Billy Packer should be fired by CBS for his obvious bias against UNC. He tried to put spin on the flagrant foul by Henderson on Hansbrough by continuously saying "it was not flagrant, He was trying to block the shot". Any basketball fan in the world who was watching could see that Henderson did'nt even know where the ball was. Packer has hated Carolina ever since he played at Wake Forest.
Billy Packer is a JACKASS!
Quoting Bill Simmons, ESPN Columnist:
4. I don't mean to pile on Billy Packer here -- OK, maybe I do -- but when you're already considered to be one of the biggest apologists on the planet for Duke basketball, is it really a good idea to keep making excuses for a Duke player after he just threw a malicious elbow at Carolina's best player with 15 seconds remaining in an 12-point game? That was one of the strangest sequences I've ever watched in a televised basketball game. Here's a rough transcript (I'm doing it from memory):
(We see a replay of Gerald Henderson measuring Hansbrough, flying over from six feet away, then delivering a Macho Man Savage-type elbow into Hansbrough's face one second after Hansbrough had already been stripped of the ball.)
Packer: "Yeah, he was going for the ball ... that was NOT intentional."
(We see another replay of the same thing from a different angle -- this time, it looks like Henderson could potentially be arrested for what just happened.)
Packer: "See, from that replay, there's NO QUESTION that Henderson was going for the ball ... that was definitely an accident.)
(Jim Nantz thinks about mentioning that Hansbrough had already been stripped of the ball before Henderson even raises his elbow, realizes that he has to announce games with Packer for the next four weeks, doesn't want it to be awkward, decides against saying anything at all, starts day-dreaming about the Masters.)
Packer: "Nope ... no way. He was going for the ball."
(Cut to a replay of Hansbrough walking off the court with his face broken in half.)
Packer: "Jim, if anything, that was probably Hansbrough's fault for going after Henderson's elbow with his face ..."
You get the idea. We have media criticism rules at ESPN, so I have to tread carefully here ... but have you noticed that Packer somehow turns himself into a major story before EVERY NCAA TOURNAMENT? As I wrote a couple of years ago, I was watching an Indiana State Final Four game from the '79 tournament and they made a big deal before the game about how Packer had publicly attacked Indy State's credentials for the entire tournament, and now they were in the Final Four and he was eating a little crow -- they even showed an awkward interview with him and Larry Bird after the game. This was 28 years ago!!!!!! What chain of events needs to happen for CBS to replace him with a more palatable, more enjoyable, agenda-less lead analyst? Does 100 percent of the country have to band together and say, "We're tired of this guy?" Or are we good at the current number of 97 percent?
Even Billy's son the "pack man" said yesterday that Billy's "losing it" and to me it is pretty obvious that he is biased against UNC......his call of that "play" sounded as though he had made it blindfolded.....he was so adamant before he even saw the first replay that he was going for "the ball" yeah, right Billy .......even though the ball was about 4 feet away from him. Funny how every analyst on ESPN thought the shot Tyler took was outrageous and some suggested that the suspension wasn't enough.....next time Packer's calling a game and the ball goes anywhere out of bounds, someone should jump on him and claim that they were just going for the ball.......
Some years ago I enjoyed Packer's commentary. He knows a lot about the game and, in the old days, he would share some of his knowledge in context with events on the floor.
I think he decided to emulate Dick Vitale and all he really talks about now is himself. I have gotten to where I pay little attention to the announcers because all they do is talk about themselves but they do not announce the game we are trying to watch.
I really don't want to hear about the old days or who Packer saw scratching what. Tell us who committed the last foul - and within five minutes of when the play happened!
What is the foul situation? Who's in trouble? Why did the refs do what they just did? Tell us about the game we're trying to watch. ANNOUNCE the DARN GAME!
Right now I'm reading a really interesting book, "PISTOL: The Life of Pete Maravich" by Mark Kreigel. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in a little basketball history.
However, I can learn the history on my own - I just don't want to hear Packer's (or Vitale's) history of himself again.
Give us a break Billy. If you are going to do a game, tell us about that game. Another hint. If you don't have anything to say, shut up.
:>)
Packer
Packer is a small person who showed his ineptitude and biases again Sunday.