Gus Johnson, con't....
Gus Johnson happened to be standing off in a corner of Pauley Pavilion the other night prior to the UCLA-Stanford contest – the first time he’d ever set foot in the fabled arena – and gazed up at the scoreboard video monitor as it rattled off some of the great moments in Bruins' basketball history.
It finally came up to a clip of the UCLA-Gonzaga contest in 2006 as the Bruins completed a comeback from a 17-point deficit to win a game that left Adam Morrison in tears. Johnson’s call went with the clip:
"Unbelieveable! .... Are you kidding me!? After being down by 17 ... heartbreak city! ... 2.6 seconds to go ... And UCLA has climbed the mountain!”
The last line, which, as has become customary, was repeated loudly by everyone in the Bruins’ student section.
“To stand there and hear that, for my first time in that building . . . wow, pretty cool,” Johnson admitted the other day.
As we expand on some of the madness from today's media column as it relates to this annual madhouse of college basketball interest, here are some the stuff you can find on YouTube.com that's related to Gus Johnson and his history in the NCAA tournament:
=A 4 1/2 minute clip of his 2007 work on the tournament -- albeit appreviated -- called "Gus Johnson Rise & Fire: Best of '07" (can't be embedded because of CBS restrictions)
=A 6 minute clip from the last 40.8 seconds of the 2006 UCLA-Gonzaga contest:
=Or, a 20-second version of the same game, replaying the final missed Gonzaga shot, with a quip from Greg Gumbel in the studio:
=A 9-plus minute recap of Princeton's 43-41 victory over defending champion UCLA in the 1996 tournament:
=Or a 3 minute clip produced by CBS of that game, with Johnson describing how it went down:
=And from Johnson's own website, a link to his $1.99 phone message downloads called "Gustones," where he's managed to call a winning moment in every college or pro team's history -- recreated, of course, and completely made up -- but something you may be willing to add on as an accessory, just for the heck of it... He also has one calling for the election of Barack Obama for president (just 99 cents) ... co-produced by Big Fish Media out in Valley Village.
A few more Qs and As with Johnson:
On what his approach is to doing a game:
"I try to look at it with fresh eyes. I don't pay attention to what happened last year. I'm not a big guy into the seedings and who's going where and all that stuff. I like to show up and watch the practices and get my boards done and then put my notes together on the game and sit down."
On the legacy he's had in calling so many upsets:
“These kids, whether they win or lose, will watch tapes of these games for the rest of their lives; they’ll be family treasures. For them to say we paid attention to their team, no matter how big or small, we had the same energy and enthusiasm. That’s important to me.”
On the 1996 Princeton upset over UCLA, in Johnson's first year of doing NCAA games for CBS:
"I'd love to write a book on that game. To me, that's the greatest game I've ever called. It was my first year, I'm just trying not to embarass myself. I understood this was the NCAA Tournament, but not really, you know? I didn't understand how these moments are really time capsules.
"I've never gone back and watched that game, or any of the games I've called. Just seen some clips. It's funny to me to hear my voice and watch myself. I get too critical of myown stuff. Maybe that's just me.
"I just think Princeton, a bunch of kids from the Ivy League, didn't realize how big a game that was beating the defending national champions. On that day, everyone on the court for Princeton individually and collectively played the best game of their lives. And you could see (coach Pete) Carrill's face get redder and redder, ripping his hair out as his career was winding down. And I remember the UCLA fans, they had this great energy and enthusiasm. Not that they wanted to see their team lose, but they understood the significance of the Princeton victory."
On the 2006 UCLA win over Gonzaga:
"That was something. I still don't know how they came back. All the sudden, there's Jordan Farmar stealing the ball and he passes it to -- I called him 'the freshman' because I didn't want to screw up his name (Luc Richard Mbah a Moute)."
On the Pac-10's success this year:
"Man, to live out there and call Pac-10 games this year... The Pac-10 is quietly arrogant, which I like. They'll tell you in a whisper, 'The most pros over the last few years have come out of the Pac-10.' Us East Coast guys celebrate things here (in the East) as if our country never manifested its destiny, like there's no West. You've got UCLA, USC, Arizona State playing well, Stanford with two 7-foot lottery picks, the Arizona kid who's a lottery pick. O.J. Mayo is a five-year NBA veteran playing freshman in college. Kevin Love is so rugged and enthusiastic -- just wait until he has an NBA body. Give Collison one more year and he'll be a killer. And Westbrook .. .what an athlete. The Pac-10 is like watching pro basketball but with a West Coast feel."
On the ringtones he has available on his website:
"Maybe today's kids are too cool to put them on their phones, or think its a stupid thing. It's something we're trying. We have a call for every school -- some teams you can't fake. My alma mater, Howard, isn't going to win any titles, so there's no suspension of disbelief there. It's been a great experience in pulling this together. We're having a lot of fun with it."
Johnson's biographical highlights:
==Called CBS' HDTV broadcasts of the 2000, 2001 and 2002 Final Four and Championship games.
==With CBS has called the NFL, college football, track and field, boxing, the Hambletonian and bobsled/luge at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games.
==Called play-by-play for the WNBA's New York Liberty, the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves, Big East Basketball on the Big East Network, college basketball on ESPN and Canadian Football League games for ESPN2.
==Was the weekend anchor for WTTG-TV in Washington, D.C. (1991-92).
==Graduated from Howard University with a degree in political science. He lives in New York City and has one son, Che, who'll turn 5 next month.