‘The Office’ Greatest Sports Moments (Fun Post)

On the 20th anniversary of the début of the best comedy series set in a midlevel paper goods company, here is an appreciation of its humour in a jock-ular vein.

Whatever looms on the horizon cannot blow out that little spark of madness that says it is OK to zone out on a comedy series with joy.

Online today, there were reminders that The Office premièred this week. It is, for my dollar as someone determined not to write a dissertation, one of the trinity of truly Xennial sitcoms from North American television, with protagonists who are in that in-between generation that toggled institutionalism with irreverence while intuiting the coming managed decline and technofascism — OK, slow down egghead.

I feel somewhat qualified to weigh in since, well, I am a superfan of the show, and love sports and comedy.

Need a credential?

Put on the episode of “Office Ladies” that posted on Jan. 17, 2024, where cast members Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey cover the episode where Randall Park appears as an ‘Asian Jim’ in a prank on Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson). You know that one.

“You’re not Jim! Jim’s not Asian.”

“You seriously never noticed! Hey, hat’s off to you for not seeing race.”

“Weird joke, Dwight.”

On the pod, a listener, “Nathan from Ontario,” theorizes that Park’s character, Actor Friend Steve, is also the unseen vending machine re-stocker who helps with a Jim Halpert prank seven seasons earlier.¹ And Fischer and Kinsey respond positively, or at least indulge the delusion.

Yeah, that was me.

So, as a way to pay forward, and share some joy on a grey early spring day, here are favorite moments from the series that represent particular sports. Some effort was made not to be predictable, but not unpredictable for its own sake.

I know, I know, as if there are not enough people watering down pop-culture writing. The series has helped a lot of people keep their “actual vs. expected” in line amid our loneliness epidemic. There are fans whose rewatches are well into double digits. Personally, I came to it during its second season, in 2005-06 — the first one I saw live was “Drug Testing,” when Dwight finds a discarded joint in the parking lot and proceeds to interrogate all of his coworkers while dressed as a sheriff’s deputy. Of course, Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) shows no respect for Dwight’s uniform and volunteer duty.

Jim: “All I’m saying is, you can’t be sure it wasn’t you.”

Dwight: “That’s ridiculous! Of course it wasn’t me!”

Jim: “Marijuana is a memory-loss drug, so maybe you don’t remember.”

Dwight: “That’s not how it works.”

Jim: “Now, how would you know how it works??”

Dwight: “Knock it off! I’m conducting the interview!”

Jim: “No, you said I’d be conducting the interview when I walked in here. NOW HOW MUCH POT DID YOU SMOKE?”

These types of posts should be written off by heart, and from the head. Some details were checked with Dunderpedia and TV Show Transcripts.

Basketball: ah-duh, “Basketball,” Season 1

One of the series’ early defining episodes. Branch manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell) organizes a basketball game between the ‘upstairs workers’ and warehouse workers. The stakes are that the losing team will have to work on the following Saturday, as long as Michael doesn’t wuss out since he’s intimidated by warehouse team leader Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson).

At first, it seems like a mismatch. Team Warehouse has more height through the likes of Darryl, Pam’s dudebro fiancé Roy Anderson, and Lonnie (the late great Patrice O’Neal).

Team Upstairs player-coach Michael also makes some player-usage misfires — overestimating his ability, assuming Stanley Hudson can play because he is African-American, and ignoring that Falstaffian accountant Kevin Malone is a shooter.

The great equalizer for Team Upstairs proves the silky slashing game of Jim Halpert, who modestly says “basketball was sort of my thing in high school.” A fan theory is that Jim might have played at a higher level and is just hustling.

Dwight, wearing a Rip Hamilton-style facemask, also proves to be an effective two-way forward. Michael declares Team Upstairs after Roy elbows Jim in the face and bloodies his nose.

Baseball: No specific episode!

References to the diamond game dot the series. Ryan Howard (actor-writer B.J. Novak), the branch’s resident tragic figure, was named after the one-time MLB home run crown winner, who played minor-league ball in Scranton. Two other characters also have real-life namesakes in the baseball industry.

The Easter egg, though, is one of the collectibles that Dwight Schrute keeps on his desk. While Dwight seldom shows much interest in team sports, he has a bobblehead of 1990s-2000s vintage Phillies catcher Mike Lieberthal. Why would that be? Because the catcher’s given name is Michael Scott Lieberthal.

The real-life Ryan Howard later appears as himself as a prospective client for Jim’s Philadelphia-based sports marketing firm.

Combat sports: “The Fight,” Season 2

Ever the pot-stirrer nonpareil, Jim turns Dwight’s and Michael’s hubris against them.

He overhears that Dwight has attained a purple belt at his karate dojo, which Dwight proclaims is “assistant sensei.” Sensing an opening, Jim asks Dwight if he thinks he can defeat Michael in a fight… right as Michael is in earshot.

Michael responds that he knows “a ton of 14-year-old girls that could beat (Dwight) up,” and it is on, even though it’s the one Friday of the year when Michael has to sign all sorts of documents.

And it is on. Dwight points out that the dojo is available during the day and they can settle it there. Jim then has an all-time talking head.

“Well, we’re all pretty excited to see this fight. The Albany branch is working through lunch to prevent downsizing. But Michael? He extended our lunch break so we could all go down to the dojo, and watch him fight Dwight.”

Football: “Dwight’s Speech,” Season 2

The cold open has Michael and Dwight playing catch in Dunder Mifflin’s bullpen as they brainstorm ideas. Concerned grimaces come from Angela, Pam, and Jim, as the ball flies back and forth through his workspace.

Eventually, it escalates into Jim intercepting the ball and initiating a chain of keepaway, before Dwight proceeds to bowl over Ryan, Creed, and Stanley.

Numerology note: the episode’s place in the series (2-17) matches the 2017 NFL season, when the Philadelphia Eagles won their first Super Bowl championship. Jim Halpert, Kevin Malone, and Darryl Philbin are all depicted as Eagles fans.

Gambling/fantasy sports: “Safety Training,” Season 3

Sitcoms have long had plotlines where the characters get on a heater betting on sports, and then have the rug pulled. Gee, perhaps they were trying to warn us that sports betting should not be so readily available? Nah.

One below-the-waterline sub, sub plotline is that Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner) might have untreated gambling use disorder. He won a side event in the World Series of Poker, although his luck regresses at Casino Night. At various times, it is subtly hinted that his gambling obsession might have caused his fiancée to leave him, and he is overly eager to wager on the golf course during a Season 4 episode.

And that might have been triggered by, you guessed it, Jim Halpert, when they and others begin betting on their coworkers’ behaviour during “Safety Training.” It is brilliantly deep now that you think of it. The A story of the episode centres around Michael Scott going to great lengths to show the dangers of depression. The B story involves another mood disorder going completely unrecognized.

Also, Creed eats an apple, and Toby finds a potato.

Hockey: “Threat Level Midnight,” Season 7

Steve Carell, a New Englander, played some small-college hockey in his home state of Massachusetts, and the writers blended his hockey skills into plotlines.

That culminates when Michael finally screens his ‘great lost film’ Threat Level Midnight for his employees. The plot involves Secret Agent Michael Scarn racing against time and obstacles to thwart villainous mastermind Goldenface (Jim) from blowing up the NHL All-Star Game.

This entails Rocky and The Karate Kid rip-off training montages. For hockey action sequences, it turns out Michael snuck onto the ice during a local high school team’s playoff game — causing them to forfeit the game, and miss the state tournament.

Olympic sports: “Office Olympics,” Season 2

Jim gets the idea to stage Office Olympics after “dying from boredom” while filling out expense reports.

Based on a staff bonding ritual at King Of The Hill, which showrunner and series U.S. television developer Greg Daniels co-created, the Dunder Mifflinites have a series of competitions while Michael is off to sign the closing papers on his condominium.

They compete for medals that Pam, the motel art-level artist, made from yogurt lids and paperclips. Events include Flonkerton (the official sport of Icelandic paper companies), speed walking with a cup of coffee, and who can fit the most M&Ms in their mouth, which Kevin wins unopposed.

The Games end abruptly when Michael and Dwight return from the condo. Sensing Michael is having buyer’s remorse after a major life purchase (“basically, he’s buying a coffin,” is how Dwight describes buying a condo with a 30-year mortgage), Pam and Jim organize the Closing Ceremony, presenting Michael with a gold medal for his major life decision.

Michael cries happy tears.

Michael: “Why are you playing the national anthem?”

Jim: “Because your condo is in America.”

Outdoors, the: “Survivorman,” Season 4

A personal fave, since Steve Carell wrote and directed an episode that has Peak Michael Scott Butthurt and Middle-Aged Guy Delusion. It illustrates how well an great actor understands why their character is funny and relatable and is not just following scripted lines by rote.

The setup: Michael is sulky after his man-crush, corporate VP Ryan, leaves him out of a wilderness retreat with the other branch managers, and Toby.

“Michael wasn’t invited,” sales rep Phyllis Lapin-Vance cattily deadpans. “I guess they knew everything they needed to know about him.”

So, Michael sets out to show he is a man’s man and imitate Les Stroud, the star of the series Survivor Man. As Michael describes it, the show’s premise is that he “goes out in the woods and tries not to die.”

It goes about as well as you would expect.

Stroud, by the way, appeared on SportsLit in 2021.

Racquet sports: “The Deposition,” Season 4

The B story of this ’sode involves table tennis. The warehouse workers have a table and Jim Halpert often goes down to play Darryl, who is on another level by a factor of about six, maybe seven.

Pam gets perturbed as Kelly Kapoor, whilst going out with Darryl to make Ryan jealous, begins taunting her.

• “Your boyfriend’s so weak he needs to take steroids just to watch baseball.”

• “Were Jim’s parents first cousins… who were also bad at ping-pong?”

Pam escalates to making a makeshift table upstairs so Jim can practise. It turns out that Dwight is an aficionado and an ace.

‘All of my heroes have been table tennis players’ … (Dwight rhymes off a bunch of names) ‘I even have a life-size poster of Hugo Hoyama on my wall. And the first time I left Pennsylvania was to go the hall of fame induction ceremony of Andrzej Grubba.’

This tracks since Dwight would have a subscription to Obscure Sports Quarterly. In the timeline where everyone on the show is Canadian and “Scranton” is a stand-in for Kingston, Ontario, Dwight would probably also be a huge U Sports nerd.²

Soccer: “Dream Team,” Season 5

Footy is used to show that Charles Miner (Idris Elba), a regional vice-president is an unwelcome and foreign element in the branch. Charles assumes the managership after Michael quits Dunder Mifflin due to a point of principle, and organizes his own paper company in a basement utility room of the office park.

Resident sycophantic yes-man Andy Bernard (Ed Helms), who always mirrors the personality of his direct superior, figures out Charles is a soccer enthusiast. Soon enough the room full of Americans is faking knowledge of the game. (Stanley Hudson writes “Diego Maradona” on his hand in order to name one famous player besides Pelé.)

Charles also takes a dislike to Jim Halpert. The escalation peaks, or descends to, post-work pick-up soccer in the parking lot. Charles hammers a soccer ball at Jim, but he ducks and Phyllis is struck in the mouth and loses a tooth.

Track and field: “The Merger,” Season 3

Supercuts of the best pranks played on Dwight Schrute seldom include this one in a cold open.

When Pam congratulates resident redheaded sadsack Toby Flenderson for completing a road race, Dwight downgrades the merit of Toby’s sore-footed feat. Pam takes exception, because Toby set a goal and achieved it.

Dwight then tells the doc crew that he boasts blazing foot speed “between that of a snake and mongoose… and a panther.”

To stick up for Toby, Pam goes outside with Dwight and promises to time how long it will take him to run around the building. After Dwight takes off running in his suit and dress shoes, Pam reveals her stopwatch is a digital thermometer, says, “I’m cold,” and goes back inside.

Sure, there is “Fun Run,” with “Michael Scott’s Michael Scott's Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run Race For the Cure.”

Video gaming/eSports: “The Coup,” Season 3

The Office was one of the first shows, citation needed, that showed video gaming as an everyday adult activity.

Writers on the show bonded and busted stress by playing the game “Call of Duty,” so writing into a plotline happened as organically as Pierce Hawthorne telling his story about Eartha Kitt and an airplane bathroom. While posted to Dunder Mifflin’s branch in Stamford, Conn., Jim Halpert finds out they play CofD under the guise of a team-building exercise.

Jim is completely hopeless at the game, not even realizing he’s on the German team in the World War II setting. Andy calls him a “saboteur” and says, “I’m going to shoot for you, for real.” Take 20 percent off that, Andy.

Volleyball: “Company Picnic,” Season 5

In this pivotal season finale, the branch heads to a company picnic. The stakes are raised for a casual coed volleyball tournament when Michael and HR specialist Holly Flax, his future wife, do a skit that reveals that the Dunder Mifflin branch in Buffalo is being closed.

(Keep an eye out for long-time Late Night With Conan O’Brien writer-performer Brian Stack as one of the distraught employees.)

It turns out the Scranton branch has a pretty good volleyball team. Jim and Dwight stack up well as middle blockers. Erin Hannon (Ellie Kemper, who was an NCAA D1 athlete at Princeton) is a force from the offside-hitter spot. And Pam is their best all-around player after a hitherto unshared background as a high school and college player.

They advance deep into the tournament to earn a showdown with the corporate team with Charles Miner, who gets chirped rather profanely by Dwight’s best friend Rolph:

“You suckers are goin’ down! They’re gonna wipe their asses with your serves! Piss all over your faces!”

I won’t spoil how it ends, but I want to address a persistent criticism of this episode.

Diehard fans have called out some inconsistency with Pam Beesly being a volleyball star. In “Career Fair” in Season 4, Pam enters the gymnasium of her former high school and says this is where she “pretended to have PMS” — pre-menstrual syndrome — “to get out of playing volleyball in gym class.” It seems inconsistent unless you are a Xennial, and were a teenager in the 1990s.

However, one theory is that this indirectly comments on gender discrimination in sports participation that lasted throughout the 20th century, when Pam would have been a teenager. Many athletic girls in those days got shaded or shunned for being quote, unquote ‘too competitive’ in phys-ed classes, so I take Pam’s memory to be that she found volleyball in gym class to be a social hornets’ nest and unchallenging compared to what she got with her club and school team.

Well, can you come up with a better theory than the more obvious one that the writers did not consult the famed ‘show Bible?’

That is all I have. Hope this was fun for everyone, at this time that seems fun for no one.

Friendly reminder about resistance

On the latter, I post about current affairs in Notes and on Bluesky (n8sager). Hopefully, this is enough for now. Please stay safe, and be kind.

March 24, 2025
Hamilton, Ont. : on the traditional territories of the Erie, Neutral, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee, and Mississaugas.

1. The cold open of “Booze Cruise,” which first aired in 2006.

2. Is that why Kelly (Mindy Kaling) sings a parody of the Avril Lavigne song “Boyfriend” in this episode? Lavigne is from Napanee, 30 minutes away from Kingston. Mindy Kaling was born in the Boston area in 1979, exactly one month to the day after the Bruins sacked Kingston native Don Cherry as their head coach.