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

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.