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Gus Johnson to become the voice of American soccer

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Gus Johnson is a legend around these parts.

Anyone that follows college basketball knows who he is. We used to do an annual countdown of the top ten Gus Johnson calls in the days leading up to the start of the NCAA tournament. He had two nicknames. Gus Jeezy, and Mr. March Madness.

Unfortunately, 2011 was the last NCAA tournament that Gus Johnson would call, as contracts and salaries and whatnot ended his tenure with CBS. He’s bounced around between FOX and the Big Ten Network over the past couple of years, still making the legendary calls that those Golden Pipes are capable of.

On Tuesday, news trickled out from Richard Deitsch of SI.com that Johnson will be groomed as ... the voice of soccer in America?

Now, I don’t know how many of you are soccer fans, but college hoops fans tend to enjoy their footy. And for those of you that are, this is great news. There are few things in sports more exciting than watching the buildup to, and the eventual scoring of, a great goal in soccer. And while Gus may not be an expert in the sport, he’s already been putting in some work, calling MLS games on the radio. He’ll be doing some Champions League and Premier League games on FOX Soccer this month, with the goal of eventually making him the lead voice for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Put him with an analyst that knows the game, and Johnson will be fine. He understands the moment, and that’s more important for a play-by-play broadcaster than understanding the game.

Here’s some proof that he’ll be just fine:

You can find Rob on twitter @RobDauster.