Jeff Van Gundy’s “2-2″ Call Was Eminently Worse Than Billy Packer “This Game is Over” Call
ESPN, Media Gossip/Musings, Video June 13th. 2008, 12:30pmSurely you recall Billy Packer’s mid-game, Final Four folly – which actually held up, despite a furious rally by North Carolina to trim the Kansas lead from 26 to single digits. If you were watching the Lakers pummel the Celtics early last night, then perhaps you heard announcing neophyte Jeff Van Gundy offer up a worse call: “Mike [Breen], I’m going out on a limb right now. I’m going 2-2,” Van Gundy said at the 1:12 mark in the first quarter with the Lakers leading 29-12. “I’m going to take a 17-point lead anytime I can get it.” After Mark Jackson and Breen ribbed JVG and chided him, the former coach quickly tempered his comments – a producer in his ear, perhaps? – with, “in the NBA, there’s always a good opportunity to get back in every game.”
Worse than Packer, right?
54 Responses to “Jeff Van Gundy’s “2-2″ Call Was Eminently Worse Than Billy Packer “This Game is Over” Call”
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June 13th, 2008 at 12:32 PM
Much, much worse and much, much more stupid, considering a lead even bigger than that was nearly erased in front of his face 4 days before that.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:32 PM
I don’t know, Packer was awful arrogant and pretty convinced when he said it. It’s like I wanted UNC to win just so Billy would look like an idiot. We already know Van Gundy is an idiot.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:33 PM
responsibilities to ratings aside, i think packer was worse. college basketball is a lot more prone to comebacks and late-game heroics in the NBA because of the amateurism and sloppy play.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:33 PM
JVG is really really horrible
June 13th, 2008 at 12:34 PM
These guys cannot win. We rip on them for being boring and bland, and now we’re ripping on them for offering an opinion that probably half the viewing audience shared.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:34 PM
than the NBA / fixed
that’s why i enjoy college more – the games are never really over until the clock sits at zero
June 13th, 2008 at 12:35 PM
but were on a blog, ripping people for no reason is what we do.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:36 PM
but yeah i agree with mike NYC, let the guys talk. i’m judging their judgment, not whether or not they should have made their call in their position as commentator. i would judge my buddy watching the game with me the same way.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:37 PM
JVG Can’t be saying it’s over that quickly..HE CAN’T!
/guy who went to bed with the score 24-7 in the 1st quarter
Fo Shizzle
June 13th, 2008 at 12:37 PM
Maybe in the 3rd you say that but the 1st quarter? Come on.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:39 PM
the announcers do this shit just so they can say look i called it in the 1st quarter look how much bball knowledge i know
June 13th, 2008 at 12:40 PM
good point there by mike in nyc.. they really can’t win.. 99% of the time announcers are going to get ripped regardless of what tact they take (homerism, bland and dull, opinionated, “trys to be funny” guy).. not much they can do in any spot, and not killed. even hubie brown who does nothing but offer up smart analysis (albeit always second person) gets killed in the blogosphere
June 13th, 2008 at 12:42 PM
New Mexico is back in the news.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:45 PM
Who kills Hubie? They’re dumb if they do. Van Gundy makes me laugh sometimes but the constant arguing him, Breen and Jackson do is annoying and takes away from the game they are supposed to be focusing on.
Plus Van Gundy saying something as stupid as Kevin McHale was a better scorer than Larry Bird or Paul Pierce hurts his credibility.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:45 PM
GET OFF MY TRAIN!
June 13th, 2008 at 12:46 PM
We rip on them for being boring and bland, and now we’re ripping on them for offering an opinion that probably half the viewing audience shared.
There is a difference between offering an opinion and stating that a game is over in the first quarter.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:47 PM
thats fair on that particular point vegas but he gets ripped for offering opinions as well like the mchale/pierce thing
June 13th, 2008 at 12:47 PM
His opinion was that the game was “over.” He was wrong.
Can we move on now please?
June 13th, 2008 at 12:47 PM
you’re being too general and painting with too broad a brush. Who is ripped for being boring and bland?
As for the last part, there are things you can say and type on a blog or in the comments section of a blog, and then there are things you can say and think to a national TV audience of millions. One would think that a professional in the TV field would have some perspective.
Did i think the game was over? Sure. But knowing that there were 3 quarters left, would i have said it as a network TV analyst? Of course not
June 13th, 2008 at 12:49 PM
As an NBA analyst, wouldnt he know that you only have to watch the last two minutes of an NBA game?
June 13th, 2008 at 12:49 PM
Really? That’s how you want it? Announcers offering up opinions on the game at all times? Ridiculous opinions? He didn’t quantify it with shit. “A 17 point lead” was about all he had.
You must like slippery slopes
June 13th, 2008 at 12:50 PM
TBL..I beg to differ on this…he is not a professional in the TV field…he is a professional basketball coach who announces on TV..his TV training is very limited..there is a difference.
Fo Shizzle
June 13th, 2008 at 12:50 PM
i like the ongoing battles between Walton and Snapper in the 90s much more than this trio. I’ll give these guys some time together because you can’t expect chemistry so soon …
June 13th, 2008 at 12:51 PM
His opinion was that the game was “over.€ He was wrong.
It’s not intelligent analysis. It doesn’t add anything to the discussion. It’s wrong even if the Lakers win, because the Celtics absolutely still have the opportunity to win the game at that point.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:51 PM
It didn’t hold up. Packer said it was over, which didn’t hold up when North Carolina made a game of it. If Packer had said Kansas will win, then you could say it held up.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:51 PM
I miss Marv Albert doing the Finals on TV.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:53 PM
He’s a “color commentator.” He’s not paid to sit there and say, “Kobe Bryant, from 18 feet … good!”
Let him have some rope, is all I’m saying.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:53 PM
The key to Walton and Sanpper was Marv..in fact Marv is the key to all of this..he was good with JVG..JVG got the ESPN gig..He worked with Fratello…he made Fratello legit…Marv is the greatest announcer of all time..not only because he is distinctive..he is the ultimate team player
Fo Shizzle
June 13th, 2008 at 12:55 PM
I think mmonast has it right. Van Gundy wanted to be the guy to say after the game was over that he called it when the game was in the first. I wonder if there are any interviews with Van Gundy about his remarks, to see what he had to say about how things came out?
June 13th, 2008 at 12:55 PM
and don’t forget who worked with Jackson on the Nets games…Marv.
Fo Shizzle
June 13th, 2008 at 12:56 PM
Cortes so I could go on TV and say Jermaine O’Neal was a better Pacer than Reggie Miller and I shouldn’t expect to get ripped for it?
When you say dumb things you’re going to get ripped.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:56 PM
good point. let’s give him rope. just enough to hang himself.
JVG and Mark Jackson have been pretty awful this series. One is a player and one is a coach, so stick to the x’s and o’s. i dont mind the worthless entertainment banter, but i dont like when they veer into top 5 lists or cross-generational comparisons for 15 seconds and dont quantify it
June 13th, 2008 at 12:57 PM
Superlatives! Hyperbole! Oxymorons! Redundancies! Conundrums! Redundancies!
June 13th, 2008 at 12:57 PM
I saw Fratello in the grocery store a few weeks ago. I gave him a terrorist fist punch. He’s a good guy.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:58 PM
two games in a row where Jeff Van Gundy has made an ass out of himself on National Television. Game 3, Allyssa Milano vs Vanessa Minillo debate that made him look stupid. And now this Game 4 scene. I cannot stand Jeff Van Gundy and I wish his fat ass brother would sit on him
June 13th, 2008 at 12:58 PM
I have yet to see this anywhere, blog or mainstream site, but if someone did, they deserve to sleep in Pau’s armpit for a year.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:58 PM
TBL is on a roll this post, and I think I’m with him on every point he’s made. I just don’t like Van Gundy.
June 13th, 2008 at 1:02 PM
Ugh. Every person with a somewhat functioning brain knew that of course BOS still had a chance to win, because the game wasn’t over. So did JVG. His opinion at that time, however, (and he was basically asked by Breen) was that they were going to lose.
Up next: Stephen A Smith “predicts” BEFORE the start of Game 5 on the pregame show that LA will prevail! What a moron!
June 13th, 2008 at 1:03 PM
Marv should be announcing the NBA Finals until he’s too old and tired to do it anymore. When they play old clips of the Finals during the Jordan era and you hear him do the play-by-play, it feels like the Finals should feel.
People seem to like Breen but I just don’t get that same “big game” feel from him that I get when I hear Marv. Just not distinct enough.
June 13th, 2008 at 1:04 PM
Stephen A Smith should get a brain. (SFW pic of Imig)
June 13th, 2008 at 1:06 PM
Does Marv still like to bite hookers?
June 13th, 2008 at 1:06 PM
Marv and the “Czar” were the best ever
June 13th, 2008 at 1:06 PM
Yes!
/in best Marv Alberts voice.
June 13th, 2008 at 1:07 PM
@cool: YES!!
June 13th, 2008 at 1:08 PM
Does the Czar still wear Captain Mauser’s toupee?
June 13th, 2008 at 1:10 PM
Had Barkley made this comment, all we would hear is, “well, that’s Charles being Charles”. I guess we have different rules for balding, baggy eyed, ankle grabbers.
June 13th, 2008 at 1:12 PM
No it’s because Barkley’s black.
June 13th, 2008 at 1:14 PM
“I picked this tranny up from way down town, bang.”
this shit is too easy.
June 13th, 2008 at 1:15 PM
“Kobe delivers the facial”
June 13th, 2008 at 1:15 PM
rick..rick rick…I picked this tranny up on teh way down town, YES!! is the joke..he doesn not say bang.
/joke police
Fo Shizzle
June 13th, 2008 at 1:19 PM
RWH- “My genitals are on fire!”
June 13th, 2008 at 2:10 PM
To me Marv is the voice of the NBA. I wish he was calling the series.
“Miller for 3……YES”
June 13th, 2008 at 5:58 PM
In his defense, he was reading from the script Dick Bavetta gave him
June 13th, 2008 at 11:45 PM
Did Van Gundy leave or something after that predicting the Lakers would win? I really really really don’t see how this is a big deal. So saying obvious things about the game is bad? Maybe he shouldn’t say that Kobe was shooting poorly, just keep his opinion to himself. Hey it looks like the Lakers are going to win this game. Egads!