FanHouse ThomBrennaman

Thom Brennaman didn't make any friends Thursday night with his call of the BCS, unless you count Tim Tebow, who he repeatedly slobbered over, handing out ridiculous compliment after ridiculous compliment to the Florida quarterback. (It was so bad that our Chris Burke even -- accurately -- likened it to having a crush on a girl in high school.)

It's barely been 12 hours, and I'm already getting sick of hearing about Tom Turbo, or Tim Tebow, or whatever his name is. For child-related reasons, I missed most of Thom Brennaman's man-crush on Tebow and I count myself fortunate. Tebow is a great player who had a nearly legendary game last night, but seriously, he's starting to come across like some sort of mixture of Chuck Norris and Gandhi. (Did you know that every time Tim Tebow belches, part of the ozone layer gets restored?)

I don't want to take anything away from Florida's title, and Tebow certainly didn't ask the media to talk about him incessantly. I can't help but wonder one thing, though.

Why aren't people talking more about the Gator defense?

It seems to me that, if a team usually scores in numbers normally associated with high school basketball but gets held to two touchdowns and twice comes out of the red zone empty-handed, that just might be the story of the game. But it's all Tom Turbo, all the time, with a smidgen of Percy Harvin thrown in to establish that this was a team effort, don't you know. It's enough to make a football fan watch HGTV.

As long as the media is turning today into the official Tim Tebow Hagiography Day, we ought to at least acknowledge that this was a bush league move:

That was Tebow doing the Gator Chomp directly in the face of Sooners safety Nick Harris after Tebow picked up a first down late in the fourth quarter. It was a clear violation of college football rules, and the officials correctly penalized him for it.

The FOX announcers, who absolutely embarrassed themselves with the way they worshiped at the Tebow altar, were just as ridiculous as you'd expect them to be. Thom Brennaman said, "That might be the first thing he's ever done wrong in his life."

Brennaman's partner, Charles Davis, was even worse: He tried to excuse Tebow's behavior by saying, "he was backing away, which is good." Uh, no. Tebow had purposefully walked several yards downfield to get right into Harris' face before he did the Gator Chomp. He only started backing away when he was sure Harris had seen what he was doing. Last time I checked, getting in someone's face to taunt him, only to back away before he has a chance to respond, isn't "good."

Is this a big deal? No. Taunting goes on in every game. But it's absurd that the FOX announcers responded to a player committing a penalty -- a stupid, unsportsmanlike penalty that stopped the clock just when the Gators were trying to run it out -- by showering praise upon him.

During yesterday's Cubs-White Sox duel, the Fox cameras caught Kerry Wood in a pretty candid moment while he sat in the bullpen. Thanks to Hugging Harold Reynolds for the video.

We're lucky that there was a Yankees-Mets game yesterday, otherwise we would have been subjected to the unreasonably offended Joe Buck's thoughts on Wood responding to something out in the pen. Instead we get a nicely understated Thom Brennaman. "There you get a look at Kerry Wood," indeed.

Despite rampant rumors that Adam Dunn might be traded, the clock struck 4pm EST yesterday, signaling the deadline for baseball's non-waiver trade deadline and he was still a member of the Cincinnati Reds. But from the sound of things, he still thinks there's a chance he might he might be dealt, which at the very least would make his mom happy. From the Dayton Daily News:

Reds left fielder Adam Dunn, the subject of trade rumors, said he wasn't concerned at all about the trading deadline.

"Yeah, I'm happy I'm here," Dunn said. "But ask me on Sept. 1." ...

"It bothers my mom more than me," Dunn said. "My family hates the Brennamans (broadcasters Marty and Thom) and Jeff Brantley. If George Grande and Chris Welsh aren't doing the television games, they won't watch. That's sad."

Even though he wasn't traded Tuesday, Dunn threw out a word of caution.

"I've heard a lot of things happen in August," he said.

Zing! It's not quite "Kent Mercker vs. Steve Stone," but "Dunn's mom vs. Marty and Thom" does have a ring to it. As the guys at Baseball Think Factory point out, Dunn doesn't exactly come across as someone who wants to stay in Cincinnati. I don't see how the Reds could get Dunn past waivers to make a deal happen this year, but at worst bank on the team taking offers this winter.

Previously on FanHouse:
Nationals Going After Adam Dunn?
The Angels Are Done Talking About Dunn
Report: Adam Dunn Is Already on the Trade Market
Padres Are Interested in Adam Dunn