BobHarris.com - How not to introduce a sports highlight

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How not to introduce a sports highlight

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Wednesday, 18 January 2006

From last night's "Fox Sports World Report" (I know, it's Fox, but it's also the only place a cricket fan in North America can see a minute or two of highlights):

Picture a jocular sports anchor named Carlos sitting next to his reporting partner Michelle, who is normally dressed in the standard boxy jackets one expects from newsreaders, but on this occasion is wearing a slinky black shoulder-baring outfit which is vastly sexier than anything you've ever seen at a news desk.

Carlos, to his credit, manages not to say anything about Michelle's eye-popping fashion choice.

And then Carlos tosses Michelle the intro to the India/Pakistan cricket test, giving the locale an unfortunate prominence:

Carlos: "... with the latest highlights from Lahore."
Michelle: [tiny but noticeable pause] "Thanks, Carlos..."

I'm certain Carlos never realized how he phrased it, and Michelle managed the impending-train-wreck moment so smoothly she can plausibly deny she even noticed. So this is the last you'll hear of it, I'm sure. Didn't happen. From here on, let's assume I only imagined that two-frame look of "well, that could have been phrased better" in her eyes.

Still, it was one of the most graceful saves of a deliciously unexpected moment I've ever seen. If Michelle ever reads this, nicely done.

Incidentally, if you've screwed anything up today, take some comfort in what happened in that test: the Indian openers batted for roughly six solid hours without making a mistake, eventually nearing a 50-year old record for runs scored to open an innings. And then, with only one more good whack needed to break the record... whoops. Oh well.

Happens to all of us.