During a broadcast of a Minnesota high school basketball game, play-by-play announcer Lee Bernick decided to take a brief moment to mourn the loss of his 12-year-old dog, Lucy, who died after a car ran her over in the family driveway. However, just as Bernick was getting to the pet's cause of death, a player on the court made a heads-up steal which led to a highlight-reel dunk on the other end of the floor. George Nusbaum, Bernick's broadcast partner, connected the fast break play with the story and quipped "like that? did she get run over like that?"
A clip of the exchange was posted on Twitter on Thursday and went viral later in the day.
I’m.... im not sure how I should feel about what this announcer just said? pic.twitter.com/gfvfYVKwme
— Ross Homan (@Ross_homan1) January 9, 2020
What likely contributed to this clip's popularity was the shock value of Nusbaum's comment, as he appears to be making light of a heartfelt moment. There was even potential for even more shock when considering the fact that it's not clear whether 12-year-old Lucy is a human or a pet, though Bernick's son Pat clarified on Twitter that Lucy was, in fact, a dog.
Unsurprisingly, the 14-second video of 70-minute broadcast lacked a bit of context, as Sports Illustrated's Dan Gartland discovered. In an interview with Nusbaum, Gartland found out the clip was actually from November, that Nusbaum and Bernick had been broadcasting these games together for a few years, and that Bernick found the quip funny.
"He's just the devil himself. He was laughing," Nusbaum told SI. "We're always trying to set each other up for something like that so he's fist bumping me. He's the guy who brought it up, not me. We're of course animal lovers. You're there to entertain, right?"
You don't have to take Nusbaum's word for it. On the broadcast itself, Bernick offers a deadpan reply to his partner saying, "Oh, you want to know what happened? Sabrina ran her over." What's more, the joke came shortly after Nusbaum offered sincere condolences. You can watch the whole exchange in context here (starting at 32:10).
