January 27, 2023 • 24 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon discuss Tony Romo’s recent NFL commentary and talk about the recent passing of Billy Packer and so much more!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two a m Eastern seven to eleven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Fox
Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every night
on the I Heart Radio app by searching fs R.
(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio The
Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon live
from the tirect dot Com studios tirect dot com. I'll
help you get there an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping,
free road hazard protection, over ten thousand recommended installers tirect
(00:44):
dot com the way tire buying should be. Well, we're
gonna be catching up with Jake Glazer coming up later
on this hour on the show, find out what he
has to say about Sean Payton, about the a C
n NFC title games, Aaron Rodgers to the Jets. But
one story I wanted to tell here because we we
we've been spending the last year is talking about the
(01:04):
life of Billy Packer. Uh passed away earlier today at
the age of eighty two. His son letting everybody know
on social media. Billy Packer was the soundtrack to the
n s A Tournament for thirty five years. I feel
like he did every single game. He would change locations.
He would be in the East region during the day,
he'd fly to the Southeast region at night. And you know,
we talked about his style and how it wasn't for
(01:28):
everybody and that he was someone who was I think
Mike Francesa had the best big line about him. Used
to say, Billy Packer would do games like with like
he had a red pen, right, like I'm looking to maker,
I'm looking at what guys are doing wrong, and I'm
saying what guys are doing wrong. And it was different, right,
you didn't have players being critical of of college kids
like that. And when he would broadcast a game, he
(01:49):
was very polarizing and you would talk about what Billy
Packer said during I can't believe Billy Packers said this,
And I was so glad when that got slightly. I mean,
he made the game more entertaining. And there's no better
Billy Packer moment. You go back and look at one
of the millions of n c A tournament moments that
that he broadcast. But remember back in in two thousand five,
(02:10):
one of the great buzzer beaters was Patrick Sparks of
Kentucky right against Michigan State. You've seen the video a
bunch of times where Kentucky is losing by three at
the end and they get like three threes in the
last eight seconds. In the final one was Patrick Sparks
who puts up this three and it bounces off the rim,
and it bounces off the rim again, and it bounces
off the rim a third time, and it rolls around
(02:31):
the top of the cylinder and it rolls through for
a three pointer sends the game to overtime. The crowd
goes crazy, right well, Patrick Sparks as a player that
Billy Packer was critical of in a previous game that
he broadcast. So after Patrick Sparks hits that three, he
goes over to the broadcast area where Billy Packer is
doing the game and he trash talks a little bits,
(02:52):
how do you like that? What do you think of that?
And and and this is a quintessential Billy Packer moment
right here he is, here's Patrick Sparks getting his revenge,
and what did Billy Packer do he put out his
hand for a high five and Patrick Sparks smack his
hand and then goes back and play. I mean a
legendary moment. And that's that's Billy Packer in one moment. Oh,
he piste off people so much by what he said.
(03:13):
And then the guy comes up, what does he do?
He high five as a kid after I mean that
that that's that's Billy Packer in one story. But that's
the thing, right, is that he stood out because he was,
I guess, for a lack of a better term, abrasive, right,
he was. He was a guy that was critical and
wanted the best game and best executed learnings and whatever
(03:34):
else out there. So he called it out when a
play failed, why it failed, and unfortunately that means names
were used to you know, the name names. He didn't
just talk in generalities, but he he had a good
way about him that the love of his of the
game came through, which is why he did it for
(03:54):
as long as he did at the highest of levels,
and why he was such a I mean, look at
all the as he worked with all the broadcast partners
through the years. Wasn't it just Jim nance did he
do every game with Jim Nance. Him to go back
to stuff with Musburger and whatever when he was studios things,
you know, so like he worked with a number of
these legends and obviously Jim Nance for a long while.
(04:18):
But it's it's just that idea of you know, different styles,
right some folks look at look at the NFL. Right
now people have decided they don't like Tony Romo anymore.
And it's it's the old rule of dumb. We love
it for eighteen to twenty four months and now we
don't anymore. Remember the Warriors were great. They were reinventing
the game. Damn it. They ruined the game with all
(04:40):
of their forty ft jump shots. Lillie Packer he was
the guy who, whether you loved him or hate him,
you tuned in because you knew you were gonna get
an honest call of a game. Yeah, and it's it's
you know he would. He was the kind of guy
that was as a broadcaster, he was ahead of his time.
Right now, you think about his whole career, like we
(05:01):
talked about some of the times he got in hot
water for saying things off the air, and and now
he would be a lightning rod now if he if
he was on the air, but as a broadcaster, he
was ahead of his time because he was that first
guy that would criticize college kids. Because I remember even
starting out on the radio when I was starting my
career in the early two thousands, even when I was
at ESPN, it was really difficult. You didn't really hear
(05:25):
a lot of criticism of college athletes, right, you didn't
hear it. You just didn't in college basketball, you know everything. Yeah, yeah,
and all the criticism was the coaches. That was who
got all the guy in the position to make a
play they could do the other This coach sucks, This
coach did this, but the player, uh, you know, he
(05:47):
should have been better. You just never got that. You
never got it because it was kind of this this
unspoken thing. I you don't want to criticize kids. It's
a bunch of kids. But Billy Packer, you know, saw
it as this is a multibillion dollar or industry. These
kids are coming. You know, he knows the kids are
getting money, and you know that it's it's where you know,
they're getting scholarships and there they have a pretty good life. Okay,
(06:08):
so yeah, if this kid's not playing well, Um, yeah,
that's what you would say, and that's what I would
say it. And he was unapologetic for it, and it's
what made him so divisive. I remember Syracuse game before
I even graduated college, when Billy Packer would do a
lot because look, all Syracuse games in the early nineties
were all big deals, the Big East games against Georgetown
and Yukon. You know, Syracuse are sending guys at the
(06:29):
NBA all the time, right. It was the end of
the Derek colemanera. I mean to Sherman Douglas and and
and Ronnie Psychli and all those guys, and he would
come do the games and he did a lot of
with Musburger because that was the pairing before Musburger got
fired from CBS. And I remember that, you know, just
even even fans, even students, just yelling stuff at Billy
(06:50):
Packer and putting up signs for Billy Packer, like more
so than like you go to a game, any other
game besides Georgetown, you get all these signs up for
you know, negative signs for the other team and all
these kinds of crap, and there'd be signs up for
Billy Packer. Billy Packer, you did Bubba, and they would
have to make him take the signs down, and it
was he was kind of like the traveling rock star show.
He's he was almost like if I if I can,
(07:12):
if I can convey this the right. He was almost
like a college basketball but a little bit different version
of Charles Barkley. That's kind of what it was like,
where he would say things that would ruffle you, but
you know, he's coming at it with the expertise, and
a lot of times he got out of bounds with
what he said and he had to walk it back
and he had to say things like, Okay, I shouldn't
have said that, and there's you know, honestly, there were
(07:33):
too many times in his career he had to do that,
but but he still went back to it. The same
thing with Barkley. Barkley's you know, you speak for a
living and you speak all the time and you say things.
Barkley's always like, Hey, I should have walked this back.
I should have said this. I didn't mean to say this.
So Barkley has done that in the past too, But
that's kind of what Billy Packer was like. He's kind
of a little bit different version of Barkley And if
he would, if Billy Packer's career was now, he would
(07:53):
be the Barkley of of college basketball. And that's what
he would be, and he would have a lot of
attention every game he did. This is a Billy Hacker game.
What's he gonna say. He's gonna say, He's gonna say
that Joe Girard sucks, and he's gonna say that Judah
Mintz is overrated, and Jim Bay Jimmy's gotta walk away
at something. You know, he'd be saying all these things
that Billy Packer on the broadcast. That's kind of who
(08:14):
he would be right now. Yeah, I'll put it this way. Yeah,
I just as I'm refreshing my timeline and and we're
watching the NBA game and everything and and and thinking
about Billy Packer in his history. The tweet from Dick
Vital comes out so sad to learn of the passing
of Billy Packer had such a passion for college basketball.
My prayers go out to Billy's son, Mark and the
(08:35):
entire Packer family always had great respect for Billy and
his partners Dick Edinburgh al McGuire. They were super May
Billy rest in peace. And I would I think categorize
Billy Packer from an observational standpoint, right You're you're looking
at who he is and how he called games. Dick
Vital has always been seen as the audabashed cheerleader for
(08:59):
college sports, in college basketball right to where it's let's
get the crowd fired up. And Packer was doing the
same thing just through a different lens, right, Not that
Vital can't be instructional at times, but mostly he's a
cheerleader and hyping the best uh and and the big
moments of games and coaching decisions and stuff. Packard did
(09:22):
the thing with the the criticisms, whether you liked it
or not. And I think the two of them in
tandem form, you know, the the whole of our our
basketball watching broadcasting experience, certainly from my childhood and all
the way through to today with with Dick Vital. Really,
I mean, you know, I mentioned to you a few
(09:45):
minutes ago about all the different highlights you're gonna see
on the internet tonight from college basketball, and it's all
gonna be Billy Packer, and what Billy Packer has said
about games. You're gonna see a thousand big games, and
Billy Packer is going to be part of him. Right.
One of his big calls, Arizona won the national title.
Miles Simon when he says, Simon says championship. Uh, you
(10:05):
have Arkansas winning the n c A title in the nineties.
There were forty minutes of hell. Uh, it looked there's
so many of them. Right to Kansas in the Final
four against North Carolina when they got out to that
forty five to three lead a few years ago. I mean,
you see all of these, but here's here's just to
give you a glimpse of exactly what Billy Packer was
like and how many, how long he was around, and
(10:26):
how important he was college basketball. I'm looked. I looked
at a highlight a couple of minutes ago of Billy
Packer doing an interview with Bobby Knight from nineteen seventy
from the Final four in nineteen seventy six, Right is
when Bobby Knight went undefeated. Right, won the national championship.
Because Billy Packard did the Final four. Then he did
the final four, so I'm watching he didn't. Here's an
interview with him after calling the game, likely with his
(10:49):
broadcast partner in nineteen seventy six. And then I just
watch a highlight of him calling Steph Curry's forty point
game in the n C eight Tournament in two thousand
and eight. I mean, think about that. Bobby Knight in
seventies six and Steph Curry in two thousands. That's how
long the guy did. The n C Tournament four, that's all.
It's insane to think about. That's only go no, no, wait,
(11:10):
wait wait, yes be a nineteen seventy six final four
two thousand eight run for Steph Curry and Davidson. That
blows my mind that he did that amazing staying, power,
longevity and always got tongues wagging, and certainly within institutions,
don't tell me they didn't watch the tape and try
to uh evaluate self scout uh and help guys get
(11:33):
through things as well. So keen I and and a
tongue that uh well got him in trouble at times
but certainly made watching a game on educational and entertaining
experience Twitter. And how about a Fresca Mike gets swollen
dome the Jason Smith's with Mike Carmen, Billy Packer passing
away at the age of eighty two, and again all
the highlights of Billy Packer's career right North Carolina State
(11:57):
the Lorenzo Charles Dunk I mean, I mean, there's thousands
of them. There's thousands and thousands of highlights of what
he called. It's it's really I mean, you talk about
a volume of work for a guy. We talk about
it for guys like Vince Scully, uh and what he
was able to do so many, so many highlights, so
many games, NFL, you know, Major League Baseball. It really
(12:19):
is that kind of a thing for the n C
A tournament for Billy Packer. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays
at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the I Heart Radio app Fox Sports Radio.
The Jason Smith Show with My best Friend Mike Harmon,
Pop Quiz Harmon More Shocking result tonight, the Nick's going
(12:43):
on the road and beating the Celtics in overtime, or
the Pistons going on the road and beating the Nets.
Let's go Bigger, Bigger surprise tonight. Which is it? Which
is it? Well, I know all the guys from the
Celtics played. Did all the guys from the Nets? Wow?
Well Kyrie had forty and he and Ben Simmons combined
(13:03):
for forty exit. Wow, that's okay. Hey, Ben Simmons actually
hit a couple of shots yesterday. Has a lot a
lot of shock and awe, and all the back and
forth between him, beat and Durant on social media was fantastic. Yeah,
it was kind of fun. It was kind of fun.
But you see the nets, man, it was like, hey,
the nets are great, look at the nets. Look now
(13:25):
they're winning. Now look and what do I always say
about the nets? Way two weeks? Wait till you think
the nets are great? Way two weeks? It's just look
at look at poor Zingis. He's playing at way two weeks.
Way two weeks, and he'll either stopped playing or something
happens or he gets hurt. All the nets, you way
two weeks, something will happen, they'll stop playing, someone will
get hurt. It's what it is. Oh, it's great, it's great.
I've had a great three weeks. Yeah, okay, okay, it's
(13:46):
been three weeks. It's it's a summer. Had twenty four though.
Off the bench, did you just say Luell Cinder had
twenty off the No. I was gonna say Gordon Sumner,
but it was because then I can start singing synchronicity too.
Stop call the police. Gordon Sumner had twenty off the
bench tonight for Brooklyn. The Pistons had eight guys in
(14:09):
double figures, eight of the nine players that played tonight. Man,
I'll tell you that is something. Hey, but yeah, hey,
if you need to know one thing from the show tonight, no,
just this was the biggest win of the season by
a team in the NBA, the Knicks with their victory
over the Celtics. We'll see. I was getting all sucked
into the fact that Luca had to leave with an injuries, okay,
(14:32):
but not returning tonight, first scoreless game of his career. Yeah,
I think about that suddenly all the you know, remember
the le Bronze streak of all the games he had
with at least ten points, and it's oh that that
breaks that for Luca now, lucas look. Big stuff going
on in the NFL as the Jets higher Nathaniel Hackett
as their offensive coordinator. Exciting, exciting because this means Aaron
(14:55):
Rodgers is on the way if you think it doesn't,
I mean, come on, you can't. You can't. You can't
see that. What they said in Denver last year, though,
well they'd say, they said, what they're getting Aaron, right,
Well they got Russell Wilson instead. Now I think about this,
if they could do that over again, would they rather
have Oh, I know, if you're gonna give up that
(15:17):
kind of draft capital, yes, But Jason, if you think
Aaron Rodgers isn't the same guy, who are you so excited?
Have you seen our quarterback play this year? Have you
seen it? If we just if we Zack Wilson was
like the thirty second rated quarterback in the NFL this year, Right,
that's what it was. If we had had And I'm
just gonna go out if I we had I'm gonna
(15:38):
say this, if we had of the starting quarterbacks in
the NFL, the twenty five highest rated passer, the Jets
are probably still playing in there in the conference championship
game and they I'll throw it out there, the twenty
five rated passer in the game. Let me let me,
let me look up. Who was is Austin fields rated
(16:02):
passer playing and playing more games? If the Jets had
justin fields and his seventeen touchdowns and his thousand yards rushing.
Uh yeah, the Jets are still playing you down. Just
to remember, with the Denver Broncos and the Russell Wilson experiment,
Nathaniel Hackett probably wouldn't have looked nearly as bad. No,
(16:26):
just say it. If there wasn't for Gene, no, Gene no,
if they just had they'd had a terrible season, then
it's like, all right, you made the trade, now you build.
But instead your season sucked and the Seahawks made the
playoffs behind Gino, which means that magnifying glass really showed
us all of the imperfections at a whole other level.
(16:49):
And Denver runs him out of town. But yeah, the
connected dot game for Aaron Rodgers is certainly there. We
We've had all his talking points. So it comes back
to the three options of all of this. He quits
and walks the earth like Kane and Kung Fu. He
stays in Green Bay. They come out to a deal,
(17:11):
and he likes the fact that they've got all this
young talent and maybe gives back a little bit of
money cap space, you know, for in terms of what
But there they have to give up. Is is bad,
but not insurmountable. But they have a number of free
including Aaron Jones. I've got to figure out what to
do with them. And then and then they trade him
(17:33):
off for for parts and draft picks, uh somewhere else,
whether it's a couple of firsts or players get involved
or whatever. But it would appear that the Jets, at
least by making this move today, are doing everything they can.
Doesn't mean they won't fire him tomorrow. I mean that
contract might not even be drying. Aaron's not coming see you.
(17:53):
But as we talked about is there and out do
we have it? Did you put that out clause? In
tell me you put that out clause in that three
day out clause that I can get out of this.
For said he had a line on Aaron Rodgers and
he was gonna be able to make this happen. He
did not, But that's not written anywhere. But uh, well,
we were in a one one party state, so I
was able to record it, so I hadn't. If you think, listen,
(18:16):
just just come back with me on this for a second.
If you really think Aaron Rodgers isn't getting traded, just
go back to the last couple of years where we
debated because Aaron Rodgers talked about him being unhappy, right,
and what have we got in the last two years.
Did we ever get a second from the Packers where
there was a story where they could be floating it
(18:37):
out there they could trade Aaron Rodgers. Was there ever
any talk from Aaron Rodgers that, hey, if I go
someplace else, this is what I would do. No, it's
just was he happy enough to stay? We never got
anything about a destination, about a trade. And now what
do we get on Tuesday? Packers Aaron Rodgers would be
traded to the a f C two first round picks.
The Jets are already very happily admitting they would pick that.
(19:00):
Rogers doesn't interview saying I'll wave my money and I'll
figure out my money if I'm gonna play next year
or someplace else. We didn't get any of that for
two years, and in a day on Tuesday, we got
all of those things. He's getting dealt. I mean, it's
it's happening. It's just gonna be. Let's make it work
and let's figure out the money. And they're working on
it right now. And Aaron Rodgers could wind up being
a jet as soon as it's possible, because they're not
(19:21):
gonna want to let this go and say, okay, let's
me know. They're gonna make it done as soon as possible.
The money will figure itself out. He's gonna be a
jet and that's where it's gonna be and make him
over the coals. Get every bit you possibly can out
of the New York Football Jet. I'll say, no, no, no,
no no, don't get anything you can because you want
to you wanna be you know, you want to be
able to win championships. Right If I'm Aaron Rodgers, hey,
(19:42):
I'm not telling them what to do, but I would say, listen,
let's figure out the money. Just pay me a million
dollar base salary. Take all that money, take all that cash,
get every day. If you're Green Bay, take it all.
Are you are bleeding them for everything you possibly can
do you want Aaron Rodgers, come get him. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven pm Pacific. Now,
(20:06):
we talked a little bit about Frank Wright getting getting hired.
In fact, that SIT's up there right now at Fox
Sports Radio. You can see it in its entirety awesome,
awesome stuff. We talked a little bit about Frank Wright
getting hired by the Panthers as their new head coach today.
At first, I want to say this, did you know
he was the first quarterback in Panthers history and through
the first touchdown? You would have never known that because
(20:28):
it was never anywhere on social media today? Can you
talk casious? Can you tell him be even wait wait, wait,
person to put that out there? Is this a Kershaw
and Stafford moment for you? Oh? Yeah yeah, school with him? Yeah?
And Ryan Fitzpatrick went to Harvard? Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know,
Frank Reich was the first croud through the first touchdown.
Here's a touchdown to Pete Metzelars. Okay, great, great, Everyone
(20:51):
talk about the greatness of Pete Metzelars while we're at it, though,
I got blundeoned with that today. You know, you through
the first touchdown and pets no, no but larst Metzel
with the two a's. No but Pete pretzel Arms. I
think he was a wrestler in the n w O
in the in the seventies, and Pete pretzel Arms he
(21:13):
had he had the big pretzel arm move where he
would get he would turn your arm and he would
keep headbutting you and that would be what you couldn't
move yourround look like a pretzel. Well, bit by bit
he would reshape it while the crowd wound and odd,
and then he would fold you up into a pretzel.
He would sprinkle salt on you and pick you up
and dip you in this huge cheese. Uh well, if
(21:34):
it was a barbed wire match, you had a bunch
of cuts, which means that salt was really going to
be a problem. Human pretzel, human pretzel. Uh So they
hire Frank Wright today and listen, I understand the outrage
people being upset that Steve Wilkes isn't getting a job,
isn't isn't getting the job because he took over a
team that looked like they were ready to tank and
(21:55):
it was just shepherd this team through to the end.
And instead Steve Wilkes knew this is my chan tow
re to to put myself on the map again to
potentially be a head coach, and he got them to
play hard. They got back in the race because the
division stunk, let's be honest, and they got to chance
the last couple of weeks of the season where they
were playing for the division, right, and so that's a
that's a pretty good come back. Now, they didn't didn't
(22:17):
play great, but they also traded away their best player
and they tried to make it work. And he did
a great job. And the best thing I can say
is that he's put himself back on the map to
be a head coach again. But the Panthers, this is
the thing. Offense, offense, offense, this is the way the
NFL is. You gotta have an offensive head coach. You
have to. And the Panthers the one thing they need
(22:38):
is an offensive head coach. They look at what the
Jaguars did last year by hiring Doug Peterson and saying, well,
look what he did. He's an offensive head coach. He
won the Super Bowl. Look where the Jaguars are now
with Trevor Lawrence. They knew they have the draft picks,
they're getting a quarterback. They need to get that right.
They needed an offensive head coach. This is not anything more.
If Steve Folks is an offensive head coach, I could say, Okay,
(23:00):
he should have gotten the job. But Frank Reich's an
offensive head coach. He knows what it's takes to build
a team. He's he's brought up quarterbacks before, he's brought
them to high levels that have never played well since.
So Frank Reich, Yeah, I get why they're hiring him.
He got fired in Indianapolis, and it was kind of
ridiculous that he lost his job at that point in
the season. But this is a guy that has a
proven offensive record, and you need an offensive head coach
(23:22):
if you're going to succeed, and you have a new
quarterback coming in, whoever it's gonna be, you kind of
had to go offense. So I get it with Frank Reich,
and I like them them bringing him in. So Scott
Fitterer is going to be able to select a quarterback
better than what they did a year ago, right, because
Frank Reich may find himself in the same damn position. Hey,
I got everybody else playing hard, this working. What's prop quarterback?
(23:50):
What's your quarterback? The song remains the same you did
the Jokers laugh Man. That was good with Harmon Harmon
hit that good. He had that what's your problem? Quarterback?
What's the bread quarterback? Sam Sam? Sam Sam's sides chair
chair but no. But look, but that's what it is.
They know they need to get this right. So let's
(24:12):
bring in a guy that has gotten it right before
and we can trust his track record. I mean really,
that's the way. If you're a defensive coach, you're coming
into head coaching job from a really difficult angle. It's
just an offensive time in the league. Now he'll get
it right. Ah, very nice. Coming up next, Boy, do
we have a story. We're gonna zig instead of zagging
(24:32):
on the Dallas Cowboys. Fox
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two a m Eastern seven to eleven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Fox
Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every night
on the I Heart Radio app by searching fs R.
(00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio The
Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon live
from the tirect dot Com studios tirect dot com. I'll
help you get there an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping,
free road hazard protection, over ten thousand recommended installers tirect
(00:44):
dot com the way tire buying should be. Well, we're
gonna be catching up with Jake Glazer coming up later
on this hour on the show, find out what he
has to say about Sean Payton, about the a C
n NFC title games, Aaron Rodgers to the Jets. But
one story I wanted to tell here because we we
we've been spending the last year is talking about the
(01:04):
life of Billy Packer. Uh passed away earlier today at
the age of eighty two. His son letting everybody know
on social media. Billy Packer was the soundtrack to the
n s A Tournament for thirty five years. I feel
like he did every single game. He would change locations.
He would be in the East region during the day,
he'd fly to the Southeast region at night. And you know,
we talked about his style and how it wasn't for
(01:28):
everybody and that he was someone who was I think
Mike Francesa had the best big line about him. Used
to say, Billy Packer would do games like with like
he had a red pen, right, like I'm looking to maker,
I'm looking at what guys are doing wrong, and I'm
saying what guys are doing wrong. And it was different, right,
you didn't have players being critical of of college kids
like that. And when he would broadcast a game, he
(01:49):
was very polarizing and you would talk about what Billy
Packer said during I can't believe Billy Packers said this,
And I was so glad when that got slightly. I mean,
he made the game more entertaining. And there's no better
Billy Packer moment. You go back and look at one
of the millions of n c A tournament moments that
that he broadcast. But remember back in in two thousand five,
(02:10):
one of the great buzzer beaters was Patrick Sparks of
Kentucky right against Michigan State. You've seen the video a
bunch of times where Kentucky is losing by three at
the end and they get like three threes in the
last eight seconds. In the final one was Patrick Sparks
who puts up this three and it bounces off the rim,
and it bounces off the rim again, and it bounces
off the rim a third time, and it rolls around
(02:31):
the top of the cylinder and it rolls through for
a three pointer sends the game to overtime. The crowd
goes crazy, right well, Patrick Sparks as a player that
Billy Packer was critical of in a previous game that
he broadcast. So after Patrick Sparks hits that three, he
goes over to the broadcast area where Billy Packer is
doing the game and he trash talks a little bits,
(02:52):
how do you like that? What do you think of that?
And and and this is a quintessential Billy Packer moment
right here he is, here's Patrick Sparks getting his revenge,
and what did Billy Packer do he put out his
hand for a high five and Patrick Sparks smack his
hand and then goes back and play. I mean a
legendary moment. And that's that's Billy Packer in one moment. Oh,
he piste off people so much by what he said.
(03:13):
And then the guy comes up, what does he do?
He high five as a kid after I mean that
that that's that's Billy Packer in one story. But that's
the thing, right, is that he stood out because he was,
I guess, for a lack of a better term, abrasive, right,
he was. He was a guy that was critical and
wanted the best game and best executed learnings and whatever
(03:34):
else out there. So he called it out when a
play failed, why it failed, and unfortunately that means names
were used to you know, the name names. He didn't
just talk in generalities, but he he had a good
way about him that the love of his of the
game came through, which is why he did it for
(03:54):
as long as he did at the highest of levels,
and why he was such a I mean, look at
all the as he worked with all the broadcast partners
through the years. Wasn't it just Jim nance did he
do every game with Jim Nance. Him to go back
to stuff with Musburger and whatever when he was studios things,
you know, so like he worked with a number of
these legends and obviously Jim Nance for a long while.
(04:18):
But it's it's just that idea of you know, different styles,
right some folks look at look at the NFL. Right
now people have decided they don't like Tony Romo anymore.
And it's it's the old rule of dumb. We love
it for eighteen to twenty four months and now we
don't anymore. Remember the Warriors were great. They were reinventing
the game. Damn it. They ruined the game with all
(04:40):
of their forty ft jump shots. Lillie Packer he was
the guy who, whether you loved him or hate him,
you tuned in because you knew you were gonna get
an honest call of a game. Yeah, and it's it's
you know he would. He was the kind of guy
that was as a broadcaster, he was ahead of his time.
Right now, you think about his whole career, like we
(05:01):
talked about some of the times he got in hot
water for saying things off the air, and and now
he would be a lightning rod now if he if
he was on the air, but as a broadcaster, he
was ahead of his time because he was that first
guy that would criticize college kids. Because I remember even
starting out on the radio when I was starting my
career in the early two thousands, even when I was
at ESPN, it was really difficult. You didn't really hear
(05:25):
a lot of criticism of college athletes, right, you didn't
hear it. You just didn't in college basketball, you know everything. Yeah, yeah,
and all the criticism was the coaches. That was who
got all the guy in the position to make a
play they could do the other This coach sucks, This
coach did this, but the player, uh, you know, he
(05:47):
should have been better. You just never got that. You
never got it because it was kind of this this
unspoken thing. I you don't want to criticize kids. It's
a bunch of kids. But Billy Packer, you know, saw
it as this is a multibillion dollar or industry. These
kids are coming. You know, he knows the kids are
getting money, and you know that it's it's where you know,
they're getting scholarships and there they have a pretty good life. Okay,
(06:08):
so yeah, if this kid's not playing well, Um, yeah,
that's what you would say, and that's what I would
say it. And he was unapologetic for it, and it's
what made him so divisive. I remember Syracuse game before
I even graduated college, when Billy Packer would do a
lot because look, all Syracuse games in the early nineties
were all big deals, the Big East games against Georgetown
and Yukon. You know, Syracuse are sending guys at the
(06:29):
NBA all the time, right. It was the end of
the Derek colemanera. I mean to Sherman Douglas and and
and Ronnie Psychli and all those guys, and he would
come do the games and he did a lot of
with Musburger because that was the pairing before Musburger got
fired from CBS. And I remember that, you know, just
even even fans, even students, just yelling stuff at Billy
(06:50):
Packer and putting up signs for Billy Packer, like more
so than like you go to a game, any other
game besides Georgetown, you get all these signs up for
you know, negative signs for the other team and all
these kinds of crap, and there'd be signs up for
Billy Packer. Billy Packer, you did Bubba, and they would
have to make him take the signs down, and it
was he was kind of like the traveling rock star show.
He's he was almost like if I if I can,
(07:12):
if I can convey this the right. He was almost
like a college basketball but a little bit different version
of Charles Barkley. That's kind of what it was like,
where he would say things that would ruffle you, but
you know, he's coming at it with the expertise, and
a lot of times he got out of bounds with
what he said and he had to walk it back
and he had to say things like, Okay, I shouldn't
have said that, and there's you know, honestly, there were
(07:33):
too many times in his career he had to do that,
but but he still went back to it. The same
thing with Barkley. Barkley's you know, you speak for a
living and you speak all the time and you say things.
Barkley's always like, Hey, I should have walked this back.
I should have said this. I didn't mean to say this.
So Barkley has done that in the past too, But
that's kind of what Billy Packer was like. He's kind
of a little bit different version of Barkley And if
he would, if Billy Packer's career was now, he would
(07:53):
be the Barkley of of college basketball. And that's what
he would be, and he would have a lot of
attention every game he did. This is a Billy Hacker game.
What's he gonna say. He's gonna say, He's gonna say
that Joe Girard sucks, and he's gonna say that Judah
Mintz is overrated, and Jim Bay Jimmy's gotta walk away
at something. You know, he'd be saying all these things
that Billy Packer on the broadcast. That's kind of who
(08:14):
he would be right now. Yeah, I'll put it this way. Yeah,
I just as I'm refreshing my timeline and and we're
watching the NBA game and everything and and and thinking
about Billy Packer in his history. The tweet from Dick
Vital comes out so sad to learn of the passing
of Billy Packer had such a passion for college basketball.
My prayers go out to Billy's son, Mark and the
(08:35):
entire Packer family always had great respect for Billy and
his partners Dick Edinburgh al McGuire. They were super May
Billy rest in peace. And I would I think categorize
Billy Packer from an observational standpoint, right You're you're looking
at who he is and how he called games. Dick
Vital has always been seen as the audabashed cheerleader for
(08:59):
college sports, in college basketball right to where it's let's
get the crowd fired up. And Packer was doing the
same thing just through a different lens, right, Not that
Vital can't be instructional at times, but mostly he's a
cheerleader and hyping the best uh and and the big
moments of games and coaching decisions and stuff. Packard did
(09:22):
the thing with the the criticisms, whether you liked it
or not. And I think the two of them in
tandem form, you know, the the whole of our our
basketball watching broadcasting experience, certainly from my childhood and all
the way through to today with with Dick Vital. Really,
I mean, you know, I mentioned to you a few
(09:45):
minutes ago about all the different highlights you're gonna see
on the internet tonight from college basketball, and it's all
gonna be Billy Packer, and what Billy Packer has said
about games. You're gonna see a thousand big games, and
Billy Packer is going to be part of him. Right.
One of his big calls, Arizona won the national title.
Miles Simon when he says, Simon says championship. Uh, you
(10:05):
have Arkansas winning the n c A title in the nineties.
There were forty minutes of hell. Uh, it looked there's
so many of them. Right to Kansas in the Final
four against North Carolina when they got out to that
forty five to three lead a few years ago. I mean,
you see all of these, but here's here's just to
give you a glimpse of exactly what Billy Packer was
like and how many, how long he was around, and
(10:26):
how important he was college basketball. I'm looked. I looked
at a highlight a couple of minutes ago of Billy
Packer doing an interview with Bobby Knight from nineteen seventy
from the Final four in nineteen seventy six, Right is
when Bobby Knight went undefeated. Right, won the national championship.
Because Billy Packard did the Final four. Then he did
the final four, so I'm watching he didn't. Here's an
interview with him after calling the game, likely with his
(10:49):
broadcast partner in nineteen seventy six. And then I just
watch a highlight of him calling Steph Curry's forty point
game in the n C eight Tournament in two thousand
and eight. I mean, think about that. Bobby Knight in
seventies six and Steph Curry in two thousands. That's how
long the guy did. The n C Tournament four, that's all.
It's insane to think about. That's only go no, no, wait,
(11:10):
wait wait, yes be a nineteen seventy six final four
two thousand eight run for Steph Curry and Davidson. That
blows my mind that he did that amazing staying, power,
longevity and always got tongues wagging, and certainly within institutions,
don't tell me they didn't watch the tape and try
to uh evaluate self scout uh and help guys get
(11:33):
through things as well. So keen I and and a
tongue that uh well got him in trouble at times
but certainly made watching a game on educational and entertaining
experience Twitter. And how about a Fresca Mike gets swollen
dome the Jason Smith's with Mike Carmen, Billy Packer passing
away at the age of eighty two, and again all
the highlights of Billy Packer's career right North Carolina State
(11:57):
the Lorenzo Charles Dunk I mean, I mean, there's thousands
of them. There's thousands and thousands of highlights of what
he called. It's it's really I mean, you talk about
a volume of work for a guy. We talk about
it for guys like Vince Scully, uh and what he
was able to do so many, so many highlights, so
many games, NFL, you know, Major League Baseball. It really
(12:19):
is that kind of a thing for the n C
A tournament for Billy Packer. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays
at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the I Heart Radio app Fox Sports Radio.
The Jason Smith Show with My best Friend Mike Harmon,
Pop Quiz Harmon More Shocking result tonight, the Nick's going
(12:43):
on the road and beating the Celtics in overtime, or
the Pistons going on the road and beating the Nets.
Let's go Bigger, Bigger surprise tonight. Which is it? Which
is it? Well, I know all the guys from the
Celtics played. Did all the guys from the Nets? Wow?
Well Kyrie had forty and he and Ben Simmons combined
(13:03):
for forty exit. Wow, that's okay. Hey, Ben Simmons actually
hit a couple of shots yesterday. Has a lot a
lot of shock and awe, and all the back and
forth between him, beat and Durant on social media was fantastic. Yeah,
it was kind of fun. It was kind of fun.
But you see the nets, man, it was like, hey,
the nets are great, look at the nets. Look now
(13:25):
they're winning. Now look and what do I always say
about the nets? Way two weeks? Wait till you think
the nets are great? Way two weeks? It's just look
at look at poor Zingis. He's playing at way two weeks.
Way two weeks, and he'll either stopped playing or something
happens or he gets hurt. All the nets, you way
two weeks, something will happen, they'll stop playing, someone will
get hurt. It's what it is. Oh, it's great, it's great.
I've had a great three weeks. Yeah, okay, okay, it's
(13:46):
been three weeks. It's it's a summer. Had twenty four though.
Off the bench, did you just say Luell Cinder had
twenty off the No. I was gonna say Gordon Sumner,
but it was because then I can start singing synchronicity too.
Stop call the police. Gordon Sumner had twenty off the
bench tonight for Brooklyn. The Pistons had eight guys in
(14:09):
double figures, eight of the nine players that played tonight. Man,
I'll tell you that is something. Hey, but yeah, hey,
if you need to know one thing from the show tonight, no,
just this was the biggest win of the season by
a team in the NBA, the Knicks with their victory
over the Celtics. We'll see. I was getting all sucked
into the fact that Luca had to leave with an injuries, okay,
(14:32):
but not returning tonight, first scoreless game of his career. Yeah,
I think about that suddenly all the you know, remember
the le Bronze streak of all the games he had
with at least ten points, and it's oh that that
breaks that for Luca now, lucas look. Big stuff going
on in the NFL as the Jets higher Nathaniel Hackett
as their offensive coordinator. Exciting, exciting because this means Aaron
(14:55):
Rodgers is on the way if you think it doesn't,
I mean, come on, you can't. You can't. You can't
see that. What they said in Denver last year, though,
well they'd say, they said, what they're getting Aaron, right,
Well they got Russell Wilson instead. Now I think about this,
if they could do that over again, would they rather
have Oh, I know, if you're gonna give up that
(15:17):
kind of draft capital, yes, But Jason, if you think
Aaron Rodgers isn't the same guy, who are you so excited?
Have you seen our quarterback play this year? Have you
seen it? If we just if we Zack Wilson was
like the thirty second rated quarterback in the NFL this year, Right,
that's what it was. If we had had And I'm
just gonna go out if I we had I'm gonna
(15:38):
say this, if we had of the starting quarterbacks in
the NFL, the twenty five highest rated passer, the Jets
are probably still playing in there in the conference championship
game and they I'll throw it out there, the twenty
five rated passer in the game. Let me let me,
let me look up. Who was is Austin fields rated
(16:02):
passer playing and playing more games? If the Jets had
justin fields and his seventeen touchdowns and his thousand yards rushing.
Uh yeah, the Jets are still playing you down. Just
to remember, with the Denver Broncos and the Russell Wilson experiment,
Nathaniel Hackett probably wouldn't have looked nearly as bad. No,
(16:26):
just say it. If there wasn't for Gene, no, Gene no,
if they just had they'd had a terrible season, then
it's like, all right, you made the trade, now you build.
But instead your season sucked and the Seahawks made the
playoffs behind Gino, which means that magnifying glass really showed
us all of the imperfections at a whole other level.
(16:49):
And Denver runs him out of town. But yeah, the
connected dot game for Aaron Rodgers is certainly there. We
We've had all his talking points. So it comes back
to the three options of all of this. He quits
and walks the earth like Kane and Kung Fu. He
stays in Green Bay. They come out to a deal,
(17:11):
and he likes the fact that they've got all this
young talent and maybe gives back a little bit of
money cap space, you know, for in terms of what
But there they have to give up. Is is bad,
but not insurmountable. But they have a number of free
including Aaron Jones. I've got to figure out what to
do with them. And then and then they trade him
(17:33):
off for for parts and draft picks, uh somewhere else,
whether it's a couple of firsts or players get involved
or whatever. But it would appear that the Jets, at
least by making this move today, are doing everything they can.
Doesn't mean they won't fire him tomorrow. I mean that
contract might not even be drying. Aaron's not coming see you.
(17:53):
But as we talked about is there and out do
we have it? Did you put that out clause? In
tell me you put that out clause in that three
day out clause that I can get out of this.
For said he had a line on Aaron Rodgers and
he was gonna be able to make this happen. He
did not, But that's not written anywhere. But uh, well,
we were in a one one party state, so I
was able to record it, so I hadn't. If you think, listen,
(18:16):
just just come back with me on this for a second.
If you really think Aaron Rodgers isn't getting traded, just
go back to the last couple of years where we
debated because Aaron Rodgers talked about him being unhappy, right,
and what have we got in the last two years.
Did we ever get a second from the Packers where
there was a story where they could be floating it
(18:37):
out there they could trade Aaron Rodgers. Was there ever
any talk from Aaron Rodgers that, hey, if I go
someplace else, this is what I would do. No, it's
just was he happy enough to stay? We never got
anything about a destination, about a trade. And now what
do we get on Tuesday? Packers Aaron Rodgers would be
traded to the a f C two first round picks.
The Jets are already very happily admitting they would pick that.
(19:00):
Rogers doesn't interview saying I'll wave my money and I'll
figure out my money if I'm gonna play next year
or someplace else. We didn't get any of that for
two years, and in a day on Tuesday, we got
all of those things. He's getting dealt. I mean, it's
it's happening. It's just gonna be. Let's make it work
and let's figure out the money. And they're working on
it right now. And Aaron Rodgers could wind up being
a jet as soon as it's possible, because they're not
(19:21):
gonna want to let this go and say, okay, let's
me know. They're gonna make it done as soon as possible.
The money will figure itself out. He's gonna be a
jet and that's where it's gonna be and make him
over the coals. Get every bit you possibly can out
of the New York Football Jet. I'll say, no, no, no,
no no, don't get anything you can because you want
to you wanna be you know, you want to be
able to win championships. Right If I'm Aaron Rodgers, hey,
(19:42):
I'm not telling them what to do, but I would say, listen,
let's figure out the money. Just pay me a million
dollar base salary. Take all that money, take all that cash,
get every day. If you're Green Bay, take it all.
Are you are bleeding them for everything you possibly can
do you want Aaron Rodgers, come get him. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven pm Pacific. Now,
(20:06):
we talked a little bit about Frank Wright getting getting hired.
In fact, that SIT's up there right now at Fox
Sports Radio. You can see it in its entirety awesome,
awesome stuff. We talked a little bit about Frank Wright
getting hired by the Panthers as their new head coach today.
At first, I want to say this, did you know
he was the first quarterback in Panthers history and through
the first touchdown? You would have never known that because
(20:28):
it was never anywhere on social media today? Can you
talk casious? Can you tell him be even wait wait, wait,
person to put that out there? Is this a Kershaw
and Stafford moment for you? Oh? Yeah yeah, school with him? Yeah?
And Ryan Fitzpatrick went to Harvard? Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know,
Frank Reich was the first croud through the first touchdown.
Here's a touchdown to Pete Metzelars. Okay, great, great, Everyone
(20:51):
talk about the greatness of Pete Metzelars while we're at it, though,
I got blundeoned with that today. You know, you through
the first touchdown and pets no, no but larst Metzel
with the two a's. No but Pete pretzel Arms. I
think he was a wrestler in the n w O
in the in the seventies, and Pete pretzel Arms he
(21:13):
had he had the big pretzel arm move where he
would get he would turn your arm and he would
keep headbutting you and that would be what you couldn't
move yourround look like a pretzel. Well, bit by bit
he would reshape it while the crowd wound and odd,
and then he would fold you up into a pretzel.
He would sprinkle salt on you and pick you up
and dip you in this huge cheese. Uh well, if
(21:34):
it was a barbed wire match, you had a bunch
of cuts, which means that salt was really going to
be a problem. Human pretzel, human pretzel. Uh So they
hire Frank Wright today and listen, I understand the outrage
people being upset that Steve Wilkes isn't getting a job,
isn't isn't getting the job because he took over a
team that looked like they were ready to tank and
(21:55):
it was just shepherd this team through to the end.
And instead Steve Wilkes knew this is my chan tow
re to to put myself on the map again to
potentially be a head coach, and he got them to
play hard. They got back in the race because the
division stunk, let's be honest, and they got to chance
the last couple of weeks of the season where they
were playing for the division, right, and so that's a
that's a pretty good come back. Now, they didn't didn't
(22:17):
play great, but they also traded away their best player
and they tried to make it work. And he did
a great job. And the best thing I can say
is that he's put himself back on the map to
be a head coach again. But the Panthers, this is
the thing. Offense, offense, offense, this is the way the
NFL is. You gotta have an offensive head coach. You
have to. And the Panthers the one thing they need
(22:38):
is an offensive head coach. They look at what the
Jaguars did last year by hiring Doug Peterson and saying, well,
look what he did. He's an offensive head coach. He
won the Super Bowl. Look where the Jaguars are now
with Trevor Lawrence. They knew they have the draft picks,
they're getting a quarterback. They need to get that right.
They needed an offensive head coach. This is not anything more.
If Steve Folks is an offensive head coach, I could say, Okay,
(23:00):
he should have gotten the job. But Frank Reich's an
offensive head coach. He knows what it's takes to build
a team. He's he's brought up quarterbacks before, he's brought
them to high levels that have never played well since.
So Frank Reich, Yeah, I get why they're hiring him.
He got fired in Indianapolis, and it was kind of
ridiculous that he lost his job at that point in
the season. But this is a guy that has a
proven offensive record, and you need an offensive head coach
(23:22):
if you're going to succeed, and you have a new
quarterback coming in, whoever it's gonna be, you kind of
had to go offense. So I get it with Frank Reich,
and I like them them bringing him in. So Scott
Fitterer is going to be able to select a quarterback
better than what they did a year ago, right, because
Frank Reich may find himself in the same damn position. Hey,
I got everybody else playing hard, this working. What's prop quarterback?
(23:50):
What's your quarterback? The song remains the same you did
the Jokers laugh Man. That was good with Harmon Harmon
hit that good. He had that what's your problem? Quarterback?
What's the bread quarterback? Sam Sam? Sam Sam's sides chair
chair but no. But look, but that's what it is.
They know they need to get this right. So let's
(24:12):
bring in a guy that has gotten it right before
and we can trust his track record. I mean really,
that's the way. If you're a defensive coach, you're coming
into head coaching job from a really difficult angle. It's
just an offensive time in the league. Now he'll get
it right. Ah, very nice. Coming up next, Boy, do
we have a story. We're gonna zig instead of zagging
(24:32):
on the Dallas Cowboys. Fox
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
Popular Podcasts
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.