NCAA: A Raft-pack weekend

The local "40s/50s/60s nostalgia" radio station here in Seattle airs a program at 10 p.m. on Saturday called "Rat Pack Weekend." Standards and rare archived songs from Ol' Blue Eyes, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Dean Martin--from studios and live concerts--fill the airwaves for two hours.

On CBS this past weekend, viewers lucky enough to get NCAA Tournament games from the New Orleans and Kansas City subregionals were lucky enough to get CBS' top broadcast crews, the #1 duo of Jim Nantz and Billy Packer (New Orleans) and the #2 crew of Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery (Kansas City). If there was an NCAA Tournament, these would be the #1 seeds in any region at any time. Safe to say, two hours spent with these duos are pure magic for college hoop fans.

Nantz and Packer, who start and end any discussion about college basketball broadcasting (at least LEGITIMATE discussions, not the more frivolous and grammatically challenged kinds that emanate from Bristol, Conn.), possess a refreshingly more serious approach to college basketball which gives them a certain gravitas that the boys on ESPN lack. And although they never got a nail-biter in any of the six New Orleans games (a profound surprise to many), they still managed to display why they're the best at what they do--and that includes the NBA, because the NBA can't hold a candle to college hoops in any respect (except the raw athleticism of the players--that's about it).

In the final moments of Temple's runaway victory over Florida on Sunday, the CBS cameras briefly panned in on Christine Donovan, the wife of Florida coach Billy Donovan, who lost a child during pregnancy earlier in the season. Both Nantz and Packer commented on how Billy Donovan's handling of his family tragedy served his players well when they were undermanned and under fire during the year. Just as importantly if not more so, Nantz and Packer continued by saying that Florida's players will be able to carry the example of their coach with them for the rest of their lives. Moreover, the two broadcasters--who are exceptional at providing journalistic balance in a broadcast--also took the time to mention how people who played for Temple coach John Chaney always remember stories about the man 20 years afterward--not as a coach, but as a person who taught them about life.

This example might sound sappy, unoriginal and superficial, but the care with which Nantz and Packer measuredly dealt with the two coaches showed a sense of reportorial command that a Dickie V or a Digger could rarely if ever match. Whereas one of the ESPN family of shouters would only briefly touch on the disappointment of the loss, thereby denying its journalistic relevance, Packer articulated just how disappointing Florida's performance was (let alone the loss itself). More importantly, he gave it an amount of time on the CBS broadcast that was equal and proportionate to his words about Donovan's positive example.

Beyond the content of his commentary itself, Packer's tone of voice didn't change when he transferred from praising Donovan to criticizing the Gators' effort. This stands in marked contrast to a "Dick or Digger" performance, in which a hushed tone is reserved for the loser and a shout of joy is reserved for the winner. Such differentiation of mannerisms and tone creates a subtle but evident segregation of winners and losers, creating an unintended but still present identity in the minds of viewers, which certainly include potential recruits and young hoopsters everywhere.

The ability of Packer, and also Nantz, to put the positive and negative into one overarching storyline, is what makes their broadcasts and overall coverage so superior to anyone else. It also shows why their more serious approach truly serves the college game, despite Packer's penchant for dropping off-camera bombshells that create firestorms of controversy.

In the Temple-Florida game, which was--in the outcome and in its lack of drama--a severe disappointment for CBS' ratings and for college hoop fans expecting a nail-biter, it was the work of Nantz and Packer in the final minutes that gave the event its TV value, and which shed much light on something sports fans all too often forget in the midst of March Madness: college athletics is supposed to be about young people's lives, not winning or money. Packer's on-camera work--which stands in contrast to the stupid remarks he does make off-camera--unquestionably promote college basketball in an honest way and put the game in a more proper light.

The only analyst who can compare with Packer is Bill Raftery, who--unlike Packer--gets a lot more national TV exposure during the year with his work on Big East basketball for ESPN. (Packer does ACC games for the Southern regional broadcasting network, Jefferson-Pilot.) Raftery is the Bill Clinton of college basketball announcers, minus any ethical or personal shortcomings. In other words, Raftery is a charming, witty and smooth analyst who can tidily put things in perspective, but who also has a racy edge to his vernacular: "pick up the lingerie" (when a player fakes a defender out of his shoes and drives to the basket) and "the bounce to ecstasy" (when a player uses a power dribble, usually before a jump stop, to set himself up for an easy basket) are two stock phrases in Raftery's colorful verbal arsenal.

Raftery is also a lot like Clinton in that he can be just about anyone to any person. Raftery can be like Al McGuire with his colorful vocabulary. "Raft" can be a nuts-and-bolts analyst in the best of the Packer tradition, making lightning-quick and accurate assessments of both strategy for an upcoming possession and the developments of a just-completed sequence. A former coach at Seton Hall (Packer was a Wake Forest assistant at one point in time), Raftery can also show a fan's New Jersey edge. In commenting on a bad play, he'll often analyze the play by simply exclaiming and saying something such as, "Oh, goodness! Ya gotta use the dribble in that situation, Jimmy!"

Verne Lundquist, much like Raftery's previous CBS companion Sean McDonough, is a tremendous journalist-as-play-by-play-man who has a generally understated tone, the mental dexterity, and the sense of humor that all blend so seamlessly with Raftery, producing a "Raft-urous" and joyful experience for a TV viewer.

In fact, if you have a grudge against Packer because of some of the grating and hard-edged things he says in print interviews during this time of year, listen to the Final Four on CBS radio, where Raftery has been the regular analyst for several years now, with John Rooney doing play-by-play and ESPN's Ron Franklin offering side commentary.

Before the Final Four, however, CBS' two top crews--in a switch from previous years--should (I can't say this for sure, but precedent would indicate it will happen) go head-to-head on Friday night when the South and Midwest Regionals take place. Whenever one CBS crew does games in a certain region, that crew usually does the regionals in the same region. Therefore, given that Nantz/Packer did games in the South, they should be in Atlanta, while Lundquist/Raftery, having been to Kansas City, figure to go to San Antonio.

(The switch, for those unaware, is that Lundquist and Raftery used to go to a Thursday-Saturday bracket for both the early rounds and regionals, while Nantz and Packer went to a Friday-Sunday bracket and always did the last regional final before the Final Four, on late Sunday afternoon.)

When you watch on Friday and Sunday, then, savor the joy of listening to the best basketball broadcast journalists in the business. And with all due respect to Nantz and Lundquist, who are both extraordinarily good, the essence of each CBS telecast is about the analysts. A "Raft-Pack weekend" trumps a "Rat Pack weekend" anytime.