Far be it for the NBA blogosphere's resident Anglophile to have a go at a litany of limeys trying to call an NBA game, but even this plonker has to admit that this was pretty bad.

Ruddy awful, as it were.

The BBC threw out a couple of radio presenters, Mark Pougatch and Colin Murray, hoped their familiarity with the sports world in general would prove fruitful in calling Tuesday's preseason game between the Utah Jazz and Chicago Bulls, and the whole enterprise failed miserably. The Larry Bird line is my favorite. You'll hear it, after the jump.

Look, basketball isn't exceedingly popular over there, and I'd appreciate some thanks for not using the phrase "not their cup of tea."

Still, it's a big island, and there's even a solid-sized island right next to it, and you're telling me the BBC couldn't find one basketball-fanatic to at least join the duo for the length of the game? Hell, we know for a fact that Sham from ShamSports.com writes circles around most stateside scribes, so why couldn't the BBC find one on-air presenter with at least a passing knowledge of the game? Especially now that you've cut Top Gear's funding, eh BBC?

Obviously, I take these things rather personally. And John Amaechi did swing by for a little bit, and he was quite good. Same with Chuck Swirsky. And, if I'm honest, the two seemed to grow by leaps and bounds as the game went along. Check out the call of Chicago's game-winning possession.

Really, I'm just hoping Murray eventually finds "a hot dog that's bigger than any of these players." Why was he looking for such a thing? Because "that's the American way."

I know that I'm inviting all sorts of rampant xenophobia with this post, at times it's America's greatest export, so let's try to keep it civil in the comment section.