SEC Network announcers Tom Hart and Jordan Rodgers got stuck with a tough task early in Saturday night’s Tennessee-Kent State game.
The Volunteers somehow led 44-0 just two minutes into the second quarter. What do you talk about when the game is essentially over and there’s nothing football-related left to say?
Hart and Rodgers began an interesting but morbid discussion on dead bodies, maggots and decomposition. All in the name of science, of course.
Hart mentioned the University of Tennessee is home to the well-known “Body Farm,” officially known as the UT Anthropological Research Facility, where researchers study dead bodies.
“They are able to study the decomposition of bodies,” Hart said. “There are over 200 there at any given time. By the way, a donor waiting list of over 6,000 to donate their body to science and whether it’s NCIS or the Army, they all come to research what it looks like when the body decomposes, at various stages of burial or non-burial.”
“I think I would have liked that, I’ve watched a lot of Forensic Files,” Rodgers said. “Would you donate your body? I think they’d really love to study everything that’s going on, you know.”
“I think insects would love it,” Hart responded.
Hart went on to describe more of the center’s work, and its status as a “first-of-its-kind” facility.
Rodgers couldn’t get past the thought of Hart’s body going to science.
“What would the maggots do with your hair?” he asked. “Is there enough product in there to keep it around for a while?”
Then talk turned to how Hart had been discussing maggots the previous day … at lunch.
“I thought lunchtime was the perfect time to discuss it,” Hart said.
Just a normal discussion of body decomposition and maggots during a college football game… pic.twitter.com/JPdIA4YA94
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 15, 2024
Incredibly, the Body Farm conversation continued another minute or so, and sounded far more like an NCIS episode than a college football game.
“You know, law enforcement officials used to think that the presence of maggots or bugs on the corpse was consistent with time of death, no matter what,” Hart said.
“You know what’s wild?” Rodgers said. “I thought this was going to be a second-half conversation.”
“I did too,” Hart said, laughing. “Here we are, 44-0 in the second quarter, we’re diving deep.”
By the way, the Volunteers won by a final score of 71-0.
[SEC Network]
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.