Bill Raftery: APPROVE APPROVE APPROVE

Over at Deadspin they do sporadic "Media Approval Ratings"--today's is Bill Raftery. Bill Raftery is the best basketball broadcaster ever. I used to listen to him a ton when I lived in New York--he did color for the Nets games, and was tremendous.

But my favorite Raftery moment--and maybe outside of a few Dave Niehaus calls, my favorite announcer moment ever, is this:

A couple of years ago, Raftery is paired with Gus Johnson, doing the Gonzaga/Okla. St. game at Key Arena. Adam Morrison banks in a 20-footer over two defenders to win the game, Gus Johnson of course goes completely nuts, and so does Raftery...and after about 10 seconds of emoting, Raftery makes this sound like "eee-unngh!" as if he just came (which he may well might have).

Here's the video--Raftery's sound comes at about the :29 mark.



Then after: "When you're Sleepless in Seattle, why not get...a little...KISS! MAJOR ONIONS!"

The thing I love about Raftery is that he clearly just LOVES basketball. And that enthusiasm comes through...while Billy Packer, half the time, seems only to tolerate basketball as something that's beneath his vast intellect. Raftery is unabashedly happy to be at the game, which is awesome.