{"id":161,"date":"2008-07-14T13:25:17","date_gmt":"2008-07-14T18:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=161"},"modified":"2008-07-14T13:29:31","modified_gmt":"2008-07-14T18:29:31","slug":"the-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=161","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye, Billy Packer"},"content":{"rendered":"

CBS announed today that Billy Packer will not be back as the lead broadcaster for their NCAA basketball coverage throughout the upcoming 2008-09 season.\u00a0 Jim Nantz will regain his play-by-play role, but will be joined by Clark Kellogg as the color analyst, who is moving from the studio to the booth.\u00a0 The biggest implication of this move will be felt in March when the Final Four rolls around and the games will be broadcast without the voice of Billy Packer for the first time in 34 years.\u00a0 Yes, THIRTY-FOUR years.<\/p>\n

In an era of opinions that change as the wind blows, and that old saying of “15 minutes of fame” becoming more and more literal, there is really something to be said for a guy who has broadcast the championship of a sport for three and a half decades.\u00a0 Packer is probably as good as it gets when it comes to in-game basketball analysis, and would probably make a better coach than most people who are currently paid to do so.\u00a0 So, it would be pretty safe to say that the ending of the career of a guy who is has been the best at what he does for the entire span of my lifetime would cause me some sadness and influence me to “pay my respects” to a great career.\u00a0 Or, at the very least, have my mind wax sentimentally about all the great Final Four games that Packer has called…all the memories.<\/p>\n

Well, I have no desire to do any of that.\u00a0 I am glad to see Packer go, not because I am tired of him or feel that there needs to be a fresh voice in the Final Four.\u00a0 Nor is it because I am overly excited for Clark Kellogg to get his much-deserved shot at the #1 spot.\u00a0 I am glad to see Packer go because he possesses one of the most unattractive personalities in all of sports.\u00a0 He is (and always has been) obnoxious, condescending, irritating, and above all else, arroggantly inappropriate.\u00a0 He believes that because he is one of the most keenly insightful basketball analysts on the planet that he can say anything he wants about the game of basketball (and the people affiliated with it) whenever he wants with no repercussions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Never was this more on display than by his comments after the UNC-Kansas semifinal this year<\/a>.\u00a0 In the first half, Packer decided that “the game was over” because Kansas had jumped out to a 38-12 lead in the first half.\u00a0 Now, Kansas did end up winning the game, but it was a lot closer than Packer had anticipated.\u00a0 Now, calling a game in the first half does not irritate me all that much, and I actually think that some people may have gotten a bit too worked up about it.\u00a0 But, it is in Packer’s response to those people that showed his true colors.\u00a0 Instead of a somewhat contrite or even a laughing off of the comment, Packer stood up for himself, and in his own unique way, displayed his belief that no one ought to question anything he says about basketball:\u00a0 “My job is to say what I see, not have some kind of subconscious feelings about offending anybody…It probably annoyed some people, but I don’t concern myself with having some agenda that’s contrary to what I’m seeing.”<\/p>\n

His condescending attitudes and statements are not relegated to in-game issues, though.\u00a0 In 2004, Packer admonished the selection committee<\/a> for granting an Atlantic 10 team a #1 seed.\u00a0 He believed that the St. Joe’s Hawks, despite playing a very difficult schedule to the tune of 1 loss all season, would clearly finish in the bottom of the ACC.\u00a0 Well, St. Joe’s went to the Elite Eight (including a win over Packer’s alma mater and ACC school, Wake Forest), before losing a very close game to Oklahoma State, saving Packer the embarrassment (that I am sure he would not feel) of calling a Final Four game that included the Hawks.<\/p>\n

In 2006, the Missouri Valley Conference was granted four bids–3 more than Packer thought warranted.\u00a0 Again, he brutally attacked the selection committee <\/a>for their apparent “preference for the little guy at the expense of clearly better basketball teams.”\u00a0 And, once again, Packer’s comments proved anything but prophetic, as both Bradley and Wichita State reached the Sweet 16 of that tournament.<\/p>\n

Now, all of the above incidents were basketball-related and can, therefore, be forgiven and chalked up to a man who just thinks he is infallible when it comes to his trade–not a positive quality, but far from exposing a serious personality flaw in the man.\u00a0 However, there are several incidents through Packer’s career that may give display to the fact that not only is Packer arrogant and condescending about basketball, but he is probably a cruel, possibly even bigoted individual.<\/p>\n

In 1996, Packer referred to Georgetown guard Allen Iverson <\/a>as a “tough, little monkey.”\u00a0 Now, Packer claims not to have meant it in a racist way, and even John Thompson, who is very outspoken when it comes to racial relations in the game of basketball believes Packer not to be a racist.\u00a0 I believe Thompson and do not think that Packer’s arrogance manifests itself in racism.\u00a0 Other forms of bigotry, however…maybe.<\/p>\n

In 2000, Packer was broadcasting a game from Cameron Indoor Stadium <\/a>on the campus of Duke University.\u00a0 At the press entrance, he was stopped by two female Duke students and was asked to show credentials–like every other member of the press at the game.\u00a0 Packer responded with “Since when do we let women control who gets into a men<\/em>‘s basketball game?\u00a0 Why don’t you go find a women’s game to let people into?”<\/p>\n

Also, in 2000, Packer was forced to publicly defend his use of yet another derrogatory term\u00a0on national television<\/a>.\u00a0 While interviewing Packer before the 2000 Final Four,\u00a0reporter Charlie Rose asked if Packer needed a runner for the Final Four game, offering his services.\u00a0 Packer responded with, “You always fag out on that one for me, you know.\u00a0 You always say, oh yeah, I’m gonna be the runner, then you never show up.\u00a0 But I’m sure they can find a place for ya.\u00a0 You’ve got all the connections in the world.\u00a0 You can go ahead and be a runner anyplace you want.”\u00a0 Yes, maybe Packer is not bigoted against homosexuals.\u00a0 Maybe he did not mean to be insensitive.\u00a0 Maybe he did mean the dictionary.com definition or “to tire or weary by labor, exhaust.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maybe.\u00a0 But the biggest problem is the same problem that Packer has had his entire career–he does not see his mistakes.\u00a0 He does not apologize for hurting anyone.\u00a0 He believes that because he played basketball for Wake Forest and is the only person to have provided color commentary of a\u00a0 Final Four game\u00a0for three and a half decades that he is above anyone else when it comes to the game of basketball or anything that remotely has anything to do with it.<\/p>\n

Billy Packer, your analysis may be missed, but you <\/em>will most certainly not be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CBS announed today that Billy Packer will not be back as the lead broadcaster for their NCAA basketball coverage throughout the upcoming 2008-09 season.\u00a0 Jim Nantz will regain his play-by-play role, but will be joined by Clark Kellogg as the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[259,306,307],"class_list":["post-161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college-hoops","tag-billy-packer","tag-cbs","tag-clark-kellogg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}