Grinds My Gears...

As Chet Steadman just pointed out, this NCAA Tournament has been awesome. From Jay Bilas saying VCU doesn't pass the "laugh test" when the brackets came out to Butler making my wallet lighter three games in a row, this tournament is creating memories with each passing game. With that being said, there is one thing that has been grinding my gears... Who the hell thought it was a good idea to add Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller to the CBS coverage of this tournament? First off, I will say that Kenny Smith hasn't done that bad of a job and if anything, he is guilty by association. He seems as if he has done his research and isn't above covering basketball players that probably won't be able to achieve the same amount of personal success that he did by making it to the NBA. With that being said, Barkley has been awful and at times watching him looks like someone is paying him to watch P90X infomercials. Just disinterested and horrendous. At one point during half-time of a game he kept repeating "the better team is going to win" and was saying it as if he just discovered the key to John Wooden's success. Even my slam piece was dumbfounded and said, "Obviously. This guy sounds like a moron. " With that being said, I'm not really sure what CBS expected from Barkley because this is how he always has been since he began covering NBA games for TNT. And I did love the moment when he called the Big East the "Little Big East" and proceeded to rip the conference to Rick Pitino's face coming off of their first round upset to Morehead State.

My real beef comes with adding Reggie Miller to the dream team of Gus Johnson and Len Elmore. I'm just dumbfounded on why you would change something that had achieved near perfection and more importantly hamstring Gus Johnson, who by all accounts, has become synonymous with everything that is awesome about the NCAA Tournament. The man has his own sound board for the love of God (look to the top, right side of this website). There is no denying that at times Gus can go too far with his outrageous claims but Len Elmore was the perfect partner who was able to work with Gus and offer his perspective and analysis as a former All-American player. The addition of a third person has added an undeniable tension amongst the three and has left Gus seemingly flustered and providing us with more head scratching comments and less memorable quotes. Look no farther than when Gus asked if BYU should foul Florida at the end of regulation when the game was tied and Florida was holding for the last shot. Wait what? Fortunately Len and Reggie more or less said "No" and quickly moved on, hoping all of America missed Gus' question. Another example of the tension that exists came when Reggie was arguing with Len about playing post defense. I'll post the transcript below but take in mind that Len made a living playing in the post and Reggie, well he is Reggie Miller...

ELMORE: These are the kinds of fouls that drive a coach nuts. (Replay shows). You got good position right here, now watch him put his hand around his back right here ...

MILLER (interrupting): Oh, come on.

ELMORE: You can't do it.

MILLER: Come on.

ELMORE: You can't do it. You got to call what you see.

MILLER: Come on now Len.

ELMORE: You sit down, spread out, put him on your back. You don't need to reach around like that.

MILLER: That's not a hook. That's him getting position

ELMORE: But that's him putting his hand behind a guy's back.

GUS JOHNSON (interrupting): According to John Adams, a foul is a foul. You call what you see.

ELMORE (repeating): You call what you see.

REGGIE (a few seconds later): Let these kids play. Let them play. Let them decide.

ELMORE: Let them play fundamentally-sound though. That's not fundamentally sound.

This wasn't the only time there was tension in this game, let alone through out the entire tournament. Wondering if others have noticed, I found one commentator saying, "Pairing Gus Johnson with Reggie Miller is like pairing the Mona Lisa with an orange can of paint" and another saying, "This booth is the broadcast equivalent of a Lebron-Joel Anthony pick-and-roll." It'll be interesting to see if CBS is going to make any changes for the next three games because going forward the moments are only going to get bigger and I think we can all admit they will only be made better with the old Len and Gus back in the booth while Reggie disappears back behind Cheryl's shadow were he belongs. Rise and Fire.

And that's what Grinds My Gears.