I was settling in on Saturday afternoon to watch the UConn-Pitt game. And a fine game it was. A real tussle. As physical as a Big East game can get. And although neither team was shooting well in the first half, it was still a battle of two very good teams. Banging, blocking, great screens, hard drives to the hoop. The kind of game one can thoroughly enjoy with a beer on a January Saturday afternoon. Then it happened……… AGAIN!

Billy Packer, self-procliamed know it all on basketball saw Doug Wiggins ready to report into the game. Of course he and Vern Lundquist had to mention the fact of the Wiggins suspension…… that was ok. And the Dyson suspension…… that was ok too. But WHY the Price laptop incident? Let it go!!!!!! How about the McAlarney suspension from Notre Dame? LET IT GO!!!!! All of the idiot tv announcers who MUST mention these incidents that happened a year ago, or two years ago in the case of Price, LET IT GO! Every basketball fan in America (and by now probably in Indonesia too) knows and hears the story in EVERY basketball game that UConn or ND plays. Now I don’t condone players using drugs, or theft, but I do know one thing. I want to hear about how the players are doing in the game I’m watching. Price has paid the penalty for what he did. He lost a year. McAlarney has paid his penalty too. He got kicked out of school, and lost a year. But you know what, Packer & Lundquist? They have done very well thank you since their reinstatements. They have not been in trouble again. They have done their best to be models of what a young man can do to make up for a mistake. I’m sure Mr. Packer, Mr. Lundquist and all the announcers on Big East regional and national games have never done anything wrong. I’m sure they were all model citizens from day one to the present. I’m sure that if they did ever make a mistake they would want it to be mentioned every time someone saw them on screen so that no one would forget just how bad they really were. So to Packer, Lundquist and the others— Just talk about the games when you have the floor. That’s what we want to listen to. Yes, we all know that they are bad boys and should have been punished for their misdeeds. BUT THEY WERE!!!!! And they didn’t quit even though I’m sure they thought that maybe someone would be cruel enough to mention it every chance they got. 

Categories: Commentary, Coach O