CBS’ Billy Packer done with Final Four

General Media17

CBS color analyst Billy Packer’s streak of Final Fours is over after 34 years, The Miami Herald reported Monday.

We have had a lot of entries regarding Packer in the past. You can click here for one of our more recent and more comprehensive.

Link to N&O’s ACCNow entry: Nantz says fans owe thanks to Packer.

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General Media

17 Responses to CBS’ Billy Packer done with Final Four

  1. Wulfpack 07/14/2008 at 8:39 AM #

    It’s about time. I was at a final four party and there wasn’t a person in the room who wasn’t totally disgusted with Billy. It’s passed him by…

    SFN: LOL! You must have been a Final Four party with a bunch of Carolina friends.

  2. BJD95 07/14/2008 at 8:43 AM #

    That pisses me off. Billy Packer is great. Clark Kellogg is a buffoon. Nantz/Kellogg will be the basketball announcing equivalent of elevator music.

  3. burnbarn 07/14/2008 at 9:04 AM #

    Billy just called it like he saw it and there is not much room for that anymore. He annoyed the heck out of me particularly on his issue du jour at the time, but the guy knew the game like few others.
    He called the game over in this year’s FF…he was right. let’s fire him.

  4. RAWFS 07/14/2008 at 9:08 AM #

    Burn, he was right, but being right is secondary (at best) to driving the ratings. Packer broke one of the holiest of holy rules in broadcasting: telling his audience that the event was over before all the ads had aired.

  5. wufdog 07/14/2008 at 9:43 AM #

    I never liked listening to Billy. He always seemed to overstate the obvious and rest fimly in the Carolina camp. When he is calling an acc game I usually prefer to listen on the radio instead.

  6. lsutton5144 07/14/2008 at 10:06 AM #

    BJD95,
    I liked Billy as well. Maybe they could get Johnny Miller from NBC golf since he seems to know everything there is to know when he does a golf tournament.
    Based on his firing, I guess it’s time for Joe Morgan (ESPN) who has to explain the same thing 14 times and Tim McCarver, who has crowned himself Mr. Baseball, to get the axe as well.
    It’s a shame that the really great announcers seem to be aging out and are being replaced by a bunch of self proclaimed know it alls. Just because you played a sport doesn’t mean you should automatically go the anoouncers booth.

  7. Old School Wolf 07/14/2008 at 10:21 AM #

    Billy can be and probably always will be a gruff, competitive individual around a basketball court. Billy is also blessed with quick,keen insight into a team’s weaknesses and how best to exploit these weaknesses. Billy has always ” seen the court.” Playing in the ACC with these talents as Billy did led to numerous wins and honors. Announcing in the booth with these talents offended some if not most fans of every team’s game he announced. If I were a coach I would ask Billy to observe and critique my team and staff during a live practice and game. Not to say Billy is always 100% correct in his opinions but I would sure want to know what he was seeing and thinking about my staff and team.

  8. Trip 07/14/2008 at 11:08 AM #

    Packer, 68, will leave CBS after 27 years to pursue “other projects in basketball,” according to The Miami Herald.

    Hmmmmmmmmmmmm……..

    Think Sid could grab him?

  9. Astral Rain 07/14/2008 at 11:50 AM #

    Too bad it wasn’t Dickie V retiring instead.

  10. highstick 07/14/2008 at 1:15 PM #

    Maybe he’ll replace Woody Durham!

    I’ve got mixed feelings about it. Billy’s gotten sort of cranky in the last few years, but the Packer/Thacker/Bones years were pretty good with those guys at the “helm of the Pilot ship”.

    The bad thing about it is that you’re replacing these guys that do remember how the game is “supposed to be played” rather than the newbies who don’t realize you have to keep your hands off the other players.

  11. Noah 07/14/2008 at 1:19 PM #

    I like Packer. Good voice, good announcer.

    I like Vitale as a person, but he’s unlistenable as an announcer.

  12. wufpup76 07/14/2008 at 1:32 PM #

    Nothing against Clark Kellogg, but this is a mistake IMO …

    I liked Packer and believed him to be right far more often than he was wrong … Looks like style will triumph over substance again

    If he (Packer) got on EVERYONE’s nerves at some point then chances are he was doing or saying something right … I found him to be one of if not the most unbiased announcer/commentator out there

    ESPN’s guys tend to be way too condescending to teams that aren’t the “purebreds” and you can literally tell who most announcers are pulling for throughout a game (this goes for regional guys as well – though I do like Dan Bonner) … At least w/ Packer you heard a game called as it happened, not some pre-scripted, pre-produced drivel that you always see now … That crap is so bad it’s funny to me at times – when a game doesn’t go the way THEY EXPECT the announcers are usually caught w/ their pants down not knowing what to say …

    Oh well … good luck Billy … I should think he still be on some of our “Lincoln Financial” regional telecasts

  13. BJD95 07/14/2008 at 1:45 PM #

    Maybe this means we’ll get more Packer on ACC telecasts – including the entire ACCT. That would be a refreshing change (in a back to the future sort of way).

  14. Wulfpack 07/14/2008 at 3:42 PM #

    I think it is fair to say Billy P. is a WFU homer all the way. He calls it like he sees it alright — and he just keeps going, and going, and going. He is a TERRIBLE announcer, a true pompous ass, and I don’t know anyone, Tar Heels or otherwise, that enjoy his commentary.

  15. WolftownVA81 07/14/2008 at 6:04 PM #

    ^^ Have to agree with Highstick and Noah. While I may disagree with some of the things he says (it’s human to show some partiality), most of the time he’s right on. I always found him to be intelligent and insightfully and really enjoyed the Packer-Thacker team. Good luck Billy, you brought a lot of enjoyment to my family and I over the years.

  16. highstick 07/14/2008 at 6:36 PM #

    Listened to Packman this afternoon and he basically said Billy’s not going to be doing any more games which I interpret as ACC tourney also. Sounds like he’s got some other “irons in the fire”.

  17. Texpack 07/15/2008 at 8:05 AM #

    This really does mark the end of an era for college basketball. Billy Packer understands what real basketball is. So many of the entertainment oriented announcers today call games like they trained on And One videos. Dick Vitale started off very much like Billy Packer and then went to the dark side, either at the behest of ESPN’s management or to line his own pockets by obtaining celebrity status. Packer and Thacker is a team that will never be equaled when it comes to calling ACC games. Thanks to Billy Packer for the many hours of enjoyable analysis he provided over the years.

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