Now that the weekend is upon us, we are thankfully finished with Chris Berman announcing the US Open for another year.  It's probably a good thing that Berman doesn't get on the internet or have much knowledge of Twitter, or else he may have this reaction to our Real Tweets compilation...



But alas, with the nightmarish combination of Berman and the US Open behind us, my mind got to wandering... what would be the worst possible marriage of announcer and sporting event?  Boomer at one of golf's majors is certainly near the top of the list in terms of awful, random, and bizarre matches... but what are some other announcing assignments that would equal or surpass what we've seen and heard the last two days?  Like we did with our fantasy Spelling Bee announce teams earlier this month, we reached out to our tweeps for some creative and inspired choices and as always, you delivered.  Dick Vitale at the Masters, John Clayton at the World's Strongest Man, and Vin Scully calling a UFC fight are only a few of the imaginative selections sent to the AA Twitter inbox.  As always, these are Real Tweets from Real People...

psicher John Clayton hosting Worlds Strongest Man 
Baroque97 Don Cherry and a cheerleading competition.
JimPap Doc Emrick & tennis
NOTSportsCenter Gus Johnson & The World Series of Poker
djstevem John Sterling calling the Little League World Series "...and Jaaaapaaan wins.."
courtgolf Dick Vitale at Wimbledon
sdavis1980 Mark Jackson at the World Series of Poker
highwayman394 Bill Maas and tractor racing.

RoneFace Marv Albert and figure skating.
Dascenzo Scott Hamilton and March Madness.
GeneInMalvern That soccer guy who screams "goooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal" announcing the Masters
JagsFan93 Pierre McGuire and Horse Racing
JimMckaySaidSo brace yourself for this one: bill walton for Isner Mahut rematch.
BravesAndBirds Dick Vitale calling the Masters. The only way that Hootie Johnson would be sympathetic.
philiptang77 pam ward doing autoracing she would be about 3 laps behind

AHubb71 john madden and the ncaa volleyball final four
grantjess Jenn Sterger and anything. Or John Madden and World Series of Poker
mr_anderson_99 joe theismann and olympic curling
Ramblin1963 - Jack Edwards and UFC: "Mine eyes have seen the gory!"
mhfight Charles Barkley - Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest
matt_08 Hawk Harrelson and softball. SHE GAWN!
psicher Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless hosting the World Chess Championships
sportthink  Vin Scully and UFC

And then, there were tweets sent into us that weren't fantasy announcer/sporting event pairings, but actually ones that are quite real.  Yes, meaning the worst possible announcing assignments imaginable are indeed reality.  With some of these reminders, I might have to agree...

jon_ard Chris Berman and anything ever broadcasted
brianhowie Matt Millen and the NFL Draft. Oh, wait...
Dascenzo Chris Myers (or Rose) NFL.
mr_anderson_99 pam ward and anything she does.
odonnelltw emmitt smith and, well, just about anything where the audience has an IQ > a rock.
robrosson Mike Greenberg calling the NFL or Chris Berman doing baseball
marksaenz3 Pam Ward and college football...oh wait...
Aaron_Torres Tim McCarver and Baseball
JamieDupler mark may. Period

And finally, you knew there just had to be a section entirely devoted to Joe Buck...

tcopain Joe Buck and overtime playoff hockey.
JPGuerette Joe Buck/Tim McCarver and anything. Literally- anything.
Jearly84 Joe Buck and ANYTHING.
Curtos07 Joe Buck: Baseball and Football.
tvsportsratings Joe Buck and the World Series....oh, wait
polychester Joe Buck announcing first round games of March Madness
JimPap Joe Buck & World's Strongest Man

What are your nightmare announcing scenarios that our tweeps might have missed?  Pam Ward calling the Super Bowl?  Dick Enberg and Dick Stockton at the Running of the Bulls?  Harry Caray announcing the World Cup?  Let us know your choices in the comments below! 

So the MoneyBall trailer has been released featuring Brad Pitt as Oakland A's GM Billy Beane.  Apparently the full story of Beane's time in charge of the Athletics won't be told until Hollywood is allowed its take.  The entire MoneyBall era (which has still brought ZERO championships by the way to Oakland while other smaller market teams have found similar if not greater success) seems like more myth than reality at this point.  The sabermetric debate seems so tired in 2011 with the only interested parties being the most hardcore of stat geeks and the most stubborn of traditionalist dinasours (see Joe Morgan). Will the release of Moneyball: The Movie only stir the debate again?  Hopefully not.

Here's also hoping Hollywood doesn't take too much of a dramatic license by giving the A's some sort of dramatic World Series victory in Game 7 with an infield single by Eric Chavez.  Unfortunately, the trailer looks headed for an overly dramatic resolution.  The movie already looks like it wants to combine the comedy of Major League, the underdog story of Hoosiers, and the genius of A Beautiful Mind.  Having lived through the real thing, forgive me if I'm not reserving my seat at the local cinema.  For a true understanding of how Billy Beane has truly influenced the way teams are built in today's MLB, stick to the outstanding book by Michael Lewis.  For an overdone drama presenting Beane as baseball's revolutionary, witty, handsome, and courageous messiah, by all means check out the movie later this year. 

By the way, Billy Beane's Oakland A's currently sit in last place in the AL West 10 games below .500.

Who's back you might ask?

Someone that is so legendary in the annals of Awful Announcing and the sports blogosphere, that we commemorate his contributions to the sporting media via immortalization on the Mount Rushmore of Awful Announcing.  After what seemed like an eternity away from the airwaves, this man has returned...


Joe Morgan is back folks!  The former ESPN Sunday Night Baseball analyst and scorn of intelligentsia will be the new host of... prepare yourself... The Joe Morgan Show, an hour long daily sports show covering all topics in the world of sports.  For those of you out there that have longed to hear Joe's thoughts on the 3-4 defense, LeBron James, and the offside trap, your wish has finally come true!  Before you get too excited (worried), The Joe Morgan Show will be syndicated from Sports USA Radio, which is an "independent national syndicator of sporting events."  In other words, you will probably have to work hard to actually find The Joe Morgan Show (the network currently has 111 followers for its Twitter account).  Here's some details and a quote from the man himself from the Sports USA Radio release...

Sports USA is pleased to announce the debut of “The Joe Morgan Show” on August 22.  The one-hour show will be hosted by baseball Hall of Famer and Emmy Award winning analyst Joe Morgan. Airing Monday through Friday year-round, the show will feature conversations, opinions and news from every corner of the sports world.

“While I’m best known for baseball, I’ve always had a love of all sports,” said Joe Morgan.  “I’m fortunate that my career has allowed me to meet some of the most amazing people, and I have heard so many remarkable stories.  With my new show, I am looking forward to sharing these stories, as well as speaking with today’s sports personalities and newsmakers.”

This is just too good to be true.  There are a couple other sentences in the press release that are just laugh out loud funny, referencing Joe's "overall knowledge of sports" that "will captivate sports fans nationwide."  Also, a shout out to Joe's "extremely loyal fan base."  I wonder if they are talking about these guys.  Seriously, if you want to kill a good six to seven hours then read over Joe Morgan's ESPN chats that are worthy of placement in the Smithsonian.  And now, we'll be blessed (cursed) with that same wisdom and expertise every Monday through Friday on a limitless array of topics.  The possibilities are endless.  

Chris Berman is a polarizing figure.  On one hand, there are sports fans that wish he would just go away.  On the other hand, there are sports fans that wish he would just go away and never come back.  Berman has been an institution at ESPN since the network's earliest days, but his schtick has lost much of its luster in recent years.  Last we saw Boomer, he was having a bit of trouble with the concept of a walk off win in baseball.  Although Berman is most synonymous with the NFL and some MLB work, ESPN has also experimented with him providing play by play coverage of golf's US Open in recent years.  The results have been met with something less than worldwide acclaim.  Today, viewers took to Twitter to voice their displeasure, especially golf fans and several established golf writers included in this list.  Seems like they aren't fans of da Schwam.  As always, these are Real Tweets from Real People...

The College Baseball World Series begins Saturday at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, NE. ESPN will bring you all the action with Mike Patrick, Robin Ventura, Orel Hershiser (& Jenn Brown) being the main announcing crew. 

Here are some notes from the press release: 

-- Two of the eight qualifying teams are making consecutive College World Series appearances, including defending National Champion South Carolina and Florida. No team has won the national championship back-to-back in over five decades.

The first four matchups:
-- First-time College World Series participant Vanderbilt will take on North Carolina, playing in its fifth College World Series in the past six years.
-- Texas will play in its record 34th College World Series, taking on Florida which is making its second since 2005.
-- California, making its first College World Series appearance in 19 years, will take on Virginia, which earned its second berth in the event ever and finished the season with the best record in college baseball.
-- Champion South Carolina will take on Texas A&M, playing in its first College World Series since 1999.

Date	Time (ET)	Game	Matchups / Commentators	Network
Sat, Jun 18	2 p.m.	1	Vanderbilt vs. North Carolina Mike Patrick, Robin Ventura & Jenn Brown	ESPN HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV
	7 p.m.	2	Texas vs. Florida Dave O’Brien, Nomar Garciaparra & Kyle Peterson	ESPN HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV
Sun, Jun 19	2 p.m.	3	California vs. Virginia Mike Patrick, Robin Ventura & Jenn Brown	ESPN HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV
	7 p.m.	4	Texas A&M vs. South Carolina Dave O’Brien, Nomar Garciaparra & Kyle Peterson	ESPN2 HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV
Mon, Jun 20	2 p.m.	5	Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 Mike Patrick, Robin Ventura & Jenn Brown	ESPN HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV
	7 p.m.	6	Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 Jon Sciambi, Orel Hershiser & Kyle Peterson	ESPN2 HD/ESPN3.com
Tue, Jun 21	2 p.m.	7	Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 Jon Sciambi, Nomar Garciaparra & Jenn Brown	ESPN HD/ESPN3.com
	7 p.m.	8	Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 Mike Patrick, Orel Hershiser & Kyle Peterson	ESPN HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV
Wed, Jun 22	7 p.m.	9	Loser Game 6 vs. Winner Game 5 Jon Sciambi, Robin Ventura & Kyle Peterson	ESPN2 HD/ESPN3.com
Thu, Jun 23	7 p.m.	10	Loser Game 8 vs. Winner Game 7 Mike Patrick, Orel Hershiser & Kyle Peterson	ESPN2 HD/ESPN3.com
Fri, Jun 24	2 p.m.	11	Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 9 Jon Sciambi, Orel Hershiser, Nomar Garciaparra & Jenn Brown	ESPN HD/ESPN3.com
	7 p.m.	12	Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 10 Mike Patrick, Robin Ventura & Kyle Peterson	ESPN HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV
Sat, Jun 25	2 p.m.	13 **	If necessary Jon Sciambi, Nomar Garciaparra & Jenn Brown	ESPN HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV
	7 p.m.	14 **	If necessary Mike Patrick, Robin Ventura & Kyle Peterson	ESPN2 HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV
Mon, Jun 27	8 p.m.	1	Series Final Mike Patrick, Orel Hershiser, Robin Ventura, Kyle Peterson & Jenn Brown	ESPN HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV
Tue, Jun 28	8 p.m.	2	Series Final Mike Patrick, Orel Hershiser, Robin Ventura, Kyle Peterson & Jenn Brown	ESPN HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV
Wed, Jun 29	8 p.m.	3 *	Series Final Mike Patrick, Orel Hershiser, Robin Ventura, Kyle Peterson & Jenn Brown	ESPN HD/ESPN3.com/ ESPN Mobile TV

** If only Game 13 is necessary, it will be played at 7 p.m. on ESPN2

H/T Fangs Bites no comments

   

The Bruins and Canucks are currently playing Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.  Players on both teams have talked about leaving everything on the ice for the final game of the season.  Thankfully, so is Don Cherry, well, in his own special way.  The Hockey Night in Canada analyst either got into an accident with a floral truck on his way to the studio, or that is the most audacious suit I have ever seen.  This selection vaults to the top of the list for the most extraordinary suits ever witnessed on television.  Bravo fine sir.  Your move, Sager.  

H/T @the506  no comments

Not too long ago, some controversy broke out in the sports media world when bumbling Around the Horn "star" and Denver Post columnist Woody Paige blatantly stole a quote from John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal without attribution.  Ourand took the step of even tweeting Paige asking him about lifting a direct quote from his story.  The controversy came and went when Paige admitted to mistakenly cutting an attribution to SBJ.  However, more questions on Woody Paige and plagiarizing have come to the front thanks to the sports blogosphere's resident investigative reporter, Brooks of Sports by Brooks.  Brooks has a full all-out assault on Paige and a questionable history of Paige and plagiarism that is worth the read.  One highlight is this from Dan Le Batard during a 2009 Miami Herald chat, who Paige also allegedly plagiarized:

...his career has kind of amazed me….my friend call him woody plaige….pre-internet, during a super bowl in miami, i went to ricky jackson’s pahokee home….wrote scene…..described town….had a scene in which ricky was coming home with a big check for his family….a few days later, paige writes the same column….but he never went to the home and he just made up some bait shop and gave some black guy a quote in ridiculous black dialect

This quote is referring to articles both men wrote about Super Bowl winning 49ers LB Rickey Jackson (tough to write that as a Saints fan) in 1995.  Paige quoted Jackson's mother in Florida and referenced a bait shop to add context to his story, with most of the quotes and info similarly appearing in Le Batard's previous article.  However, a few sources Brooks mentions refute Paige's visit to see Jackson's mother or the truthfulness of "Harold's Bait Shop" that is described in Woody's article...

With the end of the NBA Finals, it's safe to say that the sports media is going overboard on LeBron James.  Of course, there was the outrage and reaction to the outrage from his Game 6 postgame press conference, the subsequent apology and reaction to the apology, and a lot of talk about LeBron needing a sports psychologist.  All the LeBron talk finally reached its saturation point with the video below - for some reason, ESPN thought that Herman Edwards giving an imaginary pep talk to James with a knockoff of The Patriot soundtrack playing in the background was a great idea.  Have a listen and be inspired...



Here's my problems with this video...

1) ESPN feeling the need to give a "pep talk" to James only gives more ammo to folks saying that their coverage has been biased towards Miami all season (cough, Heat Index, cough) although Herm has given other "pep talks" in the past.
2) What is the point of this video?
3) Herm Edwards is a football coach, not a basketball coach.
4) LeBron James is not going off to war tomorrow, as the music would imply.
5) Herm Edwards was an inspiring 54-74 in his career as a football coach.
6) Herm Edwards did not say, "YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME! in this video."
7) What is the point of this video again?

I like Herm Edwards as an analyst and as a TV personality, but an NFL analyst giving a pep talk to LeBron James is puzzling.  Was Lou Holtz not available?  Maybe Barry Melrose or Ditka can give it a try this week as well!  Let's just have every former coach on ESPN give LeBron an imaginary pep talk, now that could be entertaining.  Just imagine Digger Phelps tossing highlighters around the studio or Lee Corso using mascot heads to elicit motivation.  

Don't worry though, if you still need more LeBron, Skip Bayless is planning to say that LeBron's legacy is permanently tainted on First Take this morning.  The first three debate topics on 1st & 10 are about LeBron James.  It's not like Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals is tonight or anything... I can see all of you reaching for your remotes right now!

 

If you aren't a golf fan, you may not know the names Ben Crane, Hunter Mahan, Rickie Fowler, or Bubba Watson.  However, you probably will know them now with the release of this Youtube video that made its world premiere on the Golf Channel tonight.  The four PGA pros have teamed up as the "Golf Boys" and have released their first single and music video, "Oh Oh Oh."  The video is...well... different.  The PGA Tour boy band idea is totally off the wall and the end result is hilarious - there's plenty of ridiculous farmer tans, a man wearing full overalls, and incredibly awful golf-related lyrics.  Watch and be amazed...



It's always great to see athletes show a humorous side (yes, golfers are athletes, at least in this golfer's mind) and this video is for a good cause - Farmers Insurance has teamed with Crane and will donate $1,000 for every 100,000 views.  So, go tell your friends to watch it and let them know that there are indeed some PGA Tour pros that have some personality (for better or worse).  I really hope Watson makes the final pairing on Sunday of the US Open and breaks out the full overalls.  Crazy Youtube videos like this are a great way for the sport to get through the absence of Tiger Woods and hey, these guys have at least as much musical talent as Taylor Swift.