If you’ve ever heard Bill Raftery call a game and wondered what it might be like to hang out with the man away from basketball, Dan Patrick and Ian Eagle recently shed some light on that. And it sounds like it would be quite entertaining.
Eagle was a guest on Wednesday’s episode of the Dan Patrick Show. He joked that, instead of having Raftery call the upcoming NCAA Tournament, they’re trying to get some of his most famous calls, like “Onions” and “Double order,” put on a loop. That opened the door for the two to share Raftery stories.
“Bill Raftery is, and people will find him entertaining on a game, he’s a million times more entertaining when he’s not doing a game. And that’s saying a lot,” Patrick said. He then shared the story of when he first met Raftery, which was at Jocks & Jills, a bar in Atlanta then owned by the late Craig Sager.
“I just got through, I was working at CNN and I went over to Sager’s bar,” Patrick remembered. “I come in and Raft has the corner of the bar. As you walk in, the corner of the bar, there had to be 25 beers. He had ordered 25 beers. And it was just, if you came up to talk to him, just grab a beer. That was the first time I met him. And he is a delight.”
Eagle then shared his own memory.
“We were in Seattle for a Net game, and we ended up going to dinner, large group, and then the group got a little smaller,” he said. “We went out to a bar afterwards. We got to the bar and literally 10 minutes into our stay at the bar, they call out, ‘Last call.’ And I see, like Bill’s whole demeanor change in that moment — and he just leaves the group and he goes to the bar. And he obviously gets in an order for last call. Normally, last call, what ends up happening? They still let you hang around a little bit. They did not — they kick us out of this bar. We spill out into the street. It’s not even that late out. Bill’s a bit upset about it. And I understand. They cut off his evening.
“So he’s wearing a long trench coat,” Eagle said. “We get outside now. And our director, who passed away, great guy, Dave Hagen. He shows us that he snuck one beer out to the street. And we all laugh, like, ‘Oh, that’s amazing.’ Raft opens his trench coat. He has eight beers.”