Analysts are supposed to be unbiased in their work - it's perhaps the one aspect of announcing that draws the most skepticism, controversy, and outrage from fans.  "Announcer X is biased against my team or my league!"  "I don't like Announcer Y because he hates our team!"  Things get complicated when a former player from a given team or university enters into the sports media and has to answer to charges of bias.  Usually, criticism comes from fans of rival schools, teams, or conferences.  But, I can't ever remember an analyst actually leaving his hometown based on criticism from his own fans.  That's exactly what has happened with Kirk Herbstreit.

ESPN's top college analyst has reportedly come under so much fire from rabid Buckeye fans that he actually moved his family to Nashville from Columbus.  Here's some Herbie quotes from Bob Hunter's article in the Columbus Dispatch...

"Nobody loves Ohio State more than me," said Herbstreit, a former Buckeyes quarterback. "I still have a picture of Woody Hayes and my dad (Jim, a former OSU player) in my office, and nobody will do more than I do for the university behind the scenes. But I've got a job to do, and I'm going to continue to be fair and objective. To continue to have to defend myself and my family in regards to my love and devotion to Ohio State is unfair."

"From a sports perspective, this is rough," he said. "I love Ohio State. Love the Blue Jackets. Love the Reds. Those are my hobbies. I don't like moving. I love living here. I don't want to leave. But I just can't do this anymore. I really can't keep going like this.

"Eighty to ninety percent of the Ohio State fans are great. It's the vocal minority that make it rough. They probably represent only 5 to 10 percent of the fan base, but they are relentless."

As someone who lives in Columbus, let me tell you that this would be a huge local story... if it wasn't for that little controversy going on with Ohio State's head coach.  As a C-Bus resident, I can say that the perspective on Herbie is mixed.  Certainly, there are many that love him as a former Buckeye and TV personality.  Then, there is indeed that 5 to 10 percent of fans that are absolute nutcases and probably think the NFL labor dispute is a grand conspiracy against the Buckeyes.  However, there are also many levelheaded Ohio State fans that see Herbstreit as often going too far in the direction of objectivity towards an anti-OSU bias.  Therefore, I don't think this story is as crystal clear as "insane Ohio State fans drive local hero out of town."

Wisconsin and Penn Scchtaate just played one of the all-time turds of a game as the Nittany Lions held on to win 36-33. This abomination even took place in front of Gus Johnson. Still, Gus provides his signature excitement as Jordan Taylor rises and fires for a potential lead changing three in the final seconds. no comments

I've thought in the past how awesome it would be if Gus Johnson were a play-by-play announcer for the World Cup. His passion and enthusiasm as an announcer would match the atmosphere of the world's most popular sporting event perfectly.

Well, somebody made a video to show how all sorts of awesome it would be. And not just does the video include Gus as an announcer, but also the equally as enthusiastic Bill Raftery as the color commentator. ONIONS! DOUBLE ORDER!

Watch Gus and Raft "call" Landon Donovan's game-winning goal from the USA's 2010 World Cup game against Algeria:

H/T: Hot Clicks; Sportress Of Blogitude

The always crotchety Billy Packer isn't happy about a lot of things. A few things he hates are the new tournament setup, new announcers, and that his truTV cops and robbers shows will be bumped for the measly NCAA tournament. Weeks went by, and it looked like all involved decided to take the high road and ignore the always bitter Packer. Luckily for all of us, Chuck decided to finally say something. Barkley, who is always a very eloquent speaker, simply summed up Packer as being a jackass. Considering everyone who isn't Billy Packer probably already thinks this, this really wasn't all that shocking.

Upon hearing about Barkley's statement, Packer decided to respond in the most Billy Packer way possible... by challenging Chuck to an NCAA basketball knowledge debate (see audio at the bottom of the page here). Do you know who definitely knows more college basketball than both Packer and Barkley? Watson. That's right, that diabolical computer. But even though Watson is a computer that will probably enslave us all some day, it still somehow has way more charisma and likeablity than Packer. But being an announcer/TV personality isn't only about knowing an endless stream of facts. Most importantly you must have a compelling personality that makes us want to tune in. Chuck does know basketball, but even more importantly he makes me want to watch halftime and postgame shows for the first time ever. Billy Packer is simply a curmudgeon that irritated college basketball fans for years and very few miss his presence from the NCAA tournament.

[Sportsgrid]

The top-seeded Tar Heels grabbed their first lead of the game at the buzzer in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament vs. Miami. Miami had a double-digit lead for most of the game, but could not hold on down the stretch. A layup isn't the most exciting buzzer-beater, but that was certainly a pretty play to set up Zeller for the bunny.

Earlier this week, ESPNU broadcasted the Summit League women's basketball title game between Oakland University and South Dakota State.  The game took place in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and the announcers were Anne Marie Anderson on play by play and Ros Gold-Onwude on color commentary.  Anderson has done a variety of sports for a variety of networks, whereas Gold-Onwude played for the Stanford Cardinal and just finished her career, graduating last year.

I'm pretty sure Stanford is an elite school, so how a recent graduate of the school loses track of which team is playing in the game she is broadcasting is beyond me, but this is one of the more embarrassing botches I've seen from a professional, semi-pro, or even a volunteer announcer.  Evidently, the initials SDSU threw off Gold-Onwude because she REPEATEDLY referred to South Dakota State as San Diego State throughout the first half.  I saw the tweet directed to us and the article from the Argus Leader and thought it couldn't be real - it was!  The game is up in the ESPN3.com archives from Tuesday March 7th, check it out for yourself.  I'll let Terry Vandrovec from the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls take it from here...

First, the on-air crew that called the women's championship game on ESPNU repeatedly referred to the host Jackrabbits as "San Diego State." Although both SDSUs have had solid women's programs the past few years, the local squad wears blue and yellow, while the West Coast club is red and black.

The two-woman crew also stated that Oakland University is located in Rochester, Minn., rather than the correct location of Rochester, Mich.

Douple was inundated with calls, and multiple fed-up fans made the mistakes known when walking past the on-air talent at halftime.

"It is totally unacceptable," Douple said. "I'm very, very disappointed. I expressed those concerns to the producer afterward and I'm going to do some more follow-up. In my opinion, I don't think they did the right homework for that game."

Wow.  How can that happen more than once????  As an announcer, I can't think of anything more elemental than correctly identifying the teams playing in your broadcast.  After watching the game, it looked like the broadcasters were fairly well prepared and had good information about the players... they just didn't know what school was actually playing in the game!  Seriously, I would think it wouldn't be that hard to keep in mind that SDSU meant South Dakota State when the game is being played in South Dakota!!  How did San Diego State even cross Gold-Onwude's mind multiple times?  Not to be outdone, when a graphic appeared on screen showing Oakland's location in Rochester, MI... Anderson read the MI as Minnesota and not Michigan.  D'Oh!

In the second half, Gold-Onwude thankfully stopped with the San Diego State references, but began using "South Dakota" to describe the Jackrabbits.  Again, incorrect.  South Dakota State is equally NOT "South Dakota" as it is NOT "San Diego State."  Unlike the awkward student newscast earlier this week, these are professionals working for ESPNU and it should be an embarrassment for the leader to have announcers that can't correctly identify which team is playing right in front of them.  

image via StatesMan.com

We'll update you on the games as they become available, too.

Saturday March 12

Conference USA Championship - Don Haskins Center, El Paso, TX

Championship: (CBS 11:30AM) Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner, Reggie Miller

ACC Basketball Tournament - Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC

Semi Finals: (ESPN 1PM/3PM) Dan Shulman, Dick Vitale, Len Elmore

Southeastern Conference Basketball Tournament - Georgia Dome Atlanta, GA

Semi Finals: (ABC 1PM/3PM) Brad Nessler, Jimmy Dykes

Big Ten Basketball Tournament - Conseco Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN

Semi Finals: (CBS 1:40PM/4PM) Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg

MEAC Tournament - Joel Coliseum, Winston-Salem, NC

Championship: (ESPN2 2PM)  Justin Kutcher, Dickey Simpkins

Southland Tournament - Leonard E. Merrell Center. Katy, TX

Championship: (ESPN2 4PM)  Carter Blackburn, Dereck Whittenburg

Mountain West - Thomas and Mack Center, Las Vegas, NV

Championship: (Versus 5PM) Ted Robinson, Blaine Fowler

Big 12 Championship - Sprint Center Kansas City, MO

Championship: (ESPN 6PM) Brent Musburger, Bob Knight, Holly Rowe

Pac-10 Championship - Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA

Championship: (CBS 6PM) Gus Johnson, Bob Wenzel

Mid American Tournament - Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH

Championship: (ESPN2 6PM) Bob Wischusen, Stephen Bardo

Big West Tournament - Honda Center, Anaheim, CA

Championship: (ESPN2 8PM) Todd Harris, Miles Simon

Big East Championship - Madison Square Garden New York, NY

Championship: (ESPN 9PM) Sean McDonough, Jay Bilas, Bill Raftery

WAC Tournament - Orleans Arena, Las Vegas, NV USA

Championship: (ESPN2 10PM) David Flemming, Sean Farnham

Sunday March 13

ACC Basketball Tournament - Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC

Championship: (ESPN 1PM) Dan Shulman, Dick Vitale

Southeastern Conference Basketball Tournament - Georgia Dome Atlanta, GA

Championship: (ABC 1PM) Brad Nessler, Jimmy Dykes

Atlantic 10 Championship - Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, N.J

Championship: (CBS 1PM) Verne Lundquist, Bill Raftery

Big Ten Basketball Tournament - Conseco Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN

Championship: (CBS 3:30PM) Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg

CBS NCAA Tournament Selection Show

Seedings: (CBS 6PM) Greg Gumbel, Seth Davis, Greg Anthony, Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith

H/T Sammy!

I'm not sure what to make of this high school video of Fox-bore-o beating Canton in a state playoff game on a buzzer-beating prayer by Pat Smith. Three other sites have posted the same video and have different insight. Deadspin thinks we'll never hear an announcer less enthused over a 60-foot buzzer beater. Barstool isn't sure if it was shot yesterday or in 1982 and doesn't understand why there's nothing else on the game on the interwebz. SportsGrid was the third of the three to post on it. They think it was 10-feet deeper than Deadspin and wonders if it happened a year earlier than Barstool (fudging those numbers is a good way to detract the other two from thinking you read their posts). SportsGrid adds something of substance the others don't, though -- the announcer is supposedly Tim Hagerty and he's currently announcing for the San Diego Padres' Triple-A affiliate. Tim Hagerty just happens to be the guy who emailed us this video. Here's your post, Timmy.

You should also listen to his interview with Rickey Henderson. It's goooooooood. I really mean that.

Another spectacular ending at the Big East tournament today as Uconn upset #1 seeded Pitt at the buzzer. Once again, Dave Pasch was on hand to call this one. Just an unreal move by Walker and a classic old man celebration by Calhoun.

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If you're anything like me, you reacted to yesterday's uproar over the NHL's decision to levy no penalty on Zdeno Chara by asking, "What's a hawk-key?" Then you punched your screen in a couple times because some asshat decided to flood YouTube with a bunch of non-videos of that hit everyone was talking about. Well fear not, we're here to bring video justice to the masses. And I'll even do my part to spare you the inane fanboyism that makes up Boston's sports commentating industry and go with the Montreal's Martin McGuire et Dany Dubé. Unfortunately, I have no idea what they're saying but I assume it has something to do with poutine and universal healthcare. The hit happens right away, with a slow motion replay around :40. 

For those who don't know, Pacioretty was hospitalized with a factured vertebrae, and the NHL decided against suspending Chara from play, despite the cries of many a Canadiens fan that a top offensive prospect may have lost his entire career at Chara's hands. Controversy, I smells it.  Now, the hit itself may seem relatively mundane and not overly aggressive. In fact, infinitely more damage is clearly delivered by the glass than by Chara hismelf. So the real question becomes, "to what degree was Chara actually trying to use the turnbuckle?" Nobody's saying he wanted to break the guy's freaking neck, but a player at the highest level has to know where he is on the ice. Doesn't he? 

One man who certainly thinks so is Max Pacioretty. 

“I believe he was trying to guide my head into the turnbuckle. We all know where the turnbuckle is. It wasn’t a head shot like a lot of head shots we see but I do feel he targeted my head into the turnbuckle.”