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BLOG: Could Will Ferrell's humor slump help ASU?

Posted at 11:24 AM, Sep 25, 2015
and last updated 2015-09-25 14:24:49-04

What the heck has happened to Will Ferrell? 

I don’t think he is all that funny anymore, and it’s primarily because of all the things he’s doing in sports that are falling a little bit flat. I’m serious about him not being as funny.

Now granted, he set the bar so darn high with AnchormanOld School, Wedding CrashersElf and his golden years at Saturday Night Live that anything that isn’t bona fide hysterical comes off as being mediocre at best. 

Apparently there has been a shortage of good movie scripts coming across his desk, because he’s got a ton of free time to try out wacky sports shenanigans that are simply falling flat.  

Last Saturday, he led USC onto the football field to play Stanford. Just the sight of him standing in front of the team usually means something ridiculous was about to go down.

In his prime, he would have fallen down and been trampled by everyone on the team, including the Trojan horse. Or, he would have run on the field, shed his clothes, and than gone streaking through the quad because everyone is doing it. I’d take a Harry Caray impression as he pops open a can of beer

No. Modern-day-sports Will simply clapped, than ran onto the field with the team following behind. The Trojans were apparently so inspired they got hammered by the Cardinal, 41-31. 

The other day, a video emerged of Will racing a guy in the 40-yard dash after that USC game. Kudos to a movie star for actually running the race. I give Will credit for that, and let’s face it, he’s probably the most accommodating and down-to-earth star around. Something tells me Bradley Cooper would have said no on the 40-yard dash.

But again, we expect a lot more from Will than simply running hard for 40 yards. There were no face plants. No cowbell. No laughter. Why not veer off into the goalpost face first, than bust out a perfect cheer?

How about his recent special on HBO called Ferrell Takes the Field. You know the story: He played 10 positions for 10 different Cactus League teams all on the same day.

Good concept. Great potential. Not exactly all that hilarious. I watched it and the whole time kept waiting for it to pick up.

The funniest part to me was when he went in his Mesa hotel room to wake up his kids, and they were annoyed and actually very funny. The people who weren’t laughing were the Oakland A’s players who appeared completely ticked off that he was doing this whole stunt. So, there was that unintentional comedy in it, but not much more.    

Bottom line: Will Ferrell is wasting his time doing all these things in sports. Your beloved Trojans are perfectly capable of losing on their own, Will, and finding the sideline before the game -- and they'll probably lose to ASU on Saturday.

It’s time for Will Ferrell to do America a favor, and stop being such a great sports fan, and get back to work doing the one thing he is really good at: Crashing funerals, or something similarly ridiculous and non-sports-related.