Dave Lamont has been a somewhat popular fixture in South Florida college sports broadcasting, as a talk radio host, play-by-play for ESPN college football action, and calling SEC basketball games, but today he’s a star for his work as the voice of Florida Atlantic University football. And really, when you think South Florida football stars, you always think FAU. Hoot hoot, Owls!

During Saturday’s 37-16 loss to hated rival Arkansas State, FAU’s quarterback Jeff Van Camp slid to avoid a hit, but a hit he would take anyway. According to Lamont’s colorful analysis, the defender laid a helmet-to-helmet shot on the unprotected QB. The refs apparently didn’t think much of the hit, though, and no flag was thrown. I assume that everyone knows how bad the hit was because we were all watching this game, but in case you didn’t watch 1-5 FAU play Arkansas State, you’re going to have to take Dave’s word for it. His incredibly awesome, angry word.

Let’s take you back in time to an instant college sports announcing classic after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

In one of the less shocking stories in sports history, Philadelphia Flyers fans trashed a car after Philly’s Sunday night thrashing of the Montreal Canadiens, presumably because it had Montreal plates. On any given gameday, it’s just another case of empty beer cans littered on the opposing team’s car. But since it’s Philadelphia, throw in a slashed tire, broken hubcap, stolen bug guard, vanished license plates, and the fact that it belongs to Montreal Gazette hockey writer Pat Hickey. Sacre bleu!

Hickey apparently missed the opportunity to park in the designated media lot, thus having to park in general population. His Quebecois license plates then became chum to a sea of sharks. The vandalism to Hickey’s 1999 Honda Accord (line forms to the left, ladies) has drawn a great deal of media attention in the wake of a post-game riot in Montreal when the Habs beat the Penguins. Hickey is using the vandalism to his car as a battle cry to sports fans: “GET OFF MY LAWN, YOU PUNKS!”

Whip some batteries of justice at me, Pat:

There were several incidents at Game 1 of the Flyers-Canadiens series here Sunday night. I saw fans in Canadiens jerseys heckled, which is fair game. I also saw several of them being bumped around, which isn’t acceptable.

Some vandals pulled the plug on a pregame telecast by Radio-Canada and another Canadian TV crew was harassed. (Montreal Gazette)

Hickey’s biggest problem with the vandalism to his car was the theft of his license plates, because that means he’d have to deal with people at customs when crossing the border back to Canadia. He even had a good sense of humor about it when Canadiens coach Jacques “Strap” Martin asked him, “Hey Pat, you got a car I can borrow?” Added Martin, “Aw haw haw, zee comedee!”

Citing Philadelphia’s most popular moment of fan discretion, Hickey likens the vandalism to Eagles fans hurling snowballs at Santa Claus. That’s really unfair to Philadelphia fans, seeing as that happened in 1968. Most of Philly’s violent fans weren’t even born yet. Give them time to blossom, Pat.

It remains to be seen how much Harvey Levin will be extending his powerful TMZ brand into the sports world in 2010. There’s a difference between creating a different URL and directing one’s army of “photographers” toward the airports and hotels of professional athletes. So the brass at the celebrity tabloid site will be adding athletes to target list for their stalkerati. Think it won’t succeed? Maybe it won’t, but consider this.

TMZ typically gets the jump on everyone. Whether it’s Michael Jackson or Tiger Woods, Harvey Levin’s network casts a pretty big net, and that net brings in a lot of scoops. The laundry list of blind items for ESPN’s Chris Mortensen to “confirm” and then pass off as his own just got a little longer. Even people that don’t go to TMZsports.com directly will feel its presence in whatever websites they do frequent.

Sports coverage needs a serious kick to the balls. Writers have been protecting athletes for years. When was the last time a beat writer broke a story about a player cheating on his wife? That doesn’t happen, and it’s not because team jocks are a faithful lot. While the average sports fan may not care to see video of Aaron Harang double-parking his Escalade, eventually Harvey Levin’s new venture will dig up something involving someone too well-known to ignore.

The money’s out there. Just going by the back of my envelope here, TMZ’s current celeb-watch platform appeals to a mainly female demographic, and typically ignores the men. With a sports-oriented platform, that network’s audience gets a shakeup and balance that it desperately needs. It’s hard to imagine that TMZ got as big as it did without catering to that coveted 18-to-34-males demo, but it has. Now, by seeking that group of fans that care more about clubbing than slugging (male and female), TMZ has nowhere to go but up.

To think that TMZ can’t bring in the casual sports fan is madness, especially when you consider the market for celebrity news that they helped create where none previously existed. No, TMZ Sports won’t be a game changer, and it may not be the next Deadspin. But it will give everyone else a run for their money. There goes the neighborhood.

ASYLUM POLL: Do You Want To Know More About The Lives Of Your Favorite Athletes?

I’ll be the first one to admit that finding a different way of writing about sports every day can be a daunting pain in the ass. It’s an amalgam of skill and creativity that can–and often does–go wrong in the worst ways. So when someone else screws up, I’m happy to share it with the world. Enter Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register.

Mark caught wind of the Jaycee Dugard story and devoted a column to it, rolling off a list of sports highlights from the past 18 years. Oh, by the way, Jaycee was recently freed after being falsely imprisoned for two decades by a convicted rapist.

She never saw a highlight. Never got to the ballpark for Beach Towel Night. Probably hasn’t high-fived in a while. Now, that’s deprivation.

Can you imagine? Dugard was 11 when she was kidnapped and stashed in Phillip Garrido’s backyard. She was 29 when she escaped. Penitentiary inmates at least get an hour of TV a day. Dugard was cut off from everything but the elements.

Whicker continues. Oh, does he: Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks goes to hunky WL reader Rick of The Coming, who sends this fun little clip from Keith Olbermann's "Countdown" two nights ago:

Yes, look it up, America. Lots of fun to be had with that one.

Yesterday when I joked about the Chicago Tribune's Sam Smith hating blogs, I actually felt kind of bad, because he had tempered his disdain for blogs with some light-heartedness about being a grumpy old man. I wasn't really fair to him. (But that's okay; I'm not really fair to anyone.)

HOWEVA: I happened to get an email from the Chicago fan who had originally posed the question to Smith, and Sam didn't seem to have much interest in having a sense of humor about the whole thing:

From: "Smith, Sam" <[EMAIL REDACTED]>
Subject: RE: Bulls and Blogs

i think they are becoming a major part of media i don't have high regard for. i don't read any as they are basically opinion and uninformed. i know i talk to the NBA people and those people from the blogs don't, so how can they know what is really going on.

Good Lord, what's that stench? It reeks of pregnancy tests and Eli Manning in the pocket around here. Oh, I get it: it's just the smell of fear. Well, don't worry, Sam. The Trib will give you a great pension someday soon. Just go back to work imagining 30-player trades. People love reading "credible" stuff like that.