During Saturday night’s North Carolina men’s college basketball win at Duke, ESPN cut away to a sideline reporter for a bit about the revival of “Speedo Guy,” a Duke fan behind the Carolina basket who stripped to his swimsuit as distraction.
Seems a Speedo Guy from 2005 (there have been more than one) was so effective in 1-point Duke win that Tar Heel Marvin Williams missed two free throws when he saw the spectacle before shooting. Saturday, ESPN’s cameras focused in on the latest model. We saw him at the end of his strip, then turn to the camera wearing a black swimsuit (not sure if it was the Speedo brand) and gesturing wildly in a suggestive way with his arms pumping up and down towards his crotch (photo is my screen capture of the moment).
After a bit of joking banter by play-by-play man Dan Shulman (ESPN had featured original Speedo Guy earlier and obviously had hoped another would take his place), he broke in a couple of minutes later to offer an apology. Obviously, word had come down from someone in the production truck that ESPN (despite its shilling of the moment) had better cover its rear after what it had just shown.
“We’d like to apologize for the gestures the new Speedo Guy made here tonight,” Shulman said. “He didn’t do it in the same manner as the old guy did. The old guy was doing it for fun. This guy was taking it to another extreme and we apologize for those who may have been offended by what you saw.”
Extreme? Please, what the guy did was rather tame, though lame. The only thing that offended me was the quality of this Speedo Guy. He was in OK shape but a little too blocky to look really good in a Speedo. I was hoping someone who looked like this would have worn it; that would cause anyone to miss a free throw. –Jim Buzinski
on Mar 9th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Definitely no apologies required from my point of view. But I wouldn’t need a “speedo guy” to be distracted. Just the sight of Dahntay Jones waiting on the side for a rebound would totally throw me off what little game I have.
http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/duke/galleries/m-baskbl-31503/jones-dunk-lg.jpg
Now which basket was I suppose to hit?
on Mar 9th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Has ESPN ever apologized for allowing us to hear what some of these moronic fans chant during a game? The article you guys cited from SI shows there is a whole hell of a lot more offensive and disturbing stuff going on than some guy in a speedo.
on Mar 9th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
I want to see the people who were offended. They are not humans, just robots. Then again, those are the people who ESPN caters to with their programming.
on Mar 9th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
YouTube video of Speedo Guy
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jNEj0BzVHZw
on Mar 9th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
It wasn’t offensive. it was funny. http://www.finickycritic.com
on Mar 9th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
I think the no-content “banter” of the sports announcers, especially that one-trick pony hyperbolist Dick Vitale, is more offensive than the Speedo guy…if anyone was offended they should never attend a major sporting event, b/c they may see and hear something that would not fly on the Disney channel.
on Mar 10th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Thankfully, we didn’t see any woman’s nipples.
on Mar 10th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
1) What’s wrong w/ beefier guys in Speedos? He could’ve been beefier in my opinion.
2) Does stuff like that really freak str8 guys out that much?
on Mar 11th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Not sure why you’d need to say he didn’t have a nice enough body to satisfy your tastes, Jim. These comments continue to keep us stereotyped as hyper-sexual predators who can think of nothing else but hot guys. And coincidentally, until you look that good in one, much less a moo-moo, keep your gay-typical and senseless comments out of a journalistic article.
on Mar 11th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Oh give me a break. The whole piece was written in a spirit of fun. By the way, I’ve been told I look pretty good in a Speedo.
on Mar 11th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
maybe we can start a slushfund at outsports in order to pay hansbrough to wear a speedo…..
on Mar 11th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
“By the way, I’ve been told I look pretty good in a Speedo.”
Hey, Jim. at the risk of sounding “gay-typical and senseless”, how about posting a picture? I love a good Speedo shot…
(But please, please, please…no Colts gear, okay?)
on Mar 11th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Does a Speedo with a horseshoe count?
on Mar 12th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
That would be acceptable as long as the horseshoe is in a strategic location… (Of course, if you throw in a Lone Ranger mask I’ll forgive anything…)
on Sep 12th, 2009 at 6:09 am
i haven’t watched the youtube video of the speedo guy yet but he looks pretty decent to me