THE MAG.COM PRESENTS: ALL WORLD POWER RANKINGS

What's the best Gus Johnson call ever?

by Ted Bauer

BEST GUS JOHNSON CALL EVER? HAS TO BE UCLA/GONZAGA

Want to see more "All-World Power Rankings?"

If you ever need to kill a few minutes, watch this. For real, we don't know the first thing about programming, but we've always wondered why Jim Nantz, for all his "welcome-into-your-home" goodness, is the No. 1 college hoops guy for CBS. The true star is everyone's favorite screamer, Mr. Gus Johnson. Gus and ESPN dooder Len Elmore will be in Minneapolis this weekend, meaning that if Robert Morris is to somehow topple Michigan State, GJ's head may well blow off his body. It took a lil' bit to compile this list, the second in our week series (weak series? Ha!) of NCAA Tournament-related rankings (here's the first, from yesterday), because we take matters of Gus very seriously.

TOP 5
RANK (YESTERDAY)		WHAT	WHY
	1 (4)	UCLA/GONZAGA IN 2006	No brainer. Here ya go. We spent a solid year of our life coming back from bars and playing this, bursting into laughter. We're pathetic. Attempting to deconstruct everything that's amazing about this clip would probably take two entire years. Most underrated part: "FOUL!" "ON WHO?"
	2 (6)	"THE SLIPPER STILL FITS!"	It's on this clip, near the end. Iconic call for the NCAA Tournament. People still talk about this when referencing 'Zaga.
	3 (7)	"AND WE'RE GOING TO OVERTIME... IN LEXINGTON... HA HA!"	Check the 13-second mark here. If we were the president of CBS Sports, we'd run this audio on every NCAA promo ever. So good. "MARCH MADNESS!"
	4 (9)	"SORRENTINE HIT THAT ONE FROM THE PARKING LOT!"	This was during the Vermont upset of 'Cuse a couple of years ago, which we oddly watched at a Borders. If a 13 is gonna topple a 4, you want Gus on the mic.
	5 (11)	RON LEWIS SHOT AGAINST XAVIER	Is this even English? (2:26 mark) He just devolves into screaming.

HONORABLE MENTION
RANK (YESTERDAY)		WHAT	WHY
	19 (180)	"EL TIGRE!"	Don't have audio of this, but a couple of years ago in the second round, Gus kept talking about how Edgar Sosa's nickname is "El Tigre." Sosa banged a three late and Johnson just screams "TIGGER-AY!" Epic.
	138 (1,651)	"SPIDER MAN!"	Whenever we think of Stephen Curry, we think of the call in the Sweet Sixteen game against Wisconsin. It's not it, but at the 1:31 mark here, you can get another great Gus screaming about Curry call.

RISING AND FALLING
MOVEMENT		WHAT
		"RISE AND FIRE!" (It's his trademark.)
		"HERE COMES THE PAIN" (Seems too generic for him, honestly.)

For more All-World Power Rankings, CLICK HERE

Print Article . Email Article. Subscribe to The Magazine