Is "Onions" appropriate for TV?

Bill Raftery is a nut.

He's like your crazy uncle. The one at all the family reunions that has one too many Manhattans and gets to his rambling, non-sensical stories that leave you laughing to hard to realize what he just said a) made no sense and b) probably should have offended you.

Doesn't mean you don't love him.

The same goes for Raft, whether he's yelling about "a little nickel-dimer", letting you know some got crossed-over and left "a little lingerie on the deck", or describing a shot off the glass with "a smooch". Can anyone forget one of the all-time classic calls? Hell, we're such fans that he even has a spot on this blog's banner.

Perhaps Raft's most famous call comes when someone hits a big shot in the clutch. When Ali Farokhmanesh hit that three to put Northern Iowa up four against Kansas, I think 75% of the people I follow on Twitter tweeted "ONIONS!!"

And if you really stop and think about it, that probably isn't something he should be yelling on a nationally televised broadcast. It doesn't take a genius to figure out he is referring to a specific part of the male anatomy used to define intestinal fortitude.

I've never really had a problem with this.

Phil Mushnick, a well-known columnist for the NY Post, does. He wrote this on Monday:

I've long loved Raftery, but his continued hollering of a crude crotch term after a big shot long ago should have ended, if not voluntarily, then on orders.

Raft clarified the meaning of the term, and addressed Mushnick's take, in a Q&A with Dan Patrick today:

DP: You're the man who gave us the term "Onions." It has nothing to do with slicing onions and making other coach or team cry with a big shot, right?
BR: It's about toughness. As you know, having many moments when there's nothing in that beautiful head of yours, things pop out. Ian Eagle claims I did it in a Nets game when they hit a jump shot.

...

DP: I saw where you got criticized by a media writer, who said you shouldn't be saying onions because of what it means.
BR: That's his interpretation. I just think these kids respond in the most difficult of moments and step up.

...

DP: Yeah, but you do "lingerie" too, instead of saying somebody got faked out of their jock strap.
BR: You know, it's funny, writers use it. I don't think anything ill of it. It's just one of those things that describes aptly what goes on. The biggest time of most of their lives cause very few will be in the NBA or Europe, it's just going to be the last stand.

I don't see the problem with this.

As Raft put it, it "describes aptly what goes on." And let's be serious, it takes a whole lot of "onions" to take -- and make -- the shot that Farokhmanesh hit. It takes "onions" to knock down any game winner, really.

For my money, anyone with a problem with Raft's saying comes off as crotchety and out of touch.

As a bonus, here's the money quote from the Q&A with Patrick:

DP: What does your wife say when you say onions?
BR: I wish you had them.