Joakim Noah Video: Why Aren't ESPN Announcers Watching the Game?

There's a Joakim Noah video making its way around the sports world today after ESPN analysts Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson discussed Chicago Bulls forward Joakim Noah's fine after using a homophobic slur towards a fan on Sunday night.

The troika of talking heads got the scoop from Stuart Scott about the fine and then promptly spent the next five minutes dissecting and analyzing it.

While that wouldn't be an issue if they were at halftime, or in a studio before or after a game, or even near the end of a blowout, these guys decided to climb on their soapbox and speak out against both the fine and homophobia in general during the second quarter of a playoff game.

Look, I couldn't agree more with everything they said; they made excellent points, and it's definitely refreshing to hear announcers take a stand on something like homophobic slurs, while also pointing out the fact that the league gave no truly good reason why Noah's fine was less than Kobe Bryant's. They pretty much hit the nail on the head throughout the discussion and touched on the bigger issues at play.

But these guys are paid to announce the game. It wasn't like this one was a blowout yet either; Oklahoma City led by 10 or 12 points throughout the video, and it's still just the second quarter. The least they could do is pretend to care about the game before the fourth quarter.

It would have been fine to touch on the issue if it had happened during the game they were announcing, but ignoring the on-court action to talk about something unrelated to the current game is ridiculous.

I get that it's tough to fill two-and-a-half hours of airtime, but you're not covering something like football, where you've got five minutes in between plays to chat amongst yourselves; there's action going on throughout the game, and they barely talked about it, other than pointing out a steal and a basket.

On top of that, we see one of the most egregious flops in recent memory take place, and they don't even take a look at that.

Of course, when Jeff Van Gundy is one of the analysts involved, should we really be surprised that they decided not to break down the game? After all, the last thing anyone actually wants to do when they watch an NBA game on television is listen to Van Gundy talk. 

The pint-sized analyst even takes a swing at the way games are broadcast despite the fact that he's helping to contribute to a broadcast like that right now, distracting fans from on-court action, rather than enhancing that action, by talking about something unrelated to the current game.

Way to remember that you're actually watching a game, guys.