Niners Nation After Dark: 2011 Oscars And Norm MacDonald At The ESPYs

by David Fucillo on Feb 28, 2011 12:00 AM PST in Random Open Threads

Welcome back to another edition of Niners Nation After Dark. I hope everyone had a great weekend. If you're not a fan of college basketball it was a fairly quiet weekend. Although you also could have enjoyed the new-look Knicks knocking off the Miami Heat on the road. As a Celtics fan I don't enjoy the Knicks, but anybody that beats Dwyane Wade and company is fine by me.

Earlier this evening the Oscars were held and The King's Speech took home Best Director, Best Actor and Best Picture. Way to go English people! I haven't seen it yet and really have no inspiration to see it at this point. I was rooting for The Social Network, but alas it was not to be. Considering I haven't seen The King's Speech I suppose I can't really judge it.

Given the nature of awards shows, this seemed as good an excuse as any to roll out Norm MacDonald's monologue from the 1998 ESPYs. For those that don't know what the ESPYs are, it's ESPN's attempt to create an awards show around sports. People across the globe watch the Oscars, the Grammys and other such awards shows. Professional sports across the globe present awards but we don't have the same pomp and circumstance for the awards. The ESPYs have been an attempt (increasingly failing) to create a sports-themed awards show.

Unfortunately, the ESPYs peaked in 1998 when Norm MacDonald delivered one of the greatest awards show monologues you'll ever hear. It's all classic material, but the highlight might have come starting at around the 7:52 mark. MacDonald points out Charles Woodson in the crowd as he was fresh off winning the Heisman Trophy. He follows that up with a joke about OJ Simpson that leaves Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr shaking their heads. The video is after the jump, but if you have trouble viewing it you can head over to its YouTube page.

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Fooch, i think you started something.

They had a Bieber-themed gamethread at the Sixers blog:

http://www.libertyballers.com/2011/2/27/2018371/sixers-cavs-gamethread-bieber-fever

We don't need 8 in the box. We have 52 in the box.

by these3words on Feb 28, 2011 12:44 AM PST reply actions

celtics fan?!?!?!

A CELTICS FAN?!?!?! dude coming from a laker fan i really disliked the perkins trade. any team but the thunder man! at least while weakening the celts interior d they made it harder for the lakers in the west.

Niners, Lakers and the Warriors... when Lakers have the night off.

by afrikabamboodle on Feb 28, 2011 1:37 AM PST reply actions

sadly I can't watch the video

but as an aside over here we have the BBC Sports Personality of the year. An ambiguous title for an award that every year sees lots of talk about who should win, the best sportsperson or the best personality

by DaveintheUK on Feb 28, 2011 2:03 AM PST reply actions

I also think The Social Network was robbed

It created a bit of a new archetype for movies. (At least I’ve never really seen a movie like it in which the hero, both falls and gets redeemed through the course of the story, but remains true to himself.)

The Kings’ Speech on the other hand was your typical sports team movie, where the underdog team is replaced with a British royal, and the inspiring coach is replaced with a speech therapist. (It was infinitely superior to almost any sports movie in terms of every aspect of production, but still had a similar structure.) Again, an excellent movie, but the Social Network was better.

by tarlinian on Feb 28, 2011 3:40 AM PST reply actions

Not only had I never heard of the ESPY's

but I’d never heard of Norm MacDonald. That was very very funny though. I guess he didn’t host the following years ESPY’s?

by Glasgow_49er on Feb 28, 2011 4:22 AM PST reply actions

Big laughs with coffee.

Whatever happened to Norm MacDonald? Dude’s funny.

wait til next year!

by Jaxson876 on Feb 28, 2011 7:09 AM PST reply actions

Where's Waldo?

I mean Norm MacDonald? Yeah I really like his Bob Dylan voice, he should try forming a band instead of sportswriting on SNL! lol

Jay Cruise
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by wellnesscoach on Feb 28, 2011 11:00 AM PST reply actions

norm

has always been one of my fav comedians, you still see him out there from time to time, i wish he was doing more. check out dirty work, super funny movie.

by FoAdTriPPinG on Feb 28, 2011 11:51 AM PST reply actions