March Madness Profile #3: Bill Raftery

With the announcing duos for Thursday and Friday's games being released yesterday, it is time to highlight one of the greats...Mr. Bill Raftery. As I've said multiple times throughout this blog, it won't completely be NCAA Tournament time until I hear Raftery announce: "Verne Lundquist, (insert team name) goes MANTAMAN!" His personality, enthusiasm, and style is as much a part of March Madness as brackets and 12 over 5 upsets. I hate to bring Billy Packer into this, but Raftery excels in the areas where Packer sucks. Raftery approaches his job with humility and doesn't see himself as bigger than the game, he has a sense of humor, and he adds to the overall viewing experience. He is able to do these things because first and foremost, Bill Raftery is a fan of college hoops just like us. He is a fan of the sport, fan of the competition, and fan of the pageantry of March Madness. There is a sense of genuineness and authenticity when one hears Raftery calling a game. One gets the feeling that Bill would be doing the same thing if he were watching the game in his living room and there wasn't a microphone in front of him (or a big check involved). The best announcers and announcing duos rise to the top, due in large part to the following three things: 1) Chemistry - The play-by-play guy and the color commentator have to click on some level. If they don't, neither one of them is going to be any good, and the broadcast is going to suffer. This is why good friends and life-long announcing partnerships are usually the best (is this turning into a marriage/relationship column?). Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery are an outstanding duo because they get along so well, allow each other the space to contribute to a broadcast, and have been paired together for so long. Verne's style makes Bill better and Bill's style makes Verne better. It's a perfect combination. 2) Enthusiasm - This is the factor that sets Bill Raftery apart as an individual announcer. He comes across as genuinely excited and enthralled during college basketball games. He's a fan of the game, this is very important. Some announcers speak and act as if it's a struggle for them to be commentating on a particular game for us, the viewing public. This is not a problem for Bill Raftery as he would be as jazzed for a game featuring Utah State as he would be for a UNC/Duke match-up. This enthusiasm is infectious as he can make the viewer care about any game at practically any time. He's happy doing his job. And this translates over the television so well as we should be happy to have the opportunity to listen to him. 3) Individuality - Chemistry and enthusiasm are essential to being a great broadcaster, but they have to be joined with (and maybe, in part, help to create) an announcers overt individuality. Raftery has this in bunches. He was a college basketball coach for more than a decade and has been announcing games for over 23 years. This experience gives him credibility when sharing his unique insights and opinions. Time and experience has only allowed Raftery to expand his ever-growing repertoire of hoops related catch-phrases. Some of my personal favorites:

• "Give it to the big fella!"
• "Send it in, (insert player's name)!"
• "...with the kiss!"
• "With the sweet kiss, off the glass..."
• "With a little dipsy do"
• "Dagger!"
• "Onions!"
• "With disdain to the tin!"
• "Put a little english on it"
• "With the teardrop, that'll make you cry"
• "We got a little nickel-dimer here"
• "With authority!"
• "A Large Edifice!"

There was also this exchange:

• Verne Lundquist: "I hope Dwyane Wade likes cajun cooking!" ... (dramatic 5 second pause) ... Bill Raftery: "JAMBALAYA!" - I actually remember this exchange, I don't think I saw it live but I believe it was played on Sports Center over and over again. (This is a Seinfeld/Newman reference by the way) The long pause followed by Raftery's over-the-top delivery just kills me. I wish this clip was on Youtube, because just thinking about it makes me laugh.

In 2007, Raftery along with his broadcast partner, Verne Lundquist, made a classic exchange after Memphis' Douglas-Roberts made an emphatic jam in Ohio State's regional final victory.
Raftery: "The speed! Done with alacrity! Sitting over there, he was salivating at an opportunity." Lundquist: "I'm still stunned at 'alacrity'." Raftery: "Don't ask me to spell it."

In the clip I'm posting, Raftery uses the word 'alacrity' again. It is a word, it means promptness, eagerness, and willingness. A good SAT word. Bill Raftery is not only entertaining, he is downright educational!

Bill Raftery is beyond hype and shtick. I'm a huge Gus Johnson fan, but Johnson is riding a wave of hype and popularity that is almost Obama'esque. Hype can only go so far and last so long. Let's hope that Johnson can sustain his 'game' and his abilities long past this period of hype. Raftery is not only beyond the hype, he transcends it. He was throwing out catch-phrases when the current crop of Sports Center anchors were in nursery school. Raftery is so steady and so consistent that his name really shouldn't come up when discussing "good" and "bad" college basketball commentators. This is because he practically IS college basketball announcing! There will never be another Bill Raftery. There can't be. He is the archetype. He is the prototype. He is THE college basketball color commentator of the last two generations. Earlier in this blog I commented on how we should be thankful for being able to experience the era when Gus Johnson was in his prime. The exact same should be said for being able to experience Bill Raftery in his prime (he's still there right now, I'll fight anyone on this). Granted, he doesn't have as many quality years left in him as Johnson, but when the day comes to tell my kids about Gus Johnson, I'd be remiss in not mentioning the Legend, Bill Raftery, first. Without Bill Raftery and his unique style, there never would have been a place for Gus Johnson in basketball. When Raftery finally calls it quits and retires the catch-phrases, it will truly be a time for "Onions."

March Madness Profile #2: Sayonara Rick Majerus

Rick Majerus isn't exactly out of college basketball, it just feels that way. After thriving, yet struggling, up and down the sidelines as the coach of the Mormon-friendly Utah Utes from 1989-2004, Majerus accepted the head coaching job at USC, only to change his mind days later. The jovial, rotund, larger-than-life figure spent the next three seasons working as an analyst for ESPN. It has been debated that Marjerus took time away from coaching for health reasons, and there are reports stating that issues related to his heart led Rick away from college hoops and his Utah Utes. In case you didn't know, Rick is back coaching college basketball at the Division I level, currently leading the St. Louis Billikens. Side tangent here - A Billiken is a sort of talisman...a symbol of good luck. I'm ripping the following off the St. Louis University website, but apparently in 1908, Florence Pretz (an art teacher and illustrator) got a patent for her rendition of an ancient Asian figure - a chubby little guy with "pixie" ears, fat cheeks, and a grin from ear-to-ear. I don't know how this exactly manifested itself, but it must have been in some kind of drawing or painting, or even as some kind of manufactured doll; because there are three levels of luck involved with a Billiken - good, better, and best. It's good luck if one purchases a Billiken, it is better luck if one receives a Billiken as a gift, and the best luck comes to the person who steals a Billiken. Anyway, some local journalists thought that the St. Louis head coach looked like one of these Billikens and somehow, that became the school's mascot. See how informative and educational this blog can be? I'm not seeing it either. And you'll never be able to get those 20 seconds of your life back where I went off about Billikens. Back to our favorite corpulent coach. Rick Majerus and his St. Louis squad lost in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament yesterday, falling to The University of Dayton in overtime. Sadly, Majerus is pretty much off the national radar while he coaches an average program in an average league. You gotta think, hope, and believe that with his presence and personality, Coach Majerus will be able to build St. Louis back into a NCAA Tournament team in time. Rick turned 60 last month and hopefully a little time away from the national spotlight will keep him healthy and energetic enough to continue to thrive as a coach, teacher, cult-figure, analyst, and jester for years to come. Let us mourn the 2007-2008 season coming to an end for Coach Majerus by enjoying one of his (many) memorable quotes: "Some guys smoke. Some guys drink. Some guys chase women. I'm a big barbecue-sauce guy."... "I'm like that guy on the Odd Couple, and it's not the neat guy. I go into my room and find pieces of pizza under the laundry." Oh hell...I have to throw this clip in here as well...it's just too much fun (watch Steve Lavin start to lose it, and how quickly they cut away from the two-shot, classic). Majerus was also named Playboy Magazine Coach of the Year in 1992 and 1998. Is there anything this guy can't do? The NCAA Tournament just isn't the same with out the gregarious Rick Majerus involved in some way, shape, or form. Good season coach. Stay healthy Rick. I'll share a meal (and a 4XL tall sweater) with you any time. Be well.

March Madness Profile #1: Gus Johnson

It's time to start profiling some of the essential participants that make the NCAA Tournament so rich from year to year. I do not give a rat's posterior that I'm completely piggy-backing off of ESPN's Bill Simmons, not to mention multiple fan sites and message boards, in devoting this first profile to the one, the only, Gus Johnson. Best known as a play-by-play announcer for CBS during March Madness, Johnson is loved for his enthusiasm, energy, and the potential that his head may actually explode during a particularly exciting three-on-two break. Johnson's calls of particular games are becoming legendary, and if anyone in recent memory was made for the youtube generation, Gus would be that man. One of his most passionate and insane calls was during the epic UCLA vs. Gonzaga sweet-sixteen matchup in 2006. Adam Morrison would never really be the same. Johnson has that unique ability (much like Gary Thorne with hockey) to increase his energy and intensity to the level that the crowd and the game itself dictates. His insanity is infectious, which seems completely appropriate for March Madness. It's not just a bunch of Generation X punks and pop-culture oriented sports writers who like Gus, crabby and getting older by the minute Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette even enjoys what Johson brings to the table that is college basketball broadcasting. Johnson can make a game against Butler and Pepperdine seem not only important, but ESSENTIAL...and within the landscape of the NCAA Tournament, the game most certainly is essential. Every game counts. The tournament is single-elimination, there is no tomorrow, it's win or go home. Gus captures this vibe with the urgency in his voice and the...madness...in his tone. (See what I did there?) I'm a sentimental bitch at heart and I have a hard time letting things go. To me, Sports Center should always be hosted by a combination of Dan Patrick, Keith Olberman, Charlie Steiner, Linda Cohn, & Rich Eisen. Monday night football should always be led by Frank and Al and Dan (even if they, as a group, sucked) because that's who broadcasted the games while I was growing up. Baseball Tonight will never be the same without Karl Ravech, Harold Reynolds, and Peter Gammons. My point is that things easily get romanticised as we get older. Whether things are really better or really worse, we'll always have a tendency to remember them being much better, even ideal, in the past. We're lucky enough right now to be living with something that is ideal. Gus Johnson and March Madness go hand in hand. I know that I can count on hearing Gus Johnson calling NCAA Tournament games next month and that is very comforting. I wouldn't have it any other way. Some day, CBS will get very stupid or Gus Johnson will just get too old and I'll have to tell my kids (God willing) about the legend that was Gus Johnson announcing games in the Tournament. We're lucky enough to enjoy him now, and his presence next month is as guaranteed as the fact that I'll be filling out at least 20 brackets. (I can't help but push more clips of Gus, so here is a highlight reel from last year's Tourney)