[imaref]

'Take that, #@*!'? Packer heard no evil

Article in the Chicago Tribune today!

/sports/columnists/cs-050328greenstein,0,4477502.column?coll=cs-home-utility

'Take that, #@*!'? Packer heard no evil
Teddy Greenstein
ON SPORTS MEDIA AND COLLEGES

March 28, 2005

Kentucky basketball fans will forever associate Patrick Sparks with the three-pointer he hit to send Sunday's Elite Eight game against Michigan State into overtime.

But that's not all.

They'll also recall Sparks' reaction to the shot. The junior guard's momentum carried him to the center of press row, where he came upon the CBS Sports team of Jim Nantz and Billy Packer.

Sparks appeared to yell something in Packer's direction, and the veteran analyst responded by slapping hands with him to celebrate.

"There was all this emotion and he came flying toward us," Packer said Monday. "Jim and I were on our feet. It was a strange thing."

Not as strange as what at least one witness said came out of Sparks' mouth. One of the writers close to the scene said he heard Sparks scream: "Take that!" before adding a crass four-syllable epithet.

Packer had his headset on and couldn't hear what Sparks said. But he finds it hard to believe that Sparks, seconds after his career highlight, would fire on him.

"He might have said: 'I hit the shot for you," Packer said. "I did not hear anything like that, but if people said they heard it, I guess you have to ask the kid."

After Sunday's game, Sparks wouldn't say exactly what he yelled.

"I was just caught up in the moment," he said.

Adding to the intrigue—the part that connects the dots for some Kentucky fans—is that Packer caused a mini-stir in December when he said that Sparks got away with a traveling violation before he was fouled and hit the winning free throws in a game at Louisville.

Packer didn't call the Louisville game but made the comment during a broadcast later that day.

"I said to Verne [Lundquist]: 'It was a great shot, and you can't take anything away from the kid, but he traveled before he got the shot off.' I actually spoke about it for less than 12 seconds, but it became an issue in Kentucky.

"I talked to [Kentucky coach] Tubby [Smith] about it. We laughed about it. I said: '[Sparks] did a jig before he took the shot.' It was a non-issue except with the paranoid Kentucky people—as if I'm against Kentucky. The guy walked. I say what I see, not try to make people happy in the state of Kentucky."

Packer was an all-ACC guard for Wake Forest in the early '60s, and some Kentucky fans still perceive him as favoring schools near his home in Charlotte. Packer, who will call his 24th consecutive Final Four this weekend for CBS, says that's ridiculous.

"I have great respect for both Tubby and [Michigan State coach] Tom [Izzo]," he said. "Do you think I could broadcast a game and be rooting for one of them to lose? How can people be this paranoid?"
Copyright © 2005, The Chicago Tribune