Basketball Bills

Although I took myself out of the blog-game for a week to work on my blook etc., I feel driven to comment on Washington University losing to the Huskies from Connecticut. Former Carbondale High School standout Justin Dentmon performed well for WU, as did the commentators -- Vern Lundquist and Bill Raftery, who mentioned Carbondale, Illinois a few times. Raftery is a far better commentator than his doppleganger Billy Packer. Both were college basketball stars in the early 60's: Packer at Wake Forest (in the ACC) and Raftery at LaSalle (an independent small college back then).

Packer is "a jerk" (to quote an email correspondent) who has never seen a MVC game yet criticizes the inclusion of so many "mid-Majors" in the NCAA tournament. Here's the deal: since Packer is an Atlantic Coast Conference guy, he and broadcast partner Jim Nance play down the NCAA tournament qualifications of mid-Major teams like SIU Salukis -- which really gets my goat, as a Dawg.

Raftery, on the other hand, has friendly smile and a ready laugh -- like one of those NPR radio car doctors. With his love of the game and gift for the catchy catch phrase (one of which inspired an Award!), Raftery is my favorite basketball colorman.

St. Louis Sports agrees

Bill Raftery is without question the most entertaining college basketball analyst working for CBS…that is, of course, if your definition of “entertaining” is something along the lines of “Is that guy talking on TV completely bombed right now?”

Call me a fellow Explorer, Bloggy (class of '69), but I enjoy Bill's ebullience and felicitous turns of phrase -- like his "With a kiss!" ejaculation (meaning #2) when a player makes a layup off the glass. And Raftery is more supportive of Mid-Majors like SIU -- perhaps because he played college ball for a small private college with a strong basketball tradition. (remember Tom Gola? Joe Bryant?)

With a title as broad as this one, props must be given to the other basketball Bills, beginning with the Hall of Fame centers and commentators Russell and Walton. The first won 11 NBA championships with the Boston Celtics. As a Philadelphia Warriors fan, I hated him, but enjoyed his insights as a retired TV commentator. The other was great on the court for UCLA, but is frequently wrong as a commentator. Packer and Walton are opinionated know-it-alls; Raftery and Russell are compassionate know-a-lots.

Bench warmer

Speaking of turning of phrase, legendary ideologue William F. Buckley was on display on Charley Rose's show last night -- a compilation of highlights of Bill's many appearances on Rose's show over the years -- in honor of WFB's 80th birthday. Unfortunately, Buckley's recent analysis of Hillary Clinton's fundraising campaign is disingenuous to the extreme -- as if Republicans were any better! It's doubtful that William F. Buckley, Jr. ever played much basketball, otherwise he wouldn't always go to his right. (His son Chris probably hooped it up as a kid -- author of the book "Thank You for Smoking" that the new movie is based on.)

Long Shot

Writing this at 8:37 a.m. on Sunday. Meet the Press reporters are explaining why there isn't more coverage of the good things happening in Iraq (the reason: unfortunately the bad outweighs the good). Dribble, dribble.

At the top of the key, the hoop looks large.

Looking left, there is the excellent local Green Party candidate for Governor of the state of Illinois, Richard "Don't Call Me Dick" Whitney, who wasn't mentioned by Judy "Bar the Door" Baar "Topeka" Topinka when she asked that another candidate be included in the upcoming debates between her and Governor Rod, who can spin a basketball with his bare hands.

To the right, U.S. Rep. John Shimkus spins his electronic newsletter.

As a "New Winger" I support honest, competent leadership. But sometimes this blog will fake left, then go right . . . or fake right, then go left . . . or fake long, then take it strong . . . or stop, pull up . . . and . . . pass!

Here's the deal. I will pay someone to add links to selected words or phrases in these posts every day. The lucky applicant will be paid via PayPal and gain valuable job blogsperience. The job should take about 30 minutes per day. Pay by the hour, or by the link. We'll work something out.

If no local readers step up, the job could be outsourced to a distant land, like Murphysboro or Salem, Oregon.