The awesomely named Roger Millions was reporting from Chicago last night for Sportsnet, setting the scene between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Calgary Flames before Game One. After mispronouncing the name of Flames defenseman Cory Sarich (it's SAHR-ihch), Millions got a little self-critical of his performance -- and dropped a tremendous profanity live on the air.
Click the image for the video. Serious, no-joke NSFW adult language warning on the YouTube clip. As the late, great George Carlin once said: There are seven words you can never say on television. This one may be their king. Again, click through for the clip:
Millions pauses after his faux pas, mostly likely as a Sportsnet producer does his best impression of Schwartz's mother screaming into the phone after Ralphie lied about the source of his profanity in "A Christmas Story": "WHAAAAT?! WHAAAAAT?!"
The action cuts back to the spiffy Sportsnet studio, which was filled to the rafters with shock and awe. The recovery line from the anchor: "Roger Millions, obviously reporting from Chicago, with a bit of a, uh, blooper on that one." And then, in a Freudian transition, the conversation turns to Olli Jokinen.
The back story on this will be interesting, and one assumes the aftermath will involve something along the lines of "I didn't realize we were live" and "Sportsnet regrets the incident and has taken steps to ensure it doesn't happen again." If we were Millions, we'd stick to the story that a jealous Veronica Corningstone sabotaged our teleprompter.
Thanks to George and Robert for the tips on this; check out Fan IQ for a couple more clips of squirm-TV from sports announcers.