Seriously though, for a 46-year old, dude’s still got some game. His three-ball was money and he even showed a little bit of funk in his game with the crossover jukes and dribble-drive. Now if we could just figure out where he stands with respect to guns and religion in small-town America… Oh.
PS – love the hard tuck in the sweatpants look there, Barack. LOVE. IT.
Several commentators are already all over this story, but we cannot simply sit by without giving our view on the NY Daily News blurb that Mr. Cash and Purveyor of All Things Hoops and Holy, Mr. William “Billy” Packer, might be on thin ice at CBS for his insistence that the national semifinal game between Kansas and UNC was “over” at the 7:32 mark in the first half.
Bill Raissman writes:
CBS is paying $6 billion for the right to air the tourney over the life of its contract with the NCAA. From a business perspective, telling viewers to turn off the TV is not a great idea, especially in a soft advertising market. Naming a “winner” with plenty of time left in a game does not sit well with corporations paying top dollar to advertise their products during the tournament. Some of these same companies will be asked to purchase time on next year’s tourney.
You might recall that we wrote last week that, from a purely statistical standpoint (h/t Bill James), Packer was egregiously wrong (the magic number of insurmountability was 44 at that point in the game); but from our own sensory perspective and the ultimate result of the game, he was absolutely correct.
Still, we find it beyond hilarious that a man who has based his entire career on unabashed vitriol, criticism, vituperation and downright nastiness could end up getting canned (or at least censured) for something like this. Should that happen, there will undoubtedly be a national day of celebration not unlike what we saw when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon – angels will sing, the dealers will bust and even the strippers will taste a little sweeter.
In summation, remember kiddies – all you young Packers out there with your mics and your viscous hatred – you cannot call a game over in the first half, but you can do this:
Call Allen Iverson a “tough monkey” on the air of the Georgetown-Villanova game in 1996.
Publicly disparage two Duke women checking press passes at Cameron Indoor Stadium in 2000 by stating, “Since when do we let women control who gets into a men’s basketball game? Why don’t you go find a women’s game to let people into?” When asked if he was joking, Packer reported said, “No, that’s just the kind of guy I am.”
Tell Charlie Rose in an interview in 2007 that he always “fag[s] out,” as in promising to help but not following through.
All we can say is best of luck to Billy in his dealings with CBS brass, as we’d hate for him to have to revert to his Mr. Cash persona full-time. For poking fun at such a sinister figure, we’d normally be a little nervous that Packer might read this and hunt us down with his henchmen, but remember, the man famously doesn’t even own a computer. Whew.
Having spent many years in Durham, NC (basketball player/student-athlete, assistant coach, a law student, and lawyer), a community divided by race and wealth (see Duke lacrosse scandal), I can understand why Jay Bilas would be a little sensitive about racial issues. However, I never expected the mild-mannered Biilas would go off like he did today on the Dan LeBatard show when questioned about how race and nationality come into play when NBA GMs evaluate pro prospects.
To be honest, I agree with the argument Bilas puts forward, but I would expect a lawyer and television personality to put forth a more measured argument. Normally I attribute this to being around LeBatard (even if only on the airwaves), but Bilas has gone off on other media members for bringing up race. I would chalk this up to Bilas’s mancrush on Tyler Hansbrough, but it’s kind of hard to prove that since Hansbrough is the only great Caucasian white college basketball player right now (with the possible exception of Luke Harangody). That said my favorite part of the video is when LeBatard deconstructs one of Bilas’s sentences since that’s something a lawyer would usually try to do to win an argument. BAM!
Found this floating around tonight (although a little dated)…
Here’s hoping that Obama’s health plan is more informed and prescient than his prediction of Pitt beating Memphis.
Um, just kidding, Barack… your bracket looks fairly similar to ours, actually. Hehe… um, please don’t tap our phones and emails, we’re just a lonely blogger trying to get some love here.
Presumably ESPN is marketing tonight’s clash between Duke and North Carolina as the first big game of the season, with the thinking that most casual sports fans are only now checking into hoops now that the Super Bowl is out of the way. That’s all fine and well, but there have been other big games already (Memphis-Georgetown and UCLA-Wazzu come to mind), and plenty of interesting storylines at this point in the season (not the least of which is the Bob Knight weirdness).
So we come to Duke-Carolina, the mere uttering of which either conjures up images of the college rivalry upon which all others are measured, or projectile vomitus from the rest of the country. No matter your position, everyone still watches. In 2006, ESPN received its highest college hoops ratings in four years for this game, and there’s no reason to believe this year, with the #2 and #3 teams in the AP and Coaches polls sparring, will be any different. There’s also the curious backstory of whether Tyler Hansbrough will greet Gerald Henderson with a friendly pat on the behind or feed him his own teeth after what the Duke forward did to Psycho T’s face last year.
But what we’re most excited about tonight is the triumphant return of Dookie V. from an operation on his vocal cords (yes, we know), who has no doubt earned that moniker over the years with his unabashed slurping of the Duke program and Coach K in particular. But what maybe much of the Duke-hating public doesn’t also realize is that Vitale was a Dean Smith promisekeeper long before he became reborn as a Coach K disciple. Roy Williams, as Deano’s former right (and left) hand man, is just as much a part of Vitale’s nightly prayer routine as Krzyzewski ever was. What we’re trying to say here is that when Dickie V. envisions heaven, it surely involves an eternal game of “class and sportsmanship” exhibited by the “true student-athletes” at the “fine institutions” of Duke and North Carolina. Blue heaven, indeed.
We have to admit, though, that we’ve actually missed the guy this season. As much as we tend to view him these days as an unprepared clown and shill for the big boys, we know that he deeply cares about the status and sanctity of the game itself, and his boyish enthusiasm for it surely rubs off on kids today the same way it did when we were watching him gush on about Pearl Washington and Rex Chapman back in ’87. The guy really cares about the game and its personalities, and for that much, we salute him and welcome him back as a true ambassador to continue carrying on the spirit of college basketball (as opposed to, say, Billy Packer, who along with Dick Cheney, hates everyone and should be excommunicated to some bunker together). With that, we say…
We just learned that everyone’s favorite egomaniacal asshole coach disciplinarian and teacher, Bob Knight, has resigned from Texas Tech. Kinda strange timing, this being the middle of the season and all.
Photo Credit: Indy Star
We truly hope there’s nothing health-related going on with Knight or his family, but with that caveat, here’s RTC’s top 10 reasons why Coach Knight might be leaving Texas Tech. Remember, there’s always a backstory with this guy.
CBS was advertising last weekend for its annual March Madness on Demand (MMOD) service, which is now available for sign-up. According to their site, it’s worthwhile to get a VIP pass now (some 61 days from Selection Sunday) because the passes are limited. Was it last year that their servers were overloaded with the throngs of fans who woke up on the Monday morning prior to the Tourney and realized they’ll have to work on Thurs/Fri again this year? This is the message you get after signing up:
CONGRATULATIONS, YOU’RE SIGNED UP!
<!–Click here to view highlights from some of the most memorable NCAA March Madness games of all time.–>
Bookmark This Page — Return to this page to launch the video player. Check back with us in early March, when you’ll be able to watch past NCAA Championship highlights before the live games begin on March 20, 2008.
As a VIP member you will have access to the live games much faster on game day. Plus, you will have access to on-demand highlights, buzzer beaters and detailed recaps all at your fingertips.
So there you have it. Now you too can contribute to the incredible $3.8B corporate timesuck known as March Madness. Or not. Us, we’ll be in Vegas anyway, contributing to their local economy in other ways.
