March Madness viewers call out CBS for ‘creepy’ talking basketball segment
By David Wasson
Published:
March Madness is so many things to so many people: eye-popping individual performances, epic rallies, buzzer beaters and upsets galore.
But a talking basketball live on set?
That’s right, a talking basketball – complete with a moving mouth and blue eyes – joined CBS analysts Clark Kellogg, Renee Montgomery and Charles Barkley on set Saturday for one of the cringiest segments in recent history
Montgomery (subbing for a still-sick Kenny Smith) and Barkley were evidently coerced into interacting with an extraordinarily creepy talking basketball following Michigan’s victory over Saint Louis. And suffice to say, viewers were… confused?
Named “Old Ball”, Barkley compared him to E.T. while also saying that he looks way better and then comparing “OB” to fellow analyst Clark Kellogg.
“Technology is amazing,” Barkley said while holding the animatronic talking basketball.
The basketball protested Barkley and Montgomery’s handlings of the non-talking basketballs that joined it on the rack, and then recited off some of their names while Barkley held it.
The truly bizarre segment ended with Montgomery chiding Barkley into accepting a kiss from the basketball – which planted a big leathery one on the Round Mound of Rebound’s right cheek.
“I’ll never wash my lips again,” OB said as the segment mercifully came to a close.
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.
