Father/son love fest
 

Did anyone catch the end of the GT/UNC game today on the radio? It was disgusting. I couldn't figure out why they would have John Thompson doing color on that game to begin with. IMHO, it was highly inappropriate. Was he the only guy they could get? I can't remember who the play-by-play guy was but during overtime he seemed to get more excited as NC fell behind further. JT was on the air hugging players and congratulating them. I thought it was very bush-league and almost "high school".

I don't think it's that big of a deal.

I'm sure it was no different than when Bob Griese was the announcer for his son' Rose Bow/National Championship game at the end of Michigan's '97 season.

Dave Sims screaming is what was disgusting.

John Thompson did the color commentating earlier in the tournament with GT playing. The little I heard was fine. As stated, Bob Greise did the games when his son won a National Championship at Michigan in the Rose Bowl. I had no problem then, I have no problem now. I thought Bob would not be critical of his son but he was. And all season Bob Gresie worked games with his son that year and he did not hold back.

Look, it is not like JT is officiating the game. This is a school that he is close to. His son coaches the team and he goes to practices on a regular basis. Not much different than Dean Smith. Is that any different than Dickie V and he did not go to any of those schools and you would think he was an alumnus of Duke or UNC.

Peace

And his son did one helluva fine coaching job too. I can certainly see why his Dad was so damn proud of him. Any father would be imo.

At no time that I noticed did anyone put North Carolina down in any way. Both teams played the game with class, I thought. Winners and losers.

Damn that was a classic game I was 11 or 12 at the time and remember Bob crying win Brian received the Rose Bowl MVP. That was the start of Ryan Leafs short career.

I don't disagree with you that he did a great job on color and that his son did a great job coaching. I also agree that he should be proud. I believe though that it is impossible to be professional in that situation. If you think he was you really didn't listen. I work in radio and my company does a lot with WVU and many people I work with were even talking about it at work today. I thought he should have recused himself from his son's game. It would have allowed him to enjoy the moment even more. JMO, frankly I'm glad they won - I have them winning it all! If they do and WVU wins the NIT then the Big East will have done pretty well!!!!

Announcers have no effect on the outcome of a game.
Georgetown fans will enjoy listening to Thompson, and those who root against them will be even more worked up knowing the Thompson connection.

But the game is determined by the players.

DUH! Really?

Then why do you care?

Peace

Really.

Why do you care who the announcer is?

A similiar story in NASCAR. Dale Jarrett won the 1993 Daytona 500 with his dad in the CBS broadcast booth, announcing the race as he crossed the finish line. I've listened to Bill Walton announce one of Luke's games.

Personally, I think those types of father-son moments are a wonderful part of sports. That from a fan who was on the losing end of that Georgetown victory. I have no problem at all with JT and JT III.

What about the Darrell Waltrip broadcasting his first Daytona 500 and his brother Michael winning his first Daytona 500 (the same race Dale Sr. died). That was a neat moment too. I am not a big moment of NASCAR, but I caught the very end of the race and heard the joy Darrell had when his brother was going to win the race. It was a very memorable moment in sports broadcasting.

Peace

Agreed.

Who says that announcers, can't show a little bit of bias btw? I can't think of one local professional baseball or basketball team that I've heard whose announcers <b>don't</b> show some bias. And that sureasheck includes the people at YES that do the Yankees. Johnny Most from the Celtics was famous for it.

Absolutely - Johnny Most was an employee of the Celtics. Of course he was biased. Jack Fleming called WVU and Steelers games for years and was extreemly biased - again paid by WVU and Pittsburgh. A network broadcaster is different - not supposed to show any bias. I think JT did that throughout the game. I felt the network put him in an awkward position in that game and I also thought the post-game was over the top. I don't blame JT for being proud of his son - but I personally don't think that should have taken place. Obviously you guys disagree - that's your opinion.

Actually, I think it was a good move by the broadcasters. I happen to be out and had to hear it on the radio. JT was very good with his interjections, and they never crossed each other where both where trying to talk at the same time. JT also was very critical of Georgetown at times, giving what I thought, maybe not, inside information, like at times his weakness is not good defense. However, I also think both announcers got caught off-guard with NC completely dropping off in the OT. They did not expect that, and towards the end of the OT, they had to play up the fact that this team was damn near shut-out in the OT. A classic meltdown! I don't understand why NC didn't use a timeout during that run!

Now, the magic. All of the players came over to not shake the senior coaches hand, but to hug him. It was very emotional. I felt the emotion from the radio and I didn't even see the game. Say what you want but GT just coming back to win that game was emotional, but a double, to have JT senior hug his son at middle court afterwards, was truly a magical moment. That's like hitting a homerun in baseball for the broadcasters. Seeing my son coach a team like that to his first final four, from the same school that I coached. That has got to be special for that family. JT a class act, bottom line, you won't go wrong with him commentating any game.

:eek:

Here is some inside information....

Your weakness is not good grammar.

I didn't detect any bias what so ever. Looks like your the only one here who had a problem with it.

Well, you still got your beloved high school basketball team, Huntington.....

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/preps...ll/super25.htm

"We're #8, we're #8....":D

Geeze, three New Jersey teams in the top 10 too.

Not mine - and not beloved. A bunch of thugs.

So everyone on here disagrees with me - INCLUDING Old School - enough said!:D

I'll go on record as agreeing with Mountaineer. Network broadcasters should be impartial and not have a bias towards a team/player. Not to say it can't work, it just has the opportunity to put folks in an awkward situation which could impact the job they do reporting on the game.

Local/team paid announcers are entirely different.

How about network analysts? SHould somebody tell Dukie Vee about having a bias towards a team or better yet, a state? I would say a conference (ACC), but it's really only any team in the state of North Carolina? I mean even Bilas shows some impartiality, and he's a Duke grad..

Let's not go to far here. Announcers don't have any control over who wins or loses the game. They know that if they want to continue to do this job they have to be good, or they will get replaced. From a coaching prospective, I'm hanging on every word this great coach says. If you're a up and coming coach, you absolutely want to hear JT talk. It's a bonus if he's talking about his own team because you know emotion is going to get to him and he might just cut lose, but he also may have more things to say. In fact, the other guy can shut up and let JT talk. I'm hanging on every word and I'm not even a coach.

And a VA team was top dog.:p

Got a coupla questions for you.....

I see that this team wasn't eligible for the state championship in VA. I've heard, but don't know if it is completely true, that it's because it's basically a recruited all-star team comprised of out-of-state players whose academic standing is maybe a little(or a lot) suspect. Is there any truth in any of that? If so, should teams like that be considered to be in the same category as most high schools who have to meet eligibility, transfer and local residency rules to be eligible to play for state championships? Or should there be a separate category just for these basketball factories?

http://www.hoopsusa.com/frm_story.cfm?a=757

Your thoughts?

Oak Hill is a prep school and probably the top one in the country. They are a top rated team year after year. From what I have heard of them, they typically have 8 and sometimes 12 D1 players on their team. The school also has a B team that is their regular HS team and they are pretty darn good too. I think they would be eligible . . . but I could be wrong. Their prep squad usually competes in the Coal Classic in Beckley every year and a couple of years ago their B team came too because of a last minute cancellation. Great program and a powerhouse year after year.

One obvious question for you, JR. Are you aware of the distinction between public and private schools? Would you make the same inferences about Dematha High, a private, parochial school with an impeccable academic standing, who is decidedly not eligible to compete for MD State championships, even if they stopped accepting players from the neighboring 3 states?. Would the 'National Championships' they were awarded during Morgan Wooten's tenure there be suspect as well?
I do agree in principle that national rankings for HS teams is a ludicrous undertaking.

Would you care to re-read my original post? I was asking <b>questions</b>, not making inferences. I was looking for the thoughts of others, not making a statement putting down the program. I posted an article that did make inferences. I was wondering how much truth there was in <b>his</b> inferences.

My own personal thoughts are that this is a recruited all-star team and certainly not a normal high school program. Whether that is good or bad is up for debate.

Btw, coach, did you happen to read the recent series run by the NY Times on the many high school diploma mills/basketball factories? The ones that the NCAA are currently cracking down on? What are your thoughts on those programs?

A wise man once said "Don't hackle the messenger". :D

My personal opinion is that Oak Hill should not be eligible for state titles because it is a "basketball factory" and they recruit from several states. Having said that, I wish my son would have had the talent to play on a team like that so I would not have had to pay for his college.:D

There are a number of private schools in the northern VA area that also "recruit" players, and a few of the programs were, and some still are, powerhouses. Flint Hill, DeMatha, St. Johns, etc., have good programs and very competitive team.

Fantastic series - unfortunately touched a bit too close to home for GW.

I think the NCAA needs to do a bit more with the true diploma mills (at least, if they want to keep on insisting on the term "student-athletes"). That said, as the story pointed out, there are some legitimate high schools being labeled as fake, even when they don't have any athletic programs, period.