Funniest sportscasting moments

[Guest Redhawk]

Was anyone watching the Michigan State-Maryland game last night when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar got pissed at the other announcers? If you don't know, Kareem is likely going to become head coach at Columbia University next year. So Matt Goukas and the other guy were talking about how, basically, Columbia sucks, and Kareem was getting HEATED. One time they showed Goukas tell a joke and laugh at his own joke, and Kareem just looked at him like, "You'd better shut the fuck up." Kareem's only response was, "We'll do better!" Then he didn't say a word for like 15 minutes.

 

That just reminded me of some other funny broadcasting moments. One of my favorites was during a Broncos-Dolphins game two years ago, when the CBS guy said, (paraphrasing) "The Broncos are going to run the 3-4 blitz all day long, except for when they back off and do a 4-3 zone." So basically he said "The Broncos are going to blitz every play, except for when they don't."

 

And just earlier today, during the Villanova-Colorado women's game, one of the announcers said, "They've got the lead now, which is where [Nova's coach] likes to play from." As if there's a coach out there who's rather be losing.

 

Any more you can think of?

[Guest Bricks]

During a Duke game, they focused the camera on a woman and the announcer said, "There's Elton Brand's mom in the crowd"

 

Only thing, it wasn't! It was someone else. They finally got the camera on Elton Brand's real mom later in the game.

[Guest MillenniumMan831]

I have an NBA tape called Dazzling Dunks and Basketball Bloopers with some funny commentating mishaps. All this stuff is paraphrasing.

 

Celtic Announcer during a Celtic vs. French? Team: "Now to the guard, Operdovich, and now quickly to the big guy and now to the lefty and he loses the ball put it gets picked back up and now to the little fella. Oh boy, I'm having trouble with the names."

 

A very busty, curvy blonde is addressing the crowd as the announcer ponders: "Good gracious, could she set a pick?"

 

"Gary Stewart(making up the name), the great years in Houston . . . Jerry Reynolds, the great years in . . . well, in his dreams so far."

 

And from my hometown of Cleveland: " . . . He will report to Arizona tommorow. (Big guy walks right on by) And we'd like to thank that gentleman for walking right through our shot."

He said it so nonchalantly and almost as the guy was walking by.

 

That's all I got.

[Guest treble charged]

I remember one time during a game on Hockey Night in Canada, I think it was Steve Thomas who wound up for a slap shot and the announcer said, 'Thomas BLASTS one'. Unfortunately, Thomas' stick broke before he could follow thru on the shot and the puck just kind of dribbled off his stick.

[Guest DerangedHermit]

- Any Kinerisms

--- "All of his saves have come in relief appearances"

 

"All of the Mets road wins against the Dodgers this year occurred at Dodger Stadium."

 

"Cadillacs are down at the end of the bat."

 

"Darryl Strawberry has been voted to the Hall of Fame five years in a row."

 

"Hello, everybody. Welcome to Kiner's Corner. This is....uh. I'm...uh"

 

"He's going to be out of action the rest of his career." - about Bruce Sutter

 

"If Casey Stengel were alive today, he'd be spinning in his grave."

 

"I think one of the most difficult things for anyone who's played baseball is to accept the fact that maybe the players today are playing just as well as ever."

 

"It's like watching Mario Andretti park a car." - on Phil Niekro's knuckleball

 

"Jose DeLeon on his career has seventy-three wins and one-hundred and five rbi's."

 

"Kevin McReynolds stops at third and he scores."

 

"Now up to bat for the Mets is Gary Cooper."

 

"On Fathers Day, we again wish you all happy birthday."

 

"Solo homers usually come with no one on base."

 

"Sutton lost thirteen games in a row without winning a ballgame."

 

"The hall of fame ceremonies are on the thirty-first and thirty-second of July."

 

"The Mets have gotten their leadoff batter on only once this inning."

 

"The reason the Mets have played so well at Shea this year is they have the best home record in baseball."

 

"This one deep to right and it is way back, going, going, it is gone, no off of the top of the wall."

 

"There's a lot of heredity in that family."

 

"Tony Gwynn was named player of the year for April."

 

"Two-thirds of the earth is covered by water. The other third is covered by Garry Maddox."

 

"You know what they say about Chicago. If you don't like the weather, wait fifteen minutes."

 

"He had a great season for the Rockies, last year, for a few games."

 

"He [Andujar Cedeno] swings. And he is hit by a pitch. And it is hit over the wall and out of here for a home run."

 

"...and here's the Expos' first-baseman, Andres Gagga-ragga."

 

"...and the final score, Mets 3, Mets 2."

 

"...now a word from Manufactor's Hangover."

 

"They sell 5,000 standing room only SEATS for every game."

 

"...now a word from American Cyanide." (company was American Cyanamid)

 

- Charley Steiner laughing at a clip of Carl Lewis' rendition of the national anthem

[Guest Redhawk]

I actually still have Dazzling Dunks and Basketball Bloopers. Frank Layden is absolutely horrible on there. My only hope is that he was trying to be unfunny.

 

Anyway, I liked when Bill Walton worked for NBC and he and Snapper Jones would always get into it. One memorable exchange was during the playoffs a couple years ago. In the fourth quarter Walton was busy praising someone, and Jones says, "I thought you said before that he wasn't that good." Walton got super-defensive, and you could almost tell they were about to fight.

 

Here's a fresh one: Marquette is putting the beatdown on Kentucky, and the play-by-play guy goes, "I hope [Dwyane Wade] likes Cajun food," and Bill Rafferty yells, "JUMBALAYA!"

 

Also, during the NBA All-Star break, TNT has a knack for putting one some of the worst interviews ever. My favorite was when Cheryl Miller interviewed Peja Stojakovic during the 3-point contest last year and he basically no-sold all her questions.

[Guest CanadianChris]

Murray Walker (former announcer of Formula 1 races on ITV) was and forever will be the king of the unintentionally funny sportscasting moment. Here's just a sampling:

 

"He's obviously gone in for a wheel change. I say obviously because I can't see it"

 

"With half the race gone, there is half the race still togo"

 

"Do my eyes deceive me, or is Senna's Lotus sounding rough?"

 

"Anything happens in Grand Prix racing and it usually does"

 

"Alboreto has dropped back up to fifth place"

 

"As you look at the first four, the significant thing is that Alboreto is 5th"

 

"I can't imagine what kind of problem Senna has. I imagine it must be some sort of grip problem"

 

"He is shedding buckets of adrenalin in that car"

 

"It's raining and the track is wet"

 

"And there's just a few more corners for Nigel Mansell to go to win the Canadian Grand Prix...and...he's going rather slow....HE'S STOPPING HE'S STOPPING!"

 

"and this is the third placed car about to lap the second placed car"

 

"...the lead is now 6.9 seconds. In fact it's just under 7 seconds"

 

"Tambay's hopes, which were nil before, are absolutely zero now."

 

'Nigel Mansell had a problem with the wheel-nut on his Williams, then he went on to win brilliantly for Ferrari!'

 

"And that just shows you how important the car is in Formula One racing"

 

"And he's done that in a whisker under 10 seconds, call it 9.7 in round figures".

 

"Into lap 53, the penultimate last lap but one"

 

"He (Jackie Stewart) will not produce a winner, but if he can produce second, it will be the next best thing."

 

"And Panis is almost literally laughing his head of in that car."

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Harry Caray had many memorable lines.

 

You know Steve..Sammy Sosa's last name spelled backwards is Asos.

[Guest ISportsFan]

Harry Caray had many memorable lines.

 

You know Steve..Sammy Sosa's last name spelled backwards is Asos.

"Hey Arnie.

 

If you were a hot dog, and you were starving to death, would you eat yourself?

 

I think I'd go good with mustard and relish!"

 

Harry Caray was a weird guy.

 

Jason

[Guest DerangedHermit]

More Kinerisms:

 

"This will go down in history as the game where the pitchers have the most initials." - when Jason Isringhausen was facing Todd Stottlemyre

 

"The Mets are winless in the month of Atlanta"

 

"His body was found under the Falls, obviously dead." -- mentioning Hall of Famer Ed Delahanty's July 1903 demise in Niagara Falls

 

"George Shinn. He's the owner of the Charlotte Harlots basketball team."

[Guest Redhawk]

One of the Mariners' announcers is a real dumbass (I think it's Rick Rizz -- anyone who lives in Seattle might be able to clarify). His classic goof-up is to misjudge home runs. He'll be like, "DEEP FLY BALL, WAAAY BACK TO LEFT-CENTER.......caught just before the warning track."

 

Does anyone remember when Eric Dickerson was the sideline reporter for Monday Night Football? I heard he was really horrible, but I was always working Monday night that year and was never able to hear him (We'd have the game on at my job but the sound was never on).

[Guest GeneMean]

Harry Caray ruled!

 

I used to have this great wav of him going, "High pop fly ..... aw that wouldn't be a homerun in a phone booth!"

[Guest Vern Gagne]

I love when an announcer says something wrong, and than tells us. The officials are know calling it a foul ball. I guess it was a HR at one point.

[Guest alkeiper]

"There's a fly to deep center field. Winfield is going back, back. He hits his head against the wall. It's rolling towards second base."

 

-Jerry Coleman

[Guest MaxPower27]

As pretty much the only person that actually watches Florida Panthers games, I have to say that Denis Potvin comes up with some of the goofiest and funniest things.

 

I can't remember who they were playing but a guy on the Panthers got called for boarding. Potvin was calling it a 'bad call by the officials, they should be ashamed of themselves.' Then, they showed the replay, and the opponent's head slams into the boards, a result of a vicious hit from behind, an obvious boarding call. All off a sudden, you hear Potvin say is 'Jesus, I guess it was a good call!' Just the way that he said made me almost spit my coke out.

[Guest DerangedHermit]

For the Ranger fans out there, it's funny how John Davidson and Sam Rosen have always called Alexei KovalEV Alexei KovalAHV.

[Guest iamsherm]

"Hey Arnie.

 

If you were a hot dog, and you were starving to death, would you eat yourself?

 

I think I'd go good with mustard and relish!"

Wait, Harry Caray never actually said that did he? I thought that was just a gross exaggeration by Will Ferrell?

 

God damn I miss Harry Caray.

[Guest iamsherm]

A Tribute To Harry Caray

 

I found this page listed on Yahoo. Among other things, it's got that homerun in a phonebooth clip (.au, not .wav) and some funny commercials he did for the Cubs and Budweiser.

[Guest ISportsFan]

"Hey Arnie.

 

If you were a hot dog, and you were starving to death, would you eat yourself?

 

I think I'd go good with mustard and relish!"

 

Wait, Harry Caray never actually said that did he?

 

I thought that was just a gross exaggeration by Will Ferrell?

I don't know if he ever actually said that.

 

But it's funny regardless.

 

Jason

[Guest Rob Van Dam]

Also, during the NBA All-Star break, TNT has a knack for putting one some of the worst interviews ever. My favorite was when Cheryl Miller interviewed Peja Stojakovic during the 3-point contest last year and he basically no-sold all her questions.

I remember that, thats one of the reasons i hate sacremento and Peja

[Guest the pinjockey]

"Anything happens in Grand Prix racing and it usually does"

 

"He is shedding buckets of adrenalin in that car"

 

"It's raining and the track is wet"

I remember for the first Formula 1 game for the PS1 they used these lines and would just loop them over and over.

 

Here is a story from Harry Kalas' HOF speech about Richie Ashburn that I like (not unintentional funny, but intended funny):

And he paid homage to his partner one more time during his speech, with a hilarious story about how Ashburn, on nights the games dragged a little long, used to wonder aloud on air "if the people from Celebre's Pizza are listening."

 

 

"And sure enough," Kalas said. "Fifteen minutes later, we'd have pizzas being delivered up to the booth."

 

 

But after this had gone on awhile, Kalas reported, Ashburn was called into the office and reminded that Celebre's Pizza wasn't a sponsor, so he couldn't keep plugging them for free. It was OK to do birthdays and anniversaries, but no more free plugs.

 

 

A few days later, though, another Phillies game refused to end. So Ashburn abruptly delivered an unexpected birthday greeting.

 

 

"I'd like to send out very special birthday wishes tonight," he said, "to the Celebre's twins -- Plain and Pepperoni."

[Guest MillenniumMan831]

During NBA All Star Weekend, they were having a 3-on-3 Legends/Celeb/WNBA game, and Magic Johnson was driving to the basket causing Danny Ainge to say:

 

"I'm surprised they didn't call 3 seconds on that one!"

 

Later, he added, "This is the best Magic has ever boxed out."

[Guest Lethargic]

Triple H's color commentary - "I may be bi a lot of things but I'm not bi-lingual."

 

It's not a sport thing but it was damn funny anyway. I've never heard anybody try to say something to make themselves look cool but end up saying something so horribly wrong.

[Guest Slingshot Suplex]

From a technical standpoint,I don't know if this applies but it was recent and I laughed.

 

After the Wings whacked the Blues 6-2 this past Saturday,the very first caller on the Blues' postgame radio show was bitching about St Louis' radio play by play guy. He was griping because the guy wasn't biased enough towards the Blues in his broadcasting. He didn't want to hear things like "Great save by Legace" or crediting how well the Wings play from a home team announcer and was actually calling for the guy to be fired.

 

Unfortunately,I couldn't hear the response from the post game guys very well because I was just getting out of broadcast range right about the time the post game was beginning. What I could pick up on,it sounded like one guy was agreeing with him for the most part and the other explained something about not being a credible announcer without some degree of impartiality.

[Gert T 0]

The first Lakers-Rockets game this year, in the third qurter Bill Walton said that Eddie Griffin and James Posey took two of the worst shots in Rockets franchise history, which got a groan from Tolbert.

 

Later in the game Maurice Taylor took a 20 footer that hit the side of the rim:

 

Tolbert: "Where does that rank under worst Rockets shot?

 

Walton: "Very Competitive"

[Guest Mindless_Aggression]

Bill Walton is such an awesome commentator...

 

"Michael Jordon throws up a fuckin awful underhand scoop fadeaway the fuck was he thinking type of shot and airballs completely*

 

Walton: He's gonna get that to fall 9 out of 10 times!

 

*Next posession for the Bulls, Kukoc strokes a wide open 15 footer*

 

Walton: It went but yikes, what horrible execution and shot selection by Tony.

[Guest Redhawk]

Derek Fisher hits a spinning reverse layup

Bill Walton: "What was THAT? Fisher's lucky he got that to go."

 

Kobe Bryant hits an ordinary jumper

Walton: "Kobe's just so good!"

[Guest Polish_Rifle]

The greatest moment was towards the end of Chick Hearn's career when he would say something to the effect of:

 

"Kobe dribbles down the floor, he passes to Worthy, Worthy to Wilt, back out to Fisher, Fisher looks to Magic, Samaki Walker sets a screen, Cooper down the lane, SLAM DUNK!"

[Guest Lethargic]

Anything Walton says that ends with "...in the history of the NBA" or "...in the history of basketball" is usually pretty good.

 

Last Sunday, they go to the Kings/76ers game already in progress. Score is 8 to 7 or something like that and he goes "If you're just now joining us you have missed some of the greatest basketball in the history of the NBA!"

[Guest WhenDanSaysJump]

Murray Walker... oh God, Formula One just hasn't been the same since the senile old duffer retired.