FanHouse MikePatrick

Clemson wasn't scared of Duke tonight. Not one bit. They said it before the game, and man, oh man did they prove it for 40 minutes Wednesday night, absolutely thrashing the Blue Devils 74-47 in Littlejohn Coliseum.

Via Awful Announcing we present here a very odd video of ESPN announcer Mike Patrick blanking during his intro to last night's Duke-Maryland game:

Patrick was also wearing some weird glasses that I hadn't seen on him before. After the jump, another Patrick mistake from the same game.

This is a good thing.

Generally, during crucial moments of tight football games all that noise in the average male college football fan's head goes quiet. We're not thinking about the wife, the girlfriend (or boyfriend if that's your thing), sex, boobs, bills or Britney Spears. Which makes sense, because I assume most of us get our fix on Saturday nights and not from burying ourselves into the latest US Weekly. All we're thinking about is the game.

Not so for ESPN's Mike Patrick who prattled pointlessly about Britney Spears during overtime literally moments before Georgia completed the game-winning touchdown pass. Apparently someone at ESPN got in his ear because he was on his best behavior this weekend.

Faced with calling what would be a last-second game-winning field goal by Auburn against Florida, Patrick's US Weekly part of the brain stayed quiet just long enough for the football side of his mind to stay focused on the game. There are no mulligans but it's nice to see Patrick you know, - focused - this time around.

FanHouse's Top Five scans the sports blogosphere for the best posts of the last 24 hours so you don't have to. Got something for this feature? Hit us up at fanhouse@googlegroups.com.

1). There are few football analysts commentators worse than Mike Patrick. Formerly teamed with Joe Theismann on ESPN's Sunday Night Football -- before it became Football Night in America -- Patrick was one-half of the most knock-you-over-the-head team in professional football. "Now, look at this play right here. You see what I'm doing right here -- I'm showing you things that are so obvious no one could have missed them, yet I can't find anything else insightful to say, so I'm going with it! And then I hit the sweet spot right ... here! Look at that play! Wow!" Ugh.

So it's good to see that, since demotion to the college football ranks, Patrick isn't even trying anymore; he's just musing about whatever he feels in the most crucial moments of football games. This week? Britney Spears' life. Next week? Scones? 780p vs. 1080i? The influence of Eastern philosophy on web-based social networks? The possibilities are endless!

2). Speaking of brilliant college football video, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy's legendary defense of quarterback Bobby Reid -- in which he berates columnist Jenni Carlson to her face about "having children one day" -- is a must-see. And after reading Carlson's column, not exactly unwarranted. (Aside: At the end of the video, who, exactly, is clapping? Certainly not the media, I'd hope.)

3). Weirdly, instead of fixing the things that are bothersome about the next-gen versions of Madden 08 (players seem slow, juke moves are too effective, TOO MANY FUMBLES) EA Sports is rolling out yet another NFL game. Wha?

4). I recreationally hate Ohio State, but I have to admit: they are good this year, and not getting much buzz for it.

5). Dude, if you're going to rock an A-Rod jersey -- and I love the WBC idea, too -- please make sure it's spelled correctly.

This was completely and utterly surreal watching it live, so it probably merits some FanHouse postin': it's overtime in the Georgia-Alabama game; the Dawgs are about to get the ball after holding the Tide to a field goal. Tense moments and all that, but Mike Patrick has something else on his mind. Something that Justin Timberlake wrecked (no, not "the glory that was N'Sync"):



So... yeah. Mike Patrick, everybody!

(Via the Game)