John Fanta joined NBC Sports last August after seven years with Fox Sports, and college basketball fans got a taste of the entertainment he brings to broadcasts during a Georgetown-St. John’s game Wednesday night on Peacock.
Fanta, NBC’s lead voice for Big East basketball, noted that Georgetown head coach Ed Cooley “looks like he was just told it’s 10:31 at McDonald’s and they’re out of sausage biscuits.”
“Cooley looks like he was just told it is 10:31 at McDonalds and they’re out of sausage briskets. Which, I know that feeling.”
Absolutely no one is operating on @John_Fanta’s level. 👑👑👑 pic.twitter.com/Ll7G5o1BSS
— No Escalators (@NoEscalators) March 4, 2026
That clip quickly went viral.
Ryan Hammer of the BlueBlooded college hoops podcast posted to X that he spoke to Fanta on Wednesday, with the podcast episode set to come out on Thursday. Hammer wrote, “Talked to Fanta today (30 minutes on tomorrow’s pod ep), and he said the first thing that came into his mind at this moment was the McDonald’s scene from Big Daddy. Absolutely elite pull, wasn’t scripted at all.”
Talked to Fanta today (30 minutes on tomorrow’s pod ep) & he said the first thing that came into his mind at this moment was the McDonald’s scene from Big Daddy🤣🤣🤣
Absolutely elite pull, wasn’t scripted at all https://t.co/CxME68gKKx pic.twitter.com/KRaSLQymP2
— Ryan Hammer🔨 (@ryanhammer09) March 5, 2026
That’s definitely a classic, memorable scene for anyone who has seen the Adam Sandler-led 1999 comedy, Big Daddy, but it’s pretty amazing that it helped Fanta deliver a crazy quote on the fly during a college basketball broadcast. Now we’ll have to see if he can incorporate Scuba Steve or 30 packets of ketchup into broadcasts.
In addition to being NBC’s top voice for Big East basketball, he’s also calling NBA on NBC games.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.