I used to like Fran Fraschilla

3,739 Views | 37 Replies | Last: 11 mo ago by ScottS
JP1037
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I used to think he was a good color guy but good grief. Openly rooting for Seton Hall. Consistently backing refs even with outrageously bad calls.

I know he is a New York/ New Jersey guy but it's more than just this game.
Crawfoso1973
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JP1037 said:

I used to think he was a good color guy but good grief. Openly rooting for Seton Hall. Consistently backing refs even with outrageously bad calls.

I know he is a New York/ New Jersey guy but it's more than just this game.


He is always very complimentary towards Baylor. Not hearing anything to be offended by. Fran is one of the best.
bear2be2
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Crawfoso1973 said:

JP1037 said:

I used to think he was a good color guy but good grief. Openly rooting for Seton Hall. Consistently backing refs even with outrageously bad calls.

I know he is a New York/ New Jersey guy but it's more than just this game.


He is always very complimentary towards Baylor. Not hearing anything to be offended by. Fran is one of the best.
Agree completely. No one is more prepared, knowledgeable or passionate. I'll take Fran over any analyst in the game.
EvilTroyAndAbed
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JP1037 said:

I used to think he was a good color guy but good grief. Openly rooting for Seton Hall. Consistently backing refs even with outrageously bad calls.

I know he is a New York/ New Jersey guy but it's more than just this game.


Dude, chill.
TenBears
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Kind of scratching my head over this one too.
pwactwac
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if anything, he is a Bears homer. One of the best on TV. I think he was just trying to generate equal excitement.
JP1037
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EvilTroyAndAbed said:

JP1037 said:

I used to think he was a good color guy but good grief. Openly rooting for Seton Hall. Consistently backing refs even with outrageously bad calls.

I know he is a New York/ New Jersey guy but it's more than just this game.


Dude, chill.


I am chill Senor Chang. Feel free to disagree. I stand by my comment. Listen to the game. FF was the leader of the John Higgins fan club last year.
GruntTuff
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No kidding. If you have been following Baylor the past 15 years or so, how could you possibly think Fran is anything but a massive supporter of Baylor and Drew. Wow. If I were a fan of any Big 12 team other than Baylor, I would consider Fran a paid homeboy supporter of Baylor.

Seton Hall is a strong up and coming program with a coach I would haul the Brinks truck after if we didn't have Drew. Those guys played HARD and it was a wonderful test for the Bears to get them ready for what they face soon.

Fran is my all time favorite color guy and he darned near LIVES at the Ferrell Center hanging out with Drew. He is Baylor's BIGGEST fan. I'm sure he tries to be objective, but we don't have a better friend in the basketball media than Fran.

tpj1991
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I think we all watched the same game. Fran was 100% fair and is a huge Scott Drew/Baylor guy. Not sure what the OP watched
Mitch Henessey
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If anything, Fran has to actively work to stay objective and not gush about Baylor when he's covering one of our games.

Weird take, OP.
TWD 1974
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GruntTuff said:

No kidding. If you have been following Baylor the past 15 years or so, how could you possibly think Fran is anything but a massive supporter of Baylor and Drew. Wow. If I were a fan of any Big 12 team other than Baylor, I would consider Fran a paid homeboy supporter of Baylor.

Seton Hall is a strong up and coming program with a coach I would haul the Brinks truck after if we didn't have Drew. Those guys played HARD and it was a wonderful test for the Bears to get them ready for what they face soon.

Fran is my all time favorite color guy and he darned near LIVES at the Ferrell Center hanging out with Drew. He is Baylor's BIGGEST fan. I'm sure he tries to be objective, but we don't have a better friend in the basketball media than Fran.


Agree and just add two things: He is a fan of well played basketball. That was a pretty good Seton Hall team tonight that had some good moments, and he complimented them on them. Fran calls it like he sees it.
2nd point: Fran was complimentary of Drew and the program when nobody else was. He gets a bit of slack in my book.
DallasBear9902
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Fran has always been effusive in his praise. I remember years before the NC he gushed about what a unique and special place Baylor is and how since living in Dallas he's learned how families are very happy to send their kids to Baylor.

Whatever pro Seton Hall commentary you heard I'm guessing it is happiness to see a guy go all the way from player to head coach at SH. I think Fran really likes the young guys making their way up the ranks.

I don't know where he gets the energy but he also stayed plugged in to the Dallas high school and AAU basketball scene. When he still lived in Dallas you'd find him at the big local tournaments especially off cycle of the college season. Very nice guy and he'll share time with you between games. He is just a basketball junkie and likes to see people succeed.
broncko
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Kinda wish he didn't go down the scandal road. Tired of reminding everyone about it.
GruntTuff
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broncko said:

Kinda wish he didn't go down the scandal road. Tired of reminding everyone about it.
He normally only comments on it when the play by play guy brings it up. If I could ask him one favor (which he has earned by his excellent work and high level in the industry) it would be for him to ask his play by play guys to just not bring up the scandal.

That is WAY old news, but I suppose he might retort by saying if you are going to heap praise on Drew, it's part of the history and is truly a special compliment to Drew that he took Baylor from there, to here.
TheBearableVariabl3
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I'll go against the grain and kinda agree. I also get annoyed by Frans commentating style, kinda a know it all feel. Very confident in all his opinions, even when he's clearly wrong. I think he's been better recently but he's not my favorite.

He's been very supportive of drew and baylor for a long time though so I can't hate him too much.

Kinda like how a lot of people think of Dicky V.
Vae Victis
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FF doesn't bother me at all. I like him. But I do get tired of hearing about 20 year old Dave Bliss and the murder of a basketball player.
historian
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I cannot say much because I was in Waco for the game. I will try to watch the whole game over the weekend. Having watched lots of games over the past few years, I can say generally that Fran definitely tries to be balanced when calling games. He can be critical at times but it's never mean spirited or malicious. He is the biggest supporter of the Big 12 & especially Baylor out there, as others have noted.

As for the scandal, thankfully we don't hear it often and when we do I try to ignore. It never goes away but it also is kind of silly to bring up something from so long ago when no one from the program then is still around (at least not coaches or staff as far as I know).
GoodOleBaylorLine
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Fran did go out of his way to compliment Seton Hall, even late in the game when it was over and Seton Hall was getting cooked. Seemed pretty forced.

But no issue with that. This wasn't a Baylor broadcast. Seton has fans watching too and want to hear positive things about their team. That is part of announcing a game that is over before the buzzer sounds.
BluesBear
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bear2be2 said:

Crawfoso1973 said:

JP1037 said:

I used to think he was a good color guy but good grief. Openly rooting for Seton Hall. Consistently backing refs even with outrageously bad calls.

I know he is a New York/ New Jersey guy but it's more than just this game.


He is always very complimentary towards Baylor. Not hearing anything to be offended by. Fran is one of the best.
Agree completely. No one is more prepared, knowledgeable or passionate. I'll take Fran over any analyst in the game.
Watched the Butler game to tide me over until Baylor game - - you want awful color play....listen to that...
Jayman1963
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I always enjoyed listening to Reid Gettys' (he was part of Phi Slamma Jamma at UofH) color analysis. Did a great job of explaining the game as it upfolded. Haven't heard him in years, so guessing ESPN canned him because he was actually good and competent at his job.
CST Bear
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Pro: Fran knows everything about our program, has praised Drew for as long as I remember, understands the culture of the team, knows about future recruits.

Con: Mentions the murder and JTT's injury most games, can be a blow hard.

Accurate?
Johnny Bear
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Fran is my favorite bball color commentator as well and has been for many years. I don't necessarily agree with all of his takes or all of his comments but I respect that he clearly knows his stuff and he's always been more than fair about Drew, our bball program and our university as a whole. I also appreciate that he doesn't just regurgitate a bunch of stuff he's been pre-programmed to say or simply tell fans things they they can easily figure out on their own.
Adriacus Peratuun
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Fran's biggest issue is repeating himself ad nauseum.

He used to double down on favorite talking points. Now he hits them a dozen times.
Makes the viewer want a gun with two bullets……one for Fran and one for themselves in case they miss.
Chamberman
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historian said:

As for the scandal, thankfully we don't hear it often and when we do I try to ignore. It never goes away but it also is kind of silly to bring up something from so long ago when no one from the program then is still around (at least not coaches or staff as far as I know).
But it is linked to Drew as he is the coach that inherited that mess and turned the program around. As long as Drew is our HC it will continue to be mentioned in the context of what he had to deal with when coming in.
KIA
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I am confident that fans of opposing teams believe that Fran (and other commentators) are pro-Baylor. It's easy to only hear the compliments given to other teams/players and to overlook the positive comments made about your own team.

bear2be2
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GoodOleBaylorLine said:

Fran did go out of his way to compliment Seton Hall, even late in the game when it was over and Seton Hall was getting cooked. Seemed pretty forced.

But no issue with that. This wasn't a Baylor broadcast. Seton has fans watching too and want to hear positive things about their team. That is part of announcing a game that is over before the buzzer sounds.
Fran always looks for and finds positives for both teams, which I think is a good thing. I don't watch a national broadcast looking for affirmation or support from the analyst. And I know fans for both teams are watching the game. As long as he's fair -- and I think he pretty much always is -- I have no problem with a color guy taking some opportunities to brag on both teams.

The thing I love about Fran is the same thing I love about Bill Raftery. You can tell they love college basketball, and they're champions for the sport. There are few things I hate worse as a sports fan than hearing voices of particular sports **** on their own game. As a big baseball fan, I see that all the time there.

I want a champion and ambassador for the game. And there are few bigger ones for CBB than Fran Fraschilla.
Hotsauce
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Fran gave a 1 minute Missi compliment last night after a good play, but unfortunately for him it was Josh O on the floor and not Missi lol.

I will always appreciate his love for CSD and the program, as well as his knowledge and passion for the game...but he personally wears me down after so long. He's annoyingly pro-ref at times, and there's too many call backs to all the people he knows from the good ole days.

But it still beats J-Mo and King any day of the week! No offense intended....
Crawfoso1973
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I normally don't criticize announcers, but it floored me when King didn't even know who Bridges was during one sequence. Bridges is integral to our team and probably our team MVP in all honesty.
Johnny Bear
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Hotsauce said:

Fran gave a 1 minute Missi compliment last night after a good play, but unfortunately for him it was Josh O on the floor and not Missi lol.

I caught that as well and was even more surprised that he kept going on and on without realizing his mistake and correcting it. The play by play guy didn't correct it either (assuming he was aware of it) - perhaps out of respect for Fran and wishing to not risk making him look goofy. Through all these years of listening to Fran's commentary I can't think of a bigger mistake he's made while on the air live.
BearFan33
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Fran definitely is a fan of both teams and talks them up regardless of what is happening. It can seem one sided at times but usually isn't. He may favor the underdog a bit actually. What I do like about him is his vast knowledge of the individual players history as well as their strengths and weaknesses. Even bench players. It adds a lot for me.
Noghri
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Crawfoso1973 said:

I normally don't criticize announcers, but it floored me when King didn't even know who Bridges was during one sequence. Bridges is integral to our team and probably our team MVP in all honesty.


He knew who he was. His mind blanked out.
It happens.

Tallahasseebear
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If this is all we have to complain about life is good. Fran did his usual good job. I particularly liked his final comment when he commented SH and he finished the broadcast by saying "Baylor is just Baylor." Wow. We have come a long way.
historian
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CST Bear said:

Pro: Fran knows everything about our program, has praised Drew for as long as I remember, understands the culture of the team, knows about future recruits.

Con: Mentions the murder and JTT's injury most games, can be a blow hard.

Accurate?


I don't think Fran mentions the murder in every game. Maybe he did that in the past but in the past few years it's been pretty rare.

As for Everyday Jon's injury, that wasn't long ago and it's likely quite a few non Baylor fans might not know the latest news (& some who are Baylor fans). It's relate to news, especially since he's playing so little.
historian
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Chamberman said:

historian said:

As for the scandal, thankfully we don't hear it often and when we do I try to ignore. It never goes away but it also is kind of silly to bring up something from so long ago when no one from the program then is still around (at least not coaches or staff as far as I know).
But it is linked to Drew as he is the coach that inherited that mess and turned the program around. As long as Drew is our HC it will continue to be mentioned in the context of what he had to deal with when coming in.

True. But I've watched plenty of games in which it was not mentioned or only in vague terms. Something along the lines of: the program was a mess, about as bad as it could be, & what he did with it is bordering on miraculous. It's usually a way of praising Drew & the program we have now.
BUMBA1
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Just want to add my 2 cents for the record. Fran is phenomenal and has always given Baylor its due credit. Always look forward to his pre season analysis and him calling our games. Met him in Sioux Falls for the Auburn game and he couldn't have been cooler or nicer. Fran4Life.
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