Annual Announcer Kvetch Thread, 2022-23

[HereBeforeCoachK]

Jay Bilas has been so much worse even than normal tonight.

I had to hit the mute...it was just awful. Nothing about how Duke was playing was upsetting. Bilas and Shulman were horrid...and yes, even more than normal.

Bilas Gripes Tonight:
He is shockingly silent when they show a replay of a BS foul on Duke.

At the end as we were sealing the win, his first take was that you have to be impressed with Miami's fight.

Yep.
Yep.

For those who insist he really is a Duke guy at heart? Fine, but what good is it if his public persona is the exact opposite?

[OldPhiKap]

Bilas was fine tonight. Take off the dark blue glasses and the sensitivity to perceived micro-aggressions.

Jay is a hell of a lot less biased during a Duke game than most Duke fans.

[sagegrouse]

Bilas was fine tonight. Take off the dark blue glasses and the sensitivity to perceived micro-aggressions.

Jay is a hell of a lot less biased during a Duke game than most Duke fans.

Best color commentator in basketball. I have no idea what you folks are thinking. Herd mentality?

[HereBeforeCoachK]

Jay is a hell of a lot less biased during a Duke game than most Duke fans.

That's not the flex you seem to think it is.......

[OldPhiKap]

That's not the flex you seem to think it is....

What makes you think I am trying to “flex”? What would that even mean in this context?

I meant it as a simple factual statement.

[SavDukeGrad]

Bilas Gripes Tonight:

He loves pointing out Duke's use of the horn set most of all, but he'll also mention other plays and sets to let you know how much he knows about basketball (and he does). Tonight, he mentioned that a Miami player used an Iverson Split. I consider myself a basketball fan of above-average knowledge, but I don't have a clue what an Iverson Split is. Perhaps instead of just mentioning these terms, you could do your job as an analyst and show us what this means? If only they had technology where you could draw little white lines on the screen during a replay.

He is shockingly silent when they show a replay of a BS foul on Duke.

At the end as we were sealing the win, his first take was that you have to be impressed with Miami's fight.

I’ve heard him say “Iverson split” a couple of times the last few weeks. I have no idea what it is either; I just assumed it was the new “horns set”.

[Southgate0809]

Bilas was fine tonight. Take off the dark blue glasses and the sensitivity to perceived micro-aggressions.

Jay is a hell of a lot less biased during a Duke game than most Duke fans.

Most Duke fans aren't calling games on national television insisting that as journalists, they aren't invested in the outcome of the Duke-UNC game.

[CasualObserver]

Well, Bilas did say a couple of positive remarks about Duke’s development as a team this year and then a plaudit when each Duke player made a good play, but he handed out much more praise to Miami overall.

It got me to thinking….now that his adopted Alma Mater in Chapel Hill is circling around the drain of oblivion this year, he must be figuring he’s got to talk about teams that are actually still playing.

[OldPhiKap]

Most Duke fans aren't calling games on national television insisting that as journalists, they aren't invested in the outcome of the Duke-UNC game.

No, but they I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this. about him constantly on this site. It is silly and tiresome. And it makes people look silly to neutral observers.

But by all means, I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this. away.

[Southgate0809]

No, but they I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this. about him constantly on this site. It is silly and tiresome. And it makes people look silly to neutral observers.

But by all means, I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this. away.

You may want to choose to not engage in the "Official I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this. About Announcers Thread" then.

[OldPhiKap]

You may want to choose to not engage in the "Official I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this. About Announcers Thread" then.

True.

Although I would prefer to move the thread beyond the insipid and banal into something more interesting.

But we can just repeat the same thing over and over, year after year, if that’s the will of the assembled I guess. Whether it is objectively viable or not.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

What makes you think I am trying to “flex”? What would that even mean in this context?

I meant it as a simple factual statement.

It was clearly meant to make a point....and it didn't.

[OldPhiKap]

It was clearly meant to make a point...and it didn't.

Oh. I thought I did. Maybe you just missed it.

In fact, with all due respect, perhaps the Duke fans crabbing about Bilas’ alleged bias against Duke are EXACTLY the people who should get the point because they are the example to which reference is being made.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

Oh. I thought I did. Maybe you just missed it.

So the point is that Bilas is less biased than a typical DBR Duke fan, so that makes it okay.

Um, A: he's being biased AGAINST Duke...thus your comparison is, well, what's a nice word? Silly maybe? Non sequitur?

No need for B: but for the hellovit....he's being paid to be a professional. DBR posters are not.

[gumbomoop]

Best color commentator in basketball. I have no idea what you folks are thinking. Herd mentality?

I just don’t agree here. I suppose “best” is a judgment call. Imo, Bonner, Spanarkel, Hummel, Crispin, and Gminski are all better than Bilas. All of those are informed, pointed, expert, and focused in their commentary. Focused, especially.

[rsvman]

Jay Bilas has been so much worse even than normal tonight.

I don’t know how to break it to you and to the other posters who agreed with you, but I’ll just tell you that, as I contemplated earlier, I went ahead and went all Kedsy on the color commenting for tonight’s game. The results are not at all what you think they are.

For the first five minutes of the first half, I had just written down “good Bilas” and “bad Bilas” and I counted the times he said something favorable to us and the times he said something unfavorable. After 5 minutes there were 7 “good Bilas” ticks and ZERO “bad Bilas” ticks.

I then decided that it might be better to get more detail, and to know if he was treating the two teams any differently. So I wrote down “Duke” and below that, “pro” and “con,” and then I wrote down “Miami” and below that, “pro” and “con.” I also made a separate category called “reffing” and below that I wrote “pro-Duke” and “anti-Duke.” I had to add a “no comment” section, too, which really surprised me (more about that later).

Just a little bit more about the methods: if Jay said anything positive about a player or about a team, I counted it as “pro.” For example, if he said something like, “Proctor has really improved as a game manger” or “Whitehead is the best three-pointer shooter in the ACC over the past 8 games,” or “Duke has really been improving its offense in the latter part of the season,” I put a tick under “pro.” Same for Miami. If he said, on the other hand, something like “They have got to really shore up that defense” or “so-and-so should not have tried to force the ball inside on that play,” I put a tick under “con.”

OK, with that background, here are the results (and I was just as sure as you guys, and have posted many times on this board about his anti-Duke overboard compensating bias):

First half

From the 5-minute mark until halftime, Bilas made 21 comments about Duke or its players; 20 of them were positive. He made, in the same time span, 18 comments about Miami, of which 17 were positive.

Second half

In the second half, Bilas made 33 comments about Duke or its players; 29 of them were positive. In that same time span, he made 28 comments about Miami; 25 of them were positive.

For the game, then, he made 58 comments about Duke or its players; only 5 were negative.

For the game, he made 46 comments about Miami; only 4 were negative.

Hard for me to see any kind of bias in this commentary.


As for the reffing, he was quieter than usual about officiating. I counted it as pro-Duke if he agreed with a call a ref made against Miami, or if he said, for example, that Filipowski made a basket despite “drawing contact,” or “through contact,” even if a foul wasn’t called. I counted a comment as “anti-Duke” if he said that we “got away with a foul” or if he said that a Miami player scored “through contact,” or the like.

For the entirety of the game, he made 10 comments about calls or lack thereof; 4 were pro-Duke and 6 were anti-Duke. Not anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be.

I also had to make a category called “no comment,” because there were two times in which calls that could have been questioned happened and he never said a word. Not even when Shulman commented about it. He just sat there and said absolutely NOTHING. I was shocked! Shocked, I say.


One limitation of the study was that this was not a Duke-UNC game.


However, color me very surprised to come here and see that so many of you thought that he once again called a biased game. These data don’t support that idea at all.

[bludev]

Well, Bilas did say a couple of positive remarks about Duke’s development as a team this year and then a plaudit when each Duke player made a good play, but he handed out much more praise to Miami overall.

It got me to thinking….now that his adopted Alma Mater in Chapel Hill is circling around the drain of oblivion this year, he must be figuring he’s got to talk about teams that are actually still playing.

A little perspective (and confirmation for some of us) on JB in a thread from our "friends" who wear the light blue colored glasses (the 8th comment):

https://247sports.com/college/north-...014313/?page=1

[El_Diablo]

Jay Bilas lacks integrity. He demonstrated it during the UNC scandal, and I realize that my perception of him since then has been irrevocably tainted. That said, I still felt like he sucked tonight.

[Southgate0809]

A little perspective (and confirmation for some of us) on JB in a thread from our "friends" who wear the light blue colored glasses (the 8th comment):

https://247sports.com/college/north-...014313/?page=1

Wow

"Bilas slobbers over us on a 24/7 basis. Rarely will you hear him criticize us."

So, they can admit that, but plenty of DBR people can't? Now who's biased?

[-jk]

I’ve heard him say “Iverson split” a couple of times the last few weeks. I have no idea what it is either; I just assumed it was the new “horns set”.

He’s trying to make fetch happen.

-jk