Elite Eight Saturday Open Thread

Saturday, March 29, 2008


Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery; Xavier (3) vs. UCLA (1)- 6:40pm
Dick Enberg and Jay Bilas; Louisville (4) vs. UNC (1)- 9:05pm

Another night that I'm going to absent, but I thank everyone for filling me in on what I miss. I'll be around tomorrow though for a full day of Basketball and maybe some Baseball too.

Cheers!

Posted by Awful Announcing- at 3:04 PM

38 Comments:

Tim Brando and Dan Bonner are ruining...er...commentating on the Division II National Championship.

TJX said...
Mar 29, 2008, 3:39:00 PM  

"That ain't Winona Ryder!"-TB

I wish he would have said this.

Anonymous said...
Mar 29, 2008, 5:17:00 PM  

Hey Verne, Josh Duncan plays for Xavier, the team you're broadcasting. Not Memphis, the team you're not broadcasting.

Anonymous said...
Mar 29, 2008, 6:33:00 PM  

louisville is the #3 seed.

-dan

Anonymous said...
Mar 29, 2008, 6:34:00 PM  

Sam Ryan, WOW!!!

Anonymous said...
Mar 29, 2008, 6:42:00 PM  

I haven't seen Sam in a long time. I didn't know she was still at CBS. Great story she did today.

Anonymous said...
Mar 29, 2008, 6:50:00 PM  

"If they can't get it to Collison, Love will stay wide waiting for the penetration." - Bill Raftery.

Haha, Raft is nasty against tonight.

J.R. said...
Mar 29, 2008, 7:30:00 PM  

Verne and Bill guest starring on CSI:NY on May 7th. Keep an eye out for it

Anonymous said...
Mar 29, 2008, 8:18:00 PM  

I personally thought Raft didnt get truly nasty till that they'll "strip you from behind" bit...

he must of had his viagra refilled this week

Anonymous said...
Mar 29, 2008, 8:24:00 PM  

I think he was still moving. - BR(as the player is firmly planted in the lane)

Anonymous said...
Mar 29, 2008, 8:25:00 PM  

I turned off the UCLA game in favor of Cavs-Pistons after the fourth or fifth "belly rub" reference by Raftery. Props to whoever mentioned "getting a blow" in a previous post as annoying as Hell; it's right up there with "length."

Mar 29, 2008, 8:51:00 PM  

Verne Lundquist got his first major break in the late '70's at a local station in Dallas. He was waif thin, barely able to fill out a suit. Uh, that was a couple thousand cheeseburgers ago.

Tim Perkins said...
Mar 29, 2008, 9:10:00 PM  

Uh, that was a couple thousand $5 dollar footlong meatball subs ago.

Fixed.

Mar 29, 2008, 10:16:00 PM  

i usually like Bilas, but this is about the most one-sided announcing i have ever seen for UNC. i am sure he knows their team more so than Louisville, but try to at least pretend to be interested when Louisville scores

Anonymous said...
Mar 29, 2008, 10:47:00 PM  

Jay Bilas wants to suck off Hansbourgh ....

Don Evans said...
Mar 29, 2008, 10:52:00 PM  

"and that's a reach around on hansbrough" - enberg

Anonymous said...
Mar 29, 2008, 10:52:00 PM  

Dick Enberg should read a rule book on basketball before he announces ever again. Every whistle is not a foul.

Anonymous said...
Mar 29, 2008, 10:55:00 PM  

"I haven't seen Hansbrough take a play off his entire career." - Jay Bilas

BS or no? I'm tempted to think the guy has watched every single UNC game.

And Enberg is having a horrible game. Little mistakes left and right. Tough to hear - I like Dick Enberg circa 1998.

Unknown said...
Mar 29, 2008, 10:55:00 PM  

I'm a Hansbrough fan, and Bilas is even making me sick. We don't need verbal blowjobs for every uncontested layup and rebound. Nor, when he fails to save the ball out of bounds.

Unknown said...
Mar 29, 2008, 11:03:00 PM  

I don't mind giving props to Hansbrough, but "he never takes a play off" what exactly does that mean?...make it easier for people like me, please tell me which players are taking all of these plays off... it seems to me that both teams were hustling and playing hard... "more competitive than Michael Jordan???" how does one measure degrees of competitiveness??

Anonymous said...
Mar 29, 2008, 11:25:00 PM  

@ndn

You've hit it. And I really think it's why we are all so frustrated with sports analysis these days. There is just so little substance and so much overthetop hyperbole that it makes the games positively excruciating to listen to at times.

Fun Bilas drinking game - do a shot everytime he uses the clause 'I think' or the word "job". You won't get past the first half - or first segment on the WWL.

Unknown said...
Mar 29, 2008, 11:36:00 PM  

My favorite Hansborough part was when he clearly hacked Padgett on a play in the 2nd half with a no call, and when they went to commercial they replayed it in slow-mo. But then continued to blow him some more. I think he is clearly the new Laettner

Anonymous said...
Mar 29, 2008, 11:36:00 PM  

The amazing thing about Bilas slurping Hansbrough? Bilas is a Duke guy!

Morgan Wick said...
Mar 30, 2008, 12:19:00 AM  

I feel like I may have misunderstood this since I figured everyone on this would have jumped on it, but there was one play in the second half where I think Raftery called Kevin Love amphibious (after he made a left-handed shot) when he presumably meant ambidextrous. Unless Kevin can live in the water of course.

Anonymous said...
Mar 30, 2008, 12:21:00 AM  

I thought Enberg was up past his bed time.
He twice said Hansbrough had 9 assists before correcting himself saying he had read Lawson's stat line.
And he couldn't read the scoreboard.
Where Carter Blackburn at?

Paul said...
Mar 30, 2008, 12:57:00 AM  

Raftery's amphibious comment was a tribute to Charles Shackleford, the NC State forward of the 80s who could shoot w his rt and left hand and told reporters he was amphibious.

Anonymous said...
Mar 30, 2008, 2:17:00 AM  

Two Deadspin commenters said Enberg made a "rape" reference. Anybody?

Anonymous said...
Mar 30, 2008, 8:00:00 AM  

Terrible night by Enberg. Messing up stats left and right, can't tell you what the correct score, messing up where people are from I.E. "from Renoe California um..Nevada"

my fav. was when the score was 77-69 and he said..."and the tar heels lead....um...80..no wait..let's see..77 to 69...this scoreboard is the hardest to read in all of sport." with Bilas chuckling in the background.

Anonymous said...
Mar 30, 2008, 11:25:00 AM  

Chances of a live blog of Wrestlemania tonight? 50/50?

Brett said...
Mar 30, 2008, 12:22:00 PM  

I'd rather watch paint dry than watch Wrestlemania

Ryan Drescher said...
Mar 30, 2008, 12:31:00 PM  

It definitely sounded like "raped", but I'm pretty sure it was "face raked" like another announcer had said a few months ago and people confused it for "rape."

Anonymous said...
Mar 30, 2008, 12:53:00 PM  

I have a thought on why the analysis is so bad. These guys grew up listening to bad analysis. How are they supposed to know what's good?

Anonymous said...
Mar 30, 2008, 1:00:00 PM  

Just a horrible day of announcing. I'm sick of everyone drooling over Hansbrough. "He never takes a play off"....What players do take plays off?

And why Verne Lundquist called Xavier, Memphis, I still haven't figured that one out. Did he even do a Memphis game this year? He certainly didn't do one this tourney.

Anonymous said...
Mar 30, 2008, 1:11:00 PM  

Just a horrible day of announcing. I'm sick of everyone drooling over Hansbrough. "He never takes a play off"....What players do take plays off?

And why Verne Lundquist called Xavier, Memphis, I still haven't figured that one out. Did he even do a Memphis game this year? He certainly didn't do one this tourney.

Anonymous said...
Mar 30, 2008, 1:11:00 PM  

Wait, no one is going to mention them calling Hansbrough a "big crocodile" who just snared two points "in his jaws?" Because that was ridiculous.

Ben Conant said...
Mar 30, 2008, 1:17:00 PM  

C'mon now, Hansbrough is no Laettner. He doesn't bitch after every call or stomp on other players' chests. And Hansbrough can't help it if Bilas has a hard on for him. Don't hate the player, hate the announcer.

Anonymous said...
Mar 30, 2008, 2:44:00 PM  

Will there be an open thread for today's games? Although this is looking like a snooze of a first game.

Anonymous said...
Mar 30, 2008, 2:55:00 PM  

My favorite quote of the day was when Raft described someone as being on the "second chapter" while everyone else is on the "index." Um, usually when I read, the index comes at the back of the book.

Anonymous said...
Mar 31, 2008, 3:15:00 PM  

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