Packer, Tompkins Both Get Caught Up in All the Madness

Billy Packer, one-time assistant basketball coach at Wake Forest, has taken some heat recently for being too quick to defend those in his former profession.

So have Dick Vitale, Al McGuire and a few others who long ago decided it’s easier to talk about college basketball than coach it.

In this week’s Sports Illustrated, there is a piece by William Reed that is critical of this group of network commentators for, among other things, siding with Jim Valvano.

“Billy Reed is an excellent writer and a knowledgeable basketball man,” Packer said from his home in Advance, N.C., near Winston-Salem. “But he hasn’t been paying attention.

“I’ve been very critical of Valvano, mainly for not being focused on his job, which is coaching North Carolina State basketball.

“The thing I have trouble with is Valvano being tied to an alleged point-shaving scandal. History shows the coach is the last to know.

“And besides, Charles Shackleford has denied the charge, and nobody has been able to prove otherwise. Last time I checked, Charles Shackleford was still playing in the NBA, and the NBA would suspend him for life if it was known he was involved in point shaving.”

In the magazine article, Packer is quoted as saying that when he was at Wake Forest, he altered a high school transcript so a player would be eligible.

“That’s one thing I didn’t appreciate,” Packer said. “That was a rehash of an old story.

“Years ago, I made a speech at Williamsburg, Va., and the player, Dick Walker, was in the audience. It was all a joke. I was just setting up a punch line. But some writer from Greensboro took it seriously and wrote it that way.”

Barry Tompkins is another announcer who was not too pleased about a recent article. This one appeared in the Atlanta Journal and had Tompkins saying of Nevada Las Vegas:

“They play like thugs. They have a lot of guys you wouldn’t want to bring home unless everything is bolted down.”

Tompkins, reached in Hawaii, where he was on vacation, said: “I remember doing the interview a few weeks ago, but I don’t remember saying that. And if I said something like that, I was just kidding around. But it wasn’t written that way.

“It’s not my style to be malicious. Sure, I’m not nuts about their program--there’s not a lot of Rhodes scholars on that team--but I do admire Jerry Tarkanian.

“He really takes care of his kids after they’re done with school, helping them find jobs and stuff like that.

“There’s a million former UNLV players working in Vegas casinos, jobs arranged by Tarkanian.

“Anyway, I sent a note of apology to Tarkanian. I felt pretty bad about it.”

Packer, who will work the Final Four alongside CBS colleague Brent Musburger, is, like most experts, picking UNLV to win it all.

“UNLV is the best team,” he said before leaving for Denver. “But if their perimeter shooting goes on the blink, they could be in trouble.”

Packer sees weaknesses in the other three teams as well.

“Georgia Tech has a short bench,” he said, which may be understating it.

Three players scoring 89 of 93 points, which was the case against Minnesota Sunday, isn’t exactly depth.

“Duke has played sporadically, and I think Arkansas is too young,” Packer said. “I figured Arkansas was a year away from the Final Four.”

Packer and Vitale have been outspoken advocates of reforms in college basketball.

While Vitale believes television money should be divided equally among all Division I schools, Packer says, “That would be pretty tough to get approved. I think a more realistic plan is to put a cap on what a team would get for going to the Final Four, then divide up what’s left.

“You have to provide some incentive.”

While Vitale says players should be paid a stipend of $150 to $200 a month--”I call it pride money, so a kid can afford to pay his own way when he goes out”--Packer says, “I think paying players would create all kinds of problems.”

Recommended viewing: If you’re sick and tired of the state of baseball--with the huge salaries, the greed and the bickering--”The Glory of Their Times,” an hourlong special on the Discovery Channel Sunday at 6 p.m. and then again at 10 p.m., takes you back to the good ol’ days. It’s about baseball at the turn of the century.

The documentary, written and produced by Bud Greenspan, shows footage of the days when teams remained intact for more than a decade and pitchers were capable of pitching a doubleheader.

The show was first televised by five stations in 1970 and shown again on PBS in 1976.

The timing of this rerun--on the heels of the baseball lockout--is impeccable.

Tough words: A feud between KABC “Sportstalk” host Ed Bieler and former KABC “Sportstalk” host Fred Wallin is growing into ridiculous proportions.

Bieler has been quoted as saying he’s going to look up Wallin in Las Vegas, where he now works for KVEG (840), and “beat his head off.”

Replied Wallin: “I’m very frightened. I hope he throws the first punch.”

Add feuds: Andre Agassi and Mary Carillo apparently have become don’t-invite-’ems.

Last week at the International Players Championship, Agassi agreed to an ESPN interview about his Davis Cup withdrawal as long as someone other than Carillo, a tough questioner, did it.

So now Agassi is dictating who interviews him. Is he really worth all that?

TV-Radio Notes

A sign of things to come: NBC, scrambling for programming to replace baseball now that CBS has it, is showing mud and monster truck competition Saturday at 12:30 p.m. . . . Someone please tell Al Conin it’s only spring training. The other day he had the Angels “protecting” a 4-3 lead in the fifth inning against the San Diego Padres. Come on, it really doesn’t matter who wins. He also said the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics were playing in “a rematch of the World Series.” Not quite.

Channel 2 will show a Final Four special Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Verne Lundquist will serve as host of GGP Sports-produced “College Basketball Championship Special,” with Michigan Coach Steve Fisher, Seton Hall Coach P.J. Carlesimo, Sports Illustrated’s Curry Kirkpatrick and oddsmaker Danny Sheridan providing analysis. Also, there will be a profile of John Wooden. . . . A reminder: KLAC, not KNX, will carry the CBS Radio coverage of the Final Four. Cawood Ledford, Quinn Buckner and Ron Franklin will announce the title game.

Here’s one that’s hard to fathom: You get Mike Tyson-Buster Douglas and Julio Cesar Chavez-Meldrick Taylor on HBO, yet Razor Ruddock vs. Michael Dokes next Wednesday night is a pay-per-view fight going for $25 and more. . . . Reminder: Chavez-Taylor will be replayed on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” Saturday. . . . ESPN will cover Jack Nicklaus’ debut on the Senior PGA Tour, in a tournament at Scottsdale, Ariz., today at 1:30 p.m. and Saturday at 2:30 p.m. . . . Today’s round of the Nabisco Dinah Shore will be on ESPN at 11:30 a.m., and the weekend rounds will be on NBC--Saturday at 1:30 p.m., Sunday at noon.

On the Kings’ pregame show Saturday, there is a segment produced by Bob Borgen that has Nick Nickson interviewing Dave Taylor as a rookie in 1977. A tip to viewers: Remember, Sunday is April Fool’s Day. . . . Milestones: “SportsLook” will televise its 2,000th show Monday on a new set and Buster Douglas will be the guest. The same day at 6 p.m. there will be a one-hour special on ESPN commemorating 10 years of Top Rank boxing on the network.

Speaking of Bob Arum’s Top Rank, it’s putting on two TV fights at Caesars Tahoe Sunday. On NBC’s “SportsWorld” at 11 a.m., it’s Olympian Michael Carbajal vs. Raul Acosta, and on ESPN at 6 p.m., it’s Olympian Andrew Maynard vs. Michael Sedillo in a light-heavyweight bout. . . . MTV presents highlights from the “Rock ‘N’ Jock Diamond Derby,” a charity softball game, Sunday at 4 p.m. and again at 9 p.m. Participants include Mark Langston, Eddie Murray, Wally Joyner and Darryl Strawberry, along with Kevin Costner, Belinda Carlisle and other celebrities.