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Joe Theismann Gives Us A Thinker

Last night, the New Orleans Saints played the Atlanta Falcons in the first game at the New Orleans Superdome in nearly two years. It was a momentous occasion, for the obvious reasons given the damage Hurricane Katrina wreaked in that area over a year ago.

ESPN, now the home of Monday Night Football, put together a special package for the game, highlighting the slow but steady reconstruction of New Orleans in the past year. The NFL had special entertainment before the game and at half time, and special guests were interviewed throughout the night talking about what the Saints mean to the city of New Orleans.

That’s the background. Now we’re in the third quarter with one minute remaining before the fourth. A flag was thrown on an Atlanta Falcons pass play, but after an officials conference, the flag was picked up and no penalty was called. The ESPN announcing crew discussed why pass interference wasn’t called in this situation. Joe Theismann explained:

With pass interference, Mike, you just don’t know…I mean, it’s, it could be, it couldn’t be. When the flag is thrown, he must have seen something that caused him to take it out of his pants.

*laughter*

The flag out of his pants.

I have had DVR, and hence the ability to pause and rewind live television, for a couple of weeks now, and I must admit this situation last night made me happiest to have this ability. It was one of those, “he didn’t really just say that, did he?” type moments. Sure enough, yes, he really did just say that. The beauty of live television.

On another football note, is there a better nickname in all of sports than the one given to Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh? Yeah, I’m talking about T.J. Who’s-yo-momma.