It was just a day or two ago that I was writing about missing Jack Armstrong on NCAA broadcasts this year. Then Doug Smith dropped the bomb that since SportsNet (Jack's main Canadian employer) is getting out of the basketball biz, Jack might be missing from Toronto Raptor broadcasts next year, too.
That is a bad thing. A VERY BAD THING.
Jack understands that basketball is a game and that fans deserve entertainment along with pithy analysis. His homerism is refined, usually said with tongue in cheek, firmly planted, and a smile on his face. Happy Jack. He lives it. It isn't an act.
At the same time, he's a serious basketball nut. He has weight to his opinion that is buried beneath all that jocularity. Pay attention and you WILL learn something about this game. I really believe he has the best combo of knowledge, humour and delivery since Al McGuire. I know Dick Vitale's off the top and you can usually find some pearls in his hyperbole. But he just wears you out with his non-stop enthusiasm. Jack, like Al before him, won't stoop to describe chicken feathers as chicken salad.
Obviously, I would like to see Jack doing all the games that Leo Rautins does right now. That would keep him here in Canada. And if he ended up at The Score, so much the better. They do the most college games up here, anyway. Whatever it takes, we have to have Jack Armstrong on our airwaves come fall.
Let me segue to Leo Rautins. I've known Leo since he was my height, tagging along with older brother George, the best pure shooter this country might have ever produced. He could fall out of bed and hit a fifteen-footer. His career topped out at Niagara (just like Jack, come to think of it), because he wasn't the all-round player his brother was. Leo, eventually outgrew me by a foot, went off to Minnesota and then Syracuse, did the NBA failed-first round draft pick tour and then was off to Europe, where he enjoyed some success.
Coming back home, he set up shop as a commentator, teacher and eventually Canadian National Team head coach. I've seen him around kids. He's wonderful. He LIKES being around kids. He also likes teaching basketball. It's a mission for him.
And that's half the problem he presents as main analyst for the Toronto Raptor broadcasts. He continues to teach long after it's no longer necessary. Maybe in the first few years, where many Canadian fans were new to the sport, at least at the NBA level. But the people coming to the broadcasts these day know most of the stuff he prattles about incessantly. He just takes the air out of the broadcast. And in a blow out, it turns off-putting. That's when you reach for the mute button and turn on Paul Jones and Eric Smith on the radio, despite the five-second or so TV delay.
The other half of Leo's problem is his passive aggressive shtick with play-by-play man Chuck Swirsky. Swirsky is naturally ebullient, a born homer (not that that is COMPLETELY bad) and a willing recipient of many Rautins jabs during any given broadcast. Leo picks on Chuck. Most times with a velvet glove. But it's bullying no matter the manner.
Compare any game done by Leo and Chuck with a Jack and Chuck contest. Invariably, no matter the game's value as entertainment beyond the announcing, you enjoy Jack and Chuck more. If the game turns out to be a 'gimme' in Jack parlance, then the enjoyment index is markedly in Jack's favour.
Try as I might, there is no way to put this. Were I programming director of Raptor TV and/or the decision-maker for the Raptors in this area, I would be sending out a press release this summer that goes something like this:
"Given Leo Rautins growing responsibilities with Basketball Canada, he has decided to step down as the main analyst for Toronto Raptors games for this coming season. He will be switching with backup analyst Jack Armstrong, who will be doing the bulk of the Raptor games in 2008-2009. Leo will do about 20 games in all with our various broadcast partners. We wish Leo and Team Canada the best of luck in their attempts to make the Beijing Olympics via the upcoming Qualification Tournament."
A WHOLE lot of people would benefit from that PR release. Not the least of which would be you and me. Well, ME anyway.
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