It was a perfect setting for noted gym rat Bill Raftery.
The 67-year-old broadcaster was courtside Thursday night at Madison Square Garden (“the Gahden”), college basketball’s revered shrine, calling Syracuse’s six-overtime win against UConn.
Even a trio of mediocre broadcasters couldn’t have destroyed the ambiance of this epic clash. (A nail- bitter, that overused sports cliche, could be used here.)
But Raftery, along with Sean McDonough and Jay Bilas, added to the ESPN screen drama.
Per usual, Raftery kept the contest in focus, amid all the verbal, mostly legitimate excitable comments provided by his comrades.
Raftery has a special style, developed over 27 years of broadcasting following a 12-year coaching career at Seton Hall.
He analyzed, coolly and clearly, what was happening on the court.
Occasionally, there were sudden enthusiastic outbursts, like when, in a raspy voice, Raftery noted the play of Syracuse’s Jonny Flynn, who played 67 of the 70 minutes: “He’s been warm all night . . . now he’s on fire!”
We got more of Raftery’s court expertise Sunday on CBS when he and Verne Lundquist, another under- rated professional, called Mississippi State’s dramatic win over Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game.
Fortunately, there’s more Raftery and Lundquist coming up this week during first-round NCAA Tournament action.
Financial facts.
Couch potatoes have their NCAA Tournament favorites, including No. 1 seeds Louisville, Pittsburgh, North Carolina and UConn.
But two winners already have been determined.
Despite the sinking advertising economy, CBS Sports and CBS- are expected to show healthy revenues by tournament’s end. Many financial experts predict TV advertising during the three- week event will top last year’s $580 million in revenue, which was up 13 percent over 2007.
And, according to Media Life magazine, CBS is not dropping prices to induce advertisers.
Meanwhile, the use of online service continues to grow, particularly in office surroundings, with live streaming of games beginning with Thursday’s first round. The advertising revenue stream of this free service is expected to pull in $30 million, up 20 percent from last year.
No charge.
Since I’ve been monitoring local sport anchors or TV score-readers (take your pick) for more than half a century, I’m certainly qualified to offer a bit of advice to Kami Carmann, the newest full-time addition to the KMGH-7 sports department:
Slow down in your delivery.
Stop swallowing words.
Emphasize key words and phrases.
Stay away from excessive giggling and cutesy, unfunny phrases.
And don’t start using a bobblehead sports doll.
Some broadcasting consultants make big bucks offering advice to TV organizations about how talent should perform on air.
My advice to Carmann is free.
Goodbye, sportscast.
Can you envision Denver broadcasting stations without regular sports reports during afternoon or evening newscasts?
That’s happened in San Diego, where XETV-6, a CW network affiliate, has eliminated its sports department. Station management contends that sports segments within half-hour news programs don’t “return an investment.”
Longtime Denver journalist Dusty Saunders writes about sports media each Monday in The Denver Post.
Play ball!
FSN Rocky Mountain begins its six-game preseason coverage of Rockies’ Cactus League games at 2 p.m. Sunday when Colorado meets Cleveland in Tucson.
Other televised action:
March 23: Brewers, 2 p.m.
March 28: Cubs, 2 p.m.
March 30: Diamondbacks, 2 p.m.
April 3-4: Mariners, 8 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.
Note: All games, with the exception of the two with the Mariners, will be repeated at 7 p.m. following the live daytime coverage.
Whatever happened to . . . ?
For four decades, Billy Packer was the TV voice of the men’s NCAA basketball tournament, retiring after last year’s championship game.
Packer is still involved with NCAA coverage, but with a much smaller profile.
Packer and college basketball icon Bob Knight premiered a five-week series, “Billy Packer’s Survive and Advance,” which was aired on Fox Sports Net at midnight Sunday.
Not exactly prime time.
The program will be repeated at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
Each program will provide analysis by Packer and Knight of tournament games. Coaches and ex-players will join them.
