I have never been a fan of Jim Nantz, but I will admit he has an announcer's voice. Nantz's play-by-play performance in March Madness is generally satisfactory. The guy was born to announce the Masters. I think most people would agree that Billy Packer is not a good basketball analyst. Color commentators are paid to give insights and maybe even opinions, but no one cares about Packer's opinion anymore (not sure if anyone ever did). The game has passed him by. He has ruffled too many feathers and burned too many bridges. His basketball knowledge is vast, but his announcing skills leave much to be desired. How has he been retained to cover 34 consecutive Final Fours? As Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News recently wrote: "As the years passed ... he grew overbearing, arrogant, condescending, dismissive and petulant. There is only so much anyone can take from a know-it-all uncle who humorlessly preaches he is the smartest man in the room. Most viewers have long had their fill of Packer."
CBS finally made the right call and announced that the network and Packer reached an "agreement" that he will not announce any more college basketball games for the network. CBS announced that Clark Kellogg will be Packer's replacement -- not a bad choice but why no love for Bill Raftery or Gus Johnson?
I will not miss Packer calling Allen Iverson a "tough little monkey" or arguing with coaches and NCAA Tournament selection chairs about seeding and the amount of mid-majors in the Big Dance. I saw a recent interview with Packer, in which he contended he had never seen YouTube. Ironically, I found the below videos on YouTube that illustrate why I do not like this man -- or at least do not like him as an announcer.
(After Packer announced that the game was "over" with 27 minutes to go, UNC cut the lead to 4 -- although they did lose).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment