The United States Grand Prix finally returns after a five-year hiatus. In other news, Formula 1 cars are gorgeous.
The United States Grand Prix starts at 1:30 PM ET Sunday at the brand new, 3.427-mile Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
Image by Mark Thompson / Getty Images
Image by Mark Thompson / Getty Images
Image by Clive Mason / Getty Images
The men behind ESPN's Princess Bride -reference-filled show talk about how it happened.
On the Friday, November 9, episode of ESPN's NFL Kickoff, host Trey Wingo and analysts Mark Schlereth and Tedy Bruschi talked, as they usually do, for a half hour about the latest NFL news. But something about this episode was different. For 30 minutes, amidst the discussion of the Patriots' defense and the Chiefs coaching situation, ESPN 2 became a one-channel celebration of The Princess Bride as the trio tossed in references to "corners of unusual size," "cliffs of insanity," and more.
BuzzFeed Sports clipped together a video including many (but not all, as we learned) of the references' allusions earlier this week, which if you count the YouTube video and the BuzzFeed post, has already been seen more than 400,000 times.
How did this happen? Was it an elaborate bet? Was it a prank? Who was the ringleader? Is this a kissing book? Has it got any sports in it? There were only three people on the planet who could answer those questions, and two of them were available to speak to BuzzFeed this week: Trey Wingo and Mark Schlereth.
Mark: Well first let me just say, you get a preemptive apology. I'm on the elliptical right now.
Trey: There was no forethought to it at all [except] we had talked about that movie before. All three of us just really like that movie.
Mark: It just happened very organically. It wasn't like we sat up and said, "Let's do this." A couple of weeks ago someone threw a quote out there.
Trey: Tedy was on an NFL Live episode about a month ago and was the first one to bring in a reference. He said, "You know the Seahawks really have C.O.U.S., corners of unusual size." And I almost spit up laughing so hard when he said that. And last week we maybe dropped in one or two lines and then it just organically happened that day. We just sort of started.
Mark: I think there's a bit of machismo that comes out when one guy does something funny, and the next guy does something funny. Then on the set you're just trying to one-up each other.
Trey: It became like a competition to see who could do it the most or get the best one in there.
Mark: You gotta keep it fresh. You gotta keep it entertaining. And sometimes there's a joke on the set that makes you giggle and makes you laugh, and it keeps things exciting. I always say that I don't do television for the masses. I do television to entertain myself.
Trey: It was purely just to keep ourselves entertained. We had no idea that it would ever turn into anything.
Mark: Ultimately, we're all sophomoric and we like to joke around. There is this locker-room environment that's part of doing what we do for a living.
It's not surprising that a place like ESPN would breed such competition. Besides being built around the competitive world of sports, the worldwide leader is famous for its long hours and relatively unexciting Bristol, Connecticut, locale. Stir-craziness is a definite danger. Plus the kind of people walking around campus tend to be pretty competitive.
Mark: I'm one of the most competitive people in the world. Everything is a game. And if you aren't involved in it, then you are the game. Washing dishes? That to me is a game. Everything I've ever done has been that way. I'm always in a competition. You and I are in a competition right now, and I'm whooping your tail, 14-nothing. And you don't even know what the game is. That's just how I've always operated. And so with something like this, even though no one actually challenged me on the set, it just becomes a contest, and you want to be in the game.
But to reduce what occurred on last Friday's NFL Kickoff to just a competition is to do it a disservice. This was more than a game. It was an affectionate tribute to a movie that these guys seem to really, really, like.
Mark: I just think it's so incredibly done. Right from when Fred Savage is being read to by Peter Falk. "Is this the kissing book, Grandpa?" [Schlereth does a Peter Falk impression.] "No, no, it's got sword fights." It's got a little bit of something for everybody.
Trey: It's got comedy, it's got drama, it's got adventure, it's got a little romance in it. It's just a great movie. And I know Mark and I have talked about it for years. And when Tedy came in a couple years ago, he brought it up that he loved it too.
Mark: I've watched it with my kids dozens of times. It's one of those movies — also Shawshank Redemption, Dumb and Dumber — if I'm flipping channels and it's on TBS, I'm hooked until it's over.
Trey: What's not to like about that movie?! I mean, it's Rob Reiner. And everybody looks at Rob for When Harry Met Sally and all these other things, but his early movies were hilarious. There was a movie called The Sure Thing, which he did in 1985 with John Cusack, and Anthony Edwards, and Tim Robbins, and Daphne Zuniga, and Nicolette Sheridan before any of those guys were stars, which was hilarious. And then The Princess Bride came out in 1987.
Mark: It's entertaining. It's fun. It's wholesome. And when my wife was running errands or whatever, my form of hanging with the kids was, "Hey, let's throw a movie on, get some popcorn, and just be together." And so that was one of those movies that I could do that with even though my kids are spread out. There are eight years between my oldest and my youngest, but we could all sit together and still enjoy that movie.
Trey: In general we all like movies and that kind of stuff. Mark's been in a couple. He's been on a soap opera. So he's a real cultural icon.
Trey, Mark, and Tedy are television pros. So while to a viewer their ability to slip in so many references might have seemed effortless, it was apparently not without difficulty.
Mark: You start wracking your brain. One guy's speaking and I'm trying to come up with something I can say, and in my head I'm like, "Gimme a quote, gimme a quote, gimme a quote." And I know I have to talk about the Patriots defense, so I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out how I'm going to work a quote in here and I came up with the cliffs of insanity thing just in time.
Trey: There have been a couple of times before, where we've done some of the more obvious lines. Like, "Never get into a land war in Asia," or "Never match wits with a Sicilian when death is on the line." "No more rhyming. No I mean it. Anybody want a peanut?" We'd sort of done those before, so this one, we really tried to find things that were really not as well-known.
Mark: You're sitting there wondering if you'll be able to get anything in, and at the last second it pops into your head and you get in. It's fun. It's challenging.
Despite The Princess Bride's place of high esteem in our culture, not everyone appreciated the hilarity and awesomeness of what was going on.
Trey: The funny thing is, the guy that produces the show has never seen the movie. So you know, we're all laughing, and he's like, "What are you talking about?" And I'm like, "Well we're doing all these [references]..." He's like, "I literally have no idea what you're talking about."
Mark: He had no idea. Because when you think about it, when you start throwing those movie quotes out there, like Tedy saying, "You got to storm the castle!" it's not really a cliché, but it fits. I mean, I even used my André the Giant voice: "THERE WILL BE NO SURVIVORS." And it all fits. It's all basically football vernacular.
Trey: I told him his homework is to make sure he watches that movie before we get together again.
And though they love that the video took off online, they had a few criticisms.
Mark: You guys actually missed a few, by the way.
Trey: You missed my favorite reference in the entire show.
Mark: When Trey threw to John Clayton for an injury report.
Trey: Well, I turned to John Clayton for an injury update. Remember when they hooked Wesley up to the machine in the pit of despair? And they say, "Now remember, this is for posterity. How do you feel?" And he starts whimpering. So I went to John Clayton for an injury report, and I forget who it was, but I said, "John, remember, this is for posterity. How does he feel?" I was really bummed that that one didn't make it in.
Sorry about that, guys. My bad.
As we reach the home stretch, it's time to panic. Panic!!!
Image by Nick Wass / AP
I know, I know: Joe Flacco had 29 points last week, the most in the league. I don't care. Flacco still overthrows open receivers, breaks down at crucial moments, and generally fails to compete the types of passes that guys like Matt Ryan and Aaron Rodgers make regularly. Now, does he suck like Mark Sanchez and Matt Cassel suck? No. But in the four weeks before last, Flacco scored 6, 13, 5, and 12 points. And his successful games before that came against two of the league's worst passing defenses, the Patriots and the Browns, as did his more recent high-scoring outing at the expense of the Raiders. Expect Flacco to flatline this week vs. Pittsburgh, unless the sheer horribleness of the Steelers' Byron Leftwich-helmed offense means that the Ravens have the ball for 45 minutes.
Image by Stephen Lovekin / Getty Images
Hi Matt Stafford. We forgive you for that slow start this season. After three TDs in two of your last three games, we're back on the Stafford train, where everyone's equipped with a red Solo cup and a popped collar. Stafford had both of those high-scoring games against solid defenses (Seattle and Minnesota), and this week he takes his show on the road to Green Bay, which has been getting picked on through the air lately. If you started Joe Flacco over him, I will personally come to your house and laugh at you and throw Cheetos at your face. Ha ha, you're a Cheetoface!
We've reached peaked meme.
President Barack Obama jokingly mimics U.S. Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney's "not impressed" look while greeting members of the 2012 U.S. Olympic gymnastics teams in the Oval Office, Nov. 15, 2012. Steve Penny, USA Gymnastics President, and Savannah Vinsant laugh at left. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Via: whitehouse
Via: @McKaylaMaroney
In the course of the Redskins' 31-6 shellacking of the miserable Eagles, RGIII threw two passes that need to be seen to be believed.
Sam Gordon, who's dominating her boys' football league , went on NFL GameDay and showed Warren Sapp and Marshall Faulk what's up.
Sam Gordon's the coolest. After rising to fame for dominating a boys' football league as her team's quarterback, the nine-year-old went on NFL GameDay to have her game tape broken down by Steve Mariucci, Rich Eisen, Warren Sapp, and Marshall Faulk.
Her best quote? When they asked if she liked defense or offense best, Sam said defense, "Because I'm the smallest one out there, plus I'm a girl and I'm tackling all the biggest guys." What do the guys say when she tackles them? "They don't say anything — they kind of just get up and walk away."
It was in the newspaper so it must be true.
Congrats to Loren G. "Sam" Lickteig for the greatest opening line of an obituary that's ever happened: "[He] passed away on Nov. 14, 2012 of complications from MS and heartbreaking disappointment caused by the Kansas City Chiefs football team." When reached for comment, Romeo Crennel nodded solemnly while wiping a tear from Matt Cassel's eye.
Source: legacy.com
Will he he change the name of Celtic Park to Tha Dogg Pound? We hope so.
Image by Joe Kohen / Getty Images
Earlier this month, the biggest soccer club in Scotland knocked off Barcelona in the Champions League in what some called one of the biggest upsets of the modern era. Celtic's 2-1 win made Rod Stewart cry. It was a big deal.
In a strange twist of fate for Celtic, it turns out that Snoop Dogg was watching the game as well, and now the Big Boss Dogg wants a piece of the team. According to the Daily Record, Snoop is interested in purchasing a share of Celtic and sitting on the board so he can "bring a bit of Snoop to things."
I see how passionate Celtic fans are about their team and I could see myself making an investment if any of the board wanted to sell.... I am passionate about my sport. The boxes at Celtic would never be the same once I have hosted a party there.
Via: dailyrecord.co.uk
Snoop also said that he hoped to bring personal friend David Beckham to Celtic, which proves that Snoop has no idea what he's doing, and that this deal needs to go down immediately for the sake of hilarity. Teams in the Scottish Premier League need the money, anyway.
A great moment in drunk live-television history.
Image by Joe Skipper / Reuters
The funny thing is, you can't really tell much of a difference between this tipsy interview and most NASCAR interviews. Drunk Keselowski really just sounds like stone-cold sober Sterling Marlin. It was a win-win for all involved, the driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge gave his sponsor some great prime-time exposure and delivered one of the best live interviews in SportsCenter history.
H/T Tom Ley at Deadspin.
A tale of two Sundays.
Top University of Minnesota wide receiver A.J. Barker announced he was leaving the team and transferring with a brutal screed against coach Jerry Kill.
Image by Matthew Holst / Getty Images
Despite being a walk-on, A.J. Barker was the University of Minnesota's leading wide receiver this season before he announced he was leaving the team yesterday.
Along with this tweet came a letter Barker posted on Tumblr, and it's a doozy: It includes some 4,000 words and numerous sanction-worthy allegations against Minnesota coach Jerry Kill. Even if you've never watched a down of college football in your life, Barker's letter is worth reading — it renders, with nuance and complexity, the feelings that come from believing you've been manipulated by an authority figure and how devastating it is when you come to that realization.
Oh man, Don Cherry — are you OK?
Image by Claus Andersen / Getty Images
Medal winners from Team Great Britain got together to dance to “Do Your Thing” for Children In Need . Or rather, a bunch of Olympians performed before and after a Tom Daley striptease.
More on that here.
Yesterday the Pittsburgh Steelers lost on Sunday Night Football to the Ravens behind the quarterback stylings of Byron Leftwich. Many Steelers fans took to Twitter to call for a solution: the disaster that is Timothy Tebow.
Timothy Richard Tebow has not gotten a ton of opportunities to shine in New York this season, but when he has, he has been more than disappointing. For those that thought Tebow-mania would be sweeping down Broadway by mid-season, each glance of the former Bronco has been an exercise in dashed hopes, one-yard runs, and passing that makes your dead grandmother look like Joe Montana.
But ever since Ben Roethlisberger went down in Pittsburgh, Steelers fans seem to be feeling their season slipping away. And after last night's loss to the Ravens, some have reached the bottom of the crazy barrel. They want Tebow Time, and they want it now.
Image by David Welker / Getty Images
If you play handball in Italy, you should definitely not kiss the opposition. They don't always take it well.
This is like Rudy with Uggs .
Source: youtube.com
It's bad enough to be an endorser of Uggs. It's even worse to take Uggs and build an inspiring sports movie-style scene around a player receiving them. I can't imagine there has ever been a time when a young undrafted player barely made a team, and had his moment of relief brought to him by a pair of ugly girls shoes. I mean, I've never played in the National Football League, but I have a pretty good feeling that shoes more often worn by an over-tanned college girl at a state school are mocked more than they're revered. But I guess I could be wrong. What do you say, Tom?
Fine, I'll shut up.
Steve Nash doing “Gangnam Style,” some Lakers fan ripping off his Oakleys in ecstasy — it's all here. Best part: NONE OF THEM INVOLVE DWIGHT HOWARD.
I mean, seriously: who the hell are these dudes. How are they possibly real. These aren't questions, they're facts.
Nash is dealing with some injuries, so he's been hanging out behind the Lakers' bench, waiting to be reunited on the court with Mike D'Antoni. After noticing that he was on the Jumbotron, Nash busted out the very #rare seated Gangnam Style, as though he were actually riding a horse. (Steve cares about realism.)
Two incidents in two days? That makes a trend.
In Monday's Nuggets-Grizzlies game, Denver led by two when Zach Randolph put up a shot. It bounced off the rim and, in the process of rebounding it, Kenneth Faried was fouled by Tony Allen.
Watch the throne.
Via: toronto.ctvnews.ca
Canadians are a sad and desperate people. The National Hockey League is in the middle of a lockout, and it doesn't look like the NHL will return this season. The Stanley Cup will have to bear an ugly mark for the rest of its existence, 2012-13 Season Not Played.
Understandably, Toronto Maple Leafs fans are hungry for hockey. They'll take anything they can get. Even if it's covered in trace amounts of 60-year-old feces.
Memorabilia company Frozen Pond recently auctioned off a bunch of artifacts taken from the old Maple Leaf Gardens, home of the Leafs from 1931 to 1999. (Wonder for yourself why the plural of Toronto Maple Leaf is Leafs, not Leaves.) Among treasures like a 1967 Stanley Cup banner and the Gardens' old penalty box was a toilet taken from the home dressing room. It is believed that Stanley Cup champions have shat in this toilet, so Leafs fan Jim Vigmond bought it for $5,300 dollars. Here's what Vigmond told Toronto's The Grid:
[My wife] Sharon suggested that it be buried in the backyard. But I’ve got a better place for it. I’ve got sort of a combination cigar-smoking/sport- memorabilia room.... She didn’t give me a [price] limit on the toilet; she just said I was effing crazy.. But I thought it was underpriced by a long-shot; I thought it would have gone into six figures.
Via: thegridto.com
Gary Bettman, please bring real hockey back, for the sake of Canada.
Penn State University appeared to make private a photo on their Flickr feed Tuesday of Elmo receiving a Penn State T-shirt during a visit to the university in March. The rest of the photos of the event remain online.
