THE RIGHT CALL
Spanarkel refreshing voice of reason among madness
SOMETIMES TV gets it right ... eventually.
Thursday’s Notre DamePrinceton game on CBS was heading for the wire when Jim Spanarkel calmly and concisely gave a complete rundown of contingencies, a useful overview on what to expect.
And that included a widely ignored but sound strategy: Would Notre Dame, if up three with a few seconds left, choose to foul Princeton?
Spanarkel answered his own question: Notre Dame coach Mike Brey prefers to pressure the shooters in such moments, not give the foul. How is that for applied homework?
Spanarkel, throughout that game, day and then night, did what he does: He kept his and our eyes and mind on the game, saw it and spoke it in the here-andnow, saw it and spoke it from what had happened and from where it might be going.
And he is regular-guy honest, too. When he thinks it was a bad or good call he says so and why. No now-hear-this! proclamations; we just move on. What Brent Musburger calls gaming, Spanarkel would call gambling.
When, after a timeout with 20 seconds left, Princeton, down three, threw a high-risk, crosscourt pass that was deflected by Notre Dame out of bounds, Spanarkel plainly said, “That is as difficult a pass in this situation that you can try to make. I don’t get that one at all.”
And he speaks it all with no hollering, no gimmicks, no fauxhip basketball idioms, no easily contradicted stats and no preplanned signature verbal embroi- dery. As Groucho Max said, “Outside of the improvement, no one should notice a thing.”
And that struck me as, well, sad. After all, it took nearly 20 years of working local telecasts for TV execs to realize — after being told, over and over — that Spanarkel’s very good — even good enough to have now become a seasonal call-up to work early-round NCAA Tournament games.
So what if, from the start of his broadcasting career, Spanarkel, 59, had shown up as both a genuine basketball expert while schlepping a duffle bag of gizmos and props — self-promoting Chris Berman shtick, Jay Bilasstyle lectures and speeches, and an inclination for screaming as if he had been tased after every slam dunk?
Based on years of study, I figure Spanarkel, had he taken that showman’s route, by now — and starting long ago — would be some national network’s lead basketball analyst, known, but not necessarily appreciated or enjoyed, by all.
Anyway, Thursday, all day and all night on NCAA Tournament telecasts, Spanarkel — joined by Verne Lundquist, who knows when to let his partner be heard — was good for what ails us. Take two Spanarkels and call me in the morning.