spotlight and get his life together.  After all, he's alleged to have three instances of domestic violence in just over a year and pleaded no contest to charges in two of those episodes.  But, stepping away wouldn't really be like the Jay Mariotti we've all come to know and be horrified with.  No, Mariotti's going to write a book about his "ordeal."

"Although Mr. Mariotti would have liked to have told his side of the story at trial, the fact that he is an accomplished writer provided him another avenue, in this case a book, to tell his side in an unconventional but progressive manner."

And that's not all, Mariotti joined Twitter (he has a whopping 190 followers at the time of writing this) and is promoting said book, which will be for the Kindle.  If you were expecting some sort of mea culpa, you are sadly mistaken...

So, to promote his book, Mariotti is accusing his ex-girlfriend, the one who was found with cuts and bruises after an alleged altercation with Mariotti, the one who allegedly had her hair extensions pulled out at a restaraunt, of "stalking" and being "enabled" by the LA legal system.  I'll let you draw your own conclusions on whether or not Jay Mariotti's quest for vindication is worthwhile.  The fact that Mariotti's Twitter profile pic is self-taken like he's in junior high and he's wearing sunglasses indoors immediately causes me to immediately question his credibility.  

[Los Angeles Times] 

 

Can Pam Ward make it three weeks in a row? She's calling the Virginia/UNC game at 3:30 PM on ESPNU, if you'd like to pick on her. Surely, though, we're missing out on some gold mines in the lesser games (I might focus my efforts on some real terrible games for some real terrible announcing). Either way, leave what you hear in the comments here or to #PWAA on Twitter until the open thread is posted on Saturday morning.

As a gentle reminder, please be sure to use the technology 2011 provides us and rewind any awful calls and make sure your ears heard it right. An implicit honor code applies and we don't want to libel anyone, no matter how many tostitos it might be for. Good talk, see ya out there.

Thursday September 15

3 LSU @ 25 Mississippi State (8PM ESPN) Rece Davis, Craig James, Jesse Palmer, Jenn Brown

Friday September 16

Bryant University at Sacred (7PM Heart MSG/Cox Sports) Paul Dottino, Steve Levy
4 Boise State @ Toledo (8PM ESPN) Joe Tessitore, Rodney Gilmore, Jeannie Edwards
Iowa State @ Connecticut (8PM ESPN2) Mike Gleason, John Congemi

Saturday September 17

#21 Auburn @ Clemson (Noon ABC) Dave Pasch, Urban Meyer, Chris Spielman, Quint Kessenich
Penn State @ Temple (Noon ESPN) Ray Benlty, David Lamont
Wyoming at Bowling Green (Noon BCSN/ESPN3)    Greg Franke, Tom Cole
Central Michigan at Western Michigan (Noon MAC Network/MASN/GamePlan/ESPN3) Michael Reghi, Doug Garber
Pittsburgh @ Iowa (Noon ESPN2) Beth Mowins, Mike Bellotti
#18 West Virginia @ Maryland (Noon ESPNU) Rob Stone, Danny Kanell
Eastern Michigan @ Michigan (noon BTN) Tom Hart, Derek Rackley, Lisa Byington
Southern Missouri State @ Purdue (noon BTN) Wayne Larrivee, Joe Tiller, Jon Jansen
Mississippi @ Vanderbilt (noon SEC Net/ESPN3) Dave Neal, Andre Ware, Cara Capuano
Duke at Boston College (12:30 PM ACC Network (National)/GamePlan/ESPN3) Steve Martin, Dave Archer
Kansas @ Georgia Tech (12:30 ACC Net) Rich Waltz, Keith Jones, Jenn Hildreth 
Coastal Carolina at Georgia (1 PM CSS-PPV/GamePlan/ESPN3)  Bob Neal, Buck Belue
Harvard at Holy Cross (1 PM Charter TV3 (MA)) Kevin Shea, Andy Lacombe, Dave Bolduc
Colorado State @ Colorado (1:30 FSN) Craig Bolerjack, Joel Klatt, Petros Papadakis
Louisiana-Monroe at #23 TCU (2 PM The Mtn.)  Todd Harris, Todd Christensen, Amanda Mazey
#10 Eastern Washington at #12 Montana (3:05PM SWM/KPAX (MT)) Dennis Patchin, John Edwards, Derek Buerkle
#7 Wisconsin vs. Northern Illinois @Chicago, IL (3PM ESPN3)  Jim Barbar, Christian Fauria
Texas Tech @ New Mexico (3:30 VS) Paul Burmeister, Shaun King, Anthony Herron
15 Michigan State @ Notre Dame (3:30 NBC) Tom Hammond, Mike Mayock, Alex Flanagan
Tennessee @ #16 Florida (3:30 CBS) Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson, Tracy Wolfson
Northwestern @ Army (3:30 CBSSN) Gary Thorne, Randy Cross 
Virginia @ North Carolina (3:30 ESPNU) Pam Ward, Dan Hawkins
#24 Texas @ UCLA (3:30 ABC/ESPN) Bob Wischusen, Bob Davie, Samantha Steele
Missouri State at #12 Oregon (3:30PM CSN-Northwest/GamePlan) Joe Giansante, Anthony Newman, Jill Savage
Washington @ #10 Nebraska (3:30 ABC/ESPN) Sean McDonough, Matt Millen, Heather Cox
Akron at Cincinnati (3:30 PM ESPN3)  Dave Weekley, John Gregory
Georgia State at #17 Jacksonville State (3:30PM CSS) Ryan Brown, Ray Hammett
Miami-OH @ Minnesota (3:30 BTN) Matt Devlin, Glenn Mason, Rebecca Haarlow
South Carolina State @ Indiana (3:30 BTN) Tom Werme, Gerry Dinardo, Stacy Patez
Nevada @ San Jose State (4PM WAC Net) Barry Tompkins Joe Glenn
Arkansas State at #13 Virginia Tech (4PM ACC Network (Regional)/GamePlan/ESPN3)  Mike Hogewood, John Bunting, Sammy Linebaugh
South Alabama at North Carolina State (6PM ESPN3) Ryan Rose, Rob Harley, Angela Mallen
#16 Lehigh at Princeton (6PM WFMZ (PA)/FCS-Atlantic) Mike Zambelli, Mike Yadush, Al DiCarlo
Bucknell at Cornell (6PM TWC-Central NY) Steve Flamisch, Dale Drypolcher, Danny Liedka
Lafayette at Pennsylvania (6PM LSN) Gary Laubach, Mike Joseph, John Leone
Central Florida at Florida International (6PM ESPN3)   Doug Bell, Rene Ingoglia
Navy @ #11 South Carolina (6PM ESPN2) Mike Patrick, Craig James, Jeanie Edwards
Louisville @ Kentucky (6PM ESPNU) Clay Matvick, Brian Griese, Allison Williams
Washington State at San Diego State (6:30PM The Mtn.)  Ari Wolfe, Blaine Fowler, Jenny Cavnar
Gardner-Webb at Wake Forest (6:30 PM ESPN3)  Joe Davis, Warrick Dunn
Idaho at #9 Texas A&M (7PM FSN-PPV)  Joel Meyers, Dave Lapham, Jim Knox
Stephen F. Austin at #19 Baylor TBD
Florida A&M at #20 South Florida (7PM BH-Tampa/SNY/GamePlan/ESPN3) J.B. Long, Ryan Nece, Justin Pawlowski
Indiana State at Western Kentucky (7PM ESPN3) Shawn Kenney, Drew Henson
Western Illinois at Missouri (7PM FSN-PPV Dan McLaughlin, D'Marco Farr, Todd Donoho
Marshall at Ohio (7PM ESPN3)  Dan Gutowsky, Je'Rod Cherry
Nicholls State at Louisiana-Lafayette (7PM Cox 4 (LA))  Jimmy Fredrick, Scott Brazda, Blair Abene
#22 Arizona State @ Illinois (7PM BTN) Eric Collins, Chris Martin, Dionne Miller
Kent State at Kansas State (7PM FCS-Central) Steve Physioc, Yogi Roth, Desmond Purnell
#13 James Madison at #22 Liberty (7PM GamePlan/ESPN3) Mike Tilley, Ray Jones
Houston at Louisiana Tech (7PM ESPN3) John Sadak, Rene Nadeau
North Texas at #2 Alabama (7:30PM FSN-Regional/GamePlan/ESPN3) Bob Rathbun, Tim Couch, Kristina Akra
Tennessee Tech at Eastern Illinois (7:30 PM WEIU (IL)) Mike Bradd, Jack Ashmore
Troy at #14 Arkansas (7:30PM BH-Orlando/CST/GamePlan/ESPN3) Matt Stewart, Chris Doering, Maria Taylor
#17 Ohio State @ Miami-FL (7:30 ESPN) Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge, Heather Cox
Syracuse @ USC (8PM FX) Gus Johnson, Charles Davis, Tim Brewster
UTEP at New Mexico State (8PM Altitude/GamePlan/ESPN3) Glen Cerny, Danny Knee
#1 Oklahoma @ #5 Florida State (8PM ABC) Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit, Erin Andrews & Tom Rinaldi
Northern Arizona at Portland State (8:05PM CSN-Northwest) Bob Akamian, Rashad Floyd
Utah @ BYU (9PM ESPN2) Mark Jones, Ed Cunningham, Jessica Mendoza
North Dakota at Fresno State (10 PM ESPN3) Trey Bender, Jay Taylor
Hawai'i at UNLV (10PM The Mtn./CBS Sports Network) Bill Doleman, Jay Leeuwenburg, Molly Sullivan
#8 Oklahoma State @ Tulsa (10PM FSN) Ron Thulin, JC Pearson, Jeremy Bloom
#6 Stanford @ Arizona (10:45 ESPN) Carter Blackburn, Brock Huard, Shelley Smithk

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