For The Love Of God NOOOOO: Gus Johnson Isn't Interested In Calling Another NCAA Tournament Game Because Of His Legacy
[Source] – ”People to this day, including some people who shall remain nameless at CBS,” Scheer says, “will call and say, ‘Boy, we miss Gus on the NCAA tournament.’”
And yet Johnson isn’t worried about calling another NCAA tournament game.
“That’s my legacy,” he says, “and I don’t want to mess with it. It was the greatest time of my career.” He takes a long pause, “I earned my bones during that period. It was magic.”
For the love of God no, this is the worst news ever. Now, obviously Gus Johnson hasn’t called the NCAA Tournament for a few years now, but that’s not the point. Reading this quote it sounds like Gus won’t ever call a NCAA Tournament game again and that’s a national tragedy.
There is nothing better and I mean NOTHING better than settling in to your spot on that first Thursday of the NCAA Tournament, watching a 4/13 game come down to the buzzer and Gus just doing Gus things. Screaming his goddamn lungs out and giving us quotes like ‘the slipper still fits’ or ‘Sorrentine from the parking lot.’ Things that are still said to this day and everyone knows exactly what you’re talking about.
Now the only and I mean the only good thing about Gus not being on CBS any more is the fact we get him and Raftery together again. More importantly we got an all-time Raft story:
One time, Johnson had lost his wallet, and he asked Raftery to borrow some money. Raftery reached into his pocket and pulled out $500 in cash, and handed it over like it was nothing. “He had it on him,” Johnson says laughing, “Just like an old man!”
Fucking, Raft. He’s the best human alive and the best human to ever live. He’s my favorite person and easily my answer right away to any question involving ‘who would you most want to get a drink with’ ‘who is in your golf group’ etc. Give me Raft over any human in history.
I love that he’s just out here carrying around $500. Probably needed it to cover his bar tab if we’re being honest.
All I know is we need to find a way to get Gus back on the NCAA Tournament. I know it won’t be him calling it with Raft since he’s now on the A team with Grant Hill and Jim Nantz. But, please, I’ll do anything. I need Gus in March. The world needs Gus in March.
I’ve lost count on protests and signatures, but do they work? Because I’ll go to wherever I have to in order to get Gus back.