Subject: The Best Color Analyst in the Ivy League, Without Question |
Author: An Observer
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Date Posted: 11:50:53 02/24/25 Mon
On Friday afternoon, I had a conversation with a friend who is an avid football fan. We had a long talk about how and why Tony Romo is so much a better color analyst than any other football announcer.
I said, "I am like most football fans. I played football at a low level, even if it's nothing approaching college. I love the sport and have been watching it my whole life. Just teach me something that I didn't know about this great game."
My friend observed that most football color analysts don't say anything that you didn't already know. I added, "That's ridiculous. If I were speaking to a layman about my job -- even if he were familiar with my job -- if I spoke to him for three hours, I would be confident that I could tell him a few things he didn't already know. If not, why do I even have my job?"
I then watch a weekend's worth of games where the color analyst would say things like, "The team is down ten points and there's two minutes left. They need a stop here." Just the usual blather.
But there was one exception.
A bright light. The best college basketball analyst I have heard this season, maybe ever. This guy is head and shoulders better than any other announcer who has ever covered an Ivy League basketball game.
And I'm pretty sure that: (1) It was his first game ever; and (2) he is a current Princeton undergraduate.
If you've got an hour to invest and you want to hear the most insightful college color analyst you've ever enjoyed, watch a replay of Friday night's Harvard-Princeton game on ESPN+.
When the play-by-play man first introduced color analyst Mason Hooks, I thought, "Oh, a new analyst. I hope he's good."
He's not good. He's excellent.
Looking him up on the interwebs, I see that he is a current Princeton senior, majoring in molecular biology. Surfing further, it looks like he was on the team freshman year, but then quit the squad to concentrate on getting into med school.
I don't know if he was any good on the court, but he said more intelligent things about the game of basketball in two hours on Friday night than the other seven League color analysts have all season, combined.
Princeton's season has a been a real disappointment. But Tiger fans can be proud that they are recruiting some intelligent, articulate, knowledgeable young men for their team, even if they can't beat Yale.
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