Monday night in Philadelphia, local sports fans were riveted by MLB opening day festivities, closely following the Phillies’ 2016 season opener at Great American Ball Park versus the Cincinnati Reds.
Wait — what? There was something else going on? Oh, right — the NCAA national championship game between Villanova and North Carolina. Maybe you’ve heard about how that one turned out.
But it’s the job of a sports department to cover the other games happening in a given evening, even if most Philadelphia fans were likely watching Villanova’s thrilling championship victory over the Tar Heels. That apparently includes most in the Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia studios. CSN Philly anchor Danny Pommells was reporting Monday night’s local sports news for the NBC 10 newscast when Kris Jenkins’ hit his buzzer-beating, game-winning three-pointer to give Villanova the national title. Check it out:
Sure, the Reds’ Billy Hamilton had a nice diving catch to rob the Phillies’ Cedric Hunter of a hit and the Phillies lost, 6-2, but — OH, THAT SHOT!
DID YOU SEE THAT? NO, BECAUSE YOU’RE DOING A LIVE REPORT. SORRY! I WILL SIT DOWN NOW.
Credit to Pommells and his professionalism for keeping his composure on camera while everyone in the studio — including that woman bouncing up and down at her desk behind him — is going crazy over Jenkins’ buzzer-beater. Or maybe Pommells didn’t quite know what was happening since he was looking at the camera and presumably had a producer or anchor talking in his ear.
Man, it’s no fun having to work during a big game. Especially when you miss one of the greatest shots in NCAA national championship game history. At least Pommells will always have this video that captured the moment.
https://twitter.com/DPommellsCSN/status/717387145837678593
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About Ian Casselberry
Ian is a writer, editor, and podcaster. You can find his work at Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He's written for Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation.