Cartoon Network: The Big Game

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'The Big Game', Foghorn says, 'could be the game for the 2000s. You drop a piano on Elmer Fudd, it's no big deal. You drop a piano Keyshawn Johnson? I got news for you, friend - he ain't gettin' up.' —Jim Huber at the end of Look Back documentary

The following description is a presentation of Cartoon Network Sports.

In 1998, on the day before the Super Bowl, Cartoon Network ran a specially-themed marathon of Tom and Jerry shorts leading up an event they called The Big Game: Tom vs. Jerry. The event in question was simply a Re Cut of the short Quiet Please with football-style color commentary by John Madden and Pat Summerall, plus Shaggy Rogers inserted in as a sideline reporter. This marked the beginning of an annual tradition for the channel on the day before the Super Bowl for the next three years.

The following year, Cartoon Network revisited the concept and expanded it into a four-hour special, spotlighting another rivalry from The Golden Age of Animation - Sylvester Cat and Tweety Bird. This time, the cartoon shorts leading up to the game were interspersed with a satirical pregame show hosted by Jerry Glanville, Nick Buoniconti, and Len Dawson, including fake commercials, biographies of the competing characters, and a look at the tailgate parties being held by their Loony Fans. And unlike Tom vs. Jerry, Sylvester and Tweety's big match-up went a full four quarters, with a halftime show in the form of a performance of "I Love to Singa". The game was also labeled with the Roman numeral of XXVII, showing that even though it was only the second of these things, a championship of cartoon sports was something that had apparently been going on in Toon Town even before Cartoon Network's launch.

For the next year's special, The Big Game XXVIII: Road Runner vs. Coyote, Cartoon Network went all out with parodying everything that characterized a Super Bowl broadcast. This time, the "game films" were all moved right to the beginning as a "pre-pregame show", and Cris Collinsworth, who'd missed out on the previous special, joined Jerry, Nick, and Len on hosting duties for the actual pregame show, sponsored by the Slate Rock & Quarry. Among other things, it includes a look at the making of an overhyped halftime show helmed by Helmut Spassmacher (played by Michael Kohler) and sponsored by Spacely Sprockets... which, ultimately, the viewer never actually gets to see due to a camera snafu. It is also notably the only one of the specials in which Madden and Summerall actually appear onscreen, and the only one to include real sideline announcers, in this case Bubba Smith and Scott Hamilton. Pretty much the only thing the special didn't have was an even match-up, as poor Wile E. ends up with a pretty miserable score (a negative number, in fact!) by the time the game's over. As a lead-up to the game, Cartoon Network also produced a retrospective mockumentary titled The Big Game: A Look Back, documenting the fictional history of the game, which was created by Foghorn Leghorn bringing all of the cartoon sports leagues together.

2001's special, The Big Game XXIX: Bugs vs. Daffy, returned to the format of having the cartoon shorts interspersed between segments of the pregame show, which had former NFL quarterback Dan Marino joining the hosts. Highlights included Cris Collinsworth interviewing Bugs' and Daffy's respective coaches, Dexter and Mojo Jojo, Daffy's tailgate party being crashed by Matt Pecini pretending to be Bugs himself, and the hosts discussing the "Elmer Fudd factor". In addition, the previous night's broadcast of Cartoon Cartoon Fridays had its interstitials themed around the characters having their own tailgate party in anticipation of the game. This, unfortunately, would mark the last of the Big Game specials, as Cartoon Network would gradually give less attention to (and eventually drop) their classic, non-original programming as the 2000s rolled on. However, in a rather appropriate topper to the series, Bugs vs. Daffy would also be the only one of these four specials to end with the "loser" character ultimately coming out on top.

Tropes used in Cartoon Network: The Big Game include:

Tropes present in the Big Games

At least two of them

• Butt Monkey: Besides the "loser" characters, Jerry Glanville is treated as this in the pregames/post-game segments, the other hosits make fun of his Cloudcuckoolander tendencies, and he's also the only one of them who predicts the "loser" character will win the game (which makes his being correct in predicting Daffy would win in Bugs vs. Daffy a MASSIVE Throw the Dog a Bone moment for him).
• Calvin Ball: What the characters are apparently playing. Dan Manrio even says in Bugs vs. Daffy that in the Big Game, "There Are No Rules."
• Cloudcuckoolander: Jerry Glanville.
• The Comically Serious: Pretty much everyone, though Harry Kalas gives off this vibe the most with everything he's saying in his deadpan voice.
• Curb Stomp Battle: Played straight in the second and third games, Sylvester and Wile E. never come close to overtaking their opponents. Downplayed in Tom vs. Jerry, where Tom actually does manage to score a lot of points, but not as much as Jerry does by the end. Subverted in Bugs vs. Daffy, where not only does Daffy make a strong comeback near the end, but he actually wins.
  • The Look Back special mentions that the very first Big Game, Yogi vs. Ranger Smith was this in Smith's favor.
  • In the recap of Daffy's season, his Conference Champion match against Porky Pig was also one of these.
• Foreshadowing:
  • In the halftime discussion for Sylvester vs. Tweety, Jerry Glanville says that "Sylvester's going to explode in the fourth quarter!" Sure enough, that's exactly what happens in the fourth quarter
  • In the intro to Road Runner vs. Coyote, Pat Summerall says that "there is likely to be one winner, and one loser" As he says this, the camera focuses on Road Runner and then the Coyote.
• I Am Not Weasel: In the "Mean Johnny Greene" parody commercial, Johnny Bravo continually calls Morocco Mole a dog.
• Named After Somebody Famous / Shout-Out Theme Naming: The stadiums in which the three Looney Tunes-related games were held were all named after people famous for their work on the characters in question: Sylvester vs. Tweety has Friz Freleng Colosseum, Road Runner vs. Coyote has Chuck Jones Stadium, and Bugs vs. Daffy has Mel Blanc Memorial Stadium.
• Previously On...: Sylvester vs. Tweety, Road Runner vs. Coyote, and Bugs vs. Daffy each contain recaps of the preceding games.
  • In addition, Bugs vs. Daffy includes a recap of their respective performances over the preceding "season".
• Recurring Extra: John 3:16, who appears at every tailgate party segment (except for the CCF one, for obvious reasons).
• Riddle for the Ages: Bugs vs. Daffy is the only one of these that recaps the characters' performance over the preceding "season". Road Runner vs. Coyote frames some other Road Runner cartoons not used for the game itself as match-ups that the characters had over its preceding season; its only elaboration on the two characters' other matches is mentioning that Wile E. lost his first one against one of The Smurfs due to not using Acme Products that time, and then won almost every match once he went back to using them. As such, exactly which other characters Tom, Jerry, Sylvester, Tweety, Road Runner, and Wile E. won against in order to make it to their respective Big Games is a mystery.
  • Additionally, the Look Back mockumentary ultimately only mentions the match-ups of four of the previously unknown 25 Big Games. Which characters competed in the Big Games that weren't specifically mentioned in the mockumentary? Has the Big Game always been between WarnerMedia-owned Toons, or were there matches involving characters that WarnerMedia doesn't own and therefore can't show?
• Running Gag: Jerry Glanville being the only Pregame host who predicts the "loser" character will win.
  • Also, within Bugs vs. Daffy's pregame show, the segments are prefaced by sponsorship tags for Brak Chews ("The Chewy Candy That You Chew"), as well as the competing Carrot Board and Spinach Farmers of America.
• Roger Rabbit Effect: In Road Runner vs. Coyote, Aquaman and Blue Falcon are interviewed from a live-action beach in one pregame segment, and the Powerpuff Girls and Fred Flintstone are superimposed into the live-action crowd shots at the game itself. Also, in Bugs vs. Daffy's pregame show, Cris Collinsworth interviews the players' respective coaches, Dexter and Mojo Jojo.
• Shout-Out:
  • In the games themselves, if one listens closely, they can hear the theme songs to various Cartoon Network shows at the time being used as background music.
  • When recapping Road Runner vs. Coyote, Harry Kalas describes the CGI as being "like Toy Story".
  • In Bugs vs. Daffy, the Trope Namer for Chuck Cunningham Syndrome is referenced in the "Where'd They Get To?" segment spotlighting Yakky Doodle.
• Super Bowl Special: Parodied, naturally.
• The Voiceless: Quick Draw McGraw is this in the "Everybody in no pants" Parody Commercial.
• Writers Cannot Do Math: According to the Look Back mockumentary, the first Big Game, Yogi vs. Ranger Smith, was in 1972, and the latest one in-universe, Road Runner vs. Coyote, which aired along with the mockumentary in 2000, is Big Game 28. However, if one counts all the years consecutively, they would find that Road Runner vs. Coyote would actually be the 29th Big Game, and Bugs vs. Daffy the 30th.

Tom vs. Jerry

• Cowboy Bebop at His Computer: Madden and Summerall continually refer to the big dog as Tyke, when his name is actually Spike (Tyke was the name of his son). They also seem to think that Shaggy's last name is Bupkis (it's actually Rogers).
• Early Installment Weirdness: The game itself consists of only one segment, Shaggy appears as a sideline reporter, and Tom and Jerry's scores are not numbered. This was also the only Big Game with no actual pregame segments (it was instead prefaced by a marathon of regular Tom & Jerry shorts).

Sylvester vs Tweety

• Delayed Reaction: If the amount of time spent on Madden and Summerall's commentary is any indication, it apparently takes Sylvester much longer than in the original short for him to realize he swallowed the dynamite.
• Department of Redundancy Department:

Pat Summerall: When Tweety uses the line "I tawt I taw a puddy tat" in the first half, he's 97-0. When he waits until the second half to use it, he's 97-0.

• Loony Fan: The Sylvester and Tweety fans at the tailgate parties are willing to eat goldfish and earthworms, respectively.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Tweety mixes nitroglycerine into the seasickness medicine that Sylvester drinks, thus accidentally giving him the advantage of being able to spit fireballs. Subverted, though, since it still doesn't help Sylvester win the game (and given how far behind he was, coupled with how little time was left, it probably wouldn't have helped him much anyway).
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: At the start of the second half, Madden and Summerall figure that Sylvester's coach gave him one of these during halftime and that's why Sylvester is feeling so down. _{In the original short, it was because he couldn't find anything to eat in the trash cans.}

Road Runner vs. Coyote

• 0% Approval Rating: The Coyote only has three fans showing up at his tailgate party, and the judges give him low scores at the start of the second half. Rather ironic, considering that in real life, Wile E. is an intended example of Rooting For The Empire.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:

Harry Kalas: What I'm saying is we know little of the life of Wile E. Coyote, before he became a household name. His family, his upbringing, his favorite Golden Girl, all a mystery.

• Brainless Beauty: Olive Oyl is this in the "Velma's Secret" Parody Commercial.

Announcer: Pay attention now. "Desire is the New Shape of Sexy." Get it?
Olive: What was the old shape?

• Clothes Make the Superman: Discussed by Aquaman and Blue Falcon, who bring up Wile E. Coyote attempting to fly wearing Superman and Batman costumes to show that he's an aversion of this trope.
• Composite Character: Wile E.'s biography treats him and Ralph Wolf as being one and the same.
• Continuity Nod: Fred Jones brings up the events of The Scooby-Doo Project during his and Moltar's backstage conversation.
• Epic Fail: Wile E. somehow ends up with a negative number for his score. _{Cris Collinsworth states in the postgame segment that it's because he keeps falling off the cliffs, but Daffy falls off a cliff once in Bugs vs. Daffy and doesn't lose any points for it, so it's more likely the scorekeeper is just being a jerk.}
• I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder: Joe Mantegna (having been mistaken for Joe Montana) says "I'm an actor, not a quarterback."
• Iron Butt Monkey: Discussed. Jerry Glanville theorizes that Wile E. is some sort of super-powered being due to his ability to shake off any injury that befalls him. Blue Falcon and Aquaman, however, beg to differ.
• Jumping the Shark: Mentioned in-universe, Cris Collinsworth brings up when this happened to Moonlighting and compares it with why Sylvester didn't make it to this year's Big Game following the injury Tweety suffered in early October.
• Missing the Good Stuff / Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Much of the pregame show and the first half is spent hyping the Spacely Sprockets Halftime Show Spectacular. When it finally comes time to show it, we instead end up seeing Fred Jones and Moltar having a conversation behind-the-scenes.
• Parental Bonus:
  • John Madden mentions that they started televising the "Desert Division" games the previous October. He's referencing the fact that October 1999 was when Cartoon Network fully obtained the broadcast rights for all the Road Runner shorts (which, for the past decade, had previously been held mostly by Nickelodeon).
  • Near the end of the game, Summerall asks if the game is over yet, to which Madden replies, "It is from where I'm sittin'." The screen then cuts to the opening from the 1968 film Heidi, right before Madden points out that's not what he meant. _{Explanation: This is a reference to "the Heidi Game" incident, in which NBC cut away from its coverage of an AFL game between the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets to start running the premiere of Heidi, and when they did, the Raiders made an astounding comeback and scored two touchdowns in the final, unseen-on-television minutes of the game. Unlike the Raiders, though, Wile E. has no such luck.}
• Suddenly Shouting: When Jerry Glanville teases Cris Collinsworth about his absence from the last special:

Jerry: Hey Cris, you remember doing the pregame for last year's Big Game?
Cris: I wasn't here last year, Jerry.
Jerry: What'd you say?
Cris: I WASN'T HERE LAST YEAR! WOULD YOU LEAVE IT ALONE, ALLRIGHT?!

• This Loser Is You: How Wile E. Coyote's fans are portrayed.
• Unluckily Lucky: Blue Falcon and Aquaman believe Wile E. to be this.
• Waxing Lyrical: Len Dawson quotes the words to The Road Runner Show theme song in the pregame show's opening.
• Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing: Arguably, the Road Runner; his points are all scored offscreen and we don't know how he's doing it. At one point in the halftime discussion, Jerry Glanville even points out that he didn't see the Road Runner making any valid plays.
• Your Cheating Heart: Rosie the Robot's parody commercial shows her married to a robot who is clearly NOT Mac, her actual love interest.

Bugs vs. Daffy

• Behind the Black: The start of the game uses Rabbit Fire's gag of Daffy wearing fake rabbit feet to make footprints towards Bugs' hole. Madden and Summerall both think it is Bugs making those footprints until the camera reveals it's actually Daffy, even though from where they're sitting, they should've been able to see Daffy in full.
• Brick Joke: Right before the game, Nick Buoniconti and Jerry Glanville place a bet, saying that if Daffy wins Nick will have to wear a dress. In the postgame segment, Jerry provides Nick with a blue evening gown.
• Competing Product Potshot: Each time their sponsorship tags appear, the Carrot Board and the Spinach Farmers of America's slogans quickly degenerate into trash-talking each other. Eventually, the Spinach Farmers pull their sponsorship and sorely say they hope Bugs loses the game.
• Continuity Nod: In the Cartoon Cartoon Fridays Tailgate Party, Johnny Bravo's betting pool, which was briefly mentioned by Fred and Moltar in the previous game's halftime show, is brought up by Dexter.
• Cuteness Proximity: This was Yakky Doodle's strategy according to his "Where'd They Get To?" segment. It stopped working when he got older.
• Graceful Loser: Bugs ultimately chooses to let Daffy beat him for once and takes off for Tahiti.
• I'm Going to Disney World: When Daffy wins:

Pat Summerall: I know where he's going. He's going to Dis... No wait. I don't know where he's going.

• Inherently Funny Words: John Madden takes a liking to saying "Giant abominable snowmonster".
• Interspecies Romance: Yakky Doodle is apparently dating Mary Hart.
• It's Like I Always Say: Parodied at the start of the second half:

  John Madden: ...but I always say, "You dance with the one you brung."
  Pat Summerall: That's true, you do always say that. Other things John always says are: "I can't find my socks," "Watch your back, Gomer!", and "Are you going to finish that?"
  John Madden: Wow, your stats guy really knows his stuff! I'm impressed.

• Later Installment Weirdness: Unlike in the previous specials, the game itself does not open with a speech from Pat Summerall and a reappearance by the title sequence, instead going straight to the field where Brak is singing "The Star-Spangled Banner".
• Long List:
  • In Daffy's biography, we have his many odd jobs: Floor sweeper, salesman, amateur musician, tap-dancer, sailor, game warden, film director, explosives expert, camel regen(?), scat singer, toll keeper, superhero, reporter, detective, tour guide, matador, bellboy, stripper, swami, artist, and dinner entré.
  • Then there's the sponsors for the halftime show:

Scooby Snacks - Try our new extreme flavors: Bermuda Blast, Cajun Swirl, and Cat.
Stage Left Exits - When you have to get out in a hurry, exit stage left.
Pepe Le Pew Body Spray - The ladies say "ooh" when you wear Le Pew.
Chemical X
LegionOfDoom.Net - Serving all your world domination needs online.
Red Guy Porkbutts - The other other red meat.
Bill's Bills - Supplying duckbills to Daffy for over forty years.
America's hottest boy band, N'Toon, with their latest single, "Baby, I'm Drawn to You."
Sufferin' Succotash and other fine vegetables - Nothin' livens up a party like sufferin'.
Spike - He's a really big dog. Spike.
The Carrot Board - You saw what we did to those spinach farmers. Got carrot?
Jellystone Park - Our bears talk.
The Gary Coleman cartoon - Seriously. This is a cartoon.
Quest Enterprises - We didn't make the Quantum Drive Hovercraft, we made the Quantum Drive Hovercraft better.
MyAcmeOnline.com - Home of the E-Anvil.
And the First National Bank of Bedrock - keeping your stones safe for over 600,000 years.

• Mangled Catchphrase: Matt Peccini, as Bugs, renders "What's up, doc?" as "'Sup, dude?", and later mistakenly quotes Tweety's catchphrase.
• Manipulative Editing: The shot of Elmer firing into Bugs' rabbit hole from Rabbit Seasoning is edited to remove Bugs standing right beside him.
• Motor Mouth: Mojo Jojo, naturally. Also, Harry Kalas when he rattles off the above list of Daffy's jobs.
• Multiple Choice Past: How Daffy's biography begins.

Harry Kalas: Daffy Dumas Duck, born an orphan duck during the height of the Depression. Or perhaps to the upper crust during the peak of the Renaissance. Or maybe something else altogether.

• Noodle Incident: Mojo Jojo is listed as one of the many enemies that Bugs has made.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Matt Peccini appears as a very thinly-disguised Bugs Bunny at Daffy's tailgate party. He doesn't even try to imitate Bugs' voice or use the correct catch phrase, though he does successfully pull off the Duck Season Rabbit Season bit on a nearby member of Daffy's fan club.
• Pinch Me: John's reaction after Daffy wins. Pat obliges.
• Plot Hole: How exactly is Dexter able to hang out at the CCF Tailgate Party when he's supposedly Bugs' coach?
• Really Dead Montage: For Hugo the Abominable Snowman after he melts during the fourth quarter.
• Spanner in the Works: Elmer inadvertently ends up helping Daffy win the game.
• The Stinger: Right after the credits are finished, we find out where Bugs disappeared to.

Pat Summerall: Would ya take a look at that? Bugs cashed it all in and took off for Tahiti. He truly is a wacally wabbit!

• Take That, Scrappy!: Two examples directed at the Trope Namer: It's mentioned in the pregame show that Scrappy didn't last long in the playoffs, and later, during the first quarter, Pat Summerall lists Scrappy's addition as a bad business decision.
• Team Rocket Wins
• This Cannot Be!: Dexter can be heard screaming this when Daffy finally overtakes Bugs. In the postgame segment, Cris Collinsworth gives the same reaction to Daffy's victory.
• Throw the Dog a Bone:
  • Daffy finally wins against Bugs. Additionally, Daffy's biography mentions him having "a legion of loyal fans", something he normally doesn't have in his other battles with Bugs, and his fans are portrayed in a noticeably more positive light compared to Wile E.'s fans the previous year.
  • After having been wrong in predicting the winners of the previous two Big Games, Jerry Glanville FINALLY ends up being correct with his pick.
• Trash Talk: Mojo delivers a good deal of this to Dexter during their interview segment.

Mojo: Stupid monkey!? Such insolence! My duck will outrun your bunny, outswim your bunny, and outFLY your bunny! And when we are done, you will go crying back into your laboratory like the little diapered baby that you are!

• Verbal Backspace: During the recap of Bugs' season:

Harry Kalas: [after Bugs disintegrates Marvin] Marvin's going to need a few seasons to rebuild from that. [Marvin is shown using a Re-integrator to heal himself] Hmm, maybe not.

Tropes present only in the Look Back mockumentary

• The Ace: Bugs Bunny is written as this in-universe. This continues into Bugs vs. Daffy's pregame show, where all the hosts (except of course for Jerry) expect him to win.
• Adaptational Badass: Yogi Bear seems to actually maul Ranger Smith in the first clip shown for Yogi vs. Ranger Smith. _{In actuality, the bear in that clip is not Yogi at all, but rather a foul-tempered Identical Stranger called Elmo.}
• Anachronism Stew: Bugs Bunny apparently battled Elmer Fudd in the WB League in 1910, and then battled Yosemite Sam in the WB Championship Game in 1919. This is of course impossible, because neither Bugs, Elmer, nor Sam were created until 1939 at the earliest.
• Career-Ending Misdemeanor: Top Cat is revealed to have been a gambler.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Lester Wanamaker describing the HB League as a "thinking man's game", and Willy Hawkins' response that the HB League players were "cheap imitations of the WB League" is essentially a metaphor for how critics would describe the Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Additionally, Foghorn's decision to unite all the cartoon sports leagues into one big league could be seen as a reference to Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera coming together when Time Warner merged with Turner in 1996.
• Dork Age: In-universe, the Big Game went though this for some time between 1983 and 1998.
• G-Rated Drug: Popeye's spinach is basically steroids.
• In Memoriam: The special is dedicated to Touché Turtle. Which, if you've seen Who Framed Roger Rabbit, likely brings up some Fridge Horror.
• Mundane Made Awesome: 1973's Big Game was apparently between Jabberjaw and a tiny red robot that once chased him.
• Parody Commercial: The end of the special includes one where Don LaFontaine advertises a book that the viewer can supposedly (but not really) order, along with a Sylvester vs. Tweety phone and clock radio.
• Running Gag: Almost every time Robert Thornton appears, he says the title of a book he has apparently written.
• The Un-Reveal: Sheldon Crinkle attempts to give us a tour of the Big Game Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, the front door is locked.