CBS play-by-play announcers: should they all be fired?

[David Clausi]

On another thread (Final Four Trivia), some negative comments have been made about the CBS announcers. I feel these comments are warranted.

When we try to referee the high school levels, we do our best to follow the rules, but if we get crap like "the defender was moving" when we call a charge, well, we know that these opinions are often generated by watching bball on TV and listen to the commentators.

OK, so tell me, who do you think is the worst CBS commentator and what was his worst comment?

On a related note, I sure hate that CBS jingle that they play over and over and over WHILE THE GAME IS GOING ON!! I think the jingle should be banned.

[Mark Padgett]

I don't think they should all be fired - just trained. And, during training, they should wear something indicating they are in training - like a cashier at McDonalds. Hey - how about making them all wear training bras?

Maybe we should have a bunch of referees demand equal time for a response from CBS like politicians do? NASO could get behind this. Any support out there for this?

[mattbray]

I just finished watching the Florida-OSU game, and was amazed when Sutton got the early T as Packer followed with what a great job he was doing working the officials, and then Nance said the next whistle was a result of that working. Then Packer goes off about how the T Izzo got for MSU the night before led them to getting all the calls down the stretch. I'm reminded of the great Norm line in Cheers, "What color is the sky in your world, Billy?" People wonder why jr. and high school coaches act like idiots toward officials, it's because they watch Packer and Dicky V tell them on prime time television that that is what great coaching is!!!

[Mark Padgett]

quote:

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Originally posted by mattbray:
[B]I just finished watching the Florida-OSU game, /B]

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Same game, a player shot a free throw that missed. A teammate got control, then threw an errant pass that went into the backcourt where it was touched by the same team for a violation.

Packer's comment - "Didn't it hit the rim?" What the hell does that mean? Is this guy even awake?

[Mark Dexter]

I say that we replace the CBS commentators with those from ESPN. They're not perfect, but they have an understanding of the rules, and can explain them (even if it is in layman's terms like "1 and 1/2 steps" for traveling).

I'd also like to see the Nike "Bracketville" series named the official commercials of the NCAA tournament. Replace the CBS jingle with these commercials, and I don't think you'll have a problem.

[Buck Wu]

I think Packer is the worst even though sometimes he know what he is talking about. His comment about working the refs is awful and teams do not get calls down the stretch because the coach works the refs. Maybe, the commentators should go to a few rules meetings before the season and attend state meetings to get a clue about the rules. Billy Packer tears down the players too much and I am embarrassed that he is a Wake Forest graduate.

[bsilliman]

Did you notice that Packer never used the names of the officials. I wonder if he feels that by not mentioning their names he can pick on them more.
On the other hand I do not like it when the announcer makes a statement like he knows what the official was thinking.