College Basketball in June?

If you're going through Lavinburger deprivation like I am you need to turn on ESPNU and hope to get lucky with a Brent and Steve announced game. At 2am on Sunday morning Brent and Steve were announcing last year's Stanford vs Arizona game. I miss college basketball so much. It made my day to hear the ESPN college basketball music. Summer is not a good season for sports. Anyway, it seemed like Brent and Steve were going to be good, serious announcers for this game since Erin andrews wasn't around, but they were definitely drunk and ridiculous.

Highlights of the game:

Remember the Kelvin Sampson scandal at Indiana? This game took place soon after news was released about it and Brent and Steve talked about it for a while. They thought Sampson would get away with the infractions. Wow, Brent and Steve really know their stuff. Brent said he's putting Steve's name in for the Indiana job if Sampson does get fired. I wonder if Steve was actually considered for the job. It would have been tragic for my college basketball viewing pleasure (and this blog) if he did leave the Lavinburger team. Anyone have any ideas on who Brent would would be teamed up with if
Steve ever left? And if you're wondering why Brent was going to put Steve's name in for the Indiana job, it's not because Lavin used to be a coach, it's because he doesn't use his cell phone a lot.

Apparently Lavinburger was intrigued by the ESPN bottom line. Brent is the human ticker according to Steve. Whenever he needs a score Brent has it (I find that hard to believe because most of the time Brent doesn't even know the score of the game he is announcing).

In a close game nearing halftime Brent and Steve are talking about where they ate dinner last night:
"You went to Italian in Tucson, what's wrong with you Lavin?" - Brent

Brent talking about Brook Lopez:
"You can't coach 7 foot. You know that cliche. TIMEOUT!"
(I don't get it and I'm not surprised. I would be worried if I did understand something Brent said)
(Brent loves saying ridiculous things before the timeout commercial. And he always says "TIMEOUT" right before the commercial)

"Coming down to money time now. That 5 minute mark." - Brent

Brent and Steve went ridiculous about a foul at 5:27 left. Steve was talking about water buffaloes (I remember him comparing people to water buffaloes in another game too). Brent was yelling at Lav. I tried to remember what they said but it was too crazy for me to remember.

College basketball in the summer, best thing ever.
Thank you ESPNU

Steve Lavin Finally Getting Some Work

The NBA Draft is coming up and apparently Steve Lavin is an ESPN NBA expert. Today, Steve was part of a panel that answered questions submitted by fans, and he will be at it again tomorrow at 1 on ESPN. If you want to ask Steve a question about the NBA draft, you can do so here. Steve will be working the actual draft day too, on ESPN radio. How are people supposed to see Steve's amazing hair if he's on radio? Poor planning on ESPN's part....bush league.

Lavinburger Has Some Competition

ESPN baseball announcer Rick Sutcliffe made comments about Erin Andrews during last night's Cubs/Braves that made Brent and Steve seem like perfect gentlemen when they are working with Erin. Here's the story and video from Awful Announcing. I imagine there must be major competition at ESPN and ABC to see who gets to work with Erin. And they all must be playing a game to see who can make the worst comments about her on air. I'm pretty sure Rick Sutcliffe is winning.

Almost as Good as a Brent Musburger Action Figure

The year was 1989 when Brent Musburger was immortalized in a football card, and thanks to eBay you can have it for $2.99! Apparently this card is #17 of a Pro Set Announcer Collection. And the seller has the nerve to imply that other announcers are more important than Brent by valuing their cards higher than his! And why would anyone want to sell a Brent Musburger trading card anyway?

Good News for Brent

He didn't make Will Leitch's (editor of Deadspin) list of the 10 worst broadcasters in sports.

Brent @ the Belmont Stakes

Watch for Brent this Saturday on ESPN and ABC as he will be hosting the Belmont Stakes with Joe Tessitore. Apparently this horse race is a big deal and ABC messed it up before.

Erin Andrews on Blog Show

This is old news by now, but here is the video of Erin Andrews being interviewed by the guys from Blog Show.
They ran into her in a Washington DC hotel when she was there for the spelling bee and got a quick interview with her. Not a very exciting interview and not really worth watching, but it's always fun to hear from one of Brent Musburger's college basketball announcing teammates. Seems like Erin is down to earth and just trying to be a normal person, although she realizes how much of an Internet sensation she has become. In the interview she tells Blog Show that the strange look she had on her face when Bruce Pearl grabbed her during a halftime interview was because she realized the clip would be all over the Internet, not because being grabbed by a scary old man in the middle of a basketball court is creepy. Actually I think the Pearl/Andrews incident will have historical consequences: these days, coaches grabbing sideline reporters is seen as just part of the job.

Brent Sighting!

The moment we've been waiting for, a Musburger appearance on a major network related to a major sport! I was going to post about Erin Andrews' interview on the Blog Show, but that will have to wait for later. Last night Brent was on ESPN's Lakers/Celtics special. Good thing we had a Brent Musburger history lesson yesterday so you all know that back in the 80's Brent was kind of a big deal at CBS, and it just so happens that CBS broadcast the NBA finals back when the Lakers/Celtics rivalry was at its best. So the ESPN host interviewed Dick Stockton, who did the play by play of those games, and also interviewed our dear friend Brent to get some insight on the finals then and now. In case you missed it, if you go to the 3:16 mark of the video here at Awful Announcing you can see Brent live from what looks like Montana. Brent made some good points and was able to be ridiculous all in a matter of about 2 minutes. Oh Brent, that's why we love you.

Brent Musburger Facts

Here's a list of interesting facts compiled from wikipedia.com and chicagotribune.com profiling our favorite announcer to keep us occupied during the football and basketball offseason:

-Born May 26, 1939 in Portland, OR
-Raised in Montana
-Went to Northwestern University for journalism
-Northwestern suspended him for a year for owning and operating a car without a license
-During that year he went to umpire school and he umpired minor league baseball
-Picture it: Manhattan, 1980. Brent gets into a fist-fight in a bar with NFL Today co-worker Jimmy the Greek
-Late 1980's - the height of Brent's stardom: Brent is involved in announcing every sport CBS covers
-Supposedly Brent invented the term "March Madness"
-2005, Lincoln, Nebraska: Brent gets ticketed for drinking beer in his car after the Nebraska-Pittsburgh game
-2006: Brent creates controversy when he reveals on air a secret signal USC's football team uses during games
-Brent has his own action figure