Vitale is an emotional guy, whether he's talking about his favorite payers or his favorite coaches or his parents or his own broadcasting career. Sometimes his emotion can inspire and sometimes it can grate, but it's that approach to the game that got him into the Hall of Fame.
Former coach and current ESPN analyst Bob Knight is nothing if not a shill for any company that will pay him to endorse its product, and his latest is this Volkswagen commercial:
I have to say, it sucks, and it's a little embarrassing to watch Knight making a fool of himself like that. Awful Announcing says, "I'm all for people making as much money anyway they can, but this is a little ridiculous." And Sporting Blog says, "this new VW commercial featuring Knight is just not good. Like, at all." I agree. C'mon, Knight. You're better than that.
Anyone got a temperature reading from hell? It was totally unthinkable just a few months ago but it seems that Bobby Knight has made a full 180-degree shift from ornery basketball coach to cuddly television analyst and pitchman. Well, he's not actually cuddly but he's doing his best to challenge Dick Vitale, Chris Berman and the rest of his ESPN colleagues when it comes to spreading his seed to corporate America.
I'm not really feeling it. Doesn't Knight strike you as the type who would only ever buy an American car?
Knight's no stranger to endorsements, of course, as his increasingly NASCARish sweaters at Texas Tech made quite clear. Nor is he actually a stranger to the world of television commercials. After the jump, check out a vintage ad from the General.
Awful Announcing presents this video from ESPN's coverage of the College Slam Dunk and 3-Point Shootout Contest. The camera pans on the wife and daughter of Jimmy Dykes, who was working the event as an ESPN broadcaster, and then things get awkward:
First one of Dykes' ESPN colleagues, Brad Nessler, referred to Dykes' wife as "gorgeous." That might be crossing the line a little bit.
And then the other ESPN broadcaster, Steve Lavin, went well past the line: "Wow. That is impressive, Jimmy. That is clearly Exhibit A, B and C for one, overachieving, two, playing outside your league, and three, what do they call it, out-punting your coverage in football? I think that's what it is. Impressive"
OK, Steve, we get it. You think Dykes' wife is attractive. You can stop now.
David Letterman isn't exactly known as a company man, but he's happy to promote CBS's coverage of the NCAA Tournament with a top 10 list:
The great thing about Letterman is that he can take something as obvious and seemingly overdone as the spelling of Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski's name and make it into a funny punch line.
David Letterman was born in Indianapolis, the home of Butler University, and that may be why he's convinced that Butler deserves another chance at playing Tennessee, the team it lost to in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday:
"The Tennessee Volunteers defeated the Butler Bulldogs, 76-71," Letterman said. "Apparently, there still is some time on the clock, so they're going to run the overtime over again. They found that they had let the clock run during a timeout mistakenly, and they think there's a good chance that Butler will be back in the Tournament."
I'm not sure it works that way, but I do like the way Letterman has maintained loyalty to his Indiana teams even after working in New York for three decades. He's no fair-weather fan.
In case you didn't see it 10,000 times while watching the NCAA Tournament the last four days, here's the commercial CBS has been showing during the games to advertise the fact that Britney Spears will be a guest star on How I Met Your Mother:
Worst promo. Who's the genius behind the lame promo during CBS's coverage of the tournament Saturday and Sunday about Britney Spears' appearance on How I Met Your Mother? In the clip from tonight's episode, Spears' flirty receptionist asks Neil Patrick Harris' character if they can have sex, then go shopping. Cute. We know Hollywood loves to outrage the squares in Middle America. But there are kids watching these games.
Although I disagree with McCarthy's apparent opinion that "Hollywood" represents what's immoral about our country while "Middle America" represents what's right, I've long thought that the TV networks show inappropriate content during commercials of sporting events. The best option for parents is to change the channel when the commercials come on.
If you have watched the ACC tournament, you have been endured to this video above. It is some dude standing in a gym singing about the ACC in Charlotte.
"Wearing the colors proud-ly!"
This has been one of the worst intros in the history of intros. Not only is it grating but it sticks in your head long after the fact. My wife and I ran a few errands and I caught myself singing "representing the ACC in Charlotte". I think she wanted to slap me.
Thank god the tournament is over and that we don't have to be subjected to it again. As someone who lived most of my life in Charlotte, that song sucked beyond belief. If you live in Charlotte (which my family still does) then you weren't subjected to any of this. You got to see the WBTV broadcast of the game and ESPN was blacked out. So, watch above and get ready to cringe.
Wisconsin is having a fairly easy time of it in today's Big Ten Tournament game against Michigan, but there was one little glitch during the first half, when Badgers coach Bo Ryan got a technical foul for yelling at his own player, Brian Butch:
After Butch was out-played in the paint, Ryan got up off his chair and yelled at Butch. But referee Steve Skiles though Ryan was yelling at him, and gave him a technical foul. Here's how ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews explained it:
"Bo Ryan was screaming to Brian Butch, 'Be strong. Stay strong inside.' Skiles thought he was talking to him, and when he came over and explained it to Bo Ryan, he said, 'It wasn't what you said, it was the fact that you stomped your foot.'"
ESPN announcer Steve Lavin said, "That must be a new amendment to the rulebook, no stomping of the feet. We're never going to get through a game if that becomes a rule."
If Ryan actually stepped foot onto the floor while play was in progress, I could understand giving him a technical for that. But if the technical was just for stomping his foot while yelling something to one of his players, well, that's pretty dumb.
ESPN college basketball analyst 
