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Monday’s Hot Clicks: Marvin Lewis Was Impossibly Dull in His Broadcasting Debut

The former Bengals coach sounded like he was trying to lull the audience to sleep.

Dan Gartland

AAF

Yawnnnnnn

Former Bengals coach Marvin Lewis was in booth last night for Alliance of American Football action between the Arizona Hotshots and Salt Lake Stallions. If he was as lifeless as a coach as he was as a broadcaster, it’s a miracle he lasted 16 years in Cincinnati. 

The game was easily the most exciting of the four AAF games of the league’s debut weekend, with Arizona winning 38–22, but Lewis’s color commentary made it sound like a funeral. No matter how exciting the play, Lewis barely raised his voice. This miraculous escape by Stallions quarterback Matt Linehan didn’t seem to impress Lewis much. 

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The second video, where Lewis blandly says “That’s what he does” is equally subdued. 

One of the great things about the AAF is that players are mic’d up in the huddle, so you can hear the play call before they run it. As a coach, Lewis is able to translate that into regular English, but with 5% of the enthusiasm Tony Romo has. 

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Viewers picked up on Lewis’s comatose delivery and roasted him on Twitter. 

Lewis will have two chances to redeem himself next weekend, calling games in Birmingham on Saturday and San Diego on Sunday. The San Diego game starts at 8 p.m. ET, if you want to plan your bedtime accordingly. 

Pretty slick, Knicks

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I don’t think Knicks fans are going to renew their season tickets because they want to see backup center Mitchell Robinson. The other guy, though...

The Knicks—who everyone knows are desperate to land Kevin Durant—actually took the photo down after it started gaining traction on Twitter.

“Game action photos are used all the time for marketing purposes, but given everything going on, we took the precaution of taking the photo down,” the team told the New York Daily News. “To be clear, it was one of several rotating photos on the website.”

The AAF produced at least one highlight

The debut weekend of the AAF saw mixed results. Few of the games were actually competitive and offenses were sluggish, even with rules (like a maximum five-man pass rush) designed to facilitate scoring. But everyone went nuts for this one sack by San Antonio Commanders linebacker Shaan Washington.

Oh, and Jets bust Christian Hackenberg was predictably horrible and kept cursing on a hot mic.

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Email dan.gartland@simail.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.

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Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

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