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Billy Sent Packing
By TonyCBS Sports announced yesterday that long-time college basketball analyst Billy Packer would be replaced this season by Clark Kellogg. Packer had been the #1 color analyst for CBS for over 30 years; this past season he called his 34th consecutive Final Four. For basketball fans, there are two main questions for the CBS decision makers: 1) Why now? 2) What the hell took you guys so long?
Billy Packer was a national institution, but so was the Pony Express. Yet once that institution became an obvious thing of the past, it galloped off onto the sunset – not so for Packer. I started my serious college basketball awareness in the early 1980s, maybe at that time Billy Packer was more with it. Maybe I only thought he knew a lot about the game because I was 4 years old. At any rate over the past few (or 20) seasons, he had been losing touch with the game, players, and fans.
Like most old-time announcers you’ll see and hear broadcasting games, he had a little bit of an Anti-Hoya streak in him. That’s part of the reason I didn’t care for his work. But more than anything it was his general attitude. He heavily criticized the players, acted like he knew more than the coaches, and talked down to the fans watching. He came across as smug and superior almost all of the time. Every year when the NCAA Tournament bracket was announced, he was the first to criticize the NCAA committee for what he thought were bad decisions they made. He usually argued that there should be more ACC teams (of course he played at Wake Forest), and he famously blasted the committee for giving George Mason an at-large bid in 2006, the year they went to the Final Four.
The strangest part about Billy Packer is that even though he had a very cushy, lucrative, enviable job, he never seemed to be enjoying himself – unless somehow one of his unlikely predictions came into fruition. His bitterness came across a lot in his broadcasts, and for the past decade or so he seemed better suited for a Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon movie than to be courtside an the National Championship game.
I’ve written this article as if Packer had died, but he hasn’t. Packer will still be a part of college basketball in one form or another – most likely he will continue to call games for Jefferson Pilot’s regional ACC coverage. So, if you’re a big Billy Packer fan you’ll still be able to watch him work, but chances are…you’re not. I’ve never even heard of anyone being a Billy Packer fan. Don’t believe me? Ask around. You won’t find any either.
I leave you now with my favorite Billy Packer quote. I guess I shouldn’t technically call it a quote since I’m not positive I remember the exact words used. Here it comes anyway: In the opening game of the 1994-95 season the Hoyas were playing Arkansas in Memphis. Arkansas was the defending NCAA Champs, and it was the first game as a Hoya for Allen Iverson. Georgetown was getting killed by the end, and late in the game Iverson went for a long offensive rebound, missed it, and consequently allowed a breakaway for the Razorbacks since he was supposed to be getting back on defense. Packer saw the play and said, “This young man has NO sense of the game.” CBS should’ve fired him right then.
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July 17th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Part of the problem with Packer’s broadcasting was that he had no counterbalance. In the early days the late Al McGuire worked with Packer and the outspoken McGuire had no problem challenging Packer if he disagreed with him. Pairing Jim Nantz with Packer spelled doom. Nantz is the comsumate professional annoucer who has done the play by play for almost every major sport championship. That being said, he is the consumate shill when it comes to college basketball. He never has an original thought and never even comes close to disputing even Packer’s most obvious misstatements. I feel that someone with his credentials should be comfortable debating issues relating to the game rather than offering his signature call of “you’re so right, Billy!”
I wish Packer the best in his retirement and hope to never have to hear him again.
July 18th, 2008 at 10:32 am
While CBS is to be commended for finally dumping Packer, his departure only addresses one of the many problems with their coverage of the NCAA tournament. Maybe now they should concentrate on a game schedule that staggers starts so we can see more games, on switching between games at critical points in the action instead of driving us nuts with score tickers of close games we never see until they’ve become 20 point routs only so CBS can brag about the number of “conclusion” they show, and on moving the West Coast games back to AFTER the 11 o’clock news so those teams don’t have to play at ridiculously early times and East Coast night owls can enjoy their hoops into the wee hours. True, game starts are set by the NCAA but if you think that CBS doesn’t have a say in which games to schedule at what times, or that the NCAA selection committee doesn’t set the match-ups with TV ratings and revenues in mind, you need a serious reality check.
When we old-timers (i.e. people who enjoyed the tournament before 1991) relax in our rockers, we frequently reminisce about the “good old days” when the early tournament rounds were on ESPN, who seemed to almost always get it right.
Come on, CBS, give us tournament coverage that the players, schools and fans deserve. Or better yet, Disney, how about putting in a serious bid to knock CBS out of the NCAA tournament altogether. Like Jiminy Cricket sang to me when I was a kid, I’m wishing upon the Disney star and my heart sure desires an NCAA network change!