Sports

Showboating gaffe hardly surprising

It’s like being stuck on the merry-go-round at Beelzebub Park. Round and round, down and down. Ladies and gentlemen, kids of all ages, the Nike Sports Culture Student-Athlete Game of the Week:

ON ABC/ESPN, Saturday, Oklahoma State was up 24-20 on Texas A&M and driving late in the third. Off a scramble, wide receiver Justin Blackmon caught a pass, alone near the far sideline.

Blackmon could have walked in from 10 yards out, but it appeared he preferred to go for the added photo juice by holding the ball up for all to see before entering the end zone. He never got that far, not with the ball. Holding it loosely, his thigh knocked it free, through the end zone! Touchback, A&M ball.

Incredible, impossible — if not for the fact such absurdities now occur every weekend, high school, college and pro.

ABC/ESPN next presented an all-time tell-tale taped reaction shot, one for these ages: Three OSU assistants watching the play from the coaches’ box, The Three Muses of Tragedy — Coach Misery, Coach Agony and Coach What the Hey!

The nearest coach stood and made with a jubilant arms-raised TD gesture, then went open-mouthed and stunned. The far-side coach leaned forward and buried his head in his arms (or did he bury his arms in his head?). The coach in the middle just stared in disbelief, as if his horse, inches from the finish line, stopped to see what the commotion behind him was all about.

This was fantastic, no-words-needed TV! If ESPN knows what it has — and the story it tells — it’ll replay it all week.

Yet, as the late Billy Mays would shout, “But wait, there’s more!” Neither team was done trying to gift the other the game.

With 1:47 left in the fourth, OSU, up 30-27, punted. A&M, thanks to Blackmon, still had a chance to win or tie. But there were flags on the kick. Two separate penalties for mindless, me-first macho, unsportsmanlike misconduct. But one on each team; offsetting penalties. Hard as it tried, OSU didn’t lose.

See ya next week!

Kay always manages to make a fool of himself

Will Michael Kay please make up his mind? For years he bashed needlessly long games as “unmanageable.” Then one day he showed up and announced that those who think that games are too long aren’t fans; they’re fools. Now, he’s back to his “manageable” vs. “unmanageable” stuff.

Wednesday afternoon on YES, after a 4-2 Yankees win, Kay flatly declared the game ran “an unmanageable 3:20.”

Didn’t he watch/call the game? It was managed to be unmanageable! It was an audition game; Joe Girardi used eight pitchers!

* For those paying attention, Arkansas at Alabama, Saturday on CBS, provided an unintended instructional video on fundamentals. Throughout the game, Arkansas was so eager “to lay a hit” or “a lick” to force fumbles that the first order of defense — tackling — was lost. Arkansas lost, too.

* In FOX’s pregame yesterday, former head of officials Mike Pereira admitted that (25 years in) the NFL replay rule remains confusing, still a work in, er, progress.

* Tuesday, Mike Francesa said he’ll be interviewing former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese, boasting — he tends to boast — that Tranghese is giving no other interviews. The day before, Tranghese was interviewed by Bob Ley on ESPN.

* John Sterling, Wednesday on WCBS, described a line-drive single into center field. He followed that with word that the batter was thrown out at first by Derek Jeter (trying to stretch it into a single, I guess).

* Brian Griese, working Saturday’s Kansas State-Miami game, had that ESPN excess thing down. With KSU up 14-3 at halftime: “If they can get that rushing attack going in addition to Colin Klein running it and throwing it, they have a great chance to sustain this lead through four quarters.” Is that the same as “a chance to win”?

* Last week’s nine-candidate GOP debate seemed more like an ESPN pregame show.

* Spencer Ross, last week at St. Joseph’s in Bronxville, was among those to eulogize Sam DeLuca, Ross’ former Jets radio boothmate and 1960s Jets offensive lineman and captain.

* All Bengals games begin at 1 p.m. in order for the team to observe a 6 p.m. curfew.

Rain delayed reaction

Strange stuff Friday. WFAN, at 6:20 p.m., reported that Phillies-Mets was rained out. WFAN even gave the make-up schedule. Yet, more than 40 minutes later, the Mets’ SNY was reporting that the game is delayed, thus it might be played.

SNY explained it was “waiting for the official word from MLB.”

Speaking of Friday’s rain, viewers from outside this market who catch some Yankees games on MLB Network are now hip to why Jim Kaat for years was enjoyed and trusted as a Yankees announcer.

As several non-local readers noted, Kaat, scheduled to work Red Sox-Yankees, knocked MLB — on the league’s network — for waiting far too long to postpone the game. Such freedom speaks well of MLBN, too.

* FOX’s Moose Johnston, to video at the top of Giants-Eagles, referenced DeSean Jackson’s, ugh, “walk-off punt return TD” against the Giants. Odd, though, no one was walking; everyone was running.

By the way, is there still no one at FOX who can convince Johnston that the secret to sounding smart is to say less? Right to the end yesterday, with “The two interceptions that [Eagles backup] Mike Kafka has thrown are balls that he would like to have back.” Ya think? Johnston blabbed, non-stop.

* ESPN’s Dept. of Stat-Manglement last week reported that Braxton Miller will be the first Ohio State freshman QB to start “since Terrelle Pryor in 2008.” Seeing how Pryor also started in 2009 and last year, notes reader Steven Blutig: “Miller’s the first since the last!”

* Plaxico Burress didn’t gripe about not catching a ball in last week’s 32-3 Jets win? Gee, what a guy!

* What was all that fuss about the Giants faking injuries against the no-huddle Rams last Monday? Strategic stalls have been part of baseball, football, soccer, hockey, basketball, boxing, wrestling and mid-term exams since Pop Warner’s pop was a kid.