Though upon its initial release Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride was only a modest box office success, the 1987 feature that blended fantasy, romance, adventure and comedy has become an unadulterated cult hit. In the '90s a slumber party wasn't complete without a VHS copy of the beloved tale of Westley and Buttercup, and today you can and will be roundly scorned by friends for not recognizing it's many, many quotable lines should they roll into conversation, which is inevitable.
Still, it was a pleasant surprise to find that ESPN's NFL Kickoff hosts Trey Wingo, Mark Schlereth, and Tedy Bruschi can be counted among the ardent fans of Princess Bride, as they showed in force on Sunday night's show. Over the course of a half hour, the trio dropped such notable quotables as "Life is pain; anyone who says differently is selling something," and "it's not his fault he's the biggest and the strongest; he doesn't even exercise," plus made references to the Cliffs of Insanity, the Pit of Despair and even ROUSes. It's inconceivable…and incredibly cool.
Check out a supercut of the NFL Kickoff team's Princess Bride references below, courtesy of Buzz Feed:
Confession: I can't stop watching this! And I can't decide what element of this playful prank makes it most enjoyable: its sheer silliness, the sly mockery of typical sports hyperbole, the blatant stretches to shove in some of these quotes, or the obvious joy of the NFL Kickoff crew at playing this game. I'd love to know how this came about, but having no answer, I like to imagine the movie playing on cable with this trio crowded around munching on popcorn, shouting out favorite lines, and guzzling down tasty theme cocktails like a Fezzik Fizzie or an Inigo Martini.
