Hold the presses! Oh, wait a minute. They don’t scream that any more, do they?
Breaking news! Maybe you just got an alert on your phone or tablet that The Big Lead is reporting that former UConn coach Jim Calhoun is going to join ESPN’s college basketball coverage. Plans are fluid, the story reports. Yes, indeed.
This merger between Calhoun and ESPN has been floating around for months. The speculation may or may not have been written before. Maybe it will become official soon. It doesn’t really come as a surprise, does it? Calhoun has done some broadcast work since retiring. Quite frankly and quite honestly (to use one of Calhoun’s old phrases), I think it is a magnificent idea. Nobody does a better job analyzing a game than Calhoun. When he took over at UConn in 1985, I was amazed at his ability to break down a game immediately in the postgame press conference. I had never been around a coach who did it the way Calhoun did it.
Maybe that is why he won and won – all the way to the Hall of Fame.
I hope it works out for Jim. This is a great way to keep him in the game.
ESPN will have only one problem. People outside of New England will have a difficult time understanding Calhoun’s Boston accent. He still has it. Always will have it. This may signal the end of the bottom line on ESPN. Instead of scores scrolling on your screen, if Calhoun is working there will have to be subtitles.
I kid, but only because I can. Seriously, remember the flood of stories last March that Calhoun was going to interview for the Boston College job. That started with a typical Calhoun interview, where he didn’t answer a question clearly. Maybe he didn’t hear the question that well during a game in a noisy arena. And then everyone heard what they wanted to hear from Calhoun.
CALHOUN WANTS BC JOB . . . WILL CALHOUN LEAVE HUSKIES FOR THE ENEMY?
That confusion started on ESPN. Here’s what I wrote on March 21, 2014 regarding Calhoun and BC.
Trust me.
And roll the subtitles.
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