Brent and Steve Back Together for the Big Ten Tournament

LavinBurger is back together with Erin Andrews today and tomorrow while announcing the Big Ten tournament. We'll get 3 chances to see them in action:
Thursday at 2:30
Friday at 1
Friday at 2
The Big Ten tournament will finish on Saturday and Sunday on CBS.

Beware the Spartans Come the Tournaments of March

-Brent Musburger: Master of the English language

Tuesday's game was a matchup of the best and worst teams in the Big Ten, but it was worth watching since Indiana was within 2 with 3 minutes left. According to Steve, the Hoosiers refused to go quietly into the night.

Brent and Steve were very calm, could it be because Erin Andrews wasn’t around?
Also, everyone who is fast is a “beep beeper” to Steve, as in they are roadrunners.
And everything is always old-fashioned to Steve.

Final: Michigan State 64, Indiana 59

Smashmouth. Basketball.

The Big Ten is known for its rough style of play (smashmouth according to Steve) and tonight's game between Michigan and Michigan State was no exception. Brent and Steve were even comparing Big Ten basketball to hockey.

"It's a different game my friend" - Brent
"Well, it get's pretty fiesty on the floor" - Steve

And then later on Brent says: "We're at a Big Ten game and a hockey game broke out."

Other quotes of the night:

"Splendid work" - Brent

"He takes the croutons that fall off the rim and makes a meal of it" - Steve

Adventures in sideline reporting:
Brent and Steve send it down to Erin, who reports that a player from Michigan just threw up in a garbage can by the bench. After she sends it back to LavinBurger, Steve says with no emotion at all, "What a great story."

Michigan State wins 54-42

Brent and Steve in Mad-Town

LavinBurger was announcing from Madison, Wisconsin tonight. A night in Brent's favorite town usually means craziness by the announcing duo, but from what I saw, Brent was very subdued and professional tonight, and Steve was too.

Wisconsin ended its 6 game losing streak by beating Illinois 63 - 50.

No Brent Tonight

Dave O'Brien announced the Ohio State vs Purdue game with Steve Lavin tonight since Brent announced the Tennessee vs Oklahoma women's basketball game with Bob Knight on Monday. We'll see Brent and Steve back in action together on Thursday for Illinois vs Wisconsin.

"You Gotta Love It Here In PackerLand"

"Bring out the boxing gloves, this one's going to be tough." - Brent

Tonight's LavinBurger game was a good Big Ten match up between Purdue and Wisconsin. Wisconsin was coming off a 4 game losing streak; the 1st time the Badgers lost 4 consecutive games under Bo Ryan, and Purdue made it 5 games in a row, but Wisconsin kept the game close to the final seconds.

We got a few good Brent and Steve moments tonight, but I expected more crazy drunkenness from LavinBurger considering they were in Brent's favorite city. Apparently, Brent was hanging out in "town" all day listening to people. Brent mentioned how he heard somebody in town discussing how the Badgers are not making it to the free throw line as much as they used to, and how their opponents are getting there more. And Brent knows that Jordan Taylor is a good player because "everybody in town talks about his toughness." I would love to go to Madison on gameday and just see Brent wandering the streets.

Being in Madison for a Badger game, LavinBurger couldn't help but reminisce about the Polar Bear and the Iceman. No ice fishing this year, my friends.

"The bank is open in Madison, my friend." - Brent

I would love for Brent to describe me as a "dead-eye cold-blooded shooter" like he did to Etwaun Moore.

Later on we found out that Brent is on Mount Rushmore of Steve's mentors. That's dangerous. Steve should be more careful in picking mentors.
We also heard about how those "youngsters" really enjoyed Steve giving them a speech the night before. I guess Steve missed out on partying with Brent at the bars because he had to give a speech to the business club. That must be why Steve wasn't crazy during the game. At least he got good reviews from the business club.

Brent was really excited by the end of the game. You can tell he loves partying it up in Madtown.

64-63: Purdue over the Badgers

You Got That Right, My Friends

It seems as though Brent and Steve didn't get wasted on Saturday when they announced the Wake Forest vs Clemson game so they would have more to drink tonight for the Ohio State vs Illinois game. Lavinburger stayed in the new hotel in Champaign and Brent was excited about getting a wine guide at the hotel. This is the 2nd Super Tuesday in a row that Brent has mentioned wine.

Steve was missing Chief Illiniwek and was hoping he would come back from the dead and perform at halftime: "Hail to the chief. What better day than inauguration day."
Brent and Steve talked more about the inauguration:
"We have a new sheriff in town. Didn't you get the memo?" - Brent

"God bless America, Brent." - Brad Nessler
"You got that right." - Brent

Steve is very jealous that Bob Knight is announcing with Brent on Thursday and how much attention and promos they are getting. Poor Steve is heartbroken.
"Guess I'm on the JV, Brent." - Lav
Bob Knight is going to destroy the Lavinburger relationship!

"Pow!" - Steve

In other news, Thad Matta must have done something mean to Brent or Steve since he got neglected by Lavinburger compared to all the attention they usually give him.

Illinois beat Ohio State 67 to 49.

Barnstorming the Big Ten

It took a while for LavinBurger to warm up after the long off season, but we knew they were back in the game when Steve was singing.

"Oh this one must be a blowout. We're talking about Steve Lavin's diet." - Brent making fun of himself (perhaps unknowingly).
"If Steve Lavin wrote down everything he ate it would be like a Steven King novel." - Brent
That mention of what Steve eats came up because Brent and Steve are intrigued by Thad Matta's life (including his diet) and make sure they inform America about it.

Since it was a blowout, it's no surprise that there was no basketball talk for several minutes during the end of the game. Then Brent says, "Tom Crean is still coaching away over there." Brent acts like it is ridiculous that someone is still paying attention to the game that's going on.

As for the game, Ohio State dominated poor Indiana 77-53, but Indiana didn't look as pathetic as you would think they would.

Lavinburger Is Back Tonight

Super Tuesday is back with Brent and Steve announcing the 7pm Ohio State vs Indiana game on ESPN. Steve will be announcing Purdue vs Northwestern with Dave O'Brien on Thursday night, and Brent and Steve will be back together on Saturday for the Wake Forest vs Clemson game. Unfortunately that game will be on ESPN Full Court.

In other Brent news, the American Sportscasters Association released a list of 50 top announcers and Brent came in at 44.

Knight-burger

Interesting news comes from Awful Announcing today: Bob Knight will be announcing with Brent Musburger on Thursday nights. I share in Awful Announcing's sentiments in hoping that this does not cause problems in the Brent and Steve announcing relationship. I just don't see a Musburger-Knight announcing pairing working very well though. We'll see how it goes...it doesn't seem like Knight will appreciate Brent's drunkenness. At least we still have Lavinburger for the Big Ten games on Tuesday nights.

Primetime Brent

The big game of the weekend is #5 Ohio State @ #1 USC and who else would be announcing besides Brent Musburger? Brent will be joined by the same team as the previous two weeks. One change is that Erin Andrews will also be sideline reporting the Thursday night game (North Carolina @ Rutgers). Something I've noticed: Football games last longer than basketball games, but Brent manages to say a lot more ridiculous things while announcing basketball. I think Steve Lavin is a huge factor in instigating Brent's insanity; therefore, let Steve call a football game with Brent! I don't care how little Steve knows about football. Here's Awful Announcing's college football announcing schedule.

The Excitement Is Building

The college football season starts tonight, but here at BrentWatch we could care less about that. The real party starts on Saturday night at 8! While we’d rather see Brent sitting courtside with his pal Steve Lavin after spending the previous night partying in one of the Big Ten’s college towns, the return of Brent to the primetime sports world is always an event to be celebrated, so don’t forget to print out a copy of one of the two versions of the Brent Musburger Drinking Game in the links section. And don’t forget to check back on Saturday night for quotes from the game in case you missed them.

Update: According to this map I will not be enjoying a Brent announced game on Saturday night. I will have to try my best to find some good Brent quotes anyway.

Does Brent Save His Best Stuff for Primetime?

Brent just finished up his summer announcing duties with the conclusion of the Little League World Series on Sunday, and now is getting ready for ABC Saturday night college football. Ever since college basketball season ended, Brent has spent time announcing some MLB games, racing events, the Belmont Stakes, and a few Little League World Series games. Brent even made an appearance emceeing the Big Ten Luncheon. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to watch all of those events, and I’m not really interested in watching them either (even though Brent’s announcing is enough to make them appealing), but it seems like Brent’s summer has been lacking in insanity. Maybe there have been some crazy Brent moments, but because these are not high profile sports I haven’t heard about any Musburger shenanigans. However, I have a theory: Brent saves his best moments of ridiculousness for when the majority of America is listening to him. Brent knows how much attention he gets with college football and basketball and he takes advantage of the spotlight being on him. A counter theory to this would be that Brent performs worse (i.e. he messes up and makes a fool of himself) when the pressure is on. Another possibility is that his craziness is amplified and encouraged by his announcing partners, be it Steve Lavin, Erin Andrews, or Kirk Herbstreit. I find this last theory particularly convincing. I don’t think you can have a proper Musburger without a little Lavin on the side.

Steve Lavin to 2012!

The LA Times has reported that Steve Lavin has signed a contract with ABC/ESPN which puts him at the announcer's table until 2012. Hopefully this means Brent will be around at that long too. Speaking of Brent, apparently Steve considers him a mentor. I think Brent should train Steve to take over the role of insane announcer when Brent inevitably retires. Steve is already on the right path and has shown he has the natural talent to compete with Brent's hilarity. Steve can only get more insane as he gets older.

From the LA Times article: Steve's preseason top 5
1 North Carolina
2 UCLA
3 Louisville
4 Pittsburgh
5 Tennessee

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 Update

Steve hasn't been up to much since basketball ended, not even announcing NASCAR or the spelling bee. A Steve Lavin search on Wikipedia led me to some insight on what Steve does during the off season. According to Wikipedia (the ultimate source of knowledge), Steve speaks at many events throughout the country for businesses and schools. Apparently he knows a lot about communication, motivation, management, recruiting, and leadership. In fact, Steve will be in Brent's favorite city in Big Ten country, Madison, WI, this Saturday speaking at a coaches for cancer event. The headline for The Capital Times' article about this event is hilarious. "Behind the Mike: Lavin 'inculcates' viewers with hipness." Reading the article, it's obvious that the people of Madison are in awe of Lav's vocabulary. It is a sad day in Wisconsin when Steve Lavin is considered "hip."

I wonder if Brent will tag along and spend the weekend in his favorite Madison bars?

Big Ten/ACC Challenge Only 6 Months Away

Since Brent and Steve have been living on the down low the past few months, and probably will be missing in action until college football season starts, there isn't much to talk about here. So let's look forward to the best college basketball conference "challenge." The 10th annual Big Ten/ACC challenge will take place December 1-3. Here are the matchups:

Wisconsin @ Virginia Tech
Duke@ Purdue
Clemson @ Illinois
Ohio State @ Miami
Virginia @ Minnesota
Iowa @ Boston College
North Carolina @ Michigan State
Indiana @ Wake Forest
Michigan @ Maryland
Florida State @ Northwestern
Penn State @ Georgia Tech

LavinBurger: Where Are They Now?

We haven't heard anything from the LavinBurger crew since the Big Ten tournament with the exception of a few Steve Lavin appearances on those ESPN college basketball shows. But today was opening day for baseball and Brent and Erin were both on the job. Brent was working in Chicago and Erin was in California working as the "sideline" reporter. Too bad they aren't a team for baseball too.

Here's a little Brent/Steve craziness from the Big Ten tournament that you might have missed to help you get through these LavinBurger-less times.

"It's Madness Folks"

I think Brent was referring to Steve's hair when he said that.
First thing Brent and Steve talk about: Steve’s hair and the lack of product in it. However, I definitely care more about Steve’s hair than the game tonight. This game is so boring and meaningless I think ESPN is making Brent and Steve announce this game as punishment for being so annoying sometimes. I think ESPN's strategy backfired because Brent and Steve are happily talking about the dumbest things ever.

Big story of the night for Erin: a kid on Mount St. Mary’s lost his jersey on the way to the game. The Great Jersey Caper, according to Brent.

Here's the video of the beginning of the game where we get the first look at Steve's crazy hair. Curses to the airline that lost Steve's hair gel!

LavinBurger One More Time

Brent, Steve, and Erin are announcing the play in game tonight at 7:30 on ESPN. Mount St. Mary's vs Coppin State. I think I might watch just for the announcing. It's their last game of the basketball season :(