No Football, No Problem (Not Really)

By Brian Powell
It was a great weekend of sports for those of you who didn’t leave the house. There was a plethora of stuff to choose from including basketball, golf, tennis, the X-Games, and the NHL All-Star Game. I didn’t even notice football was gone. Okay, who am I kidding? I was miserable without Joe Buck to make fun of, but I found ways to pass the time.
The highlight of the weekend for me was watching an NBA double-header on ABC. Mike Tirico and Hubie Brown had the call of an exciting Celtics-Magic game and were almost as biased as Joe Buck and Troy Aikman (Brett Favre, The Cowboys). The two openly rooted for Boston throughout the contest, and Brown even yelled, “In your face!” when Paul Pierce made a game tying layup with 40 seconds left in the game. The two almost seemed shocked when Hedo Turkoglu hit a game winning three at the buzzer.
Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy, and Mark Jackson had the Cavs-Lakers game and the highlight of this team is the bickering that goes on between JVG and Jackson. The two will argue about anything and this game was no different. First up was Jeff Van Gundy’s proclamation that players yell after any degree of contact to draw fouls. Mark Jackson then said he was glad he brought that up because it started with Jeff Van Gundy’s Knicks and Patrick Ewing. Humorous exchange but JVG was taken aback. It ended with Van Gundy trying to make a case for players to get seven fouls a game instead of six. Mark Jackson almost lost his cool and called JVG crazy. Good times.
I also checked out the X-Games at one point but I don’t think I saw any actual events. I think I saw a loop of promos for Red Bull and the movie Jumper as well as Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson. I didn’t mind Bilson’s appearance, but the sponsorship overload was a bit much. I think the redheaded kid won something from what I saw on Sports Center.

Worst Announcing of the Weekend:
ABC’s coverage of the Celtics- Not only did Tirico and Brown (see above) slobber all over the team, but they had two halftime specials on the team from Boston. “Ray Allen’s Fave Five” and “The Return of the Celtics” took up a good fifteen of the twenty minute break in a game that Orlando led most of the contest.↵