Sunday, February 27, 2000
SPORTS ON TV-RADIO
Packer out of line in criticism of Vitale
BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Dick Vitale is the basketball analyst Americans would most like to tell to “Shut up!” But in the latest Vitale-Billy Packer feud, Packer is the one who should stifle himself.
Packer took exception to two things Vitale said while calling last week's Cincinnati-Temple game:
• Near the end of the broadcast, Vitale said he had to catch a plane back to Sarasota so he could see Ken Griffey Jr. and the Reds.
• Vitale also mentioned Kelvin Sampson as a possible replacement for Bobby Cremins as Georgia Tech coach.
Packer was dead wrong in both cases.
Packer said talking about Griffey and the Reds belittled college basketball. How? College basketball is not the only game played. The Griffey story was on the minds of sports fans everywhere. Vitale lives in Sarasota and was going to see Griffey.
“The game was over,” Vitale said. “I was making conversation. We live in the real world. People were talking about Griffey.”
As for the Sampson comment, Vitale's partner for the ABC broadcast, Brent Musberger, asked him about it.
“He said, "You're the athletic director at Georgia Tech. Who would be on your list for the job?'” Vitale said. “My contract with ESPN and ABC requires me to give information. The job is open. I didn't say he was a candidate. I said if I was the athletic director, I'd consider Kelvin Sampson. How is that irresponsible?”
It's not.
Marty Brennaman went back and forth a little with Vitale at Reds camp Thursday. Brennaman gave Vitale a hard time on many subjects, but he also thinks Packer was way out of line.
“Billy makes himself look bad when he says things like that,” said Brennaman, who has worked extensively with Packer. “Do your job and keep quiet.”
Packer and his CBS partner Jim Nantz take college basketball too seriously. I thought the most entertaining game CBS did this year was when Packer was re-united with Dick Enberg and Al McGuire. But that, apparently, was a one-time thing.
“Billy approaches college basketball like it's World War III,” Brennaman said. “It ain't the most important thing in the world.”
Vitale shook off the comments by Packer, but he clearly was not happy with them.
“I was shocked and hurt,” Vitale said. “I have a job to do. It hurts when someone else in the business critiques you. That's what the TV critics do. I got calls from a lot of people supporting me. I didn't know I had so many friends.”
This is not the first time Packer has taken shots at Vitale.
“It's an annual thing,” Vitale said. “Billy feels like he has to bash Dickie V. What can I do?”
Nothing really because you didn't do anything wrong.
NO BIG ONE? Not every news outlet on the globe was in Sarasota this week for Griffey's arrival. It only seemed that way. But why weren't the local radio stations there? WLW, the the home of the Reds, and the all-sports outlets WBOB and HOMER didn't have a man in camp.
The only radio reporter there was WCIN's Bill Meredith.
RATINGS GAMES: UC's game with Temple won the day Feb.20. The game, which aired on Channel 9, drew a 13.3 rating and 28 share locally to edge the Daytona 500. The 500, which aired on Channel 12, got an 11.6/25. A rating point equals the percentage of households in the market that tuned in the game. Each point represents about 80,000 homes. The share is percentage of sets in use tuned to that station.
The Nissan Golf, on Channel 12, got a 6.4/13, and the NBA game on Channel 12 got a 2.4/3.
John Fay covers radio/TV sports for The Enquirer. He can be reached at (513) 768-8445.
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