Gus Johnson Doesn't Get Quite Enough Love

OK, now do you guys think it would be safe to say that few television personalities not named Erin Andrews are more popular among these here Intertubes than Gus Johnson? We're the ones pumping the guy, dammit! James Brown? Play-by-play? Over Gus Johnson? Come on! He's loved around here. So why, then, is he so darned sensitive?

In an interview with the invaluable Tom Hoffarth, Johnson says he gets sad when people on the Web call him bad names.

"It's funny about that crazy criticism, it weighs more on some of us than the praise does," said Johnson, who did last Saturday's USC-Stanford regular-season finale and will call CBS' coverage of the Pacific-10 Conference tournament final from Staples Center on Saturday afternoon (3 p.m.). "Unfortunately, I think I spend more time reading the critical stuff. Vicious stuff. And it does evoke an emotion - anger, embarrassment, it's like, 'Dang, is that how people see me?' My skin is really thick now.

Gus! No! We love you! How could we not love this?

(Best part about this video, to this day: Johnson isn't even the most emotional person there. That's Adam Morrison, of course.)

We continue to find it amazing how thin the average media member's skin is. You'd think being paid good money to watch sports all the time and be famous would make one happy, or at least able to shrug it off. Alas.

Let Us Embrace The "Gus Factor" [Los Angeles Daily News]