Snoop Dogg's winning NBC Olympics commentary is pure gold
Snoop Dogg's Olympic broadcasting future is so bright he's going to need shades – but definitely not goggles.
The rapper and NBC Paris 2024 Olympic special correspondent, 52, scoffed at the suggestion of wearing swim goggles when plunging into a pool lesson with 23-time gold medal winner Michael Phelps.
"Hell no, I see really good without them," Snoop said indignantly during his "Primetime in Paris" segment Monday night. He dropped his American flag robe to reveal Snoop Dogg bathing trunks and comically stepped into the water.
Snoop got schooled in the pool, even after breaking down and goggling up. But he's going for gold as Olympic commentator and No. 1 Team USA cheerleader with his must-see appearances with "Primetime" host Mike Tirico. Here's how Snoop's winning the Summer games.
Snoop Dogg's badminton call was shuttlecock splendor
This will be the best thing you watch all day. ?? #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/SpyGkLOHJn
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) July 29, 2024
When was the last time American sports fans paid attention to badminton? Snoop's perfect inner-monologue description of a killer point between the USA and China men's doubles is already the Olympic call that fans will be reminiscing about. Here's his July 28 shuttlecock soliloquy:
"As you see, it don’t stop ’til the casket drop. They rocking and rolling. Back and forth. Give me that. No, I need that. Nope, over here. No, over there. What about over there? Nope. What about over there? Nope. Give me that. I need that. That too. Nope, sit down somewhere. Wait a minute. Way up in the sky. Now down. Back up. Over there. Now over here. Get out the way. Move. I told you. We need that.”
We're carrying the torch for Snoop's national anthem tears
Snoop already earned the honor of carrying the Olympic torch during Friday's opening ceremonies. But his poet's heart was fully revealed when the rapper shed tears during the national anthem after watching Caeleb Dressel win his eighth gold medal Saturday. After fist-pumping Dressel to victory next to the swimmer's wife Meghan, Snoop, draped in the American flag, crooned the anthem with his eyes closed.
"The Star-Spangled Banner – there's something emotional about that song and being there with all those Americans," Snoop explained to Tirico. "And being with the family, I felt like part of the family."
Snoop wore his heart on his sleeve, Simone Biles on his T-shirt
Snoop showed his Simone Biles love by placing the famed Olympian's face on his T-shirt during the women’s gymnastics qualification round Sunday. And the lifting of his sunglasses to reveal wide-eyed astonishment at Biles' performance became an instant meme.
Biles and the rest of the U.S. women's gymnastics team giddily pointed out the dancing Snoop in the audience and broke out into their own moves in his honor. No one is having more fun.
But the best viewing was watching as Snoop sat next to Jordan Chiles' parents, as her emotional mother Gina cringed and clutched husband Timothythroughout their daughter's performance. Snoop was perfectly calm and cool until breaking into emphatic applause.
The Snoop Olympics love was there, but flourishing
We saw the potential for greatness as Snoop went viral during the 2020 Tokyo Games, joyously commentating with Kevin Hart about equestrian dressage. He's just turned the love offensive up on the big Paris stage. The burgeoning broadcaster stuck the landing on his first-weekend performance by telling Tirico about the correspondent's job: "Somebody got to do it; why not me?
"Look at me now," he added.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Snoop Dogg wins Olympics, swims with Michael Phelps