It Was a Thing on TV: An Anthology on Forgotten Television

We hope you have enjoyed your Thanksgiving as you prepare to watch some Thanksgiving night football.  Thirty Thanksgivings ago, Leon Lett committed one of the most boneheaded plays in NFL history.  Oddly enough, less than a year earlier, Lett previously committed another one of the most boneheaded plays in NFL history, on the biggest stage of them all.

Greg just finished watching maybe one of the worst games of football he's ever seen in the Battle of New York between the Jets and the Giants and he's here to give his instant reaction to it. What happens when one team is down to their third-string center and the other team is down to their third-string QB? #hilarityensues

On Halloween Eve 2006, ESPN got several fans involved in a unique event where the fans were dressed as Monday Night Football personalities.  This happened once and never again.  Were fans creeped out by a big-headed Chris Berman racing down a football field?  Could it be because several of the big heads almost fell off?  Join Greg and Mike as they look at this one-time experiment.

Mike and Greg recap a wild Week 1 in the NFL on a special It Was a Thing on TV Presents. 

Among the things discussed are the debuts of Bryce Young and CJ Stroud, Tyreek Hill's great game against the Chargers, the Giants laying an egg against the Cowboys, Aaron Rodgers' season-ending injury, and the Jets' walk-off win against Buffalo.

Tonight is the first Monday Night Football game of the 2023 season.  There have been many legendary characters behind the mic in the 50+ year history of MNF, from Howard Cosell to Frank Gifford to Joe Buck and Troy Aikman nowadays.  For a brief period, the announcing crew consisted of the highly capable and competent Joe Tessitore and two people wet behnd the ears--the fish-out-of-water Jason Witten, and the human obstruction known as Booger McFarland.

In this special Instant Reaction, Greg opens packs of old sports cards as Mike and Chico react to some of his cards. Can Greg pull a possible PSA 10 Emmitt Smith Rookie from Score 1990 Football?

The Baseball Hall of Fame inductions will be happening in a matter of weeks.  One of the enshrinees this year is slugger Fred McGriff.  While most people know him as a basher for a number of MLB teams, others remember him from appearing in frequently aired ads for baseball skill videos.  We look back at the videos, and discover something amazing about those ads about a quarter century later.

The 2023 XFL has made it farther than its second incarnation by making it to the Championship Game! Can the title game fare better than the original XFL's 2001 Championship Game? Greg and Chico live watch the 2023 Championship between DC and Arlington from the Alamodome as they smell what The Rock is cooking.

In the past, we have paid respects to Hulk Hogan commercials, Ric Flair commercials, and our annual favorite of hometown commercials.  We add another legend to the commercial family with Shaq commercials.  Grab your Reeboks and a Pepsi, and prepare for almost 30 years of ads featuring Shaq Diesel.

Shaq Reebok Commercial (1993) - https://youtu.be/taKQHlEAeNE

Shaq Attack Toy Commercial - https://youtu.be/uBMi037Oh60

Shaq All-Sport Commercial “2044” (1994) - https://youtu.be/DEqp3tN7muE

Shaq Fu Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrwWXqlhEN8

Pepsi Big Slam - https://youtu.be/tPiMvRrISlc

Reebok Shaq vs. Shaq (1995) - https://youtu.be/-CYOjklUEBU

Taco Bell Double Decker Taco with Hakeem Olajuwon (1995) - https://youtu.be/FVmaYNtgu4g

Reebok Olympic Commercial with Emmitt Smith (1996) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ABstuWWHJE

Taco Bell Taco Neck (1997) - https://youtu.be/CsGwPyrSNVE

Pepsi Commercial (1997) - https://youtu.be/N4M_OcgP2ko

Pepsi Commercial with Michael J. Fox (1997) - https://youtu.be/dTyyGgiMCAU

NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC for Midway (1999)  - https://youtu.be/88SePMME0r4

Burger King Shaq Pack - https://youtu.be/EXweq5wKOd

RadioShack Commercial with Carmelo Anthony (2004) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3Xh_-Olq7I

NBA on TNT “Spanish Class” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzJbTuidtZo

Vitamin Water “Horsin’ Around With Shaq” Super Bowl XLII Commercial - https://youtu.be/ti4aCoikJBE

This is SportsCenter “Hero” - https://youtu.be/FZdplRRmCQ0

Icy Hot Dance Moves - https://youtu.be/IOTsV-ydJ_0

The General Commercial (Truck) - https://youtu.be/Fwc1bGbcerI

The General “Best Friends” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNUxsqvl3dg

The General Trampoline - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEb3UG-EuII

The General with Michael Buffer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j8L0BQZd2k

Harbin Beer (China) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH2146LMdkE

Nestle Crunch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQEDwrpwJ6M

Alkaline 88 Water - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fqnf-2-1PuE

Age of Beard - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwr73cCo3KA

Frosted Flakes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGmvlaKFyCc

Papa John’s Stuffed Crust - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYOwqAtaNvg

Oreo Acrobat Commercial (2017) - https://youtu.be/u6CKP47CIQ 

Epson EcoTank for Epson Canada - https://youtu.be/rMtEGc7u71g

Gold Bond Compilation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGERvTGQvwc

In 1984, the San Francisco Giants needed something to get fans' attention away from their poor play on the field. Enter the first ever anti-mascot a crustacean mascot which drew heat from not only the fans, but the Giants and the opposing teams as well. It's all immortalized in one of the best baseball commercials ever.

Love that Crazy Crab!