Why did Homer, Moe and Wally cover their mouths when talking about the Super Bowl?

Question

In the Simpsons episode Sunday Cruddy Sunday (S10E12), Homer, Wally and others head to the Super Bowl.

When Homer asks Moe if he'd be interested in going to the Super Bowl he said he'd love to as his favourite team were playing:

Moe: "The Atlanta Falcons"

He covers his mouth with a beer mug when he's saying this. Homer does the same when he says

Homer: "The Denver Broncos"

and then Wally does the same when he mentions the Clintons.

Was there a particular reason for them covering their mouth or just to be a bit strange?

Here is the clip on YouTube.

Answer 1

The episode was aired on the same day as Super Bowl XXXIII and the writers want to episode to seem current. They had already animated the scene and it would have been very awkward to re-animate the whole scene just to put the team names in.

So they just held up a glass over the mouth so they wouldn't have to animate their mouths to match the sound.

They did the same when Wally was mentioning the Clintons as Bill was being impeached at the time so they weren't sure if he would still be President when the program aired. They were also poking fun at the fact that Hilary mightn't be his wife either when it aired.