Billy Packer

Wow. So much for any chance Billy Packer had of sneaking onto Newsday's Tuesday back page. There is just way too much going on in the world for me to keep up.......

Here is my Tuesday newspaper column on Billy Packer. The guy had a heck of a run, is a unique character and remains a valued trove of college basketball history who no doubt will resurface soon with other hoops-related ventures.......

The Miami Herald is reporting - complete with confirmation from CBS - that Billy Packer is out as the network's lead college basketball analyst. Here is Barry Jackson's story. Packer has analyzed 34 consecutive Final Fours on NBC and CBS,......

A laurel and hearty handshake to News 12's own Bob Wolff for being honored with the Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame. Wolff and long-time USA Today hoops scribe David DuPree will be recognized during the......

I was fortunate enough to talk to many interesting sports media people at Tuesday night's CBS presentation (see post below), including Screamin' Gus Johnson, who told me he recently re-upped to continue as the Knicks' radio play-by-play voice. Johnson...

Some newsworthy items fall through the cracks because I don't have the time or inclination to come up with a clever, bloggish tone for them. But they still might be of interest. Hence, the following roundup of leftovers from the......

Jim Nantz also made an appearance at the SBJ event (see post below), reiterating he plans to retire from golf broadcasting after working his 50th Masters in 2035, and confirming there is an "unwritten rule" at CBS against discussing NFL......

The main element of my Friday newspaper column recounts my night hanging out with Dick Vitale at the Garden Tuesday. I hadn't talked to Dick at length since the early 1990s, and he hasn't slowed down much if at all......

Billy Packer said when he stepped down as CBS' lead college hoops analyst that he had other projects in the works. He announced one of them Monday, a program that will feature him and Bob Knight analyzing the NCAA Tournament......

My Tuesday newspaper column concerns Clark Kellogg, the first Final Four analyst other than Billy Packer since most of you can remember. Kellogg reveals that as of last week, he hadn't spoken to Packer since getting the job last summer,......

For the first time since the second Nixon Administration, the NCAA Tournament will proceed this month without Billy Packer calling games. The former NBC and CBS analyst left the latter last summer, in a move that had been in the......

The highest-rated basketball game ever - college or pro - was played 30 years ago next Thursday. The Michigan State-Indiana State NCAA final on NBC attracted 24.1 percent of U.S. households, almost double what last year's Kansas-Memphis game averaged........