Dont tease me!
Teddy was on full display at the Bragging Rights game. Strutted around like royalty, made every call as dramatically as possible.
He is a very good ref, as his assignments show. One of the very, very few to stand up to Knight. The whole TV Ted garbage was because of that game. Initiated by hick hoosier fans. So much for the herd.
He is a very good ref, as his assignments show. One of the very, very few to stand up to Knight. The whole TV Ted garbage was because of that game. Initiated by hick hoosier fans. So much for the herd.
In fairness, there is probably some confirmation bias on my part based on the confidence level displayed on obviously wrong (from the comfort of my living room TV) calls, but my initial reaction is I assumed he had dirt on somebody to get his assignments.
I think he is a very good ref who loves the camera and is an overly dramatic persona. However, I do think he has actually toned it down just a little bit over the last 5 years. Not enough for my tastes, but I've come to peace with TVT and would not complain a bit if he continued to do games. That is a change for me. One man's opinion, obviously.
I was sitting behind the basket, 3rd row when Illinois played Auburn in Atlanta, and the seats are really, really close to the floor. Ted's assignment had him in that corner of the court a big chunk of the time and I came away with almost 2 different opinions of him--
When the cameras were off--pre-game and commercials--he's a very amiable guy. He was talking to the arena staff, people close to the court, etc. and seemed like a genuinely good guy.
While the game is going on, he's performing. He's a good ref, and his numbers and reviews support it, but they guy definitely plays to the camera. But the other thing I'll concede to him, and the camera doesn't always pick this up--if he makes a call that a player doesn't like, he goes back to that player and talks about it. The handful of times I saw that fairly close, it was a constructive conversation and the players seemed to walk away understanding why they got that call.
To compare him to another b-ball personality, I'd say he's a lot like Dickie V. Loves the spotlight, has the ability to alienate people with his persona, but overall understands the game and his job.