Say It Ain't So

The NCAA tournament is changing again. Only this time it has nothing to do with the number of teams in the tourney. Gus Johnson will no longer be a play by play announcer for CBS, ending his 16 year run of calling NCAA tournament games. Gus and CBS could not agree on a new contract today, ending my dream of Gus replacing Jim Nantz calling the Final Four someday. Gus made watching the tournament games exciting as it always seemed he called all the nail biting finishes.



Hence the creation of the "Law of Gus." In his first year of calling the tournament, he was the announcer for the upset of #4 seed UCLA (the defending champs) by the hands of #13 seed Princeton. From that point on, the legend of Gus was created. Other noteable games that Gus has called during his tenure of the tournament include Vermont beating Syracuse in 2005, Ohio St.'s comeback versus Xaiver in 2007, Kansas St and Xaiver's epic double overtime game in 2010, and the famous UCLA comeback versus Gonzaga in the 2006 tourney.

March won't feel the same next year. The "Law of Gus" is no longer with us for the tournament. I am already disappointed (and I know that the fellow writers of this blog are as well) to know that Gus will no longer be with us in March with our brackets, highlighters, and shamrock shakes to call the tournament games. I hope someday that Gus will be back, and all will be alright in the world. I'll leave you all with this Gus tribute to help remember the epic moments from Gus.