Fun article about Bill Raftery ...

[cto]

We don't realize how hard some of these announcers work. Mike Tirico and Sean McDonough are also always doing their homework for upcoming games.

Hoop Thoughts: Why is Bill Raftery still grinding? What's the matter with Kansas?

Raftery will turn 80 in April but is still doing 2-3 games a week. "All I know is I’m having an awful lot of fun.”

theathletic.com

 

[Ragman2000]

We don't realize how hard some of these announcers work. Mike Tirico and Sean McDonough are also always doing their homework for upcoming games.

Hoop Thoughts: Why is Bill Raftery still grinding? What's the matter with Kansas?

Raftery will turn 80 in April but is still doing 2-3 games a week. "All I know is I’m having an awful lot of fun.”

theathletic.com

Great article. He's the best in the business. Thanks for posting. His call of some of our best games in the BET are etched in my mind.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

We don't realize how hard some of these announcers work. Mike Tirico and Sean McDonough are also always doing their homework for upcoming games.

Hoop Thoughts: Why is Bill Raftery still grinding? What's the matter with Kansas?

Raftery will turn 80 in April but is still doing 2-3 games a week. "All I know is I’m having an awful lot of fun.”

theathletic.com

Raf's great. I attended a wedding once that he was also a guest at. Needless to say, he had a good time, so much so that when we were hanging out at the hotel lobby afterwards, his wife wouldn't allow him to go to the hotel bar.

 

[bballbeadle]

Wow, 80 and still working hard! What a guy!

 

[Cheriehoop]

I found the statement below from Seth Davis in his Atlantic article about Raftery, funny, The timing is pretty ironic considering the current thread about assistants becoming head coaches on this board.

• “I’ve said it before, but I want to say it again, because I can’t say it enough: Jerome Tang’s success at Kansas State, on the heels of Tommy Lloyd’s success at Arizona, is further proof that longtime assistant coaches at high-level programs are more than capable of becoming power conference head coaches. So many athletic directors want to “win the press conference” by hiring guys who have head coaching experience. Isn’t it more important to win the league? There are plenty of examples of current assistants who are prepared to follow suit — UCLA’s Darren Savino and Houston’s Kellen Sampson come to mind — and I’ll be looking to highlight them in the coming weeks as we get closer to the coaching carousel. But keep that in mind as Tang and the Wildcats continue to write their remarkable script.”