Fred McGriff Admits He's Never Watched the Tom Emanski Defensive Drills Video

The commercial for Tom Emanski's Baseball World Defensive Drills video was once upon a time one of the purest nostalgia-inducing memories sports fans of a certain age could ever hope to remember. One simply could not make it through a morning of watching SportsCenter reruns without seeing it six or seven times. Even after all these years, the script and the action is seared into collective memory. The players in a straight line, practicing following through. The crisp turn at second base. That outfielder uncorking a rocket into a garbage can at home plate.

An important skill to master in case Oscar the Grouch was forced into action behind the dish.

It used to be perfection. But no longer. Fred McGriff has blown the lid off this whole thing, not unlike the wind trying to blow his infamous hat off its precarious perch hovering over the crown of his head. The celebrity endorser went on Kenny Mayne's final sports-highlight show late last night and exposed the whole thing as a farce.

Okay, perhaps just his part, but still.

Here's McGriff admitting — gasp — that to this day, he's never even watched the instructional video.

Say it ain't so, Crime Dog. Say this entire life hasn't been a lie built upon rock-solid fundamental play you could have watched for free without paying onerous shipping-and-handling fees.

This one hurts. A lot.

I keep rewatching the McGriff clip over and over, hoping there's something I missed and he didn't really say what I already know he said. But all that's doing is producing back-to-back-to-back-to-back disappointment.