This week can go away. Next year, during this week, I’m not leaving the house. I have had a shitty week topped off with a dead battery on Monday and Wednesday, followed up with a flat tire on Thursday. I really contemplated not coming into work today and just staying in my room until the beginning of March. To my surprise, there are at least 3 other people having a worse week than I am…
People can agree that Tony Kornheiser is having a bad week, but I don’t think I would be one of those people. He made comments about Hannah Storm’s outfit on Sports Center and got suspended for it. For Tony, he got to speak his mind and get a vacation while doing so. That is what I call a win-win. His comments were spot on about her outfit and it’s about time someone stepped up and called her out. The other women of ESPN, though some gorgeous, don’t flaunt what they got on the air. They report sports. They want to be taken seriously so they dress accordingly. For Hannah Storm, it seems as though she wants to be the coolest kid in high school rather than a respected ESPN Anchor. Now, I am all for showing a little what what once and a while, but maybe Hannah can leave a little more to the imagination next time. Also, maybe she can retire those high leather boots for her moonlighting job. Just speculation there.
Speaking of ESPN… Scott Van Pelt is having a pretty rough week too and probably just wants to pack it in until March as well. Earlier in the week he was had by Captain Janks from Howard Stern’s radio show when he called into ESPN as Brian Westbrook. Unbeknownst to ESPN, they patched the call through to Scott Van Pelt, live on the air. It started out normal, as you can hear above, but as soon as you hear the words “Howard Stern” Scott Van Pelt just gets a grin on his face and he knows exactly what is going on. I give credit to both him and Steve Levy as they made a few jokes and moved right along. Jimmy Traina of SI.com got the reaction from the man himself.
“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.”
Scott’s a good sport. Unfortunately that wasn’t where his week ended but more of a jumping off point. Last night on SportsCenter Van Peezy thought he took the show to commercial when he went to speak, but his microphone was still on and the show was still on air. What is heard in the below video is Van Pelt dropping the F-bomb right before they go to commercial. Personally, I couldn’t care less and I wouldn’t be surprised that if someone watching SportsCenter completely missed that. It was an accident and it wasn’t directed at anyone in particular. If you look at the track record of Scott Van Pelt you aren’t going to see many speed bumps, if any. The man is highly respected and valuable at ESPN, just as Kornheiser. Scott also does his radio show on ESPN everyday so the guy is under a lot of pressure. It was an honest mistake and no penalty or punishment should be handed out.
The third person in this shitty week triumvirate is Purdue Basketball’s Robbie Hummel. Hummel is the heart and soul of the Boilermakers team this season and led them to a 24-3 start. Unfortunately for Hummel, he tore his ACL on Wednesday against the Golden Gophers. Hummel is now done for the season and will have to watch his team from the bench. This puts the #3 Purdue Boilermakers in a serious situation. On the line, with three games left in their regular season, is the regular season Big Ten Championship. The Ohio State Buckeyes are only a half game behind them and Purdue has a showdown with a mighty Michigan State team that is looking to avenge an earlier season loss. Also on the line is their number 1 seeding in the NCAA Tournament. The pressure will surely been on the Boilermakers these last few weeks of the season. If they slip up they may see the Buckeyes take the regular season crown and their seeding in the Tournament fall quickly.
I think the winner in the shitty week competition would have to be Hummel. The Boilermakers are left standing around with a “what the f*ck” look on their face and their futures in doubt. As for the other two, I would say that the amount of shit they are receiving is because of the lack of news in the sports world this week. The only thing to talk about really is the NFL Combine because, let’s be honest, no one cares about the Winter Olympics. But even the Combine, as the guys over at Waiting For Next Year pointed out, may not be all that important. So, as I sit back and reflect on this last week of February and think about exactly how much crapped got dumped on me, I guess it could be worse. I could have everything that has happened to me smeared across ESPN and the Blogosphere…Although, if they were to do so with a big Thunder Treats logo included, then I might not be all that mad.
Here’s to March…Get here…Now.
