Wide Left: NCAA Tourney Upsets, Announcers, Sweet 16, Luck & Perspective

Today's show is almost all about the NCAA tournament. Nick Tarnowski and I talk about some of the early-round upsets and hot teams headed into the Sweet 16.

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We also spend much of the show talking about the announcing crews for CBS and the overall production by CBS and Turner, which has once again been fantastic.

Who are some of your favorite announcers this year? We throw our annual love fest for Bill Raftery while getting on a bit of a soapbox trying to figure out why CBS continues to book Bob Wenzel in the first weekend of the tournament. Wenzel is a cliché wrapped inside a catch phrase covered in hyperbole and deep-fried. 

The rest of the analysts have been fine, save Reggie Miller who has yet to fit into the three-man booth calling college games. Miller may be fine calling NBA games (though some NBA friends think he's just as bad calling games in the pros) and he does have big-name star power, but he has done nothing to enhance his crew, actually taking away from the telecast and Len Elmore's time to analyze. 

We run through the likes of Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg and Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel too. We wonder, again, why Verne Lundquist and Raftery don't get a shot to call the Final Four and discuss the quality performance of NCAA tourney newcomer Brian Anderson, who did a really good job in this year' tournament. 

HELLO, THE MEDIA

Venerable Yahoo! hoops scribe Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted on Sunday night, "Does anyone get richer off March Madness than these blowhard college announcers who play pitchman on every commercial? They grab w/ 2 fists."

When called out by a follower asking if Woj works with Greg Anthony who is clearly the most guilty of shilling this NCAA season ("is it March Monotony…") Woj replied:

Glad @GregAnthony50 has his endorsements. He earned them. NCAA made a mint off UNLV teams. He's a real broadcaster, not self-promoting shill 

Well, either Woj thought better of his tweets, was tired of answering replies to give specific names, got caught ripping (then defending) Anthony or was told by someone at Yahoo! to clean up his mess, but as of Monday morning, the comments have been scrubbed from Woj's timeline.

Thank goodness for screen capturing. This is why I hate that Twitter allows us to delete tweets. Fine, if a mistake or typo was made, we should be able to edit tweets, but deleting them allows people to make off-hand comments and then scrub the record clean when an issue arises.

But back to Woj's point…who could he have been talking about if it's not Anthony. We've been bombarded with March Monotony ads from LG, and Anthony is the only guy doing them. Is it Seth Davis doing the Applebee's ads online that has Woj so upset? Is he talking about Dick Vitale or an ESPN person?

I'd be fascinated to know if he was actually talking about Anthony and then backtracked before deleting the tweets or if it was a dig at, say, Jim Nantz for his corporate tie-ins. Is he upset about the TruTV ads? Woj isn't a fan of Lizard Lick Towing??? 

ON LUCK AND PERSPECTIVE

Nick and I talk about the terrible situation surrounding Fabrice Muamba, the Bolton player who collapsed on the field this weekend after suffering an apparent heart attack during a match. This puts sports in perspective, surely, and it makes us realize that no matter how much we argue or fight over sports, it's all for love. We love sports, and right now, that love should be going to Muamba. 

Nick and I also awkwardly transition to the HBO show Luck, which has shut down production during taping of season two after the THIRD horse died. How did it ever get to three? Is there more to the story than just the horses (like the dwindling ratings of season one)? 

Before the close of the show, there's a bit more basketball talk, including a look ahead to the Sweet 16. 

Thanks for listening.