Billy Packer, notable apologist for Kansas, UNC, and Duke, is
leaving CBS to be replaced by Clark Kellogg. Whenever Packer is doing a game, I generally turn the sound down, especially during the Final Four. Now if only Dick Vitale, the other Duke apologist, would retire...
10 comments:
Sean,
I share your disdain for Packer's commentary, but would add one caveat: He is not loved by UNC fans. His antipathy for our program oozes out in every other comment, always playing up "the heart of those kids" on whatever team we're playing. I'm with you on Vitale, too.
BTW, I appreciated your sermon on Wednesday morning at Twin Lakes this year. I didn't get a chance to speak to you, but it was a very fine exposition.
Bill
UNC '86
Greensboro, NC
Hi, Bill: thanks for the nuance on Packer. As an IU fan, I tend to notice the way Packer runs down our team--especially when Knight was there. Of course, the worst was in 2002 when he whined the entire Final Four about how we didn't belong there. btw-I'm a closet Carolina person (because of my disdain for Duke). thanks as well for your kind words re: Twin Lakes; it was a lot of fun to be there and to meet so many likeminded friends. sml
I didn't mind Packer's analysis, but can't stand Clark Kellogg's - that one will bring the volume down for me, for sure. No Dickie V.? Love him.
Who do you actually like?
Love, love, love Jay Bilas. He actually says intelligent things.
Sean,
I'm not a huge packer fan, and do like Kellog. So I'll give you that. But Dickie V is also a UNC lover as well.
Vitale is one of the more dichotomizing voices on college basketball. Why some people like him and some don't (other than he's a Duke AND UNC homer at times) is probably related to personality.
I would like to see that category on the Meiers-Briggs test. I guess that would make me an ESTPV
I like Jay Bilas too, and he played for Duke no? I hope that won't dim your love, Sean. :>)
And you know, Jay playing for Duke could be related to him saying intelligent things. ;>)
I grew up an NC State fan in the Jimmy V days and then married a UNC fan.
Come on - Dick's an institution in his own right! I have fond memories of him at U of Illinois (sorry) in the late 80's when we went to the Final Four. He got the crowds wound up and was a blast as not only a commentator, but an entertainer to the live audience.
I need to add, in Dicky V's defense, that no matter what anyone thinks of his on-air comments, baby, his genuineness is beyond dispute. I live where he lives, and have seen him personally receive kids to sign autographs when such was an interruption to him, and others have seen the same. He finds ways to return to this community some of the gifts he has received, recently sponsoring a dinner to raise money for a local cancer victim. He is the real deal, which makes him a great ambassador for college basketball and humanity in general.
Not criticizing Dickie V the man; just the commentator. Also not criticizing Duke per se, but Duke apologists masqurading as basketball analysts. The reason I like Bilas is that he is an equal opportunity critic; when Duke plays poorly, he says so. sml
Sorry, did not intend to imply that you were criticizing him as a person.
Being a Michigan State grad, I look forward to the passing of college football season, during which time I lay low, and to the coming of basketball season when I can again come out of hiding!
Post a Comment