Rip City TV Network analyst Lamar Hurd is one of the NBA’s great local broadcasters, but he also apparently moonlights as a literary critic. In the second quarter of Trail Blazers’ first game after Christmas, Hurd offered an impassioned defense of Dr. Seuss’ Christmas character the Grinch as “one of the five most misunderstood beings in civilization.”
Following a clip of Portland star center Deandre Ayton at a charity event in a Grinch costume, Hurd explained why Grinch hate, including on the ESPN NBA Christmas telecasts, have it dead wrong. Hurd then gave Blazers fans an education on just how wrong everyone is about the Grinch.
“The Grinch, one of the five most misunderstood beings in civilization, in history. I don’t even know who the other four, I just don’t know four more than the Grinch,” Hurd said.
Portland’s broadcast showed a clip of Deandre Ayton dressed up as The Grinch inspiring Blazers’ color commentator Lamar Hurd to devote multiple minutes of game time explaining why The Grinch is “one of the five most misunderstood beings in the history of civilization.”
No words. pic.twitter.com/a77iDPZDdC
— Hot Hand Theory (@HotHandTheory) December 27, 2024
What followed was a pitch-perfect synopsis of 2000’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas and the message of the original Seuss story:
“He’s minding his business as a kid, they make fun of him because he’s hairy. He then shaves. Then they mock him in the classroom because he’s got cuts on his face. So he just goes back, and now he doesn’t like Christmas. The Whos are making Christmas all about the presents, Cindy Lou’s people come up to mess with the Grinch, he’s minding his business … so he comes back like OK, I’m going to come and get my get-back.
So now he’s coming for their presents … develops a relationship with Cindy-Lou, a friendship, they’re cool. She could see, she was able to humanize the Grinch for what he was. What he was trying to tell them is, it’s not just about the presents. Christmas is about the love, the everything. Which by the way, oh the irony that the Grinch stole Christmas. Oh no, he stole presents. So he’s trying to tell y’all Christmas is not the presents. And if you all didn’t make fun of him in the first place, he would have been cool and a part of it the whole time anyway.”
If you’re wondering why Hurd was driven to impart the morals of the Grinch onto NBA fans this holiday season, he believes the character continues to get a raw deal.
The Grinch is the punching bag of holiday entertainment, and it makes Hurd feel that people are still missing the point.
“The whole time, he was just trying to show everybody what it was all about. I watched the NBA games yesterday, and the Grinch is just being put down left and right,” Hurd said. “They’re killing him, and the whole time, he was trying to help all of y’all out.”
When Ayton put that costume on, he likely thought all he was doing was spreading some cheer to young people around Portland. He also inspired one of the more unique sports announcer monologues you’ll ever hear.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.