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17 Years Ago It Was No April Fools Joke for Musberger

Posted by Christopher Byrne on Saturday, March 31, 2007 , under , , , | comments (0)



Athens, GA (Mar 31, 2007) - April 1, 1990 was also a Sunday. It was Final Four weekend in the NCAA Tournament. The night before. Brent Musberger and Billy Packer has called the semifinal games on CBS Sports. It was about 8:30 in the morning, and I was sitting in front of the Chyron graphics generator for my Sunday all day shift at the Mizlou Sports News Network. Not many people were around when a stunning story came across the newswire. Brent Musberger had been fired by CBS, right in the middle of the Final Four. Surely this had to be an April Fool's Joke. Why would CBS fire their star talent in the middle of a showcase event? There was no way we could go on the air with this unless confirmed by another source. But sure enough, it was true. He and his alleged monster-sized ego had been sent packing. The door opened, and in stepped Jim Nantz who has never looked back. It was definitely a surreal day in the newsroom.

Niagara Gets "A Game" Treatment Tonite

Posted by Christopher Byrne on Friday, March 16, 2007 , under , , , , , , , | comments (0)



Athens, GA (March 16, 2007) - Niagara University gets marquee status in its first round NCAA game tonite against Kansas (7:10). The game will be broadcast by Jim Nantz and Billy "There is no basketball outside of the ACC and I hate women's basketball" Packer. Niagara made a big boo-boo in their press release for tonite's game, listing Bob Dekas as the sideline reporter. Deke is the producer and I doubt he will be making a career change this late in life. Watch me be wrong on this one, but it is not likely. So tune in tonite to see the first ever number 16 upset of a number 1 seed!

Today trivia question: What is Billy Packer's real last name and why was Packer chosen to replace it by his father?