January 27th, 2023 at 8:38 AM ^
Literally stopped watching the tournament finals because of him. He was Herbstreit before Herbstreit, a guy who couldn't stop talking, and seemed to think his stream of consciousness was more important than the spectacle of sport. RIP Billy. Though I'm sure, wherever he is, his mouth isn't getting any rest.
January 27th, 2023 at 8:55 AM ^
Actually, I quite like Herbstreit.
Packer was not just a constant irritant, he was relentlessly negative, criticizing players nonstop (every bucket was the result not of a good play by the offense but a shocking defensive breakdown of the kind it was clear he would never have made), while always, of course, genuflecting at the feet of the coaches.
(Listen to him call those Fab Five tournament games, and being outraged that they weren't playing conservative, cautious basketball, even though they were obviously playing in exactly the same style that got them to the Finals in the first place).
Those instincts only calcified over time, so that by his last four or five years watching the Final Four was almost actively irritating.
(Contrast with Bill Raftery who is almost constantly positive, and has been a pleasure to listen to for thirty years -- a minimum of shtick and a lot of genuine bonhomie. "Send it in, Jerome!" indeed!)
January 27th, 2023 at 9:53 AM ^
RIP, but he was the worst. Horrible, pompous announcer who didn’t know basketball. Seemed to despise the players. And every personal story that came out about him indicated he was a dick.
In sum, the opposite of Hubie Brown, who, as we all know, is one of the greatest color commentators we’ve had in the game.
January 27th, 2023 at 10:16 AM ^
Eh, never liked Hubie Brown myself. To each their own though.
January 27th, 2023 at 10:18 AM ^
I liked him too, in about 2010, when he wasn't yet an overfed motormouth. I don't mind what Herbie has to say, he just needs to say about half of what enters his mind, rather than everything. It's not his fucking therapy session. He is often talking right up to the snap and sometimes even a click into the snap. I don't see any other CFB announcers who lack that restraint. I find it incredibly distracting and self-important to leave the viewer with no lag time to view except the actual 3 seconds of the play.
January 27th, 2023 at 10:18 AM ^
duplicate
January 27th, 2023 at 12:19 PM ^
He was such a fawning fan of what he considered to be the apple-cheeked red-blooded All American boys of the Dukes and North Carolinas of that era. My friend used to say "You can't spell Billy Packer without ACC!"
January 27th, 2023 at 8:40 AM ^
Thank you for the imbed
January 27th, 2023 at 9:03 AM ^
I forgot all about this guy. I don't think he liked the fab five
Former CBS analyst Billy Packer, though, doesn’t believe the Fab Five should be looked back at in a positive light. Packer retired in 2008 after covering 34 straight Final Fours. “For that team to be called the Fab Five is a disgrace to college basketball,” Packer said. “That is probably the most corrupt team that ever existed and obviously has been wiped off the history of the University of Michigan and of the NCAA tournament, so I don’t think they should get any recognition.”
I couldn't get the audio to play.
January 27th, 2023 at 9:55 AM ^
"That is probably the most corrupt team that ever existed ..."
He's apparently not familiar with Kansas, UNC, Duke, Kentucky, Arizona, et al.
January 27th, 2023 at 10:05 AM ^
He was familiar just like everyone else. They just turned a blind eye to it. The NCAA, the media... nothing to see here.🙈🙉🙊
January 27th, 2023 at 10:09 AM ^
Or UNLV in the late 80s-early 90s.
Billy Packer was a bitter old blowhard stuck in the early 60s. Couldn’t stand him on TV. Phil Martelli going after him one Selection Sunday was glorious.
January 27th, 2023 at 10:40 AM ^
I remember that Selection Sunday show. The Godfather of Philly was pretty feisty that day.
January 27th, 2023 at 1:08 PM ^
Yeah, Phil told Packer to kiss his ass. It was glorious.
I want everyone's soul to rest in peace cuz I don't like ghosts; hope he was good to his family. But Packer was a reactionary blowhard.
January 27th, 2023 at 10:20 AM ^
Wow, has he ever heard of guy named John Calipari?
January 27th, 2023 at 11:27 AM ^
I think that eventually became everybody's take for a while, at least nationally. Packer was nowhere near as brutal toward the Fab Five after the scandal as Jim Nantz was, not even close.
As to his perception of the team when they played, Packer not only seemed to like the Fab Five, he seemed enamored with Michigan. He was out and out cheering for them for the entire second half of the North Carolina final. Ray Jackson hit a jumper to cut the lead to 3 in the final minute and Packer literally yelled "he got it."
January 27th, 2023 at 9:56 AM ^
Protect Bill Raftery at all costs
Exactly. I hope we were all so very thankful that we got to hear Raftery on last night's call.
January 27th, 2023 at 8:33 AM ^
He was a legend indeed. Loved listening to him call games. RIP Billy.
January 27th, 2023 at 8:37 AM ^
Well, this sucks. Its a sad day for sports fans everywhere when one of the broadcast voices we grew up with dies. As far as I'm concerned, Packer is the voice of college basketball in every way possible. He only shared that voice with Dick Vitale.
RIP, Billy...
January 27th, 2023 at 8:48 AM ^
A great staple of NCAA basketball for many decades. May he RIP.
January 27th, 2023 at 8:57 AM ^
Voice of our times. RIP. Here he is with Brent Musburger calling the ending of the 1989 championship game. (Based on the title of this video, I'm guessing it was posted by a Seton Hall fan.)
By the way, I just love how, when the game ends, Steve Fisher is still calmly holding a cup of water while he celebrates.
January 27th, 2023 at 9:25 AM ^
Now that's ice water in the veins. I remember watching it live thinking how do you shoot two free throws with everything on the line for a National Championship.
January 27th, 2023 at 9:44 AM ^
i was 10 years old and I remember that game and the illinois game like they were yesterday
does any team have as many or more trips to the final 4 / title game with as few wins as michigan?
January 27th, 2023 at 9:59 AM ^
The Ohio State University has been to 11 final fours (if you count the vacated ones) and won only title. We have been to 8 final fours (if you count the vacated ones).
If you exclude the vacated appearances, then Houston has been to the same number as us (6) and never won. Arkansas and Syracuse have been to 6 and won only once.
January 27th, 2023 at 11:09 AM ^
I've enjoyed every last minute of our 1989 and 1997 National Championships...savor them, they're usually once in a lifetime occurrences.
January 27th, 2023 at 10:28 AM ^
Obligatory
January 27th, 2023 at 11:06 AM ^
Still get chills watching that...RIP Billy Packer. Go Blue!
January 27th, 2023 at 9:11 AM ^
back in the seventies and eighties billy packer on the mic was a sign, like al mcguire or brent musburger or dick vitale, that you were about to watch a big game.
he was famously a huge ACC guy - a friend of mine who ended up being a sports editor for a michigan newspaper used to say his name was spelled "p-ACC-ker," which was the first thing i thought of when i read that he'd passed.
i'm also reminded of a shirt my aunt got me as a gift...she lived in indiana, not far from terre haute, and knew i was a college basketball dork. in 1979 packer couldn't stop bitching about how indiana state (the larry bird team) didn't deserve to be #1. at some point that season, nbc (packer was a cbs guy) went to terre haute to broadcast an indiana state game, and the crowd was filled with people wearing a t-shirt that said (apologies for the formatting)
"here's to billy packer | billy packer | billy packer | don't come to our state.
"here's to billy packer | billy packer | billy packer | don't come to our school.
we'll haunt you | we'll taunt you | we'll make you a fool.
here's to billy packer | don't come to our school!"
...and my aunt joan got me one. one of my favorite t-shirts ever - i wonder if i have it somewhere.
January 27th, 2023 at 10:08 AM ^
Back then Packer was an NBC guy. He and Al McGuire would both do color during games, and argue the whole time. Dick Enberg basically had to serve as the mediator.
January 27th, 2023 at 11:35 AM ^
oh crap, you're right! i guess some of the details have gotten scrambled in my head. i'm fairly certain the shirt existed, tho. i think!
January 27th, 2023 at 9:12 AM ^
Love him or hate him he always had a point of view
You could say this about anybody.
January 27th, 2023 at 9:46 AM ^
love him or hate him, he always ate food
January 27th, 2023 at 10:31 AM ^
He better hope the gatekeepers to Heaven aren't as critical of him as he was of players. His ugly mug defines the word curmudgeon.
January 27th, 2023 at 10:34 AM ^
He was no Keith Jackson
January 27th, 2023 at 12:48 PM ^
They're really only similar in one respect.
January 27th, 2023 at 10:39 AM ^
We called him Billy PACCker because his bias was obvious, but RIP Billy.
January 27th, 2023 at 11:34 AM ^
Rafferty and Packer are an interesting contrast as contemporary broadcasters. Packer was a reactionary who loved shitty basketball (think Princeton's weave and back-cutting offense with slow, white players), while 'Onions!' Rafferty just seems to see and like good basketball, whatever form it takes. I don't miss his strident yip-yap, either, but my condolences go out to his family. RIP, Billy
January 27th, 2023 at 12:38 PM ^
Never happy to see anyone pass on, but let it be known, this guy was a Michigan hating suck ass.
January 27th, 2023 at 12:55 PM ^
Sad to see anyone pass away and he definitely had an impact on the sport.
He was one of the primary announcers during my college days and often on the #1 crew with Jim Nance for CBS so he was always on your TV. Frankly....I couldn't stand him. He was sooooo negative and pompous. He was the exact antithesis of Dick Vitale. Dick can be annoying, but he's clearly having fun and bringing mostly positive energy to the games he calls. Packer was the opposite - complaining, harping on players, full of himself, etc.
I just watched an old Fab Five game on BTN where he was announcing. What brought all of these memories back was a play where Jalen took an open three relatively early in the clock. Nance says something to the effect of "Jalen misses an early 3" and Packer responds "that's because he doesn't practice them". What?!?!
January 27th, 2023 at 1:58 PM ^
He was definitely an ACC guy. He took Wake Forest to its first final four in the early 60s and got his start broadcasting ACC games along with Jim Thacker (Packer and Thacker) in the 70s. I grew up in North Carolina in the 70s and college basketball was a religion (both the love and hate part) in those days. NC State won the NCAAs in 74 and 83. UNC won in 82 and was runner up in 77 and 81. Duke was runner up in 78. And UNC Charlotte joined UNC in the final four in 77. The competitive intensity in a relatively small geographical area was pretty amazing and watching ACC games with Packer on the call during that era is a great memory. Since Packer was pretty much the first real voice of sports for me I’ll admit to liking him and was definitely saddened to see the news. But reading through the comments, yeah, he was pretty much all of the above.
I also really liked his son Mark on Off Campus on ESPN radio. I guess when your dad never shuts up you grow up a little more relaxed.