War of Words between Digger and BC

[HoyaSox04]

www.boston.com/sports/colleges/mens_basketball/articles/2005/02/08/bc_doesnt_dig_dig_from_phelps/

Article taken from the Boston Globe - good to see SOMEONE from ESPN is not all over the ACC still. I love Digger, and love it even more than he has those morons at B(enedictarnold)C up in arms over this. Digger really is a BE man through and through, and doesn't hang on the collective sack of Duke/UNC/Wake/etc... which is thoroughly refreshing in this day and age of ESPN.

Speaking of which, I know I've mentioned this game before, but last night at the OU-OK St. game, Ron Franklin and Fran Franschilla were the ESPN Announcers - and they were good! I was shocked - how come ESPN can't get these people to do more games? And, the broadcast team for the Cuse-UConn game was first rate too. Being a Boston boy, I love Sean McDonough more than any other broadcaster, but Bilas was surprisingly good and Raftery was excellent as always. Why doesn't ESPN recognize potential in these broadcast teams and not subject everyone to Dukie V?

[MCIGuy]

HoyaSox430 said:

www.boston.com/sports/colleges/mens_basketball/articles/2005/02/08/bc_doesnt_dig_dig_from_phelps/

Article taken from the Boston Globe - good to see SOMEONE from ESPN is not all over the ACC still. I love Digger, and love it even more than he has those morons at B(enedictarnold)C up in arms over this. Digger really is a BE man through and through, and doesn't hang on the collective sack of Duke/UNC/Wake/etc... which is thoroughly refreshing in this day and age of ESPN.

Speaking of which, I know I've mentioned this game before, but last night at the OU-OK St. game, Ron Franklin and Fran Franschilla were the ESPN Announcers - and they were good! I was shocked - how come ESPN can't get these people to do more games? And, the broadcast team for the Cuse-UConn game was first rate too. Being a Boston boy, I love Sean McDonough more than any other broadcaster, but Bilas was surprisingly good and Raftery was excellent as always. Why doesn't ESPN recognize potential in these broadcast teams and not subject everyone to Dukie V?

Sean McD is a whiny prick that only Bostonians and Red Sox fans can love. His Syracuse bias shows far too often for my tastes and his crying about Jim Calhoun and the calls in last night's game were a tad over the top.

[HoyaFanNY]

i agree about mcdonough. he is a SU homer. he cries just like i've heard form the SU fans all morning.

[HoyaSox04]

MCIGuy said:

Sean McD is a whiny prick that only Bostonians and Red Sox fans can love. His Syracuse bias shows far too often for my tastes and his crying about Jim Calhoun and the calls in last night's game were a tad over the top.

Bitterness? Ok, I agree that I love Sean McDonough because he not only shares my last name but also because he has been for years the voice of the Sox and is by far the best baseball announcer I've ever heard. So I find it easy to look past any biases he has...

That being said, Bilas was surprisingly neutral last night - very surprising. And we need Raftery to do a GU game next year. Man is he good.

[TBird41]

HoyaSox430 said:

Digger really is a BE man through and through, and doesn't hang on the collective sack of Duke/UNC/Wake/etc... which is thoroughly refreshing in this day and age of ESPN.

It'd be nice if the announcers weren't pro ACC / pro BE / pro Big Ten, etc. I know it's a pipe dream, but I want to turn on ESPN and be able to hear a fair, impartial announcer who's talking about teams b/c they're good, not b/c they're in whatever conference and therefore MUST be good.

[Cambridge]

HoyaSox430 said:

because he has been for years the voice of the Sox and is by far the best baseball announcer I've ever heard. So I find it easy to look past any biases he has...

Say it's not so! How could you throw the Remdog under the bus like that!

[HoyaSox04]

CambridgeHoya said:

Say it's not so! How could you throw the Remdog under the bus like that!

Cambridge, I love the Remdog! He is the best COLOR COMMENTATOR in the game of baseball. Just not the best play-by-play, which is McDonough. And you have to admit, the two of them as a team keeps you in stitches all night long, they're just hilarious.

[paranoia2]

I want Mike Gorman to lose his job with the Celtics so he and Raftery can get back and form my personal favorite duo. Gorman was a great BE announcer.

[Cambridge]

I know, I know. I'm just joshing ya sox. But could we just all agree that the best commentator in the area is none other than Tommy Heinsohn. ;D I love Walter!

Oh man, I can't even get through a whole broadcast these days without wondering if Tommy's head will explode. I mean, he gets so worked up sometimes.

[lichoya68]

very sad that the cuse didnot help to keep uconn behing us hope that my favorite traitors help us tonite by beating nd need them to help us stay in the top five go hoyas beat west va.. go bc oh ouch oops but need to say it go bc and beat nd..... ;D

[HoyaSox04]

CambridgeHoya said:

I know, I know. I'm just joshing ya sox. But could we just all agree that the best commentator in the area is none other than Tommy Heinsohn. ;D I love Walter!

Oh man, I can't even get through a whole broadcast these days without wondering if Tommy's head will explode. I mean, he gets so worked up sometimes.

I read Simmons column about the Celtics, and didn't think all the talk about Blount and how Heinsohn felt about him was true. And then I called my dad, a diehard Celts fan - he said that he bet my godfather that Heinsohn would have a heart attack before the year was over while he was screaming about how bad Blount has been playing.

That being said, Tommy is definitely the best announcer / commentator in Boston - right up there with Remdog. I'd say McDonough, but he's gone now. Who cares, anyone is better than Bob Rodgers.

[Cambridge]

It's all true I'm afraid.

I think he's only surviving because of his LOVE for Tony Allen and Al Jefferson. They give him hope.

Also, he seems to have a total love/hate relationship with Ricky Davis. This is inexplicable on many levels...I mean I enjoy Ricky Davis, but that's kinda sadistic love.

[Nevada Hoya]

That's what I like to hear, some love for my childhood hero, Tommy Heinsohn. Since my father went to Holy Cross, I grew up a Crusader fan, and Tommy was my favorite. Was at MSG for Holy Cross-San Francisco, when Tommy went against Bill Russell and KC Jones. Ironic that they all became teammates later on with the Celtics. And Tommy was Rookie of the year in 1956, while Bill was off playing in the Olympics. That rookie year Tommy found his way to my living room, where I, as a 12 year old, was sitting on my couch with Tommy, as he was looking at my scrapbook of his (he said it was better than his wife's ). Later on in life my wife and I attended a Celtics game, when Tommy was the coach. We waited for him after the game, and I showed him my picture of him and me on the couch. His only comment, "so you've grown up." Since he had gained weight since then, I should have said, "...and so have you." ;D

[Cambridge]

Great story...COY with the Celtics in '73 I believe. Also, wasn't he a football player too in college. I heard that.

Anyways, he is quite a colorful character and its quite apparent that he loves everything about the Celts. Him and Remy made NE bearable back when it wasn't so rosy around here.

[TMac04]

Sorry BoSox et al, hate to interrupt the up the Boston love-fest (well, no, that's a lie) but I want to throw my 2 cents into the Digger-BC discussion a minute and say that Phelps deserves to be commended for being the only analyst at the Worldwide Leader for having the guts to go against the Party Line to say what seems pretty obvious to everyone outside of Boston and Bristol: 20-0 is certainly impressive, but it doesn't make BC one of the 2 best teams in the country.

First off, they've struggled against mediocre opponents: witness a 3-point OT win over Holy Cross (at home), a 2-point double-OT win over Yale (at home), a 2-point win over Kent State (at home), and down-to-the-wire conference games in the last 2 weeks against PC and SHU. Yes, a win is a win, but playing down to one's competition is not the trait of a truly great team, regardless of what Mike Jarvis/Andy Katz seem to think.

Furthermore, someone needs to circulate a memo around Bristol that you oughtn't declare anyone to be a dominant team until they've actually played, much less beaten, the best teams in their own conference. BC hasn't even played their two highest-ranked Big East opponents, SU or Pitt.

Now, I don't pretend that Digger's comments were necessarily rooted in anything other than his own ND partisanship, but it certainly was a refreshing change of pace from Jarvis sitting right next to him ready to nominate Craig Smith and Al Skinner to the Hall of Fame. And you wonder why he's sitting behind a desk rather than on a sideline. But I digress...

Like I said, 20 wins is 20 wins and no one is trying to take that away from BC, but for chrissakes they've only beaten 1 team in the RPI top 25, and even that was a 1-point win at home. Is it too much to ask to make a team rack up more than 1 quality win before declaring them a powerhouse? Am I the only one that feels this way?

And while I'm on a rant, let me say that I may well throw my tv through a window the next time I hear one of the ESPN "experts" talk about how Al Skinner should be a lock for Big East Coach of the Year. Even if he does go undefeated (which is not going to happen, considering they still have @nd, 'Cuse, Pitt, and @'Nova), does turning a 25-win team last year that graduated 1 player into a 30-win team this year even begin to compare to the turnaround that JT3 has fostered here?