Indiana TV station hilariously improvises to show Purdue ‘highlights’ from NCAA Tournament game
By David Wasson
Published:
Necessity is the mother of invention, just ask Purdue fans and sports broadcaster Josh Ayen.
The Boilermakers faithful in Ayen’s Fort Wayne, Ind., television market were treated to quite a unique highlights package Friday night on WANE 15. Due to NCAA Tournament broadcast restrictions, Ayen’s CBS affiliate was unable to show highlights of second-seeded Purdue’s 104-7 destruction of 15th-seeded Queens in a West Region first-round game in St. Louis.
So Ayen hilarously improvised with his own version of March Madness – recreating a complete set of Boilermaker highlights starring himself as various Purdue players (complete with numbers written on copy paper and taped to the back of a Purdue T-shirt and shooting at a mini-basketball hoop in his studio.
“As much as we would love to show you the TV highlights, we can’t right now due to telecast restrictions,” Ayen said to the camera before cutting to the highlights he also created the voice-over for. “But you know what? I am going to do the next best thing and act out those highlights myself.”
Ayen and WANE 15 were able to use the actual Purdue highlights starting at 1 am Saturday, but watch for him to continue the impressive self-acted highlight montage after the Boilermakers face seventh-seeded Miami on Sunday on his own network (12:10 pm ET, CBS).
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An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
