So much for hope. Gus Johnson is officially out at CBS, and thus will no longer announce NCAA Tournament games. March Madness has lost its Voice.
As I tweeted on Thursday when the news broke prematurely, this is the biggest announcing tragedy since another Johnson, Dave Johnson of “And DOWN The Stretch They Come!!!” fame, stopped broadcasting the Triple Crown races.
I’m not quite on board with Stewart Mandel‘s sentiment — “They might as well cancel March Madness next year. Without Gus, it doesn’t count.” — or with Andrew Fielding‘s — “The apocalypse has happened. March Madness is now irrelevant. Gus Johnson is gone.” — but man, this sucks. (And not only because it requires me, in posting the following clip, to relive that f***ing UCLA-Gonzaga game again. Although, that too. Worst. Loss. Ever.)
(I guess I should focus on “THE SLIPPER STILL FITS!!!” instead. Also, why does that video repeat a bunch of the clips?)
Anyway, CBS’s loss is Larry Scott’s gain, as Gus will now be broadcasting Pac-12 football games on Fox. So maybe some USC or Colorado games will feature a bit of this:
That’s cool and all. I’ll certainly look forward to Gus’s Pac-12 games. But it’s hardly a substitute for losing Gus’s irreplaceable voice in March Madness, the event he was made to cover. CBS, you done America wrong! #sadz
P.S. One detail re: “done America wrong”:
A CBS source who wanted Johnson – a former Knick radio voice – back said that not only money, but politics was an issue. The source said some of CBS Sports’ college hoops voices were not thrilled with Johnson’s rise to March Madness’ most popular voice.
As one blogger puts it, “the mention of politics seems to have Jim Nantz’s bloody fingerprints over it.” Yep. So basically, Jim Nantz was jealous of Gus’s Internet popularity. Well, SCREW YOU, JIM NANTZ. Ugh.
I couldn’t have said it any better. The biggest issue I see is that Gus has arrived at Fox just after Fox lost the games in which he’d have been most useful — the dreadful BCS games on that network.
Hard for me to get excited about Pac-12 games, ever. And I love college football.
As a USC alum living in Colorado, I’m excited for the Pac-12 games. But it’s similar to the excitement I felt, as an “Irish Trojan,” about Notre Dame beating UCLA…..on the same day that USC lost to Stanford in 2007. The happiness is totally swamped by the simultaneous sadness about something far worse and more important. If I could have Gus doing Pac-12 games without losing him during March Madness, that’d be awesome, but the Pac-12 angle is small consolation when it means no more Gus in March.
I feel a great disturbance in the force. As if a great multitude of game calls cried out, and were suddenly silenced.
Really? Internet fame forced Gus out? How silly.
And guess what? Gus SHOULD be more important than Nantz. Gus should be calling the most important games.
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