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The NBA Replay Center enjoyed 'Animal House' during an official review

Eric Freeman

UPDATE: A league spokesman informs us that the "Animal House" clip was in fact a direct feed of the video board at the AT&T Center, where the San Antonio Spurs were using it to pump up the crowd during their game against the Phoenix Suns. We leave the original post below for posterity.

Watch any NBA telecast and you're likely to see at least one shot of various employees and referees working at the league's Secaucus-based replay center. While the center has been fairly successful overall, these cutaways largely seem like a clever bit of public relations intended to convince the viewing public that the NBA remains committed to getting calls correct. After all, why else would they commit so much money to building a state-of-the-art room full of video screens, computer and video equipment, and plenty of staffers to make everything run smoothly?

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Anyway, here's a video that shows several replay center screens tuned to the 1978 frat comedy "Animal House" during the fourth quarter of Monday night's game between the Philadelphia 76ers and Minnesota Timberwolves. Seriously, take a look:

This moment occurred with 1:25 remaining in regulation as referees attempted to sort out which team should get the ball out of bounds following a rebound tipped out of bounds. The call initially went to the Wolves and was upheld upon review. They went on to dominate crunch time and hand the 0-15 Sixers a 100-95 loss.

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Any replay center employees watching "Animal House" were in the midst of a scene set at Delta Tau Chi's toga party, where Otter (Tim Matheson) has sex with Dean Wormer's wife (Verna Bloom). That incident leads the dean (John Vernon) to revoke the fraternity's charter. I will not spoil the rest of the movie.

We anticipate some form of discipline for responsible parties at the replay center. They just better hope that Adam Silver hadn't placed them on double-secret probation.

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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!