Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Mr. March Madness No. 3: Crawford's gotta hurry ... uh ... OOOHHH!

March is a great month. Not only because it ushers in the start of spring, but because of March Madness, the greatest sporting event of the year.

There are many reasons why March Madness is great. The endless basketball, the great games, the upsets, and the the buzzer-beaters. But there is one thing that ties all of these great reasons together, and that one thing makes all of those reasons infinitely better.

Gus Johnson.

In honor of his contribution to March Madness, B.I.A.H will be counting down the 10 greatest calls from Gus Johnson. Now, not all of the clips are from March Madness, but all of them are instant-classics.


Here is No. 3: Crawford's gotta hurry ... uh ... OOOHHH!

Calling something the "greatest of all time" is a grandiose statement, and one I am not sure I'm qualified to make.

But if we are talking about the all-time greatest NCAA Tournament game, last year's epic, two overtime duel between Kansas State and Xavier has to, at the very least, be in the conversation. Clutch shot after clutch shot was made. There was drama. There was back and forth action. There were exhausted kids playing their hearts out.

And of course, there was Gus:



There may never have been a better game for Gus Johnson to call than this one. Seriously. Some of his calls get cut off in the clip I embedded simply because I tried to find the youtube video with the most big plays down the stretch. Its tough to pick just one from the bunch, but we went with Jordan Crawford's double-overtime forcing 30 footer.

The crazy thing about this game? I am not sure it would have been quite the same with Gus on the call.

He makes watching sporting events like watching a game with a good friend.

Mr. March Madness: No. 4 - The Slipper Still Fits
Mr. March Madness: No. 5 - Cold. Blooded.
Mr. March Madness: No. 6 - Sorrentine from the parking lot
Mr. March Madness: No. 7 - Heartbreak City
Mr. March Madness: No. 8 - Sylvester for three
Mr. March Madness: No. 9 - Hey coach, play this kid
Mr. March Madness: No. 10 - Overtime in Seattle
Mr. March Madness: The Preview


To browse the rest of our Mr. March Madness countdown, click here.

1 comment:

Joel said...

My favorite Gus call of all time. The best part is the little sound he makes right before he strokes out, like he doesn't even know how to process the fact that Craw decided to pull up from the ribbon. What a game.