Turner and CBS have released the dates and times for the Sweet 16 games on Friday and Saturday as well as the announcing assignments for the four regionals.  Before we get to the dates and times of each game on Thursday and Friday, here's the regions where the announcers are headed.  There are no real surprises with CBS's top team of Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg getting the most glamorous team left, Kentucky, and the South region.  The most compelling regional site though may be Boston, which is where Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery are headed.  

Boston: Verne Lundquist, Bill Raftery (Syracuse, Wisconsin, OSU, Cincinnati)
Phoenix: Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller, Len Elmore (MSU, Louisville, Marquette, Florida)
Atlanta: Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg (Kentucky, Indiana, Baylor, Xavier)
St. Louis: Marv Albert, Steve Kerr (UNC, Ohio, Kansas, NC State) 

All games in the Sweet 16 are on CBS and TBS... which means we go back to thinking truTV doesn't exist for another 51 weeks.

THURSDAY, MARCH 22

7:15 PM ET CBS Wisconsin vs. Syracuse - Verne Lundquist, Bill Raftery, Lesley Visser

7:47 PM ET TBS Louisville vs. Michigan State - Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller, Len Elmore, Marty Snider

9:45 PM ET CBS Cincinnati vs. Ohio State - Verne Lundquist, Bill Raftery, Lesley Visser

9:47 PM ET TBS Florida vs. Marquette - Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller, Len Elmore, Marty Snider

FRIDAY, MARCH 23

7:15 PM ET CBS Baylor vs. Xavier - Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg, Tracy Wolfson

7:47 PM ET TBS North Carolina vs. Ohio - Marv Albert, Steve Kerr, Craig Sager

9:15 PM ET CBS Kentucky vs. Indiana - Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg, Tracy Wolfson

9:47 PM ET TBS Kansas vs. N.C. State - Marv Albert, Steve Kerr, Craig Sager

(via Turner)

The votes have been tabulated for our first ever NCAA Tournament quote contest and it's actually one of Turner's transplanted NBA personalities that has taken the early lead.  CBS's lead college analyst Clark Kellogg is the only announcer to make multiple appearances in our first countdown from whatever it is you want to call the First Round of the tournament and the First Four.  We'll be back this afternoon with a new poll from the weekend, but for now, enjoy these amusing quotes from the earliest stages of the big dance.  The envelope please...

10) "Norfolk-sanity has started."  ~ Kenny Smith (via crippenstation)

9) "The game is a lot easier when the ball goes in the basket." - Dan Bonner (via sctvman)

8) "He'll be Dairy Queen'd, DQ'd." - Clark Kellogg (via AA)

7) "And Bak Bak with the miss miss!" - Ian Eagle (via AA)

6) "And the Hilltoppers just keep... hill topping." - Clark Kellogg (via ktquick)

5) "His mother is a nurse in the state of Minneapolis." -- Bob Wenzel (via MCPitlik)

4) "They are confident strokers." - Bill Raftery (via KSJ49)

3) "What a dodge to bullet." - Reggie Miller (via sudikoff)

2) Seth Davis: "Can I ask you a question? Do you know what network we're on?" 
Matt Winer: "I have no idea." 
Davis: "Do you really not know?" 
Winer: "I'm really not sure." (via tomatPSU)

1) Charles Barkley: "I was 10-2 yesterday... 10-3 I think." 
Ernie Johnson: "There were 16 games yesterday." (via AA)

Round of 64 Top 5

1) Charles Barkley 10 pts

2) Matt Winer 9 pts

T3) Reggie Miller 8 pts

T3) Clark Kellogg 8 pts

5) Bill Raftery 7 pts

Others receiving votes - Bob Wenzel 6 pts, Ian Eagle 4 pts, Dan Bonner 2 pts, Kenny Smith 1 pt.

With the NCAA Tournament being televised on truTV, it's been hilarious to watch seasoned basketball announcers like Marv Albert and Jim Nantz read ads for ridiculous reality shows like Lizard Lick Towing and Hardcore Pawn.  On Sunday night, the Xavier/Lehigh game ran into the originally scheduled broadcast time for Hardcore Pawn.  As Ernie Johnson was reading an ad for the show, Charles Barkley had his mind on something hardcore alright...

Ernie Johnson: And just ahead on truTV, Hardcore Pawn.

Charles Barkley: I know what I'm gonna watch tonight!  

Greg Anthony: What are you going to watch tonight?

Charles Barkley: Oh, sorry, wrong spelling... I saw four letters and got excited!

Ernie Johnson: Step away from your television set.

With that kind of advertisement, the ratings for Hardcore Pawn may go through the roof.  Frankly, I'm surprised it took this long.  Just wait till NCAA Tournament games begin to be televised on Cinemax.

 

Whether you prefer to call it the first weekend, second round, or third round... whatever stage of the tournament we're in, that's what we're chronicling for Saturday and Sunday in the Billy Packer Chronicles.  For half of the game crews, this will be their last chance to rack up points before the four regional teams move on to the second week of the tournament.  Leave us all the announcer and analyst quotes in the comments below or tweet them to us at @awfulannouncing and/or by using the hashtag #BPAA.

Tampa area radio host Dan Sileo, host of a popular morning show on WDAE 620-AM, has been fired by the station after some incredibly ignorant comments on his show on Monday morning. Incredibly, Sileo hosted his show on Tuesday, a day after the remarks, before being canned on Tuesday night.

Now, what did Sileo say that was so offensive? While talking about the Bucs, the topic of free agents Jonathan Vilma, Cortland Finnegan, and Vincent Jackson signing with the team was brought up. Sileo's exact comment?

"If they got those three monkeys, I'm good. I'm ready, man. I'm ready. I want those guys. Those guys are great players.''

Is this some sort of joke? In an era where racial tolerance is not only accepted but pretty much the norm, how can this guy make such insensitive comments like that? On Monday, the station issued a statement apologizing for and condemning Sileo's comments. The station said, "[Sileo] is sincerely embarrassed and upset that his off-the-cuff remarks might be taken as hateful, disrespectful, or in any way racist.'' Oh yeah, how can calling African-American players monkeys be considered racist in any way?

I'm almost more irritated about the station letting him host his show the day after he made the comments instead of doing something right away. Morning shock jocks will normally say lots of random crap to generate buzz, but being hateful towards an entire race is completely different than say, making fun of Antonio Cromartie for forgetting his kids' names, or ripping on LeBron James for being a choke artist and a media whore.

If it is a "slip of the tongue" then it's one of the worst ever. I wouldn't be surprised if something like this sunk Sileo's career.

[h/t: Tampa Bay Times]

The Madness of March continues today and tomorrow with Third Round action in the NCAA Tournament.  Below you'll find the time, network, and announcers for all games in the Round of 32.  Don't forget to vote in our first Billy Packer Chronicles poll to pick the best (and worst) quotes from the First and Second Round.  Also, an open thread will also be up shortly for you to leave the funniest/most innapropriate from the weekend's action.  Or, as always you can tweet us @awfulannouncing, just remember to use the hashtag #BPAA!

Saturday

Kansas St. vs. Syracuse (CBS 12:15PM) Kevin Harlan, Len Elmore, Reggie Miller, Marty Snider

Gonzaga vs. Ohio St. (CBS 2:45PM) Harlan, Elmore, Miller, Snider

Murray State vs. Marquette (CBS 5:15PM) Verne Lundquist, Bill Raftery, Lesley Visser

Vanderbilt vs. Wisconsin (TNT 6:10PM) Spero Dedes, Bob Wenzel, Jamie Maggio

VCU vs. Indiana (TBS 7:10PM) Brian Anderson, Dan Bonner, Jenn Hildreth

Iowa St. vs.Kentucky (CBS 7:45PM) Lundquist, Raftery, Visser

Colorado vs. Baylor (TNT 8:40PM) Dedes, Wenzel, Maggio

New Mexico vs. Louisville (TBS 9:40PM) Anderson, Bonner, Hildreth

Sunday

North Carolina St. vs. Georgetown (CBS 12:15PM) Tim Brando, Mike Gminski, Otis Livingston

St. Louis vs Michigan St. (CBS 2:45) Brando, Gminski, Livingston

Creighton vs. North Carolina (CBS 5:15PM) Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg, Tracey Wolfson

Norfolk State vs Florida (TNT 6:10PM) Marv Albert, Steve Kerr, Craig Sager

Lehigh vs. Xavier (TruTV 7:45PM) Nantz, Kellogg, Wolfson

Ohio vs South Florida (TBS 7:10PM) Ian Eagle, Jim Spanarkel, Lewis Johnson

Purdue vs. Kansas (TNT 8:40) Albert, Kerr, Sager

Cincinnati vs Florida St. (TBS 9:40PM) Eagle, Spanarkel, Johnson

h/t Sammy!

With each round of the NCAA Tournament we will be awarding points in the Billy Packer Chronicles!  Our first vote combines the top quotes from the First Four and the First Round (or Second Round as the NCAA ridiculously want you to believe, why don't they just try to make us go by the metric system while they're at it).  You know the drill.  We'll roll out 10+ quotes for you to pick from representing a given round of the tournament.  You can vote for up to five.  After the weekend, we'll tally up the votes giving 10 points to the top votegetter all the way down to 1 point for 10th place.  A new Chronicles goes out today and tomorrow with the Second Round and a new poll will be out Monday with the best quotes from the Round of 32.  At the end of the tournament, the announcer with the most points wins our first ever Billies title.  Here are your first ever NCAA Tournament nominees... with the first ever appearance from not one but two heads of state...

1) "Western Kentucky pulls off one of the greatest comebacks in NCAA tournament history" - Jim Nantz (via JoeCNC)

2) "And the Hilltoppers just keep... hill topping." - Clark Kellogg (via ktquick)

3) "I'd like to say both teams are shooting terribly." - Barack Obama (via AA)

4) "It's hard to follow, sometimes, exactly who has done what wrong." - David Cameron (via HuffPost Sports)

5) "And Bak Bak with the miss miss!" - Ian Eagle (via AA)

6) "They are confident strokers." - Bill Raftery (via KSJ49)

7) "His mother is a nurse in the state of Minneapolis." -- Bob Wenzel (via MCPitlik)

8) "What a dodge to bullet." - Reggie Miller (via sudikoff)

9) Seth Davis: "Can I ask you a question? Do you know what network we're on?" 
Matt Winer: "I have no idea." 
Davis: "Do you really not know?" 
Winer: "I'm really not sure." (via tomatPSU)

10) Charles Barkley: "I was 10-2 yesterday... 10-3 I think."
Ernie Johnson: "There were 16 games yesterday." (via AA)

11) "Shaka pulled off another shocker last night" - Tim Brando (via SSReporters)

12) "You can't eat the whole pizza all at once. You gotta do it by slice" - Clark Kellogg (via coach4771)

13) "The bank is open late for St. Louie-Louie" - Tim Brando (via eltancramer)

14) "He'll be Dairy Queen'd, DQ'd." - Clark Kellogg (via AA)

15) "No intentionality there." - Clark Kellogg (via sctvman)

16) "Boom boom bang usually ends with a pretty good thing." - Jim Nantz (via barefootd)

17) "The game is a lot easier when the ball goes in the basket." - Dan Bonner (via sctvman)

18) "When you've got a guy that can eat glass like that..." - Clark Kellogg (via AA)

19) "Norfolk-sanity has started."  ~ Kenny Smith (via crippenstation)

Vote for Your Round 1 Billies Nominees (vote for up to five)

News broke this afternoon that Andy Pettitte had decided to make a comeback in the majors, and that he had signed a minor league deal with the New York Yankees. Jack Curry of the YES Network had it first, tweeting the news out at 12:30 PM. Note the timestamp on the tweet.

When ESPN reported the news, they gave the credit to their own reporter, Buster Olney. Olney's tweet about the signing went out at 12:36, six minutes later than Curry's tweet. In fact, before Olney even tweeted out his report, Curry had tweeted twice more about the signing.

Once Curry found out about the lack of credit, he went on a rampage, starting off by calling the lack of credit "shameless and embarrassing". As of 7:55 PM on Friday night, Curry had retweeted no less than 80 tweets from readers offering their support for his breaking of the story and shaming ESPN (and Olney) for a lack of credit.

This isn't the first time this has happened with ESPN...hell, it's not the first time it's happened with Olney. If Olney is indeed taking Curry's report, this practice is really disgusting from the "worldwide leader in sports" or the worldwide leader in not attributing credit. Your call. The shoe was on the other foot a week and a half ago, when Jason LaCanfora of NFL Network didn't credit Chris Mortensen for breaking the news of the Colts cutting Peyton Manning.

For his part, Olney sent out a response on Twitter Friday night defending his record and saying his work was independent of Curry...

So essentially, Olney is claiming credit for a story that was already broken because he was working on it too. I don't think it works that way. Do you have sympathy for Olney in this case or should he and ESPN be crediting Curry and YES for the Pettitte news?

[follow]

As is customary for big time sporting events, CBS is adding current coaches not involved in the tournament to be involved with their studio coverage of March Madness.  One of those current coaches is former ESPNer and St. John's head coach Steve Lavin.  Villanova's Jay Wright will also serve as a guest analyst in the Atlanta studio while Lavin will be stationed in New York.  Here's more details from CBS..

Turner Sports and CBS Sports have added Villanova head coach Jay Wright and St. John’s head coach Steve Lavin as guest studio analysts for the 2012 NCAA^® Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, airing across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV.

Wright will contribute to coverage of the First Four^® on truTV from the Atlanta studio on Wednesday, March 14, along with second round action on Thursday, March 15, andFriday, March 16. Wright will appear alongside Steve Smith, Seth Davis and Matt Wineron truTV’s Inside March Madness to wrap up each day’s action at 12:30 a.m. ET.

Lavin will serve as a guest analyst in the New York studio for third round coverage on Saturday, March 17, and Sunday, March 18, joining analysts Charles Barkley, Greg Anthony, Kenny Smith and hosts Greg Gumbel and Ernie Johnson.

Lavin's return to television is a welcome sight.  He missed part of the season at St. John's this year while recovering from prostate cancer surgery.  I always enjoyed his work at ESPN as an analyst, especially when working with Brent Musburger in the booth as the famed "Lavinburger" pairing.  Lavin was good in the studio as well, and it's a smart addition to get a current coach involved in the studio where Lavin can lift up Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, who may not have the same inner knowledge of college basketball.  Plus, Lavin's television experience with ESPN makes the move a win-win for CBS.  Time will tell if he stays beyond the first weekend, but it would be a smart move for CBS & Turner.  Once Lavin's coaching career finally finishes up, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him back on television.

(via Fang's Bites)

 

For reasons I'll never know, Dickie V is one of ESPN's most revered personalities and WGN, a Chicago television channel, somehow gets national carriage on DirectTV and Dish Network. Vitale's longevity and euphoric enthusiasm after all these years at ESPN is one of America's longest running Unsolved Mysteries along with DB Cooper, the 2 Pac and Biggie murders, and why Shaggy and Scooby Doo were always paired up when the gang broke into two investigative units.

The unthinkable happened earlier this week as Vitale was silenced after running into technical issues while doing a morning talk show appearance on WGN. I have to say after decades of hearing Vitale's high volume assault, it was a strange sight to see him quiet, confused, and annoyed for such an extended period of time.

Vitale obviously doesn't know he's on the air at first.  The WGN host's solid Vitale impression and "I love Hooters!" comment probably didn't help him gather his bearings. Vitale tries to recover by talking hoops but runs into more issues as he thinks he is talking to a Charlotte station and starts talking about Duke and UNC. 

More confusion ensues as the morning show and Vitale try to confirm they're actually linked up for about 30 seconds. The awkwardness is broken when Vitale slips back into character and manages to eek out the words, "Chicago, baby! Chicago! Great great city!"

I think no matter who this was, this clip would be entertaining. Given the flummoxed individual is the relentless Dick Vitale, it only adds to the entertainment factor of the clip. Vitale's facial reactions to being greeted by an impersonation of himself, one that talks about his endorsement of Hooters, is absolutely priceless.

This is now the second time I've found myself enthralled with a WGN morning show clip. While this Vitale clip is awesome, I prefer a shirtless drunk/hungover Tracy Morgan as my WGN clip of choice.