Are.You.Kidding.Me?

Truly shocked today.

Why? Well two things.

1) The NBA is playing GEICO. Yeah, G-E-I-C-O. Not H-O-R-S-E during All Star Weekend.

As that contest joins dunking and three-point shooting contests as part of TNT's NBA All-Star Weekend coverage, the as-yet unnamed three contestants — who'll be overseen by an NBA ref — will play G-E-I-C-O. As in the insurance company that will be the event's unavoidable sponsor. (Suggestion: The winner then takes on the famous ad lizard to really drive home the brand awareness.)

For its G-E-I-C-O game, TNT will pull up a truck — which it uses for NASCAR coverage — to put announcers on a set that can rise 14 feet and swivel 360 degrees. As part of the dunk coverage, TNT will get NBA stars such as Dwight Howard or Vince Carter to imagine futuristic dunks, with videogame-maker (and NBA sponsor) EA Sports showing video simulations of their visions.

And following Fox's production of 3-D coverage of college football's BCS title game, shown in about 80 theaters last month, TNT will offer the Feb. 14 events, including the G-E-I-C-O game, in theaters. Tickets will cost $18-$22.

Oh almighty dollar, the NBA worships THEE! As Jim just said, "that just killed it for me."

via USA Today

2) D-Bag Joe Buck replaces the other D-Bag, Bob Costas over at HBO.

Costas this week left HBO for the MLB Network. He was interested in appearing on both, but HBO insisted on continuing to be his sole employer on cable TV. Enter Buck, the Fox NFL and MLB play-by-play announcer, for a yet-to-be-named 90-minute show starting in May.

HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg says Buck is "downright funny, although I don't know if the American public is aware of that."

Ummm, sure. I've never, ever, ever laughed at anything Joe Buck has said, unless he said something stupid, in which case, I laughed at him and not with him. Apparently everyone other than the HBO Sports President agrees with me.

Buck shot a Saturday late-night comedy show pilot for Fox that wasn't picked up — "it was a little different and not what a broadcast network was looking for," he says — and had been talking to HBO for months before Costas' exit. Greenburg, saying Buck shows "incredible brilliance" in his play-by-play calls, says HBO gives him "an opportunity to get done what he can't do in the world of network TV. Cable and network are two different worlds."

Or Buck just isn't funny. Which would explain why he can't get into comedy. But alas, Money and D-Bags 1, me ZERO.

via the same article as I listed above.