2. Broadcast hyped for a guy who didn’t play — and went with it
Yeah, sometimes in a blowout good material is a reach.
But here’s the thing — it was obvious that ESPNU’s announcing tandem of Joel Meyers and Mark Adams were really prepared to ramp up the hype machine for Indiana Pacers first-round pick Aaron Holiday.
Brooklyn Nets
How do we know that? Because Holiday was mentioned more than any other player during the broadcast … as he sat on the Pacers bench in street clothes.
ESPN is often accused — and often unfairly — of pushing specific narratives. But, man, were they guilty on Friday. Holiday was going to be their guy Friday, come hell or high water.
And when he didn’t play, Meyers and Adams just rolled with it.
Since there weren’t any plays to talk about, we learned just about everything else. Did you know he had two older brothers in the NBA? We may never forget this fact after hearing it roughly 1,892 times during the broadcast.
Did you know Holiday’s parents both played basketball at Arizona State? Did you know his favorite color is chartreuse and his favorite food is pickles in chocolate syrup? (OK, I made those last two up.)
And after the game, ESPNU went to an interview with the day’s most valuable player — Aaron Holiday! Cue applause.
Maybe they were short blowout material. Having done games on radio, that’s always something better to be prepared for, just in case.
In any event, it reached the point of distraction hearing a nearly non-stop dialogue about a player who wasn’t on the floor, particularly when some of the guys that were did some pretty cool stuff.