By
Braden Clark
Kevin
Harlan, a TBS sports analyst, is receiving a lot of backlash for his comments
at the end of the Syracuse and Virginia Elite Eight basketball game, and most
of which he is reveing from people on Twitter.
Nearing
the end of the basketball game between Syracuse and Virginia, Harlan announced
over live television Sunday night, “Jim Boeheim and Syracuse have done it! Back
from the dead on Easter Sunday!”
“If I were Kevin Harlan, I’d be getting my
apology ready. Quick,” said Mike Vaccaro, a sportswriter at the New York Post,
over Twitter.
“Just
to follow on Kevin Harlan. I find his comment totally inappropriate. To liken
Syracuse win to Christ's resurrection is just wrong,” said Mark Champion, the
radio voice of the Detroit Pistons, over Twitter.
Harlan’s
comment isn’t the first time a sports announcer made a reference towards
something biblical, but the timing of Easter and his comment started the
outrage.
“You
know, Kevin Harlan should’ve restrained himself from the moment, and by saying
that Syracuse came back from the dead when the largest religion in the world is
celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ probably wasn’t smart,” said Del
Scott, a former bishop of the LDS church and high school basketball referee. “Just
bad timing, I believe.”
Others
enjoyed what Harlan said, and defended his decision on the call.
“I
don’t necessarily think I would have said what he said, but I don’t think he’s
terrible for saying it,” said Mike Van Cott, a Syracuse, New York native. “Isn’t
the whole resurrection of Christ a good thing? I don’t see why people are
freaking out about this.”
It
was very unlikely 10 seed Syracuse was actually going to make a comeback being
down 15 points with 10 minutes remaining in the game to top seeded Virginia.
However, after a 25 to 6 point run by the Orange they are moving on to the
Final Four next Saturday, and some may say they came “back from the dead” in
the game.
“Honestly,
I laughed when he said it,” Van Cott said. “Syracuse had no hope in coming back
in that game, and I bet most people around the country thought the same thing.
However, they came back out of nowhere. Sometimes people are just too
opinionated on certain things, and were looking for an argument.”
There
hasn’t been any indication if Harlan, or anyone at TBS, will offer a comment on
his call. The veteran announcer is done with his NCAA tournament duties, as the
semifinal and championship games will be called by Jim Nantz, along with Bill
Raftery and Grant Hill.
“I
don’t think there should be any punishment on the matter, because religious phrases
are used in sports constantly,” Scott said. “How many times have we heard an
announcer call a streak pass in football a Hail Mary? It was just very bad
timing on his part.”