The Little League World Series had a weather delay tonight. That’s not important. What is, though, is that this forced ESPN to scramble to go live to an impromptu SportsCenter. That’s usually not a big deal, as you can just roll through some highlights and air some added commercials to buy yourself some time to get organized.
But in the wake of the breaking news of the Kyrie Irving trade, ESPN didn’t have that luxury and instead was scrambling to get something more relevant to the big news on the air to fill the time. Presumably, their go-to analysts to cover such a move were likely scheduled after the Little League games concluded.
Viewers were treated to this exchange between anchor Max Bretos and local Cleveland radio personality Aaron Goldhammer, who had the SUPER smart idea to have live callers on the air to an audience probably multiples larger than the normal local radio listenership.
Bretos somehow didn’t pump the brakes on this bright idea:
Enter Steve, now live on SportsCenter. And upon being informed of this, opted to use his national platform to… well, just listen:
Just an A+ call right there. I mean the setup was great. He didn’t get too nervous and the payoff line was great. Goldhammer, who honestly probably needs his own national radio show now, took the burn really well. The giggle from Steve that he snuck that on the air fills me with sophomoric glee I haven’t felt for quite some time. My only question is, did Steve have this planned before the call or did he audible at the line of scrimmage realizing he was going to be on SportsCenter? Either way, Steve is a god damn legend.
I really don’t have much to add beyond what I’ve wrote. I just wanted to share this wonderful moment with you all.
[ESPN]
About Ben Koo
Owner and editor of @AwfulAnnouncing. Recovering Silicon Valley startup guy. Fan of Buckeyes, A's, dogs, naps, tacos. and the old AOL dialup sounds