Here's an excerpt from my latest column at TribLive.com. To read the entire piece, click HERE.
There are lots of unnecessary things in sports: The home run derby, the dunk contest, the 3-point contest, all-star games in general, women’s pro hockey, the shootout in hockey … you could go on forever. But topping that list is Wednesday’s ESPY Awards, ESPN’s annual exercise in self-congratulation. The late Norm Macdonald lampooned from within as the event’s host in 1998. He was brilliant. He also never got invited back. Maybe because Macdonald said this about Michael Jordan’s impending induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame: “He wants his plaque to bear his basketball nickname, ‘Air Jordan,’ not his baseball nickname, ‘Senor Crappy.’ ”
Watch Norm's monologue in its entirety below. It's fun to watch big-headed star athletes squirm.