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Gus Johnson, March Madness’ main man

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Gus Johnson is the voice of March Madness. Not Clark Kellogg. Not Dick Vitale. Not Jay Bilas. Not Bill Raftery.

Gus.

The man behind “Rise and fire!”, “The slipper still fits!” and “Here comes the pain!” seemingly calls every memorable game during the NCAA tournament. Best way to pick your upsets? Find out which games Gus is calling and mark it down. The guy’s a magnet for high drama.

Of course, as this N.Y. Times profile on the CBS play-aby-play announcer notes, there are some Gus haters out there. They think he’s too much and needs to settle down. Those people are idiots.

“When people say that I’m too excited, they’re inferring that I’m lying,” Johnson told the paper. “Manufacturing. Manipulating. And that’s not true. Do I give it an extra sizzle, as a performer? Of course I do. This is theater. It made me famous!”

No joke. The guy has a soundboard, top-10 lists, Facebook fan groups and various tributes on YouTube. Johnson’s the man.

If only he could call the Final Four. Shouldn’t Jim Nantz be focusing on the Masters?

You also can follow me on Twitter @MikeMillerNBC.