SportsCenter Gets Prank Called. ‘Hi YouTube.’

I don’t watch SportsCenter very often, but in the wake of watching Florida’s second-half throttling of Tennessee, I left it on last night. Lucky me, I guess: I caught an edition that was destined to be blog fodder from the opening line. Scott Van Pelt guaranteed that by beginning the show with “This is SportsCenter, and we’re wearing pants,” a sly nod to the Tony Kornheiser-Hannah Storm kerfuffle and the sort of clever “I read blogs” reference that Van Pelt is prone to make from time to time.↵↵Unfortunately, he might have jinxed the show. What followed with a prank caller posing as Brian Westbrook was less creative and more cringe-worthy.↵

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↵↵That quote, from a voice that sounds very different from Brian Westbrook’s:↵

↵↵⇥“You know, I love Philadelphia, I love being a part of this football organization. I will miss being here, you know, I’ve been here for many years. I’ve made many friends off and on the field. I have nothing but respect for head coach Andy Reid. And I look forward to a future of worshiping the prostate of Howard Stern.”↵↵↵Van Pelt’s response: “Oh, boy, we got that, huh? So that, so that worked out well. Hi YouTube.” ↵

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I don’t know exactly how this particular hoax was perpetrated -- it’s worth noting that ESPN’s been pranked by fake calls before, including once by a Howard Stern listener pretending to be Steve Bartman, and that this happens to C-SPAN all the time -- but I’ll bet the producer who didn’t certify that it was Westbrook on the phone is going to be on the other end of a tongue-lashing from someone in Bristol.↵↵Congrats, ESPN: even after pulling Blog Buzz from SportsCenter, SportsCenter has managed to get blog buzz.↵

↵↵Update: Van Pelt talked to Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina about the mishap. “Many of the most respected anchors in the business, folks far more respected than me, have been on the wrong end of Howard’s loyal following. Here’s a little-known fact. I was on the receiving end [of a prank call] back in the day at The Golf Channel. So, I believe this places me in rarified air. How many people have twice on live TV heard the dreaded words ‘Howard Stern’? I’m just bummed that my ‘Hi, YouTube’ comment was not caught on camera, because I knew that’s where this moment was headed.”↵

↵↵(Video via FanHouse.)↵

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