The episode titles weren’t subtle about what the show was selling, either: “Can You Take a Hit From Kevin Greene?,” “John Randle Bloodies Some Joes,” and “Kurt Angle Kicks Some Joe Ass.”įrom an insurance liability standpoint alone, it is remarkable the show ever got made. The violence of various interactions between the Pros and Joes was baked into the program, especially when football players, wrestlers, and boxers were involved. Those beatdowns were by design, and they weren’t merely figurative. Joes convinced more than 100 marquee names, many of them Hall of Famers and Olympians, to pummel random dudes on basic cable in games that, at times, bore only a fuzzy resemblance to real sports. Yet the most eye-popping part of the trailer was the promise to deliver scores of A-list athletes-“Bo Jackson, Bill Romanowski, Dennis Rodman, Jennie Finch, Jerry Rice, Clyde Drexler, and many more.” And indeed, over the course of five seasons from 2006 to 2010, Pros vs. The commercial features some generic hard rock guitar chords, a growly “ In a World”–style voice-over, and, best of all, some guy in a basement calling Bo Jackson-a two-sport superstar and one of the great athletes of his or any generation-a “hack.” It’s a masterpiece. The first trailer for the show couldn’t have been a better snapshot of the mid-2000s, a time best forgotten but defined by talentless armchair quarterbacks in untucked button-down shirts, too-baggy jeans, and square-toe shoes who probably never missed an episode of Entourage. What emerged from that elevator pitch was a kind of Frankenstein fantasy camp where scores of overconfident bros who never made it were frequently embarrassed by guys and gals who played, and dominated, at the highest levels. The concept was simple in theory, if not in execution: Big-name professionals going against no-name amateurs. In fact, that very premise gave birth to one of the most batshit reality shows in modern television history. In fairness, Shorr-Parks isn’t the first grown man to convince himself that he can compete with professional athletes. When Eliot Shorr-Parks tweeted this last year, he unleashed a swift and unrelenting backlash- thousands of replies eager to let the Philadelphia Eagles reporter know that his self-aggrandizing summation of his physical skills was detached from reality. It looks impossible.- Eliot Shorr-Parks August 17, 2020 I could play hundreds of games of hockey and never, ever score a goal. I could probably get two points in an NBA game.
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