ESPNMedia MonsterVideo

SportsCenter Interviews Liam Neeson About American Football And It Goes Horribly, Horribly Awry

Nothing makes us, the American consumerist sport-frenzied public, more repulsed than overt, shameless cross-promotion. When advertising stops being subtle and starts getting real, the collective face palm ensues. Unfortunately, you’re not going to have a palm big enough for your face after watching this train wreck of a Liam Neeson interview on SportsCenter. On the bright side, he embarrasses the hell out of ESPN, which is usually a plus.

A few things. First, what the hell were ESPN’s producers doing asking Liam Neeson — a native of Northern Ireland — such thorough questions about American football? Yeah, he’s lived in the states a long time, but shouldn’t there have been some sort of pre-interview screening where Neeson could’ve said he didn’t know squat about futbol Americano? I guess not, because he basically had nothing to say about the Jets-49ers washout, except that the athleticism was stellar and everyone went home afterwards to barbeque instead of killing each other (like they would have done in Europe).

Second, but less importantly, he cussed live on the air! With no bleep! That’s the star of Taken right there, not a care in the world for the FCC or basic cable television. It was an uphill battle from there for Mike Hill to reclaim the rogue Neeson. A battle not even the valiant Tim Tebow could win.

After the crashing and burning of the American football segment of the interview, the topic shifted to boxing and soccer, where although Neeson was better versed in the subject material, there was no recovering from the cringe-worthy first stanza. Neeson was too far gone, too complacent, and too much the badass he is to put any more umph into his Taken 2 publicity stunt.

This wasn’t a good thing, ESPN. I have higher hopes for Taken 2.

[The Blaze, photo via Getty]

Follow Jordan Rabinowitz