Billy Packer Still Upset About Everything

[Atlanta Duke]

USA Today has an interview in which the old curmedgeon vents about the broadcast format for this year's NCAA tournament, his ex-employer, and college basketball in general

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/colum...terstitialskip

If anyone has forgotten what a grouch Packer became this article will remind you

[camion]

Packer and Vitale

Matter and anti-matter

[mkline09]

USA Today has an interview in which the old curmedgeon vents about the broadcast format for this year's NCAA tournament, his ex-employer, and college basketball in general

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/colum...terstitialskip

If anyone has forgotten what a grouch Packer became this article will remind you

Not surprising. Packer was always upset at the world. It was a great day when he retired from broadcasting. He just oozes negativity and his holier-than-thou, know-everything attitude just irks me.

He never helped with the false perception that Duke gets all the calls especially after the 2001 title game.

[Ping Lin]

[BD80]

USA Today has an interview in which the old curmedgeon vents about the broadcast format for this year's NCAA tournament, his ex-employer, and college basketball in general

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/colum...terstitialskip

If anyone has forgotten what a grouch Packer became this article will remind you

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan tells me its OK when I'm grumpy.

[pfrduke]

I don't know. I think the sincerity in his concern for the poor viewers of truTV who will be robbed of hours of their courtroom/cops&robbers drama was touching and heartfelt.

[ncexnyc]

Would anyone who took a swipe at Billy care to make a more specific comment mentioning what they didn't like about what he said in the article?

[WiJoe]

Would anyone who took a swipe at Billy care to make a more specific comment mentioning what they didn't like about what he said in the article?

Humongous can of worms about to be opened.

[ncexnyc]

Humongous can of worms about to be opened.

Not a problem. No one really commented on Packer's views stated in the article. Instead they took it as an opportunity to take a swipe at the guy.

[mkline09]

Would anyone who took a swipe at Billy care to make a more specific comment mentioning what they didn't like about what he said in the article?

I for one just don't care for his general malaise about how the game has "regressed in the past 10 years" and how he basically calls the regional games boring. His negativity just is intollerable to me. It was that way when he called the games and it remains the case today.

[UrinalCake]

Wasn't he also the guy who ignored a female student who was monitoring the media entrance door at Cameron, telling her to "go and work at a women's game" or something to that effect?

[rthomas]

...his general malaise about how the game has "regressed in the past 10 years" ...

Maybe he was just thinking about the ACC.

[Matches]

Yeah, he's a curmudgeon. He's also right about a lot of what he said, though. TruTV is a strange place to put college basketball games. The move appears to have been made so that every game will be available in its entirety, but Packer is correct in pointing out that having every minute of every game on is really only serving a very small percentage of people. As a practical matter most people who wanted to see their team play could already do so.

He's right about the expansion of the field to 68 teams, too. The tourney has added three mediocre teams to the field, and those "first four" games are not going to be very good. The only way I'd watch one of them is if Duke was involved.

[allenmurray]

Wasn't he also the guy who ignored a female student who was monitoring the media entrance door at Cameron, telling her to "go and work at a women's game" or something to that effect?

It was something like that, though my memory (failing though it may be) is that when she asked for his press credentials before letting him in he became verbally abusive, upset that she did not "know who he was".

[OldPhiKap]

Packer and Vitale

Matter and anti-matter

I'll fund the super collider.

[Atlanta Duke]

Would anyone who took a swipe at Billy care to make a more specific comment mentioning what they didn't like about what he said in the article?

OK

His comment about it being better if ESPN had the tournamnt because it has announcers doing college games all season - because viewing any sporting event is impossible without great color commentary and any college game is so much better when you have Billy or Dick Vitale at the mike

His comment that ESPN has better NCAA promotion and Packer not being in a promo for CBS for 25 years - consider the possibility CBS did not regard Packer to be the face of college basketball - if he thought CBS was doing such a rotten job of promotion (I disagree) he should not have cashed their checks for 28 years until he was fired

Packer saying he likes watching truTV, people who watch it aren't going to be happy they're missing their shows and if truTV viewers liked basketball, they'd already be watching ESPN- Aside from being a laughable "get off my lawn" quote, that is as if the tournamntment should never have been on CBS since viewers would be upset their afternoon soaps were pre-empted the first week of the tournament and anyone who likes basketball already was watching ESPN rather than CBS non-sports programming

Viewers missing the old system of being switched to the hottest action - now all 4 games will be available in their entirety on 4 separate channels and if you want to watch your favorite team in a wire to wire blowout you can do that or you can switch to another game rather than be at the mercy of the control booth - maybe Billy can next claim there is no substitute to listening to a game on radio where the broadcaster paints a verbal word picture that the listener can imagine and once the game started to be broadcast on TV the magic was gone

Saying it's all about money and political correctness - political correctness? And it has always been about the money - expanding to 64 was not a decision based upon divine guidance - if it was all about the money the tournament would have added more than 4 teams

Saying the game has regressed incredibly in the last 10 years, at all levels and that's why he couldn't do it anymore - then he should have "quit" years before he left in 2008 (7 years into his incredible regression which really took off when high schoolers started going direct to the pros in the mid-1990s) - consider the possibility CBS told him it was time to say goodbye and it had nothing to do with Packer deciding it was immoral to continue to be a CBS broadcaster. That is not telling hard truths -that is the bitter spinning of someone who got canned.

[94duke]

Would anyone who took a swipe at Billy care to make a more specific comment mentioning what they didn't like about what he said in the article?

And viewers, warns Packer, will miss the old system of being switched to the hottest action.

I disagree most about this (above quote). I HATE the live look-in. I want to choose which game I want to see in its entirety. If they (CBS/network) want to tell me that a close game is on another channel, that's fine. I may or may not switch to it. But if I'm watching a 9 point game at the 12:00 mark involving an ACC team, let me decide if I want to switch games.

[OldPhiKap]

OK

Thanks, you saved me the time AD. 100% right on.

Billy, my television came with a remote. You may want to pick up a universal one at Best Buy if yours is missing.

And yeah, Billy quit because the game wasn't as good as it was ten years ago. Boo hoo hoo. Cry me a river.

I hope someone puts me down before I get that grumpy. Sheesh.


P.S. Len Elmore's article should be following soon, no doubt.

[PADukeMom]

I'll just say what I always said when Billy Packer would be announcing one of our games..."Go To Hell Billy Packer Go To Hell! (am I allowed to say Hell?)

[OldPhiKap]

"Go To Hell Billy Packer Go To Hell! (am I allowed to say Hell?)

If that's wrong, I don't want to be right.